We Have Liftoff! Corn Potato String Band Volume Two Is Officially Here
Greetings from New Orleans,
I arrived here last night after spending two nights in Nashville. I write to you now from Roochie Toochie HQ, where I will spend the next two weeks in intensive concentration with Roochie Toochie And The Ragtime Shepherd Kings to prepare our newest efforts for the wax cylinder machine, and, of course, for your welcoming ears!
In this post I will keep it pretty brief. I’m just going to tell you about
– The Big News, i.e., today the new Corn Potato record is officially released!
– Quick story or two about what I’ve been up to the past month or so
– Some recent Corn Potato reviews and writeups that have made us proud
– Book reports
– And that’s about it. I don’t have any shows coming up in the next month because I’m only focusing on recording with the Roochies, and after that, the Old 78’s and friends back in Nashville, en route home to Detroit.
So! You may have already taken advantage of the bandcamp link for Volume Two, which allows you to stream the album for free as much as you like, and to download for a price of your choosing. That’s a good deal! Well, today (or tomorrow) the album is available from all major online distributors, e.g. iTunes, Spotify, eMusic, Rhapsody, etc. AND best of all, you can order a physical copy from the store at CDBaby.com (You can also get downloads there.) HERE is the long-awaited link! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/cornpotatostringband2 Check it out, share the link, help us spread the Corn Potato love!
I’ve been at home in Detroit until a few nights ago and it’s been really nice to start getting to know the area better and make some friends. Lindsay and I had a great night at the Northern Lights Lounge with 7Layers and the week after that a splendid time was had by all at the 6th Annual Doctors Without Borders Benefit in Redford. I’ll also mention another recent album release by some Detroit friends of ours, Lac LaBelle – Check out their website and their new album here.
Global Texan Chronicles‘ Marc Griffiths has recently written two separate pieces about the Corn Potato experience — One is a brief review of the new album, the other is a more in-depth interview with Yours Truly. So anyone who wants to get a deeper understanding of the madness behind the music or whatever, there you go!
We also made the COVER of the magazine of Friends Of American Old Time Music And Dance (FOAOTMAD), Old Time News, with a beautiful feature story (a two-page spread!) by Julian Marshall, who toured with us in the UK in December while we were on tour with Luke Richardson. If anyone got to know us really well it was Julian, as he was with us almost every moment of that whole tour, helping us out big-time in many ways while he took notes for this article. It may not be available to view online but you can see the cover photo (of us playing in Bristol at the Stag & Hounds) on our Facebook page.
I just read a pretty amazing nonfiction book about the Amur tiger, aka the Siberian tiger. As much as it contains interesting facts about the tiger and beautiful language, it’s also a fascinating description of a mostly-unknown part of the world and the creatures who inhabit it, the Taiga, as well as a mystery story… It’s called The Tiger, and it’s by John Vaillant. I also forgot to mention a couple other books I read recently. One was Number Nine Dream, by David Mitchell, a beautiful and exciting story with just a little bit of heartwarming action. The other I’m really ashamed to say I forgot the title and the author’s name, but it was given to me by my friend Trundle before I left London and I enjoyed reading it so much. It was a first novel by someone and it was hilarious, outrageous and even a little bit touching. I will try to remember to tell you the title and author’s name whenever I can remember it.
Everyone, wherever you are, stay warm, stay kind, and until next time I do remain,
In Corn Potato,
Yours Truly,
Aaron