On August 9, Latin-inspired string band Che Apalache will release a new album, Rearrange My Heart, on Free Dirt Records. Acclaimed musician Béla Fleck produced the album, which draws heavily from the band’s Latin American roots and tackles timely topics, like immigration and identity.
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Ahead of the album’s release, Che Apalache is offering a taste of Rearrange My Heart via a powerful new song, “The Dreamer,” premiering below. The band’s Joe Troop explains that “The Dreamer” is inspired by the story of Moises Serrano, a North Carolina-based friend of his whose story is the basis of the documentary film Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America.
“As I wrote these lyrics, I worked closely with Moises in order to accurately convey his story, that of a DACA dreamer born in Mexico and raised in North Carolina, a state that makes life very difficult for undocumented people,” Troop says. “Undocumented immigrants in North Carolina are relentlessly villainized and rarely given a voice in regional media. This song attempts to humanize them.”
Sonically, the song pulls from the band’s diverse influences, which include bluegrass, flamenco, folk and rock. Troop, a North Carolina native, met the rest of Che Apalache while living in Argentina; both guitarist Franco Martino and mandolin player Martin Bobrik hail from Argentina, while banjo player Pau Barjau is from Mexico.
Listen to “The Dreamer” below.
