Contributed by Greg Wade
Little Blue Suitcase was a Mother-son acoustic duo from Alaska, that sang old favorites and originals. Patricia toted her music in a little blue suitcase for over 45 years, which inspired the name of our group and the title track of our one and only studio album. The music was recorded in 2008, but not released online until August 17, 2019, on what would’ve been my mom, Patricia's 74th birthday.
My name is Greg Wade. I'm Patricia Wade's firstborn. My beloved mother passed away in July of 2014 and she is missed more than words can express. I know she was so proud of this album. She'd tell me how much she enjoyed listening to it in her car as she traveled back and forth from Palmer to Anchorage. She especially liked playing it for her one and only little grandchild while driving her around.
Mom and I would sing together for fun from as far back as I can remember. It was always fairly brief and sometimes years in between, but definitely fun and enjoyable each time we had the chance to get together.
A few years before we decided to devote much time and energy to our "Little Blue Suitcase" duo, mom and I recorded several songs on my tape recorder, from song books she had created of old songs, especially used for our family sing-alongs from when I was a child. (and in hopes to help the kids in the Ya Ne Dah Ah School learn the songs better).
We recorded songs such as, "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore," "The Sound of Silence," "Cool Water" and "Puff, the Magic Dragon," just to name a few.
Back then I never imagined only a few years later we would actually work-up a good amount of songs and perform around at different venues, then go into the recording studio and record our own album. Those most certainly were big dreams come true.
From about 2006 to 2010, we had great fun performing our music at local venues in Anchorage, Wasilla and Palmer. Those are such special memories that I will cherish forever.
This album had been kept in storage for many years. But after much contemplation, the decision was made to finally put this CD online. I'd like to think mom is pleased and smiling real big to finally have our music out in the world.
I was so pleasantly surprised and very grateful to see that the CDBaby staff picked our CD as one of their favorites! You can find the CD here: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/littlebluesuitcase.
Thank you, everyone!
– Greg
In Loving Memory of My Wonderful Mother, Patricia Mae Wade
August 17, 1945 - July 31, 2014
