American Nomad Music

Hey friends,

Hope you all are all having a great start to your summer! American Nomad is rolling along here prepping for the new record! The tunes are getting polished and the arrangements are sounding better than ever! Laurie Lewis is whipping us into shape and we couldn’t be happier about that! Thanks to the amazing 84 people who have backed our Kickstarter so far to help make this possible. You guys are so kind for supporting us! That said, we still have a ways to go though and only two short weeks to get there. The deadline is July 5th. If you’ve been waiting to donate, there is no time like the present! If you didn’t know, Kickstarter is an all or nothing platform for fundraising so if we don’t reach our goal in time, we don’t get any help with the cost of making this album. If everyone on our mailing list gave a little bit, we’d surely hit our mark though. Even getting one friend or family member to contribute would go a long way.

To record some of the best music we’ve ever written with a Grammy Award winning producer like Laurie Lewis is obviously a dream come. We are so proud of what we’ve created here and we can’t wait to share this music with you. If you haven’t already, click the link, watch the video, give what you can, and forward it along to friends and family. Thanks so much for helping us record our first LP, Country Mile!

We are officially 1/2 through American Nomad’s Kickstarter fundraiser! It’s all over July 5th. We’ve got 59 generous donations so far, and have really been on a roll the past few days with large donations. Thanks so much for all the support big and small. We deeply appreciate your help. American Nomad loves you!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/americannomad/american-nomad-is-making-an-album-produced-by-laur

Hey everyone,

American Nomad has some exciting news! Our Kickstarter page is officially LIVE! If you hadn’t heard, we are launching this fundraising campaign to help us pay for our upcoming album Country Mile.

We’ll be tracking in July and working with Grammy winning producer Laurie Lewis. We are looking to raise $8,500 and taking 60 days to do so. Our last full day of fundraising will be on the 4th of July. That coincidence was not planned… it just kinda worked out that way. If you can check out the page, give what you can, and share it with your friends and family. Any help would be amazing.

Here is the link spelled out…

<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/americannomad/american-nomad-is-making-an-album-produced-by-laur”>

Hey folks,

We are so excited to be announcing that Grammy Award winning, and Bay Area Bluegrass Legend Laurie Lewis will be producing American Nomad’s first full length studio album over the summer.

If you don’t know about Laurie, here is a little write up about her by Darol Anger.

“It’s possible to be a strong female presence in the Bluegrass music world, but you have to be really strong. Laurie is one of the greatest Bluegrass artists, woman or man, because of her consistency over decades, the depth and width of her subject matter, her commitment to the Bluegrass form, and her technical command. Oh yes, and her strength. Laurie’s strength manifests in many ways: her commanding presence on stage combined with an emotional vulnerability, the truths in her lyrics, her physical voice which transcends gender, her strong commitment to causes and issues in which she deeply believes, which all resonate with a respect for the land, the natural world, and human mercy and justice.” –Darol Anger

More on Laurie here… http://www.laurielewis.com/

Needless to say, we are so lucky to have such experienced ears on our music. Keep on the look out about our forthcoming Kickstarter fundraiser!

Thanks to all who came to our show January 26th! With the help of the T sisters, Jesse Herrera and the Place for Sustainable Living, we were able to get  public/charter school Learning Without Limits 1,000 bucks toward helping their kids read! What a fun time. I’ve never seen so many people doing contact improve dancing for such a good cause.

Here is a letter from one of the school’s teachers if you want more info…

Dear Friends and Family,

I’m writing because my school, my students, and I need your help. As you know, I teach kindergarten in a high-need area of East Oakland at a public school called Learning Without Limits Academy. While my students and their families are amazing, we are attempting to stay afloat in a profoundly broken educational system. It’s a sad fact that on top of working 10-12 hour days teaching, planning, communicating with parents, evaluating data, professionally developing our practice, and supporting our students, we educators need to be our own and our students’ financial advocates as well. But we live in a country where education is undervalued, particularly for students of color who live in low income areas. I do the work I do because I believe deeply in the power of public education to transform communities, and am committed to getting my students the services they deserve.

A little about the community where I teach: most of my students have not been to preschool, almost all are learning English as a second language, and violence and trauma is a very real part of many of my students’ lives. While our first priority as educators is ensuring our students have strong literacy and math reasoning skills that will ensure they feel confident and successful in school, this alone is not enough to enrich their lives and instill a love of learning.

We are trying to go Beyond the Basics at Learning Without Limits and provide our children arts, enrichment, sports, rich classroom libraries, field work experiences, social and emotional support, and more. Our school has accomplished so much, but California continues to decimate public school funding, and we need to raise additional funds this year to deliver a high quality, equitable education for our children. We all know that a quality education can’t just be reading, writing, and math. The current state funding barely provides enough resources for the core programming, and our children definitely deserve more.

We are currently seeking funds for our $200K “Beyond the Basics Campaign.” 100% of the funds you donate will go to my school’s budget where staff come together to make decisions about how to allocate our resources. We will use the money to hire music and martial arts teachers, establish our school garden, fund more field trips and service learning projects, and provide one-on-one intervention support for all students who need it.

Not only will my school directly receive 100% of funds that you donate, but we’ve also been offered a generous gift from a donor: The school that amasses the most donors between now and January 31st will get an additional $20,000 for their school, on top of getting to keep everything we raise.

My goal is to have 20 people donate (any amount) by the end of January. You can give online safely and securely here, at my fundraising page: http://fundly.com/sonya-mehta-beyond-the-basics. Just to be clear, it’s the number of donors that matters, not the amount raised, so I’m not exaggerating when I say that no amount is too small – even $10 will be deeply appreciated. And, of course, please feel free to pass along to friends and family who might also like to help.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer! The work I do isn’t easy, but knowing you all support me propels me to keep fighting the good fight in the education system.

Love and light to you all,

Sonya