Chico States’ new album, I Saw A Galloping Horse Cover No Ground, will drop at midnight Wednesday. If you’re near Portland, please come join us Thursday with good friends Dee Dee Sea, the very gracious and talented Alex Cholewa (Number One Babe), and Will Lawrence of Felice Brothers.
My partner captured this minute and a half of my performance at La Kermesse in June. It was a hot summer day and the breeze on those flags was not reaching us! She captured other songs, but this was our favorite—Neil Young’s “Tell Me Why,” based on his version from Live at Massey Hall 1971.
Over the next few months, I’ll be making some changes to where my music is hosted online. For example, Planet Made of Diamonds and Dream Without Detail will no longer be on the array of streaming services. They’ll become records at the Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library.
I may reduce the offerings on Bandcamp to focus on music I want to sell. If it’s something more casual that I want easily streamable, I’ll host it elsewhere.
I don’t think I’ll take this moment to proselytize on my reasoning, but in a word I’m thinking about the future. I’m involved in the early stages of a cooperative music marketplace called Subvert and I’m learning so much about music economies in the process.
If you’re someone out there that liked an album or song and can’t find it, please email me here. I’m happy to send it to you.
I’ll chime in here with an update once everything is settled for a while! If you’re curious about some of the dilemmas within music streaming, this is a great interview that took place at SPACE in Portland with Liz Pelly and Damon Krukowski.
You may not know, but nowadays I play bass in my friend Joe Barresi’s alt-Americana/folk rock group Chico States. In fact, I play shows much more often with this setup than solo. We’ve admired each other’s music for a long time—since Olympia, Washington, in fact, where we worked at the same café.
Previously, I collected all our show posters from 2024, which was an active year. We have a few upcoming shows with posters, so I’m putting them up!
“C’est le temps.” This is the beautiful motto of La Kermesse Franco-Americaine Festival in Biddeford, Maine. I just finished the school year yesterday and it feels appropriate. I’ll be playing outside with a lighter-hearted set to celebrate, mostly recognizable songs but a few of mine too. George Harrison, Leonard Cohen, Simon & Garfunkel. I’m especially happy to be learning “Le temps de vivre” by Georges Moustaki, a song I’ve loved for a while but really my first in French. Feels good to sing in a language I speak.
2:30-4:00pm, Outdoor Stage. Tickets are $8 for a day pass, or $13 for a weekend festival button. Historical souvenirs don’t make themselves… probably worth it!
