Just a note to say I'm putting samples of my instrumental compositions (many of them works-in-progress) up on Soundcloud here. :)

THIS WAR WILL LIBERATE US FROM OUR MYTHS: Songs from the Warehouse, Barn, & Other People's Bedrooms

If you like long-winded titles, that's not the only one you'll find on this album. :) It's a collection of 28 mostly ephemeral (and often extremely short) songs recorded between 2008-12 in such various places as a kitchen floor, a warehouse, a barn, a sick bed, the Chicago Public Library, and so on. Several songs were completely improvised (tracks 2, 4, 7, 10, 14, 20) and many more have never been performed.

Production values? Pretty low.
Intimacy and candor? Dizzyingly high.

And keep an ear out for Cockney workmen teasing each other, crickets doing their evening stuff, a toaster dinging, my dad giggling, and other goofy bits and pieces.

Please pay whatever you can afford. Price starts at $0.00. Just go to my albums page, click on 'Choose A Price' and type any number in, including 0.

Thank you for listening. I'm grateful for every person I can share songs with.

A new mini-album! A set of 5 songs inspired by postcards and photographs I found during an in-person visit to the Traverse City Historical Archives.
Download it on my albums page. It's free, or you can click on 'Choose Price' and type in a dollar amount to make a donation.
See below for more details about each song.




Nevermind is inspired by this photograph of a woman (written on the back is the year 1909) from the archives.

Maria Amelia is about a woman from East Prussia - one who features in several photographs in the collection, taken at various points in her life.

Dear Kid is based on a postcard in the collection. The lyrics are taken almost verbatim.

A Course In Poultry is based on multiple sources; a photograph of a group - the course in poultry for 9 weeks in Lansing that's mentioned at the beginning of the song - and a collection I put together of charmingly antique names while looking through the archives.

Green Sky (7 Glimpses) - a live improvisation at the organ while looking at my notes. Some of the images referred to in this song are here (looks like I got the words 'Shah-ske-ke-shirk' wrong when I read them out of my notebook!), here, here and here.

A fun art-director-in-the-round game I've been playing with friends for a few months. I just set up this blog for it. : )