VIDEO: Mike Block Shares Video For 'If I Can Help It'

Mike Block has shared a video for the song "If I Can Help It" today via Apple Music, featured on the final of three full-length albums the composer, singer, educator, and celebrated cello player released in 2020 via Bright Shiny Things, entitled The Edge of the Atmosphere. Drawing to a close, this difficult, tragic, inspiring and exhausting year.

Watch the video!

Discussing the song & video, Block stated, "'If I Can Help It' is about the moment when one is just getting out of a bad relationship, whether romantic or professional. We've all been there, and there is such a huge relief that comes when one can suddenly feel optimistic for the future again, empowered to fulfill your dreams. I like singing this song because it serves as my own self-motivation speech to help avoid getting stuck in a similar unhealthy relationship again... at least, if I can help it."

Along with Saturday Morning in Boston, which Block recorded with Derek Gripper and Salif Keita, and last Autumn's Walls Of Time, Block has released five albums worth of material in just over a year, covering a wide breadth of genres, with a mastery of composition and performance, leading American Songwriter to state, "Mike Block exemplifies true musicianship."

Somehow during all of this, Block was inspired to launch a campaign called Play For The Vote, mobilizing musicians across the United States to perform on Election Day, with the goal of increasing voter turnout. Co-produced with Silkroad and the American Repertory Theater, the initiative signed up over 500 artists, yearning to both perform in public, during this time of continued COVID lockdowns, and support our endangered democracy. The campaign was caught the attention of local news media outlets across country, from the Associated Press to Scripps National News, and all the major affiliates.

A GRAMMY Award winner with the Silk Road Ensemble, Block studied and trained in the classical world at The Juilliard School and Cleveland Institute of Music, but his curiosity and imagination as a musician knows no bounds or borders. Yo-Yo Ma has hailed Block, as the "ideal musician of the 21st-Century." The New York Times praised Block for his "vital rich-hued solo playing."

Mike has also collaborated in performance and recordings with Stevie Wonder, Bon Iver, St. Vincent, The National, Will.i.am, The New York Philharmonic, Bobby McFerrin, Allison Krauss, Mark O'Connor, Edgar Meyer, Mike Marshall, Julian Lage, Rhiannon Giddens, Sierra Hull, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan, Natalia McMaster, Bruce Molsky, Darol Anger, Zakir Hussain, and Rachel Pine, amongst others.

Photo Credit: Todd Rosenberg

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