Last Beams of the Old Setting Moon

People are already talking about my RPM Challenge Album!

Last night I released my new album "Last Beams of the Old Setting Moon" on Bandcamp.com, free for the first 200 people. It's spreading as we speak to all corners of the country, and soon the globe.

Jason Dessaint in Baltimore wrote: "Very nice, I like the vocals, it's like Neal Diamond, Mason Jennings and Dylan all mixed into one. A very good album. I already burned it for a friend"

One week into February, my friend Will Harrison from The Last Star Pilot reminded about the RPM Challenge, where you record an entire album from scratch in 28 days.

10 songs or 30 minutes of music, no worries about recording quality. It's a challenge not a contest. It's for the art of making a record.

I was already a week behind, but I figured with the 3 songs I had just wrote I was on a roll. The songs were "Thankless Job", "Miss McIntosh", and "Sun Commands".

My friend Robert Royem said he had a decent microphone. Robert plays a mean harmonica on my record. Rootsy, gutsy, and painfully good harmonica.

Robert plays a World War II era Gibson acoustic guitar. He put out his own RPM album. It is an amazingly real record. I'll put a link to his album as soon as I can, and I know you will love it. He added so much to Lost Beams I can't even say enough.

A week before the album was due to the people at The Wire Magazine, Robert and I started recording.

Last Beams of the Old Setting Moon was recorded in a living room in Durham, NH. The album is a very raw recording. Some songs were written on the spot. Some are first takes. One song only has Ds in it.

I have recorded in many studios over the years, and this was the least seriously I ever took the process. The songs are important, not the recording quality. It's amazing what you can do with a decent mic, some friends, and a mac these days.

My old, dear friend Hutch Heelan plays the haunting track on "Cigarette Song". Hutch and I have both had a long Hate-Hate relationship with cigarettes. It's an old tune I never got around to doing, and I can't believe how great it sounds. Robert, Hutch, and I have all suffered from the awful snag that is cigarette smoking, and I think that pain got captured on this track.

My friend Todd Anges played rhythm guitar on "Thankless Job" and "Light up the Room". The former being a brand new anthem for the working class, the latter being a tune Todd and I have jammed on for years but never got around to doing.

The first 200 People get the free download on Bandcamp. You don't have to know anything about the site to get the free music, put it on your ipod, post about it on Facebook and Twitter, burn it and share it. Help me so I can help you by being able to make more good free music in the future. It's a dang good record, and I'm very proud of it. If you are here, I assume you want the album. SO go get it and enjoy.