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
