Ken Stringfellow Imagines Puleo - Ten Years to Home (2021)

Singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ken Stringfellow (The Posies, Big Star, R.E.M) has joined forces with lyricist, track & field coach and non-fiction author Joe Puleo for a five song EP.

"Gabriele Gruenwald was an elite middle-distance runner who discovered she had cancer early in her career as a student at the University of Minnesota. She documented her fight with the disease while competing at the highest levels of sport. Gruenwald won the national championship in the 3000-meter race at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in 2014. She almost qualified for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and was training for the 2020 Olympics when she died of complications from cancer in June 2019. She was just 32-years-old. Grunewald was known for her bravery and indomitable spirit. She wore her scars proudly, including a 13-inch one that snaked down her abdomen and another that impacted her smile because of a damaged facial nerve."

Joe Puleo is, among other things, a runner. He wrote the words to a song about Gruenwald. Although he’s part of the band, Bannister Effect, he felt these lyrics needed a different context. Puleo connected with singer, Ken Stringfellow, who put the text to music. The two men continued to collaborate at a distance during the pandemic, and with the assistance of Posies drummer Frankie Siragusa, have just released a five-song EP called Ten Years to Home: Ken Stringfellow Imagines Puleo.

The song about Gruenwald, “Not Today”, lies at the heart of the record, although it comes last. The lyrics capture the “Be brave like Gabe” spirit. The phrase “Not today” was what she said in response to finding out she could die at any time. The song begins with Gruenwald’s clear, strong voice proclaiming, “I hope people can see that you can still make something beautiful and powerful out of a bad situation.” Stringfellow keeps the production simple and basic. This is guitar-based rock with strong drumming like one would hear on old R.E.M., Bob Dylan, and Uncle Tupelo records. He sings with his mouth not quite wide open to create a hushed tension. You can understand all of the words, but they are mushed together to create a sound rather than stand on their own articulateness.