By Poppyiris

The current scene has made it close to impossible for performing artists to tour. All of the shows scheduled for my country duo, Poppyiris, have been canceled since the quarantine. Two days before the lockdown went into effect, my duet partner Mike Lusk and I had planned to perform in a music video for our song, “Greener Where You Are.” “Greener Where You Are” is a song about not needing to go far when you love someone and realizing that everything you need is in your backyard. When Mike and I chose to film the video, we had no idea that most people would be spending the next three months somewhat trapped in their backyard.

On March 13th, 2020, two days before the world went into serious quarantine mode, Mike and I filmed the video up in the beautiful California poppy fields. Neither of us was genuinely aware of the restrictions that were going to occur on performing artists, but we must have had a sense of it, as the urgency to get the video shot was there. The weather reports were dismal calling for 70 percent rain, but we did not let this stop us. We grabbed our guitars, packed up the car and headed toward Lancaster, California, home of the vast Poppy fields. It was raining the entire drive up to the fields, but Mike and I kept a smile on our face and made each other laugh the whole ride there. When we reached the exact location, covered in orange and purple flowers, the sky miraculously cleared for three hours as we shot the video, danced, laughed, and played guitar in the field. I had broken my toe a few days before the shoot but ran through the cold, wet fields like a trooper as we got some of the most beautiful footage I have ever seen. The ground was freezing, which helped numb my toe, but the sun was shining up above, and we were able to get the entire video shot without a drop of rain coming down. The moment our director, videographer, Christine Murphy, yelled, “it’s a wrap,” it began raining. We jumped in the car and made our way back home as it rained the whole way down the mountain. The sky had cleared for the exact amount of time we needed to get the shoot done. Two days later, the world started to glue themselves to their computers, as a result of the quarantine, and our music video “Greener Where You Are” was seen by thousands of new fans. It is a song that so many people can relate to, while home during this difficult time. It is the perfect song to celebrate being with the ones you love in your backyard.

GREENER WHERE YOU ARE

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