Tomorrow, my friend Manitoba Hal and I jump in the van and head off to Niagara Falls for the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals conference. We'll be stopping in Ottawa on the way and will be there in time for the fun to start on Thursday.
One of the CDs we'll have in the van with us will be a rough burn of my new album entitled Wires Rosewood & Roots. WR&R is a suite of 12 instrumental pieces for acoustic guitar and will be officially released in the not-too-distant future. Some of the songs are guitar solos and some have other instrumentation as well. The guitar will always be the focus and the other instruments will provide a little rounding out and a full rich sound.
The recording has been underway over the summer and in September, I connected with a new Lunenburg resident, David Findlay, to produce the album. David is a great producer who has been in the music and recording industry for many years. He brings playing talent to the record as well as production and has made a number of suggestions on how to arrange the songs to bring out the best in them.
We still have to mix Flea's Reel with some bass and percussion tracks laid down just yesterday by my friend Kev Corbett. Kev is a multi-instrumentalist sideguy, songwriter and performer who is one of the nominees for Music Nova Scotia's Musician Of The Year. It's an honour to have him on the record. We're also waiting on a cello part for Out of Work from another good friend Alyssa Wright who is my go-to "cello babe" (her description). She played on Returning Home and Come From Away as well
Although the music isn't complete yet, you can hear some of the rough mixes (the ones we'll be listening to on the road trip) at a hidden page on my website. Please give it a listen and let me know what you think. For the record, I do know that Flea's Reel isn't a reel. Reels are in 4/4 time and Flea's is in 9/8. It's more of a slip jig or maybe a swing waltz.
And if you're in Niagara Falls at the OCFF conference, I'll be playing at a guerilla showcase on Saturday night. Songwriters Unite are hosting a series of songwriter circles during the conference and your humble correspondent will be in the 2am-3am time slot on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Come on up to room 305 in the Marriott Gateway on the Falls and catch some great singer/songwriters as they strut and fret their hour.
It's a busy time for the next few weeks so in an agony of haste, off I go to start packing for OCFF.
Cheers, Bob
