Music in the time of COVID

For many musicians (category: non-essential) it meant both desolation and opportunity. Venue closures and travel restrictions saw calendars wiped and plans shelved. Three musicians – Keith Jeffery of Atlas Genius, Laura Hill of Lilac Cove and Sasha March – shared their stories of what it’s meant to be a musician in the time of COVID.

After eight years in America, Victor Harbor-born Keith Jeffery was already back in South Australia when conversations started to turn more frequently to daily infection tallies. He’d spent January and February with his brothers and Atlas Genius bandmates, Steven and Michael, recording a new album. On the March morning he landed back in his homebase of Los Angeles, California’s governor announced a shelter-in-place order which remains in place to this day. A week later, he was on a plane back to Australia.

‘I think