31st, December 2006

Well 2006 is almost over and for me it's been a very good year. I've appeared in new venues, and states. Up here on Lake Burton in the beautiful mountains of Northeast Georgia, it has rained all day and sometimes quite hard. This county, so I'm told, receives more rainfall than any other in the U.S. At around 85" per year I can believe it.
I have two more weeks at the Beef Baron in Baldwin then I'll knuckle down to some concentrated recording time. In February I head out (via Dallas)to Red River and hopefully to Pimentels to pick up the new instrument. R.R. seems to be getting a good bit of snow right now and I hope it lasts for I'm looking forward to doing some snow shoeing and maybe another try at cross country skiing.
I wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year.

My new years resolution.... To get two new albums out in the new year.....

Recording

This past week I have spent most of my time recording. After learning much about the workings of the Roland 2480, I think I'm ready for some serious work. Today I arranged to have a Neumann U-87 delivered. Hopefully this will enable me to get a better vocal sound. The SM-81's do a good job of recording acoustic guitar. I'm also learning my way around the Cort fretless bass. So far I have not cheated by taping markers on the neck. After starting work it became obvious that this album would be in the folk vein and 99% acoustic. I like that. Almost time to start thinking about a title...

Third Solo Album

I've spent nearly all week writing and attempting to arrange new songs. I hope to start recording on Monday. Once again this next one will be nothing like it's predecessors. I don't know if that's good or bad. We shall soon see.
Tomorrow I'm at the Beef Baron and Saturday at Chickasaw Point, South Carolina, on Lake Hartwell.

cdbaby.com

I have been in the music business for a long time, and I mean a long time........ So much has changed, some for better and some for worse. Let's just talk about the better stuff. Today digital recording has put the creativity back in the hands of the artist, which is where it should have been all along. Monster record labels do not hold all the aces, and they can see their sales slumping. They seem to think it's due to piracy and maybe some is, but I happen to think it's mostly due to the fact that they are driven almost entirely by dollars and originality has slipped by the wayside. My twenty two year old son agrees. Today almost anyone can make an album, and if they write their own music the large record companies are left out of the loop. No royalties for them to collect. When it comes to marketing, once again technology and entrepreneurship have left the big companies high and dry. This is where sites like cdbaby.com come into the equation. They don't discriminate against anyone. All a musician or vocalist has to do is produce the music and send it to them. It's almost immediately available worldwide. This lets the public decide where they want to spend their hard earned money. When artistic endeavors are considered, success is not measured by the amount of sales but by personal satisfaction and accomplishment. Once again this makes these independent products quite different. cdbaby.com is just one company, and I'm sure there are others but you owe it to yourself to lend an ear to these hardworking independent musicians.

Sam and the squirrel.

I just came across this picture and thought you would enjoy it. We had collected pecan nuts from the garden in this little white basket. It was discovered by a cheeky squirrel and he is seen checking out his haul. All this activity is being observed very intently by my very best friend Sam the cat. After seventeen years Sam is no longer with us, but the squirrel and his many offspring still reside in the yard.

Stepp DG1 digital guitar.

I understand that this is quite a rare instrument. I flew to the NAMM show in Chicago about 15 years ago to check out the Synthaxe digital guitar and while there met a gentleman called Glenn Thomas. He was the agent for the Stepp dg1. We arranged for him to ship one to me on approval, which he did. It is a very interesting instrument and there are two different sets of strings on it. The ones that are strummed are not connected to the ones that are used to define notes and chords etc. The digital synth is built into the stand to which it is connected by a thick cord.
I still have it, although the synthesiser part has not worked for a long time. Recently I located a place in England that provides service and has spare parts. Of course I will have it repaired and hope to use it once more. When in tune mode, lights flash up and down the neck. This always caused a quite a stir.

Pimentel Guitars, Albuquerque, N.M.

The weekend is here once more. I can't believe it's December and almost Christmas. This year seems to have evaporated...
The Pimentel guitar I ordered last June should be ready in the next couple of months. I'm trying to coincide my winter visit to Red River with a trip to pick up the guitar. It's my third handmade Pimentel and they are all so different. The latest one is a nylon strung jazz guitar with a one and 3/4" fretboard. It has two offset sound holes, and in the middle of the rosette will be a Coyote with a yellow moon in the background. I'm still trying to decide on the colour of the body but I'm leaning towards an orange. Pimentels are my favourite guitars and many years ago at Philmont Scout Ranch someone loaned me a Pimentel student model. I was so taken with the tone I decided I must have one. Well, one thing leads to another and so on...and so on.
It's 3:00pm and time to sort out equipment for the Beef Baron. Have a great weekend.