100% of proceeds from October downloads will benefit SIP Certified/The Vineyard Team
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif—October 1, 2015 — Today, San Luis Obispo band Fialta releases a cover of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” to iTunes. During the month of October, 100% of net proceeds will benefit The Vineyard Team, a local non-profit organization. (Available online at https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/harvest-moon-single/id1041052614&app=itunes)
The Vineyard Team is the organization behind SIP Certified, the rigorous, third-party designation which verifies that wines and vineyards have been attended to with sustainable best practices, from water monitoring and soil health to employee care. Through The Vineyard Team, more than 1.75 million cases and 34,000 acres of vineyards have been SIP Certified to date.
Fialta says that despite much negativity surrounding the drought, the band is inspired by the passion and care of the local winegrowing and winemaking community, and by the hard work The Vineyard Team is doing to promote healthy vineyards and quality wines.
In celebration of the harvest season and the central coast wine industry, Fialta will accompany the single with a music video featuring local winemaking and vineyard footage. Most of the video was shot at Claiborne & Churchill Winery in the Edna Valley. It includes footage of picking crews in the midst of night-harvesting.
While the band has recorded and released a full-length original album, this is the first cover song Fialta has made available to the public. “We’re huge Neil Young fans,” said member Beth Clements. “We’ve been playing this cover for awhile live. Then, one night this last spring, Neil showed up in SLO for a secret show. We all went together and saw one of our musical heroes in our favorite local venue for a few dollars. It was incredible.” Soon after, Fialta planned to record and release the track.
According to band member David Provenzano, what also inspired them during the show was hearing Young address his concerns about the environment, particularly those impacting farming and the challenges faced by our food system in America. “We love that he is going for it. Back in the 60s and 70s, musicians had a lot of fight in them. And he’s still doing that. Now we feel like we have an opportunity to give homage to this music legend as we raise awareness and funding for something important to us.” At the top of Fialta’s list are water conservation, soil health, and the fair, safe treatment of workers, all of which are carefully monitored through the Vineyard Team’s SIP Certification program.
This release is not the first time Fialta has been connected to the sustainable food movement. Least year, their original track “Sleepy Time” was featured in Chipotle’s sponsorship ad for the PBS show Food Forward, a program that highlights stories about the innovative, positive strides currently being made in agriculture.
Looking ahead, the band has a sense of optimism about what many local business owners and farmers in the central coast community have already been doing for a long time. Fialta member Michael Leibovich said, “With the assistance of The Vineyard Team, farmers and winemakers are making and showcasing sacrifices that benefit us all. Sacrifices that will ensure that our local industry continues to thrive for many years, and that will help the Central Coast to remain the healthy, beautiful place we all love.”
To preview or purchase Fialta’s single “Harvest Moon,” visit the iTunes store.
About Fialta (fialtamusic.com)
Self-described as democratic collective of songwriters, Fialta is a four-piece band from San Luis Obispo. They have come to describe their sound as Central Coast Indie Pop, a genre they dotingly created for their sun-drenched, winter-dreading, narrative sensibilities, honed as much by a love of poetry, fication, and film as by the landscape of their beloved town, San Luis Obispo. Fialta released their debut full length album, Summer Winter, in 2013, and recently finished recording their second album, to be released in 2016.
About SIP Certified / The Vineyard Team (vineyardteam.org)
The Vineyard Team is a 501c3 non-profit grower-group dedicated to sustainable winegrowing since 1994. Supporters have increased the adoption of environmentally friendly farming practices, measured by over a decade of data collection and research. The Vineyard Team’s growers regularly share their farming knowledge with others through a robust grower- to-grower outreach program. As a result of The Vineyard Team’s field and educational programs, growers reduce erosion and pesticide use, protect water quality, improve biologic diversity, and honor their workers.