Order "Nothin’ Lastin’," Now...and a brief rant on the state of recorded music. Good news? Bad News? Which to give you first?
CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDERThe BAD NEWS firstWhen I was growing up, my dad was all about getting a good deal, everything from bulk foods to used lawn mowers. We always had scratch-and-dent appliances and I remember his words when he’d score a deal: “I got it for a song.” I inherited what our family calls the want-ad gene, always looking for a treasure amongst the junk. I have always been proud of being frugal, inheriting that ethic from my folks experience from the Great Depression, but I’ve also enjoyed being generous where it counts, a trait that has grown stronger through the years. I wonder why I chose music as my life’s passion when the value of a song is encapsulated in that widely held folk idiom, “got it for a song.” How cheap can you get it for? Now, in the digital age, you can have all the music you want free of charge. I do it, too. I subscribe to Spotify. It’s convenient and cheap. In fact, you can listen to music all day long “for a song,” paying a monthly subscription for the equivalent of what we used to spend on a single album. And though I have this inexpensive subscription I still buy albums -- vinyl, downloads and CD’s. I love the physical product of great music, and also do it because I want to support the artists I love. Thanks for reading Loose Cannon Boost! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. We used to call the illegal distribution of music piracy but now we have laws that allow streaming services to pay musicians a pittance. The economics have made it practically impossible to make a living from music for all but the biggest artists. Mid-level artists like me used to earn as much from album sales as from live performance. Now, we feel good when we sell a handful, even after a concert that ended with a standing ovation. In as much as they have destroyed the market for albums and CDs, I believe services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and YouTube have also cheapened the experience of music. Sure, the playing field has been leveled. Spotify gets over 60,000 new songs submitted each day! But digitized music is mass-produced and laid out like a cheap “all you can eat” buffet, and audiences expect it to be free and available anytime, all at once. I know I can’t turn back time. The digital world is the world we live in and I love the world. Now, the GOOD NEWSI am bursting with gratitude today. Each week since the beginning of the year, a Loose Cannon Boost has shot out into the world. Many of you have written to say that my stories and observations mean something to you. All I can say is a THANK YOU. It really is about what we value, how we spread the love. Today, I’d like to ask you to be part of something which is also uplifting in spirit, this time not just with my words, but also with my music. I need your help getting it out to the world. I’d like to invite you to pre-order my new album, Nothin’ Lastin’, in CD, download or in the very limited edition vinyl. For the next week, subscribers will get the CD or vinyl edition signed when it comes out in early October. CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDERWith both the CD and vinyl edition, you will also be getting a piece of art, the incredible cover by Edward Bateman, in addition to the printed lyrics and song notes. I’ve been working on these thirteen songs for the past four years. Along the way, I have collaborated with an incredible cadre of artists. The songs on the album will continue to be the topic of Boosts. As a subscriber, you are an insider to the whole process of creating the Nothin’ Lastin’ song cycle. These songs came out of my witness to how nothin’ seems to last. We live in a world of impermanence. Writing these songs has been like composing little prayers for the world. They have helped me obsess less about disintegration and appreciate more the things that last. This is good news and I’m grateful. Love to you, dear Boosters. I appreciate your support, Hal P.S. Here are a couple music video samples from the album. Two more are coming in the next weeks. You might notice, the “Thirty-Six Miles,” video has almost 17,000 views on YouTube. Today, we added English subtitles to the YouTube version of “Silver Dove.” Nearly 50,000 people in India alone have clicked on the Facebook version of the video.   Thanks for reading Loose Cannon Boost! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
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Order "Nothin’ Lastin’," Now
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