Today, Beverly Glenn-Copeland released the highly anticipated album Laughter In Summer via Transgressive.
The record spans a wide range of emotions—joy, grief, and quiet resilience—made even more poignant given that Glenn is currently living with LATE dementia.
Standout tracks include the title song “Laughter In Summer,” which gently pulls at the heartstrings, as well as the softer, reflective moments found on “Let Us Dance” and “Ever New.”
One can only hope this won’t be the final chapter in an already remarkable and deeply human discography.
About the album by Elizabeth:
Beverly Glenn-Copeland is a legendary singer, composer and activist whose creative output has spanned over 50 years.
Together with his wife Elizabeth Copeland, they’ve made a life sharing their unselfish hearts—ones too large for earthly configuration—through art and community.
Now, as Glenn lives with a version of Dementia known as LATE, their walk has taken on a different weight. Out of this season comes Laughter In Summer, an album the couple made together. Elizabeth has now rightly taken her place as producer of Glenn’s work, shaping the record alongside their music director, Alex Samaras.
In 2024, before a Montreal performance, they were invited to spend a few days recording alongside producer and engineer Howard Bilerman (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Vic Chesnutt, and Wolf Parade) at the iconic Hotel2Tango.
There was no plan to make a record.
They simply wanted to capture the songs they had been singing on tour, joined by a choir of Montreal voices gathered by Alex. None of the singers had rehearsed with Glenn and Elizabeth. As the engineers were getting the mic levels set, Glenn, Elizabeth and the choir loosely rehearsed their first song. This rehearsal is what you hear on “Let Us Dance, Movement 2”.
Every other song on the record was done in Glenn’s preferred style–one take only.
Other songs on the album reach further back. “Children’s Anthem” dates from the couple’s early years together, written for a teachers’ workshop on bullying.
Elsewhere, writing on their own ancestral lines, “Middle Island Lament” recalls their years running the theater school on the Acadian coast, rooted in local history of famine, quarantine, and farewell.
“Harbour”, written for Elizabeth’s birthday, reappears too, a song Glenn relearned by improvisation after memory loss, backstage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, with Elizabeth’s hand in his.
The making of Laughter In Summer became another way of being present with each other—songs not just as compositions but as testaments.
“From the moment we are born, we are walking towards our deaths,” Elizabeth says. “And that’s okay. In order for there to be birth, there must be death.” Glenn tells her that when he goes, he will be able to be with her even more than now. For Elizabeth, the thought is both comfort and pain. But what sustains them both is Glenn’s refusal to stop giving. “Sometimes he’ll hold my hands and say, ‘I have so much more to give. I’ve got so much to give these young people.’”
Laughter In Summer gets: 📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷/10.
Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Laughter In Summer [Streaming]
