Radio Show, and Summersongs

I was honored to be invited on Graham and Barbara Dean's radio show, Common Sense Songs, on WBCR (http://www.berkshireradio.org/) in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, it was a Wednesday evening, the night before I had to go back to work, so I only stayed from 8 to 9 p.m., rather than the whole two hours of the show. They played songs from the rough mix of my CD. I had brought my guitar but was too nervous to play any of the songs live. We had a delightful conversation, and went from talk to songs seamlessly (I thought). Although the CD had not been mastered, I thought it sounded pretty good.

We all showed up at Summersongs that weekend -- last weekend. Graham gave me a CD of the radio show -- great fun to listen to later. Also at Summersongs, Mark Dann, the genius who mastered my CD, handed me five copies of the mastered version for my approval. Although I had really hoped to have it ready by last weekend, it was nice just to have gotten this far. I gave my extra copies to trusted friends Penny Nichols, Director of Summersongs; David Roth and Sloan Wainwright, the most wonderful teachers whose professional opinions I value highly; and David Beede, a fellow camper with a wonderful ear and the ability to give feedback honestly and gently.

Listening to the CD on the way home from Summersongs Sunday night, I realized that one song was on the album twice and another had been omitted. A small error, easily corrected. The CD overall sounded great! (That is, as great as I can sound. Am I putting myself down? Maybe -- or maybe I'm just being honest with myself. Does everyone have these conversations with themselves?)

Monday, I received the proofs of the artwork. Teacher that I am, I picked up one little error: a list of contributors to the CD where one item on the list ended with a period and the rest didnt. I'm going to let that go. It will be a good practice for me. And the CD cover, too, looks great. My daughter and son-in-law did a beautiful job, and I'm so glad that they participated in the making of this.

My next post will consist of the lyrics and back stories behind the songs -- what I assume most people will come to this blog for.