QUARTZ RECORDINGS BRINGS VERMONT MUSICIAN SPENCER LEWIS' 1991 MASTERPIECE TO VINYL FOR THE FIRST TIME

Gardener's Rain — the Best-Selling Acoustic/New Age Album — Remastered and Reimagined After 35 Years

Spencer Lewis will be performing at the King Arthur Bakery Cafe on Thursday June 25th from 4-7PM.

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/visit/norwich-vt

BETHEL, VT — [DATE], 2026 — Quartz Recordings is proud to announce the vinyl release of Gardener's Rain, a landmark moment for Bethel, Vermont musician Spencer Lewis and the label's first-ever LP release. Originally released in 1991 as Lewis' first CD — following three cassette albums — Gardener's Rain now becomes the first of his 26 albums to be pressed on vinyl.

Lewis' celebrated recording catalog described as "music that paints the rural landscape and quiets the mind," has sold over 120,000 copies before the rise of streaming platforms. The album exemplifies Lewis' trademark sound: the precision of his Brazilian Rosewood Gurian J-B-3 steel-stringed guitar intertwined with the sustained elegance of the violin. Passages of solo guitar give way to soaring violin lines, while the title track introduces a synthesizer's soft, melodic harmonies — hallmarks of the new acoustic/new age wave that drew listeners worldwide toward independent artists and labels pioneered by William Ackerman's Windham Hill Records.

The album was originally produced in full analog form on an Otari ½" reel-to-reel tape deck Lewis acquired from Rooster Records (Barnard, VT)  in 1988. It was then mixed in Burlington, Vermont's White Crow Audio studio on their Neve 8068 MKII mixing board, which is now regarded as one of the finest vintage analog consoles ever made. For this release, the original mixes have been remastered using today's best recording techniques to eliminate unwanted frequencies. One notable addition: the title track has been newly remixed from the archived tape. Lewis long felt the original mix's ambient rain effect overwhelmed the guitar and synthesizer; the newly balanced version — streaming now as Gardener's Rain (2026) — completes a 35-year journey toward the album Lewis always envisioned.

The album's design has been reimagined by Hinesburg, Vermont musician and artist Pappy Biondo, building on the original 1991 artwork by David Powell — a visual artist, longtime Lewis collaborator, and graphic design professor from SUNY Plattsburgh whose storied career began with the cover art for the Allman Brothers Band's Eat a Peach.