What you have here is a project started in 2011 as an archival sort of a thing. I simply wanted to get a whole pile of my songs, culled from 50 years, into a clean, stable, and consolidated format. But that was asking either too much or too little. For sure it was asking the wrong amount.
Thanks largely to my dear friend Kimbo, the whole thing started to be taken more seriously. As his faith in the songs grew, my faith in them returned. A rekindling occurred. I became more critical while rediscovering the absolute love of doing what I probably do best and had unwittingly managed to slip away from. Archival morphed into the recordings I’m sending you now.
I found old melodies with sophomoric lyrics to redeploy (okay- I didn’t take out all the teen angst). And living face to face with a chronically expanding project, I found myself writing still more songs (my business model has always been: when sales are slow, increase inventory).
Writing got ramped up . . .and once more I had to concede that writing songs, as easily as they come sometimes, is about as far from a casual relationship as I get. The imperative of turning up the right word and note took a little more work than it used to. Thank you Karl and Isabelle for always being a force against laziness.
If you would like more copies of this stuff (I hope they will make good gifts for your friends and families), I have ‘em. I haven’t set up a system for taking credit cards for these; in the meantime, personnel checks are still valid tender around here – I hope this isn’t an inconvenience. Two Flavors, One Cone is $18. Ninety Ninth Monkey is $10. I’ll send you both for $25. I’ll cover shipping; just give me an address. This music is also available on numerous Internet suppliers, if you want either bits and pieces, music without graphics, or your last CD player has gone belly up. So you can check me out on CDBaby.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes.
AND – I’m thinking that it is time to start gigging again. We have such a good time at the few standing gigs I have been doing that, yeah, I could see doing some more. In fact, I’d LOVE doing more. If you have, or know of, a going venue that could use another troubadour, let’s talk (although I’m not sure I have the youth required for non-listening bars!)
In closing, I have been truly blessed (an expression I do not use lightly) with the ongoing support of you all, the first wave of receivers. I am proud of these recordings, and I am honored to have you in my life. Now stop reading and start listening–and don’t feel you need to be shy with the volume.
P.S. Another CD (working title Gravity Feed) is in the works. It will have “67 Billboards”, “Say It With Flowers” (featuring Ann Kerstetter and John Sweeney) , “NovaScotia Fiddle”, “An Alternative to Blue”, and a whole mess of other songs as well.