Yes, it’s underway! Actually, it has been underway for a while now, but various events have stepped between me and the target of a new recording. I have a few songs recorded, and am finishing up writing a few more. I am perhaps my own worst critic, like most of us. I have to really love the stuff I write before I’m willing to go public with it, and I have to trust it’s a whole song, saying what I’d really like to say, rather than being so personal or esoteric that it doesn’t carry much meaning for anyone else. It’s a fine line.
The new record is so far all original material and holds some old-timey stuff, which I’m loving these days. This past year I’ve been playing with old-time banjo luminary Tom MacKenzie, and have backed up Appalachian clogger Ann Whiting, among other great old-time experiences, so it’s on my mind and under my fingers these days. This recording is a blend of that genre with my own sound: bluegrassy, new-grassy, folk pop, swing, and Celtic-infused. I’ve also been playing and writing a lot more instrumental stuff — tunes — so those are creeping in as well. I borrowed a gorgeous melody from Pat Donohue and wrote words to it, and that one will be there. There’s a song I wrote for Vermont Stage Company’s Winter Tales 2008 called “Into This Night.” An eerie mining disaster ballad from Telluride, an up-tempo swing tune about a flower I met in Virginia. And as usual, I’ll be arm-twisting a roster of topshelf players to make me sound great.
I’m hoping for an early fall release date. Stay close by for updates! And thanks, as always, for your support of independent, local artists and the venues and radio stations who also lend us a hand.
