"The Ground Above Us" Announcement

The day you've all been waiting for!

Go listen to/download the new song "The Belly of a Whale" off of The Ground Above Us by following the link:

The Belly of a Whale

I'm so excited to get this project started!!! This project is not only new music for you, but represents a new chapter in my music creation process. That sounds about as crystal clear as the person in the photo up above, right? (although, I'm 95% sure that's me (: ) So let me tell you about it in the same words I so eloquently wrote for the website announcement:

So what is The Ground Above Us?

The Ground Above Us is going to be a collection of songs that takes a close look at our self-narratives. Who do you tell yourself that you are? Who do you tell others that you are? Who do other people tell you that you are? The answers to those questions tend to become so ingrained in us that we think of them as a permanent part of our identity: "I am who I am." But in recent times these narratives have been given an incredible amount of power(social media anyone?), and it has changed everything in tremendous ways. I thought now would be a good time to write some material that shines a spotlight on these stories and to re-think how we use them to relate to our own self and others around us. I call these stories The Ground Above Us.

The Ground Above Us also represents a new approach to my music that I'm really excited about sharing with you. I'm going to be releasing singles through monthly emails. These singles will have an over-arching theme that will be announced every 6 months. At the end of six months, I'll bundle the songs as an EP and also put them out to be streamed on your favorite streaming service.  It will be like a serialized concept album or rock opera that takes a new turn every six months. This is exciting because it will give us more time for discussion around the art as it is being created and released. How cool would it be if your input could influence the work of your favorite music artist?!!!
(end of website announcement)

So cool, right?! This is going to be a work in progress as I figure out this new method of music writing and story creation, but I love the idea of making it ongoing and keeping things fresh and new and open dialogue (for you and for me). So plenty more to come because I've been hard at work - there's artwork coming up for the project, more photos to be released, a performance video, behind the scenes, etc..A lot to be excited about!

Also, I wanted to mention that the amazing string parts that you're going to be hearing on the tracks of this project were played by Tammy King who (along with many other credits) is the fiddle player for The Steeldrivers. I was VERY lucky to have her play, and I absolutely love how the tracks turned out.

And other news,
I have some shows coming up in South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia, and we are already looking at more areas, so check out my calendar here if those areas are close by! Or just go check out the snazzy new web page layout with some new photos taken by the amazing Stephen Byrum who runs Young Blood Films on My Home Page

I know this is a huge post, so I'll end here. I just didn't know how to tell you everything that's going on without brimming over (with joy/excitement!)