Laurel Canyon Echoes

Step into the warm, sunlit hills above Los Angeles, where a generation of songwriters changed American music forever. Laurel Canyon Echoes: Harmonies from the Hills (1966 to 1976) brings the close harmony sound of the late 1960s and 1970s to the choral stage. The Mamas and the Papas, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills and Nash, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, The Byrds, and The Eagles—from California Dreamin’ to Teach Your Children and Desperado. With iconic melodies, heartfelt storytelling, and a touch of rock and folk groove, the Asheville Senior Chorus invites you to relive the soundtrack of a remarkable era: tender, hopeful, and unforgettable.

Act I: Dreams, Dissent, and Sunlight

The Asheville Senior Chorus opens the concert with a first act that traces the earliest pulse of the movement. “California Dreamin'” by The Mamas and the Papas remains one of the most perfectly constructed pop songs ever written, a hymn to longing dressed in four-part harmony so rich and full it feels like a place you can step into. Paired immediately with “Monday, Monday,” and then the warm, tender “Dedicated to the One I Love,” the opening sequence gives the audience three Mamas and the Papas songs in a row — a deliberate and satisfying plunge into the very heart of the close harmony tradition this concert celebrates.

From there, the program proceeds with a thoughtful, deliberate hand. Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” in the definitive Byrds arrangement that introduced folk rock to a generation, sits alongside Buffalo Springfield’s urgent “For What It’s Worth,” a song that remains one of the most quietly devastating protest songs ever recorded. Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn!” offers the Byrds’ shimmering twelve-string counterpoint to the era’s anxiety.

And then comes Joni Mitchell. “Big Yellow Taxi” and “The Circle Game” showcase two sides of Mitchell’s genius: the sharp environmental wit of the former and the tender, aching meditation on time of the latter. Rounding out Act I, Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move” and the era-defining “Both Sides Now” leave audiences suspended between joy and wistfulness—exactly where this music has always lived.

Act II: Tapestry Roads and Canyon Harmonies

If Act I is about the emergence of the Laurel Canyon sound, Act II is about its full flowering and the way it began, beautifully, to branch outward.

James Taylor’s “You’ve Got a Friend” and “Fire and Rain” open the second half with the intimate, confessional voice that made Taylor something entirely new in American music: a man singing about his own fragility without apology or performance. Put them in front of a live audience, and the room goes completely still.

Crosby, Stills, and Nash arrive next with “Helplessly Hoping” and “Teach Your Children” and are harmonically rich, acoustically warm, and built for exactly the kind of ensemble treatment the Asheville Senior Chorus brings to them. “Our House,” written by Graham Nash after a quiet morning with Joni Mitchell, makes a home feel like the whole world, and the whole world feel like enough.

The Eagles enter through “Take It Easy,” written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey—the sound of Laurel Canyon going wide-screen. “Desperado” follows, a song so perfectly melancholic it has outlasted every era that tried to replace it.

Linda Ronstadt then takes center stage across two back-to-back moments that show her full range. “Blue Bayou” arrives first: raw, yearning, and vocally demanding in the best possible way. It barely has time to settle before “When Will I Be Loved” kicks the energy back up with its brisk, almost confrontational drive. Together, the two songs remind the audience that Ronstadt could break your heart and then pull you right back to your feet without missing a beat.

The concert closes with one final, luminous moment: the full chorus lifting their voices together on “Seven Bridges Road,” with gentle guitar and soft percussion beneath them — just enough to steady the harmony without ever getting in its way. It is a sound that feels both intimate and enormous at the same time, and it will stay with you long after the room goes quiet. There is no better way to say goodnight.

Two Ways to Be Part of the Magic

Join Us – Rehearsals Begin Monday, March 9th at 6:15

Here’s something worth knowing about the Asheville Senior Chorus: the music on that stage on May 3rd won’t just be performed — it will be lived. Every person in that chorus will have spent many weeks inside these songs, learning their architecture, feeling where the harmonies resolve and where they ache.

You could be one of them.

We are actively welcoming new members, and there has never been a better season to join. Rehearsals for Laurel Canyon Echoes begin on Monday, March 9th at 6:15 PM. No audition. No prior choral experience required. Just a love of music, a willingness to show up, and the readiness to discover what your voice can do inside a room full of people who feel exactly the same way.

For information on joining, visit  https://ashevilleseniorchorus.com/join-our-community-choir/.

Come to the Concert — May 3rd at 3 PM at OLLI/Reuter Center

If singing isn’t your path, come and listen. Laurel Canyon Echoes performs on Saturday, May 3rd at 3 PM. Bring someone who was there the first time these songs played on the radio. Bring someone who’s hearing them for the first time. Bring anyone who needs to be reminded that music—live, human, harmonized—still has the power to stop time.

These songs changed American music. The Asheville Senior Chorus is going to remind you exactly why.

We’ll see you there.