Show Notes
Brad Wolfe is a singer-songwriter, community activist, and the founder of Reimagine, a national movement helping people transform loss into meaning and action. His music and his mission come from the same source: a lifelong conversation with mortality, love, and the creative possibilities hidden inside pain. Wolfe has woven these experiences into a three EP collection, the Loss, Life and Love mixtapes, a project more than a decade in the making. The first volume, Loss, debuts this Summer. “It felt right to start with Loss because, in my work and life, I’ve seen loss as the catalyst for new meaning and, ultimately, for love,” Wolfe says. “The losses I’ve faced have redirected me in painful and also beautiful ways.” Wolfe’s musical story began in college, when his close childhood friend Sara was diagnosed with a rare pediatric cancer. For two years, until she died, he brought his guitar to the hospital to write and sing songs for her. “‘Sara’s Got a Sunbeam’ became our anthem of hope during that period,” Wolfe recalls. “I don’t know how I would have handled it without my guitar. Seeing how music eased Sara’s physical symptoms, and gave us a way to connect, was healing for both of us.” In Sara’s honor, Wolfe launched the Sunbeam Foundation in an attempt to find a cure for the rare cancer that took her life. He also started a musical project, Brad Wolfe & the Moon, so he could share the songs inspired by Sara with the world. The songs explore the connection between light and dark, joy and pain, and forces bigger than us. Both the foundation and the band debuted the same night, with Grammy-winning artist Sara Bareilles opening the show. Since then, Sunbeam has raised over one million dollars for cancer research. Through Sunbeam, Wolfe played music for kids and families facing cancer. Over time, he noticed that music didn’t just soothe, it opened people up. Parents, friends, and patients shared their stories in return. “It became clear that everyone was carrying something,” he says. “And it made me wonder what it would look like if more people had space to channel their pain in whatever way worked for them, the way music worked for me.” That question led Wolfe to create Reimagine, an organization that helps people discover creativity and purpose through their pain. Reimagine has hosted more than 4,500 events for over 250,000 people, including citywide arts and culture festivals focused on facing loss and mortality. They’ve become some of the largest community gatherings on these topics in the United States. At Reimagine, people share stories about the loss of loved ones, their lived experiences of different layers of loss, and the collective grief of modern life. “Being witness to these conversations has changed and deepened me,” Wolfe says. “They make the songs more honest and free.” During the decade he built Reimagine, Wolfe recorded the collection of songs that would become Loss. Produced with longtime collaborator Gawain Mathews (Mickey Hart, Ben Lee), the EP blends folk, pop, Americana and alt-rock, all held together by Wolfe’s acoustic guitar and warm, raw vocals. The Moon, a revolving lineup of Wolfe’s musical collaborators, augments the intimate tunes with full-band power. Mathews leads the charge on a variety of guitars and stringed instruments, with rocker Kyle Caprista on drums. KEEP UP WITH BRAD WOLFE & THE MOONWebsite: https://www.bradwolfe.comReimagine: https://letsreimagine.orgInsta: https://www.instagram.com/bradwolfemoonYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFyhVWgy4-uu6MT1pdOmSWw#epigenetics #holocaustsurvivors #kindness #healingmusic #grief
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