JUNE 2019 A week before Val died we went into Boston for a procedure and got the word she likely only had a few days to live. In the hotel room, the night before the procedure, I asked her to sing some of the songs she used to sing when I was little. She didn’t like being recorded and was self-conscious about the way her voice sounded as her body was failing, and the failure of her liver made her a little foggy, but she was willing to let me record a little.

YEARS AGO These little clips are from a few years ago when Val was playing around with a friend’s recording equipment.