2023 will see the release of Heart Of Every Town, a double CD by Ad Vanderveen.

The album features ten new original songs in two different settings.

Disc 1: Church is based on acoustic guitar with church organ. 
Disc 2: Pub is based on electric guitar with band (The O’Neils’22)

Delving deeper into his musical ancestry for this project, Vanderveen, whose mother used to play the church organ, took his music to Church to explore the historical link between hymns and folk/country music.
Both musically and lyrically this went right to the core of a number of personal points of interest, as well as some developments going on in our society.
Around the world churches have become obsolete, their religion and heritage abandoned, at best converted into sites for other purposes, or simply demolished.
Vanderveen is quick to say he does not belong to any church, although he considers himself to be a religious person in the original sense of the word. 

“Religion is an individual and private matter, it means reconnection and that’s interesting because a lot of people seem to have a sense of being disconnected. The church brought on its own unpopularity by centuries of derailing and corruption, but there’s still a lot of lasting value to the sense of community it represents.” according to the singer-songwriter. “This is a matter that goes to my heart and undoubtedly not only mine”.
He further adds:
“A church is the heart of every town – all over the world – and I think this is something we should honor, despite the negative associations of nowadays.
Bringing art, music and poetry back there is all about giving joy and lifting the spirit, it has resulted in writing and recording these new songs, and hopefully will bring people together to enjoy concerts in these wonderful acoustics, eventually”. 

Also in the Heart Of Every Town – often next to the church – is, of course, the Pub. 
Says AV:
“Reuniting with old bandmates for a festival show in Germany last year we had such a great time that I immediately started hearing these songs played with an electric band as well. Playing loud electric music hadn’t been inspiring or sounding musical to me anymore in recent years, so I thought it was a thing of the past. But what do I know, it’s a thing made of magic and chemistry and when that happens it’s hard to turn it down. 
So we set out to one of our favorite pubs to play and record the same songs in a totally different setting, feel and energy.”

There will be those who prefer the songs in a serene, acoustic and more compact form and there will be those who like the rawer improvisational approach with electric band. Sometimes you may not even realize it’s the same songs, but it’s the same message with a completely different experience. 

Heart Of Every Town will be released March 3 2023.