Lucy Dacus' new video puts Richmond in the spotlight
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Every Richmonder knows this spot. Image: Courtesy of Lucy Dacus' "Planting Tomatoes" music video
Lucy Dacus just dropped a new self-directed music video for her latest song "Planting Tomatoes."
Why it matters: The video was shot entirely in Richmond and features some of the Grammy-winning singer's favorite local spots, per a news release.
State of play: Dacus released "Planting Tomatoes" as a standalone single in April.
- The song, Dacus' has said in interviews, is an "ode to the stuff of living," and "being present," including by growing things — specifically the Hanover tomatoes the artist grew in her youth in Mechanicsville.
- So perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that Dacus shot her new video in RVA, home of the Hanover tomato and this weekend's Hanover Tomato Festival.
Zoom in: The video opens with Dacus in the James (at Pony Pasture, per a news release) and includes scenes of her riding through Hollywood Cemetery, chilling at Dogwood Dell and hanging out at Earthfolk Collective, a local urban homesteading community.
- Also featured in the video: Her dad (Ben Dacus, who's driving in the Hollywood scenes), her friends and students from local youth performing arts group SPARC.
Fun fact: This isn't the first time SPARC students, or Richmond, have been featured in a music video.
- Fellow Grammy-winning singer and Mechanicsville native Jason Mraz included both in his 2018 "Have It All."
What's next: There will be a special screening of the video on July 30 at The Byrd Theatre, including a Q&A with Dacus moderated by SPARC's Paul Major.
- The event is sold out, but locals can join the waitlist.