Rockaway - Southern Border
This single, “Did I Make You Up” will be part of Rockaway’s next album, Southern Border, which will be released in January 2025. It is one of three songs that make up the ‘Suite for Carmelita’, a tribute to Larry Rifkin’s wife of 46 years. Larry is the songwriter for the entire collection on the first album, It’s Not My Circus and the upcoming album release. This song represents Rifkin’s sense of wonder at the strength of their almost 50-year relationship. The song speaks to the joy in finding the right woman and how the relationship has grown stronger over the years. With that is still a sense of amazement as to how he could be so lucky in love. It is sung and performed by Rifkin’s collaborator in Rockaway, Alasdair MacKenzie, the multi-instrumentalist and engineer, almost 50 years Rifkin’s junior.
The song, “Southern Border”, is the title track to the second album by the collaboration called Rockaway, which is the work of two men from different generations. The song expresses concern for the dehumanizing way immigrants are being described in our nation in this highly charged political season. Larry Rifkin writes the songs and Alasdair MacKenzie, musician/producer/engineer and member of the highly regarded group, Hush Club, brings them to life with his virtuosity of all instruments on the recording. Rifkin is 72 and MacKenzie is 26.
Their first album, It’s Not My Circus, independently released in January, 2024, received significant play on college radio stations across the country. Rifkin, like MacKenzie, was a political science major in college and maintains an interest in all things political as host and producer of his podcast, America Trends, in which he discusses emerging issues in our politics and society. The song, according to Rifkin, is the hardest driving rock song he has ever written and it comes to life in all sections, particularly the instrumental, in which MacKenzie wails on guitar and keys. Rifkin sings lead on the song and is accompanied vocally by MacKenzie. The new album will be released in January, 2025.
Larry Rifkin wrote the collection of songs on this album. A drummer throughout his life in bands in his home state of Connecticut, music has always been a passion for him. His career has been spent in all phases of broadcasting, as a television programming executive, whose claim to national attenton, was as the man who brought Barney the Dinosaur to PBS. His television credits include overseeing major PBS and public television musical specials with Carole King, Bobby Vinton, Celia Cruz, The British Invasion, Gene Pitney and more. Now 71 years old, Rifkin took up the keyboard in his mid-60’s so that he could translate his musical ideas into songs. He has also worked in radio as a disc jockey and talk show host and now hosts a podcast, America Trends, dealing with major social and politcal issues in America. He has also written a book about his career, titled “No Dead Air.” His collaboraton with Alasdair MacKenzie, a musical wunderkind, in his mid-20’s, in producing their first album, as Rockaway, titled “It’s Not My Circus” represents a unique coming together of two diverse talents. Rikin lends his voice to several of the tracks. Their second album collaboraton, again as Rockaway, titled “Southern Border”, will be released in January, 2025. Rikin sings lead on more of his songs on the second album.