Well, it’s been quite a bit since I posted here. It’s time I put this space back to work so expect a bit more in the days ahead. But not too much more.
I wouldn’t want to get your hopes up.
After keeping an eye out for some time, I’ve finally found…The Producer. Joseph Camann and I had been kicking around playing together and once I saw his sound engineering and producing chops, I had a hunch he might be the guy I was looking for. I sent him a phone recording of me, my guitar, my harmonica and he wove a spell out of it. So that cemented it and we’re now collaborating. I’m hiring him to produce the songs for my long overdue solo album, BACK INTO THE LAND OF LIVING. And we’re also collaborating on some instrumental and nerd tribute music as Camann & Scholes. I expect we’ll also gig together once in a while.
We had lunch a few months back and I dropped by his home studio. We recorded my vocals and guitar and left it in his care. After he worked his musical magic, here it is! You can listen below but you can also find it on most of the streaming platforms.
The song is about twenty years old and wasn’t captured in my live recording from the Village Inn Lounge. But I’ve always liked the lyrics and I especially love the line “I believe that our love can define our success.” So I’ll likely grab it for LIVE AT THE ROSE CITY BOOK PUB when we record my show this summer. My plan is to release live shows until all of my original music is published. Then follow up with studio versions. We’ve already started on the next. I’ve laid down the guitar, vocals and harmonica for “Look What We Made” in a recording retreat at Scholes Cathedral and Joseph is working on it. Once it’s ready, it’ll go out to most of the streaming platforms.
On the other side of things: Live music is back. I’m back at the Rose City Book Pub every other month. I’m playing several Farmer’s Markets…just wrapped a three hour gig at Cowlitz Community Farmer’s Market earlier today. And I’m starting to line up fair gigs.
On my non-parenting weekends, my joy is to wander about doing these sorts of things.
So if you’re in the Pacific Northwest and would like to catch my music or hear me speak, help bring it to your area. I’m especially interested in rural spaces but am pretty mobile. A weekend in your area could involve music at a bar, grange, church or market, a talk at your library or school, a writing class or (gulp) a talk about me and my C-PTSD and what I’ve learned along the way. I try to find three things to do. So reach out. We can kick around ideas. The best way to do that is to friend me on FB (and send a note with the request saying something so I know you’re not a writerspambot just adding numbers to your A game. It used to be mutual friends was enough but it isn’t anymore. And if you’re not a FBer, then contact me through the website. I’m building out my schedule for the next six months or so.
And before I wrap up, I should probably mention that I have stories that will be out in the world in the near future. And I’m writing more stories. Including one featuring Isaak and set about five years after HYMN. It’s nice that the requests come in slowly. It’s letting me focus on building up these other areas of my overall business plan.
Oh! And Audible has renewed their license with the Psalms of Isaak for another decade, which pleases me to no end. If you haven’t listened to it yet, give it a try!
There some updating, some shameless self promotion, and that’s all for now!
Trailer Boy has left the keyboard.