American Nomad Music

Wow!!! “Temple Sunrise” is in the finals for Best Instrumental Song in 2011, for the International Songwriting Competition! Out of 16,000 songs submitted they only picked 16 Instrumental finalists! Pretty cool… We find out who wins in late April. Although I think competitions in music are bogus, as art is totally subjective, getting a few extra bucks to put towards the next record is kinda cool too.

http://www.songwritingcompetition.com/winners

Hey,

Here is a tid bit of good news. We got honorable mention at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. Truly an honor!

Check out this URL to see the other folks that got selected!

http://www.bluegrass.com/folks/contests.html

Hey,

Just got the harmony tracks back from Boston. Some local favorites Mark Lipman, and Olinde Mandell laid some background vocals on our EP. Having them record on an album of mine has been a dream come true.  They really are some of my favorite vocalists, as well as amazing singer/songwriters in their own right. The album is scheduled to be mixed and mastered sometime in early January.  Looking to forward to getting American Nomad’s first release Temple Sunrise EP out soon!

I’m back from my Northwest tour with Teresa Storch. Check out talented singer/songwriter at www.teresastorch.com.  Our 3-week tour in November of 2010 took us from San Francisco, up to Ashland, Salem, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, and Spokane, Washington, to Bozeman, Montana, Denver, Colorado, then back to the bay on the Amtrak through the Rockies. Met lots of great folks and had the pleasure of sleeping in actual beds for the whole adventure. Thanks Teresa for having me along.  Look forward to your new record coming out in 2011!

Hey,

After about 15,000 miles in just over two months, I am finally back in Berkley, CA.  Good to be home after the summer tour(s) and Burning Man.  Yes, I said home for all of you folks wondering if I was leaving CA for good.  I’ll be sticking around.

To many of you on this list who I recently added over the last couple months of touring, thanks for the amazing support all summer long.  (I was the opener for Dum Spiro Spero and you signed my American Nomad Music email list by accident… jk) We couldn’t have done it without you.  Thanks again for the meals, couches, the love, encouragement, and the friendship.  Driving 12 hours just wouldn’t feel worth it without quality people to rock out with.  Special thanks to the smaller towns we played in, that really surprised me.  Moscow, ID, Farmington, MO, Ames, IA, and Dickenson, ND, to name a few. Don’t be fooled by any proof-less preconceptions you have.  They are all definitely worth a visit!

Another thanks to Todd, Adam, Kathryn, and Dan, whom I shared the first leg of the journey with.  That was a really great hang!  Nothing beats traveling with old friends.  Also, a big thanks to Dum Spiro Spero and crew for inviting me along and allowing me to share in their musical adventure as both an opener and accompanist.  You guys are a really great group with a lot of passion for your art.  Keep up the great music! Thanks to the entire Temple Crew at Burning Man this year for creating a place for godless heathens like myself to feel a context for personal spirituality and connectedness without any dogma attached.  Being in the inner ring during the burn with all of you this year was truly an honor.  You are all truly an inspired and talented group of individuals.

Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCkKFMKO5sM&feature=related for a video of this years’ Temple burn.

It will take a while for me to really process all that just happened over the past few months.  It almost seems like a blurry dream… (except I am waking up really tired and wondering if I got any sleep at all)  When you want something really bad and it happens, you can sometimes get left with a strange feeling.  Maybe it’s just part of our human or possibly American condition, but it seems like we are better at striving to satisfy our desires than actually being satisfied.  It reminds me to go back to the beginning and just slow down a bit.  I am taking the next few days to do just that!  Said best in the words of the late great Bill Hicks, “It’s just a ride.”  I’ll try and remember that as I enter the next phase of my time in CA.

I guess that is all from me for the time being.  Got a lot of work to do now with tracking the rest of the EP.  Going to work hard to get it out as soon as I can.  Working on booking more shows as well.  I hope this message finds you all well and thanks again for reading.  Take care.