Chelsea Wolfe has shared a video that gives us a look inside the tour that supported her 2019 album Birth of Violence. The Bobby Cochran–directed documentary details how Birth of Violence came to be, explaining the healing that writing these songs and spending time with her acoustic guitar brought her. “Finding a place to call home while in constant motion,” Wolfe states in the film, which also features her cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” and a new song called “Green Altar.”
The latter was a song that didn’t make it onto Birth of Violence. “It’s a love song I wrote after finding out that my dear friends Bill Crisafi and Hogan McLaughlin were engaged,” Wolfe said in a press release. “I envisioned them getting married in a lush, green outdoor space outside of some majestic castle ruins.”
In regard to the Mitchell cover, Wolfe revealed that she was watching many videos of ’70s folk icon while prepping for tour. “A 1966 Canadian performance that I found of hers ended up inspiring the video for my song ‘Highway.’ One night after working on the live set, Ben and I were hanging out and I was just letting the Joni videos roll. ‘Woodstock’ came on and I started singing along. After that I simply asked Ben if he’d be into covering it with me for the tour, and we just went back into the studio and started working it out. The cover came together quite naturally and it was a treat to play on stage every night. Joni is obviously such a big inspiration to this side of my music, so it felt right to pay tribute to her.”
Due to the pandemic, the tour was put on hold, but now fans can watch at home and get an intimate look into Wolfe’s rituals and thought process. “I wanted to share this documentary for that reason as well, for those who had tickets to cancelled shows (I love you!), and as a sort of wave goodbye to the time I spent focused on Birth of Violence, as I’m now making plans for and in the headspace of the next new album.”
Watch it below.
