This past Friday, Jefferson Starship released its first collection of new music in 12 years, Mother of the Sun.

While the band currently features only one original member — singer/multi-instrumentalist David Freiberg — the new seven-track EP boasts connections to several of the group’s famous alums and to Jefferson Starship forerunners Jefferson Airplane.

Notably, the record’s first single, “It’s About Time,” features lyrics written by former Starship/Airplane singer Grace Slick.

Freiberg tells ABC Audio that Slick’s participation in the track came about when current lead singer Cathy Richardson was visiting Grace and the two watched the Women’s March together in 2017.

David notes, “They came up with the idea that it would be [nice] to write a women’s anthem about women being given the power for a while, or, if it worked, forever.”

Slick agreed to write some lyrics for the tune and months later, as Freiberg recalls, she sent Cathy an envelope “with three pages of beautifully handwritten lyrics,” some of which were used for “It’s About Time.”

Mother of the Sun also includes “Don’t Be Sad Anymore,” a ballad that late Jefferson Starship and Airplane singer Marty Balin co-wrote with current Starship keyboardist Chris Smith that first appeared on Balin’s 2010 solo album, Blue Highway.

The new version is sung by Freiberg, who says, “[Marty’s] songs would always…bring great emotion to me. I always loved his singing, and it’s an honor to sing anything he wrote, anytime.”

Another track on the EP is guitarist Jude Cole‘s live electric reimagining of Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen‘s classic 1967 acoustic instrumental “Embryonic Journey.”

Freiberg tells ABC Audio that he recently texted his band mates to tell them, “I’ve never been…more proud of anything that I’ve done in my life [than] this album and this band.”

By Matt Friedlander
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