In 1967, singer, composer, and all-around American renaissance woman
Anita Kerr was operating out of Los Angeles. In addition to forming a new version of her vocal group
the Anita Kerr Singers, writing and recording jingles for radio and television, and working as the choral director for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, she began a new collaboration with poet and songwriter
Rod McKuen on an instrumental/spoken word LP called
The Sea. With
McKuen's supple voice providing romantic meditations on the natural world and
Kerr acting as composer, arranger, and conductor to a studio orchestra that would be credited as
the San Sebastian Strings,
The Sea and its successors The Earth (1967) and The Sky (1968) were quintessential volumes in the late-'60s easy listening movement. Under
Kerr's direction,
the San Sebastian Strings would provide the musical landscape to
McKuen's musings on over a dozen more releases before the partnership ended in 1975. ~ Timothy Monger