Hey how’s it goin’? the newsletter

A Tell You What! Studios Newsletter

Welcome to issue no. 13 of “hey how’s it goin’?”
Podcast news, music related recommendations, and the scribblings of a mixed up music nerd.

Episode 61: Twisted Pine. Another one recorded in the friendly confines of the legendary Prowler trailer, this time on the grounds of the Green Mountain Bluegrass and Roots Festival in Vermont.

Twisted Pine are a fascinating four piece band, bluegrass foundations but their music spans mutiple genres, it is a unique blend of many threads that oozes boundless energy, and they are masters of their instruments. This was a fun and insightful conversation with all four members of the band.

The members of Twisted Pine absconding with all my merch after a great conversation in the Prowler.

Do you like live music? Do you like animals? I’m not sure if animals like you particularly, but it turns out animals like live music. See here.

If you enjoyed that as much as I did, check out the musician’s IG for more, @plumesofficial, and when he has won your heart watch the clips where he gets to perform with Green Day. (Hat tip to my DelFest brother Matt B for sending this along).

Need another music documentary to get you to the other side of whatever? The new Springsteen movie Road Diary is a good one. We get a great look at Bruce the performer, and the magic he has brought us on stage for the last 50 years. We see how he has kept that magic alive through the decades, and also how he has evolved as a performer. Included are some great live clips illustrating the collective joy of his audiences.

I was drawn in right at the beginning of this one, as the opening scenes of the band’s rehearsals for Bruce’s recent tour take place in the very space I first saw Bruce perform, in my hometown of Red Bank NJ at what was then The Carlton Theater. It was 1977, we had tickets to see Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Johnny was sick, so his pal Bruce filled in for him and it was quite a night.

I started to write an essay about the life of the touring musician- the ones who are out there grinding out a life on the road, trying to make a living in a difficult business. I got distracted by another idea, so stay tuned for this topic to perhaps appear in more depth in a future newsletter.

But since it is year-end, I wanted to nudge us all to consider the artists who bring us such joy with their music all year long, and suggest ways to be supportive. Reallocate some of that money we used to spend buying their records, some of which now goes to the corporate overlords of the digital age via streaming, only a small fraction of which makes it way to the artists themselves.

Here are a few ideas:

Patreon: This might be the best way to support artists in the Americana/roots/folk world. It is a subscription type deal, you pledge a small amount per month to an artist, sometimes levels of $1/month are available. In return you may get unique exposure to the artist’s work, via blog posts, early access to music, archival stuff, special online events, etc.

Most importantly you offer the artists a sustaining revenue source that gives them a bit of stability in an industry known for its volatility. Visit the artist’s website and there will be a link to their Patreon program if they have one. If you support multiple artists, each month the Patreon organization makes one charge to your credit card and distributes it to the various artists and gives you a breakdown on the contributions. You can adjust/cancel at any time.

Merch: Many artists have really great merch selections these days, their websites offer shipping. Often surprising, fun, creative offerings.

Shows: Obviously going to the concerts is direct support. And awesome! Bring friends! Also consider checking out your favorite artists tour schedules and recommend your friends in other cities check them out. Buy them tickets as a gift.

In person merch: When you go to the shows, buy something! Maybe you don’t wear band t-shirts or have a record player. But most bands have small items-stickers, CD’s, etc at low price points. Consider this like tipping the band for a good show-a chance to throw a few extra dollars at them directly: grab a sticker or a cd, and put $10 in the bucket or their venmos, this is much appreciated.

Many artists also enjoy connecting with their audience after a show; stopping at the merch table allows for some (brief! people are waiting behind you!) personal interaction.

If you sign up for an artist’s email newsletters, sometimes they will offer other ways to support them-some offer handwritten copies of lyrics to their songs, guitar lessons, all manner of things. Getting their newsletters also gives you advance notice of their touring schedule and any other interesting projects they are up to. You can sign up at shows or at their websites.

This one sounds like giving in, but I have been told it matters-if you are on spotify or its equivalent, and artists you follow have music being released soon, you can “pre-save” it-this means it will automatically be added to your library when it is released. But it also means the algorithm finds out that people are looking forward to this release and the music will have a better chance at landing on key playlists and getting suggested to others, so you are basically helping to spread the word on your favorite artists.

And now it is time for my annual last minute gift suggestion that supports a working artist that I happen know quite well. Our daughter Lucy offers voice lessons as well as songwriting lessons via Zoom; a good number of my music friends are very satisfied students of Lucy’s.

In fact I have a session scheduled with her tomorrow.

Lucy is a gifted teacher as well as a talented musician. She works with folks of all skill levels, absolute beginners who want to discover (or re-discover) the joys of singing are some of her favorite clients. She can be found at lucyclabby.com.

I recently went to a gathering at a friend’s house, a “records” party-we were invited to bring along a vinyl album or two that was important to us or interesting in some way. Guests took turns playing their selections, often prefaced by a brief explanation of why they were playing the record-maybe it resonated from a particular part of their life, or the record is an all time favorite for certain reasons, or they thought others might “need to hear it”.

It was great fun, I heard some new (to me) music and listened in new ways to albums I was already familiar with.

You should try it-all you need are a couple of music nerd friends, one with a turntable. It helps if, as in our case, the host has a large personal record collection; this offered guests a way to play and discuss records from their past that have slipped from their grasp. (The bulk of my lifetime collection was distributed to the winds a few years back, into the hands of our children, friends, neighbors, and estate sale customers.)

Remember albums? Those cardboard containers with the magic vinyl inside, great art on the front, actual words printed on the back, sometimes paragraphs, notes about who played on the songs, who wrote them, who produced and engineered the project.

Sometimes they folded open, with more delightful art and information on the inside, maybe printed lyrics, and these also made for a great surface upon which to clean your weed (I am told).

The ritual of selecting the record to play, which side?, placing it on the turntable and perhaps remembering to clean it, the drop of the needle leading to the scratchy first sounds as it first hits the vinyl, a couple seconds of beautiful silent anticipation, and then whoosh off we go.

One song ends, and your brain is already anticipating the opening notes of the next cut. When the side is over, do you flip it or play something else? (Please don’t tell me you played the same side again.)

I realize that vinyl is “back”, it is great to see that most artists are at least attempting to get their music onto records again and folks are buying them; but most of us are still consuming our music primarily in digital forms. And those digital forms have changed the approach a lot of artists take to producing and distributing their music, the algorithms demand product, and artists are releasing single songs all along the way. By the time an album is released there may be already 4 or 5 of the songs already out in the world.

Have we lost the concept of the album as a cohesive piece of art?

From the artist’s perspective, I don’t think so. Many of the musicians I talk with on the podcast certainly think of their albums as complete works. They talk of themes running through the collections of songs from lyrical standpoints, certain tones or sounds that are consistent in the productions and arrangements. The songs often were written in a certain time period and as such represent reactions to or reflections on events both personal and public from that period. They bring in particular producers whose skill sets or previous work indicate they will match up well with particular batches of songs.

What I am afraid has been lost is our patience and our ability to focus as listeners.

We listen to curated playlists, create our own playlists, listen to the new single as it comes out, jump around as other songs and artists are suggested to us by the machines.

As a result we neglect to give these works the time and attention they deserve, to appreciate them as complete listens. To realize that the artist has spent a lot of time on sequencing the songs a certain way (damn you spotify and your incessant randomizing!). To hear songs call back to one another from various places on the album, both lyrically and musically. To appreciate the variety of sounds, rhythms, instruments, forms and tempos that provide novelty yet still somehow “belong” in that curated collection that is the album.

So let’s honor the time, effort and craftsmanship of these amazing artists who are, still, thoughtfully producing collections of their work; these are complete packages meant to be consumed as a whole.

Find the time to spend with them-car rides are great, walks, cooking time, record listening parties!

Give yourself the gift of being led on the entire journey, wonderful discoveries await.

Bonus content! Here are a few albums that I find myself going back to often, to listen all the way through, not necessarily to hear particular songs, but to enjoy the entire experience.

Beck: Morning Phase, Guero
R.E.M.: Reckoning
Tame Impala: Currents
Wilco: Summerteeth
The National: Trouble Will Find Me
Teenage Fanclub: Bandwagonesque

What are some of yours? Reply with some ideas.

Thanks for reading this issue of hey how’s it goin? the newsletter. I encourage you to forward this along to anyone who might find it interesting. Was this forwarded to you? You can subscribe here.

Check out our spotify playlist Pork Chop Happy Hour, updated frequently with new music I come across that catches my attention.

Please drop me an email (just hit “reply”) with any thoughts, ideas, questions, complaints (not really). If you dare to include a mailing address, I will send along a fabulous Tell You What! sticker or two, no questions asked. Postcards always welcome (and encouraged as creative acts) at our address below.

music is the best!

Mike

Look in the paper, don’t blame me if the guy’s a nut.