A 2015 Retrospective and Some 2016 Plans

It's New Year's Eve in Lunenburg and time to have a quick look back at 2015 and to let you know about some of the things coming up in 2016.  We had a green Christmas but the snow started falling a few days ago and now we're in the white wonderland that is Nova Scotia in the winter.

We are celebrating a number of successes from this year and looking to build on them for 2016.   2015 started with Craftsman being ranked at #15 on the Zone Music Reporter top 100 albums of 2014 after peaking at #2 on the monthly charts.  Thanks to Ed and Stacey Bonk of LAZZ Promotions for their efforts in support of the CD.

I was off on my travels in May for a tour through New England, playing coffee shops, house concerts, and a couple of festivals from Maine to Rhode Island.  

The big news was the release of Eight Winds in the latter part of the year.  The CD went out in early November and we're very pleased that it has been receiving airplay and very positive feedback.   The production of a CD is a team effort and many thanks are due to everyone who contributed to the recording and manufacturing:

• Lisa Buchanan of Focus Gallery in Shelburne, NS provided photographs;
• David Findlay produced the project, mixed and mastered it and played on a number of the tracks;
• Alex Hickey helped with artwork layout and converted it to InDesign for production;
• Duncan Woodcock co-wrote three of the songs and played on those duets.

Of course, a huge debt of gratitude goes to all the program hosts who play it, all the loyal fans who have bought it or streamed it on-line and everyone who has come out to a perfomance to hear me play live.

The other major high for me was that I was invited to play at the Lancaster (UK) Music Festival in October.   The LMF was my first major festival in Britain and it was a great pleasure to participate.  The LMF organizers estimate that around 60,000 people attended festival events over the weekend.  They didn't all come and see my performances <smile> but it was great to meet everyone who did come out and support live music.  I also found time to hear some of the 200 or so other musicians, which is a fringe benefit to playing at festivals.

Work is now underway to make 2016 another great year of music.  The music gods are continuing to treat me well and sending ideas for new compositions.  One of the reviewers of Eight Winds asked me where the ideas for my music come from and I had to answer that I honestly don't know.  Melody lines come in to my head and I tinker away at them until I have a cohesive piece.  Sometimes it takes a very short time, sometimes it takes weeks before it all comes together and I do understand the process I go through;  I just don't totally understand how the ideas get there.

Live performances will be a big part of 2016 as well.  I'm very pleased to announce that I have been booked for a couple of festivals in North Western Ontario in the summer and plans are taking shape for a return to Nova Scotia through the Midwestern US and the North East as well.  So far I have a confirmed date at a monthly concert series, and we're working on details for three house concerts.   More to come once things are confirmed.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2016.  Hope to see you out on the road somewhere and we wish you all joy wherever the journey takes you.

Cheers, Bob

bobardern.ca
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Eight Winds Available Online

Eight Winds Released

We are extremely pleased to announce that Eight Winds is now available online.  It has been a while in the production;  I started composing almost as soon as Craftsman was released and a couple of the songs date back to the 1970's.

Eight Winds comprises 11 guitar instrumentals with a bonus re-arrangment of one of the 11.  Eight of them are Bob originals and, a special treat for me, three are duets co-written by my long-time friend Duncan Woodcock.  In case you haven't seen some of the earlier blog entries,  Duncan and I met in school back when dinosaurs were still the dominant life forms.   When I first started learning to play guitar, Duncan showed me how to play finger-style and that way of playing has stuck with me ever since.

We have always been attuned musically and back in the 1970's we co-wrote two guitar instrumentals but never had good recordings of them.  This past May, Duncan came to Lunenburg on vacation and we had the perfect opportunity to record them.  They are good enough pieces to include them on the album and with Duncan's approval and active participation, Eight Winds includes the two songs.   While he was here, we composed a third piece and it too is on the CD.

As with the previous instrumental albums, Eight Winds owes a great deal to David Findlay of Otitis Media in Lunenburg.  Multi-instrumentalist Dave adds his considerable musical talents to the CD and is responsible for mixing, mastering and overall production.    For more information on the album and the process that went into the production, please read the feature article written by Michael Diamond of Music and Media Focus.  You can find the article here.

Listen Online

You can listen to Eight Winds online at my website.  You can also listen and purchase the CD direct from Bandcamp. The album is also available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby if you prefer those outlets. 

Leaving For Lancaster 

I was Leaving for Lunenburg on Come From Away but now I'm packing my bags to leave for the UK. I have been invited to perform at the Lancaster Music Festival October 8-12.  They have booked me in for 6 performances throughout the weekend.  Duncan lives in Lancaster and I'm very pleased that he will be joining me on stage throughout the festival.

Full details of dates, times and locations are available on the Shows page of my website.  All of the festival venues are in the heart of Lancaster and complete details of performers, venues and much more information are available on the festival website.

While I am in the UK, I also have the great pleasure of performing an opening set for one of my musical heroes, Wizz Jones.  Wizz is playing at the Folk - Blues and Beyond Club in Hope, Derbyshire on October 15 and it will be a great honour for me to share the stage with one of the masters of English folk music.  Details on the club website.

That's all for now.  Hope you enjoy the new music and I hope you can make it out to one of the shows.

Cheers, Bob
bobardern.ca

CDs and Tours

August has rolled around and we're suddenly in the midst of an election campaign.  Fear not.  I'm not going to express any political opinions in this blog. There are enough people out there who will deluge the country in political statements without me adding to them.

Eight Winds
That's the title of my new album which is in the can and will be going to the presses shortly.  As with the previous two instrumental CDs, Eight Winds has been produced by David Findlay at Otitis Media in Lunenburg,  In addition to the production, Dave has also lent his considerable musical talent to the project.  We were in the studio doing final polishing a few days ago and he expressed the opinion that it is the best we've done so far.

A particular treat during the production of Eight Winds has been the addition of three duets co-written by my friend Duncan Woodcock. Duncan was the one who introduced me to finger-style guitar when I was first learning to play.   He lives in the UK so we don't get together very often.   In May, he came to Lunenburg for a visit and we spent a good deal of the time playing guitars.  

Several years ago, we co-wrote a couple of guitar duets but we never had good quality recordings of them.  While Duncan was in Nova Scotia, we wrote a third piece.   I asked if he would play on Eight Winds and whether we could include the three tracks on the CD.  I'm pleased to say he was very happy to participate so we went up to the attic and recorded the guitar parts then spent a couple of afternoons with the talented Mr. Findlay.

The finished version of the CD will include 11 tracks plus a bonus.  Eight of them are Bob originals and three are the afore-mentioned co-writes.   The bonus track is an alternative mix to one of the co-writes.   While we were mixing the new song we'd written, David added some percussion, piano and a bass track.    After listening to both the guitars-only duet and the "full band" version, we had difficulty deciding which should be on the CD, so they both are.   I prefer the guitars only version;  Duncan prefers the full band version.   David was very diplomatic and didn't cast a deciding vote.

Eight Winds will be available on CD and as a digital download.  You will be able to order CDs and digital copies from my website and I will have CDs and download cards available at live performances.  As I'm composing this blog, download cards are at the printer.   The CD artwork is complete and is being entered into the format that the manufacturer requires for printing.  If all goes to plan, we should have the CDs made in September and we will be looking into a formal release some time after that.

UK Tour
Also coming up in the near future is a visit to the United Kingdom on a short tour.   In October, I'll be performing at the Lancaster Music Festival.  I am pleased to announce that Duncan will be joining me on stage for some of the performances.

Through the miracle of technology, we've been working up a number of songs for the set list, including the three duets on Eight Winds and also working up duet arrangments of some of our other songs.   I'll be in Lancaster for a few days prior to the festival and we're going to be spending most of the time rehearsing.

In addition to the festival, I will also be appearing at The New Mills Folk Club doing a short guest set and I'm in negotiations with a venue in Poynton, Cheshire.  More details will be announced as they become available.

I'm still waiting for final confirmation but a big thrill for me will be performing an opening set for one of my musical heroes, Wizz Jones.  Wizz will be playing in Hope, Derbyshire near where I'm staying.  I was originally just planning to be part of the audience but on the basis that you don't get it if you don't ask, I emailed the club organizers and asked if I could do an opening set.  They have tentatively agreed so it will be my great pleasure to share the stage with Wizz.

I'm still looking into additions to the tour but for now, that's all we can formally announce.  It's been a busy summer and it will be a busy fall.  As always, thanks for reading this far and thank you for your support.

Cheers, Bob

bobardern.ca

Home again from New England

May has been a bit of a whirlwind.  My long-time friend and occasional collaborator Duncan Woodcock came to Lunenburg for a visit.  We spent much of his time here playing music.  Way back in the annals of history, we wrote a couple of instrumental pieces.  One piece is called Crusaders and Jesters, the second, written three years later, is called Three Years On.  We had only a poor quality recording of one and Duncan had recorded the other on one of his CDs but we did not have good versions of the two of us playing them together.

First thing we needed to do was a bit of rehearsal but it didn't take us long to get back in the swing of it, so we popped upstairs to the Lincoln Street Studio and recorded Duncan's parts and my parts for the two tracks.  We then went over to Otitis Media where David Findlay, producer extraordinaire, added a little bass and percussion to one of them, did his usual excellent clean and shine and gave us what we believe are the "definitive" versions of the two tracks music.

With that experience under our belts, we started working on new material and in surprisingly little time, came up with another duet, called 50 Not Out.   Upstairs we went again to the studio and laid down the two guitar parts and then went back to David's where we came up with two versions of the new piece.  One is just the two acoustic guitars, one has bass and percussion.  Duncan really likes the "full band" version and I prefer the acoustic version, but they're both good.

As you may know if you've been following my blog, I've been working on a new album, called Eight Winds, over the winter and with Duncan's approval, I'm going to include all three songs on it with the acoustic version of 50 Not Out probably the one that makes in onto the album.

It would be unfair of me to tease you with the prospect of new music and then not let you hear it so here is a link to preliminary versions of the three duets on a hidden page on my website.

The second half of May was equally active as I headed down into New England for a short tour.  The anchor date was the Water Wood & Wire Festival sponsored by Cobscook Bay Music in Lubec, ME.  WW&W featured your humble correspondent and two other talented guitar players, Frank Fotusky and Attila Vural, playing a variety of concerts and workshops over the weekend.

Following that weekend, I was down into Massachusetts and Rhode Island for a few more days before heading back to Lunenburg.  In the interim, I was corresponding with Duncan over another musical opportunity which may come to fruition in the coming months.  More about that when plans are starting to gel.  Keep your fingers crossed and watch this space or follow me on Facebook for more details in the next few weeks.

Cheers, Bob
bobardern.ca

Better Late Than Never

Winter appears to be over finally, although we did get some wet flurries on the South Shore yesterday.  It has been a brutal winter by Nova Scotian standards but the snow has melted, the tour bus has been rescued from its sleep under the cover and in the drifts, and soon your humble correspondent will be heading off to New England for a couple of weeks armed with a couple of guitars and some new material.

During the inclement weather, we've been busy working on a new album which will be titled Eight Winds when it is released in a few months.  As with Wires Rosewood & Roots and Craftsman, Eight Winds is being recorded at Otitis Media in Lunenburg and produced by David Findlay, who has also added his many musical talents to additional instrumentation to complement the guitar.

So far, we have eight songs completed and plans to add a few more.   Plans include a guest appearance from Duncan Woodcock, a friend of mine who taught me to play fingerstyle long ago in the dawn of time.  Back then, Duncan and I co-wrote a couple of instrumentals that have stood the test of time and we're going to put them on the album.  We're getting together in Lunenburg in a few days and the plan is to see if we can come up with a couple more that we can add to Eight Winds so the album will be a something of a collaboration.

As soon as Duncan heads home (in fact, the day before), I will be heading back out on the road to play a two week, three-weekend tour of Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  Dates confirmed are as follows.  Follow the links for more details on each event.

May 15/16/17:   Water Wood and Wire Festival in Lubec, ME.
This three-day festival will feature Bob, Atilla Vural and Frank Fotusky - three different styles of guitar playing performing in concerts, songwriters in the round and instructional workshops.

May 22: House Concert in Hopkinton, MA
Bob returns to one of his favourite venues - Abundant Haven in Hopkinton, MA Reservations and directions at the Abundant Haven website.

May 23: Sandywoods Folk Festival in Tiverton, RI
Memorial Day weekend sees the Sandywoods Folk Festival originally scheduled for two days but scaled back to a one-day extravaganza on May 23. The festival runs from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm. The schedule is still being finalized so check back with the festival or with Bob for more details.

May 26: The Center for Arts in Natick, MA
TCAN (The Center for Arts in Natick) hosts an open mic every two weeks and Bob will be the feature performer in May. Come on down, bring an instrument and show off your talents during the open mic and hear Bob's set in the middle.

May 29: Acoustic Cafe Open Mic in Groton, MA
It's off to Groton, MA for a new adventure - the Main Street Cafe for the Acoustic Cafe Open Mic. More opportunity for you to strut and fret your hour (ok, 15 minutes) and catch Bob again.

May 31: The Java Room in Chelmsford, MA
Last stop on the tour is in Chelmsford, MA playing for the Sunday Brunch Crowd at The Java Room. Bob will be jealously watching the bacon and eggs being brought to your table while he plays for your entertainment.

At all of these events, we will have download cards with the pre-release versions of the new material on them.  The download cards will access a private Bandcamp page that will allow you to download the finished versions of the eight songs so far complete for Eight Winds.   Of course, if you're reading this far from New England and won't be able to attend any of the shows, just email us and we'll make sure you can get to the download page.

Hope to see you somewhere along the musical journey.  As Dean McTaggart says, "The joy's in the ride."

bobardern.ca