If you've seen the poster and read the blog you know I've had Gardening Angel on the brain.  I was camping a few weeks ago and got some music in my head and figured it out in the dark on my guitar (never leave home without the instrument!) around the campfire and played it over and over so I'd remember it in the morning, since I couldn't easily write it down. Come the light of day, I suddenly remembered there was a new song, sometime after breakfast and before my exploratory hike up the river, and got the guitar out and remembered it and wrote it down....

I wrote the lyrics some night last week then...probably around the time of the blog post...

Not usually how I write songs, but that's how this one got written.

You heard it here on Patreon.  

All the music trivia, all the time!

<3 Kari signing off for September ;p

WOW. Happy OCTOBER everyone.  Wish you each and all the best.

This song was written on the Autumn Equinox (last week!) very late at night under the influence of Malbec.  A friend of mine on Twitter whom I call Warrior Princess (she calls me BMM, an acronym for beautiful music maker - AWWW! She's so sweet!) said she was waiting for the warrior princess song and I was like "Oh! OK! I didn't even know you were waiting for that! I'll get right on it," so I did!

I did a scratch track with a severe cold and half a voice and old guitar strings on, in a room with concrete floors, so the scratch track was brutal, and I later replaced it, or so I thought!  I got a bunch of bleed through via multiple instances of messiness! 

So just a demo here, but I'm crawling through the window while I work out how to fix the door (or some such analogy!) I've been so frustrated with Protools that I just bypassed the whole thing and did something else. It's not perfect or finished, it's a mess, but I wanted to get it out now in its raw form and worry about the rest later!

I have a bunch of other older projects in process, but yesterday I impulsively, yet emphatically, decided I would do something completely different because I'm all excited about this new stuff. Then I suddenly felt like an artist-type doing whatever the hell I wanted instead of going through entirely with logic and linear processes like an engineering project and thought, "Oh my god it's happening, I'm turning into a musician rather than an engineer playing music."

I'm evolving!

This sucker was done entirely on my iPad with nothing but me and a guitar. I played a virtual bass on garage band and used the built in mic.  Crazy.  Take that Protools!

I may upload another very new song that I wrote for Gardening Angel later....

Hope you like it!

And in the interests of getting better about posting lyrics they are attached!

Ok guys, just ONE MORE Nick Lowe cover, for this rainy afternoon in New Orleans.

This will be my last paid post for a while! Next month I won't be posting anything paid here on Patreon, I'll be asking you to pledge to my Kickstarter campaign instead (starts October 6th!).

THANK YOU for all of your love and support, by the way. I'm reading Elizabeth Gilbert's new book, BIG MAGIC: Creative Living Beyond Fear. It's excellent, and it's reminding me what an absolutely blessed and magical life I'm leading, here in the watermelon, surrounded by guitars, making whatever I fancy to make, on this sweet rainy day.

Rainy, watermelony love to you and all your people.

Carsie

Greetings from beautiful Wilmington, NC, where I'm taking a little beachside work-cation in the middle of my tour!

Besides touring, I've been getting my ducks in a row for the new album. We will be in the studio in January, which means I need to come up with a pile of money to fund the dang thing. Thus, I'm about to start running another Kickstarter, starting on October 6th!

I have a special request for you, my darling patrons. I've decided I won't be posting any "paid" work here on Patreon for the month of October; instead, I'll ask you to pledge your monthly patronage to my Kickstarter project. I'll send a reminder on the day the Kickstarter begins (October 6th). 

I'm also looking for HELP DESIGNING, PROMOTING, AND RUNNING my Kickstarter. If you'd be willing to help (with reward ideas, promoting the project online, or by becoming a major donor), SEND ME AN EMAIL at [email protected] Put "hell yes I'll help!" in the subject line, and INCLUDE YOUR PHONE NUMBER. 

I will personally call you next week to discuss!!

Attached, you'll find the last of the 'studio demos' we made back in May, 'Hot Night'. Very excited about this song! Remember, studio demos are but a step on the long road from song-conception to album-birth; a guiding light to shine into our brains when the hours get long and confusing.

Thanks, as always, for everything.

Playfully yours,

Carsie

PS. The image you see in the magic window is MY NEW TATTOO! And you are the first, in all of internet-land, to see it. The work is By David Hale (as always). It's a river otter named Puck, who will be accompanying me into the studio (and everywhere, til I get dead or armless) to remind me to stay playful. Ain't nobody gonna live it for ya, he says.

Double Header complete.

The August creation is here. This will probably be a double-header, since this song has a kind of twin.  These two songs are really new, were written back to back, and are both in the key of C - C for "contemplative" - haha.  

This one's called "Light of Day" and, rather than Part II, I decided to call the other "Light of Dusk." Ya'll, I had so much trouble getting this recorded so, although the sound isn't perfect, I'm just glad I got it recorded at all.  Thank you so much for supporting me so I can do this.

I hope you like it.  I love getting your feedback. Thank you for being my patrons.

Love and Gratitude,

Kari

As I might've mentioned, I made some demos in May with the inimitable Pete Donnelly (who produced Buoy), the infamous Joe Plowman (bassist extraordinaire), and the irrepressible Fred Berman (drummer from Amos Lee etc). I've been doling them out once a month, secretly and with a sense of mischief, here on Patreon and nowheres else. This is the fourth (of six), and I'm aiming to release the final one next month, soon afterwhich I'll be dug deep into the making of the actual album.

This song, Ravenous, is an anthem for the libertines, adventurers, and thoughtful hedonists. Please enjoy it in its raw basementy rock and roll glory.

I'm posting from Homer, Alaska, where I'm visiting with far-flung family. I've seen orca whales, sea otters, bald eagles and puffins - not to mention the glaciers and the bay, which are turquoise and purple and vast and gorgeous. The beauty is mindboggling. I'll send y'all a postcard.

Hedonistically yours,

Carsie

This was written for a Fox Kids Canada PSA about racial harmony back in the 1990s. (Near the end you'll hear a small lick which BNL borrowed from Michael Jackson's "Black Or White".) I knew, when I first heard it mumblety years ago, that if I ever did a kids' album I would cover this song. Now I am, and now I am.

The original song, by the way, just fades out to unintelligibility after "I like your hat...", so I finished off the refrain.

Words and Music by the Barenaked Ladies

There was darkness, there was light,

There was day and there was night.

There was wrong and there was right --

And then there was me!

You didn't even know me, but you treated me like dirt

(And then there was me)

You didn't even know me, but you called me a jerk.

(And then there was me)

I'm from a planet near a star

You wouldn't know, it's very far.

They're calling me the man from Mars,

And I think they're insulting me!

(Insulting me)

They tried to take my special suit

(Insulting me)

They said my head looks like fruit -- What is fruit?

(Insulting me)

"Put your hands up or I'll shoot!"

I don't have hands.

Across the galaxy, I flew,

Heard a peaceful message sent by you.

Now I find you're judged by color and size

I can't believe what you call my...

I'se the guy who sails the sky, but I think I'd like to live here.

I'd like to share your mountains, share your trees, and share your rivers.

I've never seen so many beings of so many colors.

I'd like one day for you to say that I could call you brother.

(And then there was we)

I'd like to learn about your pizza and your weather,

(And then there was we)

Then we could learn about how beings live together.

(And then there was we)

So if you're thinking about being a spaceman,

It don't matter if you're black or white!

Or purple or green or blue or red,

Or yellow with polka dots on your head,

Or made of snow, or made of wheat,

Or looking like something that's kind of a treat.

I like your hat, you like green tea,

There was all that...

And then there was me!

You may ask yourself, 'Gee, when will Carsie get over the songwriting genius of Nick Lowe, and start listening to someone else?' The answer is: not yet. 

The dude is a heavyweight, that rare lyricist with guts and an ear for melody, of Paul Simon or Carole King caliber, but weirdly unsung here in the states. I feel it is my civic duty to study and share his work with the utmost dedication.

Also, I only got turned on to Nick a couple years ago (thanks to Milton, who I may never be able to repay), and he has a huge catalog. It's taking me a while to catch up.

This song is from Nick's 1982 album 'Nick the Knife', which I recommend HIGHLY. Here are a few of the things that make it perfect, in my humble opinion:

1) Catchy and somehow fresh-sounding earworm of a chord progression, made of the most oft-used chords known to man (1, 4, and 5 (in this case, C, F and G)).

2) Heartbreaking lyrics paired with uptempo, poptastic melody; leaving the listener feeling giddy but full of a strange and incongruous sorrow.

3) Weird time signature that you wouldn't even notice if I hadn't just told you about it.

4) Lyrics that give you the one-two punch of being adorable and fun to hear, while tackling a confusing and emotionally complex topic. 

The topic, in this case (according to me): what it's like to be a sensitive, marshmallow-hearted person who can't help but fall in love (and/or in lust) constantly, heartbreak be damned. 

I have no idea what that's like, of course, but here's my take on it anyway.

Yours in heartbreak,

Carsie