For the Willow Wept… (Sunrise Edition)
Release Date: June 24, 2017
© 2017 Keith Richie
For the Willow Wept… (Sunrise Edition) holds a deeply personal place in my heart. While the original version was released in 2012, the journey toward its completion began four years earlier—and it was anything but easy.
During that time, I was navigating an emotional storm. Sitting down to compose felt nearly impossible. When I could gather the energy, I might play a few notes, sketch an idea, or tweak a voice—but more often than not, I’d walk away. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months. The weight of everything I was experiencing made it difficult to focus, and each return to the project often pulled me deeper into a place I was trying to escape.
In retrospect, it’s no surprise that the album drifts between emotional highs and lows—it mirrors the state of my life during those years.
By late 2011 and early 2012, something changed. I began to reclaim my passion for music, bolstered by the support and encouragement of those close to me. I took the six tracks I had and began shaping them into something complete. I didn’t want to release an EP, so I included a reprise of Sea Dragon—essentially the same track with a new intro and outro—to bring balance to the album.
Then, something unexpected happened: I found inspiration.
A piece I’d been struggling with suddenly came together. That track became For the Willow Weeps Underneath the Stormy Skies, and it resonated with me so deeply that I named the entire album after it. Through the presence of someone very close to my heart, I found the strength to finish what I had started.
Although the original album released in June 2012, I always knew I’d return to it. Years later, with new perspective and growth as a composer, I revisited the project. I remastered the original tracks, removed the two earlier versions of Sea Dragon, and kept only the Reprise. I also wrote three new pieces to fully realize the album as a complete emotional arc—one that finally reflects the depth I had envisioned from the beginning.
For the Willow Wept… (Sunrise Edition) is a story of emotional resilience—of navigating darkness and finding the courage to move toward the light. It’s about owning your story, embracing your pain, and realizing that only you have the power to shape your future.
We all face sorrow—but even the longest night eventually gives way to dawn.
This edition is dedicated to my wife, who showed me what true happiness is.
She is my sunrise.
She is my Willow.
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