Kris Delmhorst plays songs from 'Ghosts in the Garden' at The Current for Radio Heartland
by Mike Pengra
March 28, 2025
Massachusetts singer-songwriter Kris Delmhorst visited The Current studio for a session at Radio Heartland just two days before the release of her 10th studio album. Titled Ghosts in the Garden, the album was recorded in a studio in an 18th-century farmhouse in Parsonsfield, Maine. Joining Delmhorst were a number of esteemed session and touring musicians, along with a parade of guest vocalists that included Ana Egge, Rose Cousins, and Delmhorst’s husband, singer-songwriter Jeffrey Foucault.
Delmhorst and her band — which fortuitously comprises the same musicians who recorded the album — played songs from Ghosts in the Garden in our studio. Afterwards, Delmhorst stuck around for a conversation with host Mike Pengra. Watch and listen to the music in the video player above, and watch and listen to the interview just below. Beneath the interview video, you’ll find a full transcript of Kris Delmhorst’s chat with Mike Pengra.
Interview Transcript
Mike Pengra: I am so happy to be in the studio with Kris Delmhorst. Kris' new album is called Ghosts in the Garden. Is this album number 10 for you?
Kris Delmhorst: I never know exactly how to count, but it's something, it's like that, along those lines. I think it's the 10th — ninth or 10th — full-length under my solo name.
Mike Pengra: It's lovely. And there's a lot of feelings in this album. There's a lot about loss and grief.
Kris Delmhorst: Yep.
Mike Pengra: Was there a theme? Was that on purpose?
Kris Delmhorst: Not really, no. I had a lot of songs that I was choosing from when we first started thinking about making this album. I had probably 30 songs, but they were covering quite a bit of range in terms of music and style and themes and all that. And so these were sort of the songs that gathered around a central hearth, kind of, as I was looking at them, they just seemed like a family. And then it took me a while. Those were the ones I chose to record. And we recorded them, and then sort of sitting with the recordings made me understand better what they all had in common, and how there is a lot of — you know, there's literal death in these songs, and grief and sort of loss of roads not taken, and that kind of thing. There's also thinking about what we're losing right now, as in there's a couple songs that kind of deal with climate-crisis stuff. But what they all have in common, one way or another, is it's sort of like there's an X-ray that makes visible all these invisible presences that we have in our life all the time, that we all do, of, you know, departed or that kind of stuff. And so it's kind of like the multitudes that we have in our heart and and mind as we go through our tangible day-to-day.
Mike Pengra: That's deep. There's a lot there. Are some of these songs that have been around for a while, and you just kind of hang onto them and then put them with the album of the same feel, or ... ?
Kris Delmhorst: Sometimes, yeah, there's certainly some songs that'll hang around waiting for their project, you know. And most of these are pretty recent, although some of them took a really long time to write. I mean, some of them are songs that I've put down and picked up over years, and then they finally find their time to get done.
Mike Pengra: I'm not sure where I read this, but I thought I read you talking about a song as if it's almost like a person. Now that the album's done, you're kind of backing up from the album and going, this thing is raising — it's got a life of its own. And it's like having to having a child almost.
Kris Delmhorst: It is a little bit, yeah, because it's so — when you're writing it and when you're recording it, too, it's so yours and private, you know, and then letting it out into the world, it becomes not just what you think it is, but what all these other people hear it as. And you know, you won't even know a lot of that unless they tell you. But yeah, it's like letting it go and be what it will to whoever it will.
Mike Pengra: Yeah. The album is called Ghosts in the Garden, and I just love the sound. And one of the things I like about this, and what I read later, is the fact that you've got the same guys in the studio today that you had when you recorded the record a lot of times.
Kris Delmhorst: Yeah, it's a miracle.
Mike Pengra: Yeah! It doesn't happen very often.
Kris Delmhorst: No, it hardly ever happens, because everyone's busy and has a million bands and a million projects and tours. And so when I first wrote [to] these guys about the tour schedule, I just, you know, sent up a little prayer and sent the email, and they were all free for the entire tour this whole spring, which is really, really special. We just started playing these shows at the beginning of the tour, and it was the first time we had played together, or even been in a room, all four of us together, since we were in the studio in November of 2023, so it's really great to reconvene and get to play these songs again together.
Mike Pengra: And the list of guest stars, guest vocalists on this record too. Wow!
Kris Delmhorst: Yeah, I know. Yeah, we did the tracks live in the studio, and then I was listening to the roughs on a late-night drive back from a show. And I hadn't been planning on really bringing people in to sing on this one. There was a lot of guest vocalists on the last one, and I just figured I would sing whatever needed singing. And as I was driving, I was listening down through the roughs, and on each song almost, I could just hear a person — like, not just a vocal part, but I could hear the actual person who was singing as if they were in the carn, like, very realistically, it was really, I've never had that experience. And so when I got home, I just kind of made the list and just started calling those people. And I felt like the songs had sort of requested them, you know, so it just called them up. So yeah, Anaïs Mitchell sings on one, and Anna Tivel...
Mike Pengra: Ana Egge.
Kris Delmhorst: Ana Egge. Rachel Baiman. Jeffrey, he was ...
Mike Pengra: Somebody named Jeffrey Foucault.
Kris Delmhorst: Yes! Jabe Beyer. Rose Cousins. I think that's everybody. So, yeah, it's quite a collection of really incredible voices.
Mike Pengra: Yeah, well, congratulations on the record.
Kris Delmhorst: Thank you so much.
Mike Pengra: How long is this tour gonna be?
Kris Delmhorst: Well, it's kind of broken up in chunks over the course of the spring, so we're starting here in early March, and then we will end up in the middle of May sometime, at least with this part. And then we'll catch our breath and see.
Mike Pengra: So what's next for you?
Kris Delmhorst: Oh, gosh!
Mike Pengra: Your daughter's 17, I understand.
Kris Delmhorst: Yes, she's almost 17. She'll be 17 in June, so we've got a lot of stuff to do around that. And I have, I actually have another whole album recorded that I'm gonna wait and see when its moment is to deploy. And it's completely different. It's very light hearted. And, yeah, so I don't know, we'll see. It's such an undertaking just to get a record out, and I'm deep in that right now. So we'll get out and enjoy this tour and then kind of see where we go from there.
Mike Pengra: Well, Kris, congratulations on this. Thank you so much for coming in.
Kris Delmhorst: Thank you so much for having me.
Mike Pengra: Great to see you and great to hear you.
Kris Delmhorst: Thank you.
Songs Performed
00:00:00 Wolves
00:03:03 Not the Only One
00:06:43 Won’t Be Long
All songs from Kris Delmhorst’s 2025 album, Ghosts in the Garden, available on Big Bean Music.
Musicians
Kris Delmhorst – vocals, guitar
Erik Koskinen – electric guitar
Jeremy Moses Curtis – bass
Ray Rizzo – drums, percussion
Credits
Guest – Kris Delmhorst
Host/Producer – Mike Pengra
Video – Evan Clark
Audio – Eric Xu Romani
Graphics – Natalia Toledo
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor
External Link
Kris Delmhorst – official site