Cellist Yo-Yo Ma joins some of his friends bassist Edgar Meyer, mandolinist Chris Thile and fiddler Stuart Duncan to perform “Here and Heaven” off the “The Goat Rodeo Sessions” album. It’s a unique mix of music from this unified ensemble on a most remarkable and organic cross-genre project stemming from their friendship, and the title concept. Yo-Yo Ma sums it up by stating “In the end, what we’re trying to do is simply make music that transcends whatever roots or categories or backgrounds that it starts from–that just exists as something that we’re trying to express, through our community of values, as a moment in time creating very special music.”

You can get the single on or amazon.

Here and Heaven by Yo-Yo Ma

Lyrics to Here and Heaven by Yo-Yo Ma

With a hammer and nails and a fear of failure we
are building a shed
Between here and heaven between the wait and the
wedding for as long as we both shall be dead
to the world beyond the boys and the girls trying
to keep us calm
We can practise our lines ‘til we’re deaf and blind
to ourselves to each other where it’s
Fall not winter spring not summer cool not cold
And it’s warm not hot have we all forgotten that
we’re getting old

With an arrow and bow and some seeds left to sow
we are staking our claim
On ground so fertile we forget who we’ve hurt along
the way and reach out for a strange hand
to hold someone strong but not bold enough to
tear down the wall
‘Cause we’re not lost enough to find the stars aren’t
crossed why align them why fall hard
not soft into
Fall not winter spring not summer cool not cold
and it’s warm not hot have we forgotten that
we’re getting old