NORTHEAST SHOWS WITH CHRIS PUREKA // 30A FESTIVAL
Well, we made a record. I think it’s a special one but I’m not going to say much about it yet. There’s a moment after a new album is born that’s quite special and fragile. Ten of us went away to an isolated place away from daily life and made this thing together, and almost no one has heard it yet but us. It feels like the whole thing exists solely inside a big lovely prismatic soap bubble drifting somewhere above the day-to-day, like the one Glinda the good witch rode around in. We know that eventually it will pop and we’ll all float back down to earth and it’ll be time to finish it and analyze it and share it and figure out how to pay for it and a million etceteras, it will become part of the world we know. But for just a little while it gets to stay a world unto itself, and I’m not in a rush to leave it.
Writing this I am reminded of when our daughter was born and we three were deep in the first gaze, which seemed to last eons, when the nurses said somewhat incredulously “Don’t you even want to know the gender?!” - and the thing was, in that moment, we really didn’t. It would soon be relevant, but it was not relevant yet. And that’s where this music is now. Someday soon I’ll start figuring out What It Is, but right now I don’t need to know. I’m in a bright bubble, floating. I don’t need anything else.
DECEMBER WITH PUREKA:
Five years or so ago I played a split bill with Chris Pureka at The Chapel in San Francisco. It was the first time we had shared a show in a while, and the first time I got to hang with her dog Iris. The only photo I have from that night is the sweaty post-show one below, where it’s unclear whether we are the proud, tender new parents of Iris or whether I’m trying to wrestle her out of Chris’s hands and run away with her, camera smile still in place. In any case, it will be nice to reunite with both human and dog for our run of co-bills to round out the touring year. Chris will be joined by great sideman Andy Alseri and I’ll have the dreamy company of Sam Moss…a duo of duos, living together in symmetrical harmony. Come join us at The Parlour Room in Northampton MA 12/6 and 12/7, Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord NH 12/8, City Winery Boston 12/10, Murmrr Ballroom in Brooklyn, NY 12/11, Sellersville Theater in Sellersville PA 12/12, Jammin Java in Vienna VA 12/13.
30A FESTIVAL: The last time I played The 30A Songwriters Festival was teamed up with Jeffrey Foucault in 2016. We brought the then-7-year-old kid and spent most of our off-stage time on the beach goofing off and swimming, to the visible horror of the Floridians walking by in parkas. This time around I’ll be on my own and probably spend more time reuniting with friends and catching sets from some of the 600 million great songwriters who will be assembled (the lineup starts with John Prine, Indigo Girls, and Brian Wilson, and then it Just. Keeps. Going). Turns out if you want everyone to come play your festival, you just need to put it in a warm place in a cold month.
SIDE PROJECTS & EXTENDED-FAMILY NEWS:
SESSION PRESS: “NORTHEAST,” the Session Americana record I had the pleasure to play on and co-produce, has been receiving some very kind attention from the press on both sides of the Atlantic. Some writers have given it close, insightful listens, which is a rare and gratifying thing. An example from PennyBlack Music, UK: “There’s not a mis-step on the album. While looking down the track list there are a number of songs that while you can’t wait to hear how the collective have worked their magic on, there are others that you think are just not going to work. But they do. Brilliantly…an amazing performance from all concerned.” The record is being released single by single in the USA; listen on Spotify or wherever you harvest music.
ITMRW: My friend Jocie Adams is a startling firehose of creativity. I spend time with her at a songwriting retreat every year and pretty much every damn day she turns up in the evening having written *several* new works of complex, surprising, totally original songcraft. For the last few years we’ve been hearing her develop songs for a concept album paired with a full theatrical performance - a futuristic narrative set in the year 2080 - and now that project is getting ready to be staged, in Cambridge in January. Seeing a performance by her band, Arc Iris, is like watching the finale of the greatest fireworks show ever, and I can’t wait to experience this production in all of its glory in January 2020 in Cambridge, MA. For now though, the band is trying to rustle up money to pay for this extremely involved undertaking. If any of this sounds intriguing, please check out their site to learn more about how you can pitch in to bring some truly unique art to life.
Yours afloat, *kd
UPCOMING SHOWS:
DECEMBER 6 - KD & Chris Pureka @ Parlour Room, NORTHAMPTON, MA Tix
DECEMBER 7 - KD & Chris Pureka @ Parlour Room, NORTHAMPTON, MA Tix
DECEMBER 8 - KD & Chris Pureka @ Capitol Ctr for the Arts, CONCORD, NH Tix
DECEMBER 10 - KD & Chris Pureka @ City Winery, BOSTON MA Tix
DECEMBER 11 - KD & Chris Pureka @ Murmrr Ballroom, BROOKLYN, NY Tix
DECEMBER 12 - KD & Chris Pureka @ Sellersville Theater, SELLERSVILLE, PA Tix
DECEMBER 13 - KD & Chris Pureka @ Jammin Java, VIENNA, VA Tix
JANUARY 17-19, 2020 - 30A Songwriters Festival, SANTA ROSA BEACH, FL Tix
tix/info for all shows http://krisdelmhorst.com/tour
