Be My cdbaby

Well blows me down, as Popeye would say, it's been a hectic week. Yes, week 3 has seen quite a bit of action....read on for action.....

ALBUM NOW AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE

Yes, it's taken me a long time but finally I have my album 'Lost In Love Town' signed up on cdbaby

This means that anyone anywhere can now purchase the album, and it's cheaper too! Many of you will have received an email about it this week, but to sumarise it's just $12.97 plus a bit for p&p and there's a 30% discount for buying 2 or more copies.

As well as hoping to sell a few copies, I'm also immediately struck by the increase in traffic on this site and on my soundclick page. A big thank you to Chris Breen for re-jigging the website front page to accomodate the new happenings.

All that now remains is to wait for the digital distribution companies (napster, msn, itunes etc..) to get their downloadable copies online. This is being handled by cdbaby too, so anyone who prefers the comfort of their mp3 player can then purchase the tunes too.

It's early days yet, but it's been such a thrill so far to get a response from people, all those who have been in touch-some I know some I now know! Thank you, and I really do appreciate it so much if anyone is willing to buy the album.


LIVE STUFF:

The live side of things is of course the other major way I'm promoting things. This week saw 2 shows, Dr Wu's as usual on Tuesday, and the aforementioned fully unplugged show at The Grove. Both are Leeds venues.

Dr Wu's on Tuesday saw the live debut of 2 new songs: 'Even' and 'Gods And Angels' are both going to be on the new album. The set was bookended with 'Whiskey Coloured World' and 'Cold Cold Day'.

There was a rather good band on before my set too. They were Go Cadenza who were extremely talented, and even seem to have mastered the art of promoting themselves on the channel 4 website! They also had a couple of loonies to deal with in the audience, who were luckily evicted by the bouncers before I came on. I have deep-seated fear of loonies, which comes from playing to almost exclusive loony audiences in my Working Men's Club days. By the way please don't run away with the idea that Dr Wu's is rough. Firstly because it isn't and secondly becasue I need you to support me when I play there!

The second show was on Wednesday night. The Grove is something of a cult venue in Leeds, as it's an old real ale pub surrounded by ultra-modern buildings. It's bang in the city centre but might as well be in the middle of nowhere, such is the initimate atmosphere generated by the small concert room!

As mentioned it was purely acoustic. That means NO PA, NO KEYBOARD and NO MICS! I played the rather out-of-tune piano and sung loudly over the top of it. It's such an intimate show that everyone does listen. There were literally people sat next to me, including a girl in a short skirt, which inspired concentration...her boyfriend bought a cd though, so I'm not complaining. I played 'Gods+Angels' and 'Cold Cold Day', and the former took on a rather spooky quality with it's emotive lyrics set to a honky tonk piano. To be honest, if they tune the piano it will be the best venue for me. The people listen to what you are doing, and appreciate the quirkiness and genuinity of acts such as mine. They appreciate good music, I hope, and this was reflected in the number of Cds sold, not bad for just a 2 song blast! There's also a definite 'vibe' there, and this is conducive to networking with other artisitic types-both fans and performers.


EP:
In the midst of all this I'm still finishing the EP. Only one song remains to be mixed, the finished tracks are wonferful. They sound so much fresher than the first album and I can't wait to get them released.

WHO IS THE MYSTERY GIRL SINGER???
I have already promoed one of the tracks on mixposure and soundclick. You can listen to and read reviews of 'Drinking My Way Down' here.
Many people are wondering who the singer is, one person even went so far as to accuse me of rudeness for not naming her! Well when the EP is finished I will be naming everyone who has been involved. The song is getting great reviews so far.


THIS WEEK:

I could go on, but I'll wrap things up by promoting this week's shows:
Tues 21st November:Dr Wu's-9pm
Wed 22nd November:The Grove-9pm

and, more importantly, Sat AFTERNOON 3pm: Dr Wu's, I will be supporting the GARY STEWART BAND with a 30 minute set. This is part of the venue's Acoustic Revolution shows. This will be featuring original material with copies of the album available. Note the unusual start-time: A chance to do some Christmas shopping and see some live music! Speaking of Christmas shopping, my album would make a wonderful present!

Time for the pub.