Artist: Adrian + Meredith
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Valley View”
Album: Bad for Business
Release Date: August 20, 2021
In Their Words: “‘Valley View’ was fully inspired by a tour we took of Ellis Island a few years ago. Both of us are descendants of early 1900s immigrants from Eastern Europe and our great-grandparents made the journey through Ellis Island from Poland. We looked up their registration info beforehand, but were not prepared for the gravity of emotion we would feel after finding the Krygowski and Stefko family names written in the book, ages 16 years old.
“The building is beautiful and you can’t help but wonder what it felt like back then, immigrating to the USA. We spent the day there and it felt like somewhere we’ve been before. It reminded us a lot of European architecture. Meredith especially was inspired by what she saw and wrote her first song from the experience. To us, the biggest takeaway from visiting Ellis Island was to remember that it wasnât as much what immigrants were coming for, but what they had to leave behind due to drought, famine, religious persecution, etc., and what they were willing to offer to their new country. In todayâs political climate, this song serves as a needed reminder that we are all immigrants on this land.” — Adrian + Meredith
Photo credit: Joshua Black Wilkins
