Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to update you on my album, but before I do that, I wanted to let you know I have a new playing home! I will be at Charley's Other Brother in Eastampton, NJ (just above Mt. Holly) on Saturday evenings from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., starting this Saturday night (tonight!). There will be a few Saturdays that I am unable to make (including June 8 when I'm at Collingswood's Second Saturday), so be sure to check my website or send me an e-mail if you want to double check that I'm there. I have already played at Charley's several times, and feel welcomed by the owner, staff and customers - it's a good fit for me and my music! The keyboard is located at the front across from the bar, with lots of seating and small tables. Also, the music is piped into the restaurant area. So come early, sit with me for awhile and have a cocktail, then go in to the dining room & have a great dinner.
Now on to the album!
"My Red Car" is coming out soon. Final mixing and mastering took place this week, and it will be off to the manufacturer for design work and production in the next week or so. An artist friend in Boston is designing artwork for the cover - I wanted to make sure this album would stand out from my others, because it is not the expected solo piano. But here's a promo photo of me and the car:
I plan to have the album available on pre-release through iTunes by the end of June, allowing you to receive a track immediately, then a download of the full album on the release date, which will be at the beginning of August, as it looks now. A CD Release Party will be held in the Fall, and I will be looking to arrange this event with all of the wonderful musicians who helped me on this project, so it will definitely be an event!
Now to the album itself. This will be a 2 CD set, with the main structure and vocal selections on the first CD. The second CD will be bonus instrumental tracks of the vocal music, but with me playing flute/piccolo instead of singing. Sometimes you just want to listen to music, not a voice, and this allows you to do that.
The music itself is why I'm doing this CD. It all started with an idea I had for a song (My Red Car), based on a true story (mine), and the same day I was given a ukelele from my friend (& lyricist) Nancy. So that was the start of the journey.
This began a year of collaboration with Nancy, writing music to her words, giving her ideas of several songs which she turned into song lyrics for me, and also doing a few words myself. The result was some strong ballads like "If Ever Such a Day", a waltz called "Lore's Song" about someone going through hard times, "Movin' Ahead" which in my mind seems to be a bit inspired by Carole King (but you decide!), the very lyrical "On Nights Like These", and a blues piece "Quicksand Conversation".
There are 3 ukelele songs (the others have piano, of course!) on the album - the catchy "My Red Car", a bittersweet tune called "You Never Asked My Middle Name", and a cover of "Dream a Little Dream of Me". Also there are 3 instrumental numbers on the main album. One is called "Night Stoll", a cool jazzy piece that had been running in my head for several years. Putting it on the album forced me to find a way to put an ending on the tune! There is a beautiful cover of Merle Saunder's "Sunrise Over Haleakala" (piano with a beautiful cello part played by Michael Ronstadt), and a solo piano cover of the Garcia/Hunter tune Brokedown Palace.
So the music became an album - a wide-ranging album. My first step was to call in my sound engineer Michael Richelle, to plan out how to go about this. I knew some songs could use violin, guitar & drums, but when I heard Michael Ronstadt play cello at a coffee house, I thought he would really fit with my music. So I sent him some of the music, he agreed to play, and we set up some studio time with bassist Dan Bacon and drummer/percussionist Russell Gellman. This was a great 3 days, and the creative input of everyone as these songs developed, and the pure joy of spending time in the studio with musicians you click with, was a real treat. (I might add that after every session, and sometimes during the session, someone would either start humming the music, or whistling. I look at that as a good sign!)
As the arrangements developed, Michael's cello really became a key part of this album, and he's even doing some blues riffs in "Quicksand". What was a singer-songwriter album with a bit of violin, bass & drums added to it, became a full-fledged acoustic album, with Michael volunteering to do string arrangements. We had Janet Marquardt lay down the violin tracks, and also do a nice solo in "Lore's Song", and to top off the whole project, Jack Prucella (the guitarist in my flute duo) came in and did two wonderful acoustic guitar solos in "If Ever Such a Day" and "Quicksand Conversation".
What I thought last year was a very slow year for me as a working musician, morphed into this amazing project. Hopefully other people will like it too, but what is important to me is the music and the amazing journey it has taken me on this year.
As soon as the project is up on iTunes, I'll send out an e-mail blast, and also will have the music playing at my website. As you can probably guess, this has been a much bigger venture financially than I was originally planning on. The amazing thing is, that at the very time I arranged the first 3 days in the studio with the other musicians, I started to get some unexpected playing and accompanying jobs through the Marian Anderson Guild. These jobs, along with another unnamed backer, allowed me to continue with more sessions in the studio, at a time when I would have had to postpone the project to get caught up financially. I am very thankful to them - this allowed me to continue straight through with the album, without having to develop a Kickstarter campaign on top of everything else. I could just concentrate on the album and the music.
I will however give you an opportunity to join in if you want. I have T-shirts which have only been available at my live gigs, of the music note/hummingbird logo that can be found on my albums. These T-shirts are available for $15, including shipping & tax, by sending a check or money order payable to LGC Productions LLC, P.O. Box 1612, Merchantville, NJ 08109. Be sure to list style - Unisex, V-neck ladies, Youth - and Size S, M L, XL. **If you want the cactus green unisex, I have just a limited number left and can't re-order that color, so send me an e-mail on that to check availability.** After the green runs out, they will be grey like the others.
Here's a picture:
And one last package available, When the artwork is finalized I will be doing T-shirts of the album cover of "My Red Car". For $30 (including shipping & tax) you will receive the Red Car T-shirt in about 3 - 4 weeks, and also a personal signed copy of the "My Red Car" double CD when it is released in August. Again, orders can be sent to my Merchantville P.O. Box. Be sure to include your name, address, size, style of shirt, and e-mail or phone number so I can contact you if I have any questions.
Thanks for all of your support, and I hope to see some of you at Charley's Other Brother soon!
Take care,
Lore Constantine