I had a busy week. So alas, I wasn't again able to publish a new Pub Songs Podcast. My apologies. I do want to keep it weekly, but there's a lot to do.
Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion Arrived from the Printers
Yesterday, Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion arrived from the printers. I looked at the Kickstarter rewards and realized I had some items I still needed to procure to start mailing out CDs, including boxes for mailing. I think I have everything ordered tho. So I plan to start mailing out albums next week. That leaves just album commentary that I need to finish. Your albums should be coming soon!
Oh! And look above. You can finally see the CD cover designed by James McDaniel II of Celtophilia Tee Company.
The CD will go on sale digitally on the 30th of October, I believe. That means you can pre-order it on iTunes and Amazon for one month before it is officially released on St. Andrew's Day, November 30th. Will it go platinum on iTunes? Only time will tell. ;-P
A Celtic Christmas Update
A Celtic Christmas was also sent to the printers this past week. I've been working with the publicist to get all of the material together to send to the press, but I'm still waiting for those CDs to arrive.
Man, I have a lot of CDs in my garage!
In the meantime, I'm also ordering all of the stuff I need for that CD. I have the Christmas ornaments done. I still haven't ordered the Christmas cards yet. But I'm trying to get those as fast as I can. I confess, I'm kinda looking forward to mailing those to people this year. Amanda Carman did a beautiful job designing this album. So lush, cool and pretty. I can't wait.
New Store for the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast
While I was getting A Celtic Christmas up online, I also setup the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast store. I had a page dedicated to the podcast in my Celtic Music CD Store, but the new changes to the website and the thought that I should have a dedicated page led me to create one. Now it's a lot easier to not only sign up to Song Henge, but also get T-Shirts, compilations, stickers and eventually swag.
Best of all, it just makes me happy. Something about simplicity and cleanliness make it seem extra cool to me. I'm very happy about the store. If you want to support the podcast, check out the store now.
As a side note, I've been thinking about how to do the same with the Renaissance Festival Podcast. I don't do much with that website or show these days, outside of paying the bills for it, but I feel it needs one too. I just don't know what to sell in it, except for the Minions membership.
Gunns & Drums Has a New Website and a CD Nearing Completion
Charles Davis finished designing the album cover and graphics for How America Saved Irish Music. This is the new album from my duo Gunns & Drums. Look at that cover. Check out that logo. Chuck is a brilliant designer. I can't wait to get this CD out there. It won't officially go on sale until next year. I don't have a date yet.
I know. That sucks. The problem is that I really want to give this CD some much-deserved attention. If I have a release date of 2013, it won't get that. It'll be “old news” when 2014 comes around. It deserves to be heard.
This album is YEARS in the making. In fact, I'm not sure when I came up with the album title. I know I was brainstorming it with Jamie back in 2009, before we even had a band together. It took me a while to decide what to do with it and how to tell the story.
In case you didn't know, the album title is a rip on a book called How the Irish Saved Civilization. But the story is even more important.
Since I started playing Celtic music in 1999, I've run into a lot of problems with traditional Irish musicians because (a) I play an autoharp, (b) I sing some non-traditional Celtic songs, and (c) I sing Irish American songs too. Early on, I felt persecuted. It took me a while to ignore the naysayers and to realize what I do is in many ways more traditional than any of these trad musicians could claim.
Ask someone from Ireland where to hear traditional Irish music and 99 out of 100 times they will say, “No one plays that any more.” Ireland is packed full of people either living off American music or writing songs with a contemporary style. Some might even have a contemporary Celtic feel, but trad music…? It's tough to find.
Yes, if you're going on any big tour with CIE or what not, you'll find lots of traditional song and dance. But it's all a show. I went to the Merry Ploughboy and it was filled Clancy Brothers-style singers and Riverdance rip offs, complete with a stage that raised up in the middle of the “show”.
You see, the reason is, The Clancy Brothers and Riverdance, yes, they were both created by Irish folk, but they were made famous in America. Their style lives on because of America.
Even more interesting than that is “traditional Irish music”. Yes, the very folks who sat me down and lectured me about what was “Celtic music”, those people are playing trad tunes with American rhythms. Go watch the guitarist playing with any Celtic band. Again, the music style isn't Irish. It's American. Yes, the tunes on that fiddle or flute may be Irish, but the backing music…?
So when I started brainstorming this album How America Saved Irish Music, I decided to throw caution to the wind. I'm making no less a traditional album that most of these traditionalists. And that is awesome. Music changes. It morphs. It grows. Just like my musical style.
When I started, I played straight rhythms. Simple and elegant. Then I moved to New Orleans. I began incorporating jazz and blues into my autoharp-style… Yes. Autoharp. I created style that is all my own. I can honestly say that no one in the world sounds like me when I play. There are no other autoharpers doing what I do. That's awesome in itself. Add to it that I'm also fusing those jazz and blues rhythms on the autoharp with traditional Celtic songs…
But what makes it even MORE awesome is my music partner, Jamie Haeuser. Jamie plays bodhran, both straight and jazzy. And her vocals… Ahhhh! I've been singing with her for years, but it's the vocals that bring it home. Our dual vocals makes it a little like The Clancy Brothers, but Jamie may have Irish blood, but she grew up on the beautiful harmonies of bands in the 60s and 70s like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
And what harmonies. It's a true honor working with her. It adds SO much depth and a unique style to the songs we create. Yes, I've created a unique style with my autoharp and vocals, but with Jamie, our music is so much more!
I really can't wait to finish this album. It's nearly done too. The engineer is mastering the CD now. I should have a first draft next week and hopefully, it'll be off to the printers right after that. We hope to pre-release it at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival starting the first weekend of November. It will also be available through my Celtic Music CD Store once it arrives. But digital folks will have to wait…
Oh! And in preparation for our first gig with our debut album as Gunns & Drums, we also setup a brand new URL at GunnsAndDrums.com to be our new home online. Now we just need to start booking more shows!
Well, I think that's all the news for the past week or so. I'm finally catching up on emails. So if you've sent me a question or thought and I haven't responded yet, feel free to drop me another email.
Thanks so much for bending an ear this way.
Slainte!
Marc Gunn
