Harpsichord Professor in Italy Collaborates with Passaic County Trio
(clockwise from upper left) John Baumgartner, Anna Clemente, Brenda Sauter, Toni Baumgartner
Haledon (Passaic County) trio Speed The Plough have teamed up with Anna Clemente—a professor of harpsichord at a music conservatory in Florence, Italy—on “A Saint, Restored,” a tune in advance of as-yet untitled album to be released later this year through Bandcamp and streaming platforms. Speed The Plough—who have performed and recorded with The Feelies, also of Haledon—are decidedly in an Art-Folk bag. The story on how this Jersey band found this professor from Florence is one for the ages. Let’s let Speeed The Plough founder John Baumgartner tell it.
“I received a Facebook message from someone unknown to me at the time, Anna Clemente, about two years ago, asking if I was the person who wrote `A Plan, Revised’ by my first band The Trypes, which appeared on a Coyote Records compilation around 1982. I responded that, yes, I wrote that song and asked why she was asking. I didn’t expect the nature of her reply. She said the song was a particular favorite of hers and her late husband and that they used to often listen to it. She asked if I would send her the lyrics, which I did gladly.
“The most mind-blowing aspect of this was when I learned that she is a professor of harpsichord at a music conservatory in Florence and her husband, the luthier John Weissenrieder, were fans of my music. I still haven’t asked how they found this song on a relatively obscure American indie release.
“Well, we corresponded back and forth for a while, sharing videos of her performances at the Musee de’ Medici and videos of us at small New York City clubs. Flash-forward to spring 2024 and I bought a new keyboard and started fooling around with the harpsichord sounds to play ‘A Saint, Restored.’ I happened to record it and sat on it for a week. Then I had this idea. Sort of a `nothing ventured, nothing gained’ thing. So I sent it to Anna and asked if she would be interested in doing a proper harpsichord performance on it. The direction she took us in couldn’t have been more beautiful.”
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