December 13, 2024
We're just a couple days away from our first recording session at our home base studio, the place that we've called home as a band for going on 17 years now. In that room we've practiced, recorded, created, brainstormed, and maybe most of all, laughed riotously. In a sense, what we're attempting to do here is capture and preserve the best of that work for you to enjoy anytime you want instead of having to be at one of our rare public appearances.
In the olden days, just the base of songs we intend to record would have easily been a double album on vinyl. We've created and finished a lot of songs, many that we've “road-tightened” in rehearsals and on stage, others that we left a little raw for one reason or another. And there is an incredible wealth of iPhone voice memo recordings from rehearsals and creative moments on our own, holding seeds and saplings of a whole lot more music.
But, let's be real - the recording industry for us indie artists is pretty much a wasteland compared to even 10 years ago. None of us make any real money selling our albums or singles anymore; our relationship with music has been irrevocably changed by streaming. There's little hope of recouping recording costs through sales, and only the bands who are touring heavily are really generating enough revenue to offset it. That doesn't bode well for creating and producing great music going forward.
So why are we doing this? Firstly, because we can. We do have a studio at our disposal, and while recording costs money, it's a lot less for us than if we were having to go elsewhere.
Secondly, because we've made some good music and we are all burning to not only preserve it, but produce and present it in a format that can be enjoyed anytime and many years from now.
Although none of us are magically getting any younger, Les in particular is a goodly ways along the road of life. He's survived cancer, several major surgeries and countless other career-impacting injuries and conditions. In spite of that, he's feeling better than he has in a long while, and his wrist pain that kept him from playing banjo the last few years has disappeared. He's also been touring pretty hard with fellow founding Nitty Gritty Dirt Band member John McEuen since 2013, and let's just say that they are a long way from the teenagers who started the band. Their tours involve a lot of airports, hours of rental car drives (sometimes after a show to catch an early morning flight), load-ins and sound checks. It's rigorous for musicians half their age!
While the road and their fans are hugely supportive, their shows are centered around the Will the Circle Be Unbroken album and the early days of the NGDB. Our band has long been Les's primary creative outlet as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, singer and arranger. It feels fitting for his legacy that we record these songs he helped bring to life to the best of our ability while he's still in fine playing and singing form. There's no reason to wait, and lots of reasons why we shouldn't wait. We're all old enough to know that nothing in life is guaranteed, and thus no point letting procrastination have a seat at the table.
As to the what we're doing, that's a good question. What I know is we'll record all of the songs, and we'll capture a lot of video in the process. The songs will be available in some format or another when we're ready. We'll certainly chronicle that process on this blog, so please do follow along! We will definitely have an ongoing social media presence for the project, at least at Facebook, YouTube and perhaps Instagram and Blue Sky as well. When the time comes, we will have a crowdfunding campaign to help us get the music out there to the best of our ability too. We don't have a hard deadline, but we're hoping to get a lot done before spring.
What I believe is that we'll also create some new work along the way, and that's exciting. We intend to have some sort of release event at our hometown theater next November, and that would be filmed and recorded as well. We may make a film from the video footage in the studio. We may press some CDs; something to have artwork associated with the project. We may collaborate with some visual artists for certain songs. We'll certainly be pitching the music to film and TV as much as possible too. We're also open to other possibilities and ideas too, particularly from the people who are most “invested” in our art; our family, friends and fans who follow and support us.
We've learned enough in our time together in the music business that the landscape may again look a lot different next year. So first we make excellent recordings of our songs, and then figure other aspects out as we go.
Most of all, we're glad to have you along for the ride! You are always welcome to comment on our blog posts, and we'll try to approve all of them as quickly as we can. We're all grateful for your enthusiasm and support, and we're looking forward to making a lot of art in this coming year that you will enjoy time and time again.