This is the first of three records that I am planning on releasing before the end of the year. The second record is a collection of covers that you might not imagine would go together...until you hear them together, and then you can't imagine them any other way. And the third is a record of songs that I have been writing since my last studio release, "Gifts and Burdens" was put out. This live record is (obviously!) finished, and the covers record will be done in mid September, and we'll start on the last record of originals in October. Three records between May and October sounds a little...crazy. I know. It is. Here's why:
In May of 2009, while performing at the Northwest Folklife Festival, I lost my singing voice. I had been losing some of my vocal range for a couple of months, and my hands had been giving me trouble, which I attributed to the aging process.
When I completely lost my voice on stage, I got myself to a specialist.
After seeing a rheumatologist and an ENT, I was diagnosed with RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) and AS (Ankylosing Spondylitis), both inflammatory diseases that attack the body's joints.
(Here's a little further explanation, for geeks like me: There is a joint in our throats (called the cricoarytenoid joint) between the cricoid and arytenoid cartilages in the back wall of the larynx that are rotated by the vibration of vocal cords, and change the tone of voice. In my case, this joint swelled and was causing my voice to change within moments of speaking, let alone singing. Singing was out of the question, and both my RA and AS were out of control.)
After trying every type of medication on the market for both diseases with no success, I had given up on singing. I spent a year in silence. I stopped listening to music, stopped thinking about it, and didn't pick my guitar up for fear that I would miss it too much.
It wasn't until this past spring, when I started taking massive amounts of corticosteroids for an asthma exacerbation, that I noticed my joints seemed to be recovering. I slowly weaned myself down to a dosage of prednisone that wouldn't make me sick, but would allow me to sing.
Or so I thought.
It turns out that the prednisone, taken long term in the dosage that I was taking, is making me sick as well, and it isn't something that I can continue on at the dosage that keeps me singing.
So, I am prepared to go off of prednisone completely and to lose my singing voice again. But I want to make these records before I do that.
When I am not in the studio, (and not taking care of my two children and two stepchildren), I am collecting and archiving every live performance, demo, video, etc, that was ever recorded from 1995 to 2010. This is a labor of love, and I am getting video, pictures, bootlegged shows, etc from all over the country, and putting them all in one central location. The people who preordered these records have access to this site as I build it (and it crashes...I'm getting the hang of it.) but someday, when it is ready to be unveiled, I will post the link here.
Thank yous!
Thanks to Bob Carter for taking great pictures that night (one of which is on the cover of the record), to Sara Hertel for making the artwork, to Eddie Williams for running sound and recording the evening, and to Evan Brubaker for mixing/mastering the final product. Thanks to the IMC (Island Music Center Hall) and Dave Bristow for everything. Visit these links for more information on Bob, Eddie, Evan, Sara, and the IMC:
Bob Carter Photography: http://pugetsoundportraits.com/
Eddie Williams: http://www.fullcircuitsound.com/
Evan Brubaker: http://www.madewithforgiveness.com/
Sara Hertel: http://sarahertelphotography.blogspot.com/
Island Music Center Hall: http://www.islandmusic.org
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