Simple Songs for Crazy Times

A question and a request for you as I prepare to release my first album of original songs since 2013

• My first album of original songs since 2013 is nigh.

• I’ll be doing “Singing Journalist” events and you can help set one up near you.

• I’m raising funds to pay struggling Maine musicians to join me in an ensemble live recording

Amid my nonstop journalism, I got serious about recording my music after my “lucky” stroke back in 2011 jolted me into fully absorbing that a long life (and dexterity, for guitar and typing and the rest) were not guaranteed. Don’t put off the part of your to-do list that involves your personal passions.

Thank You, Brain — A Stroke as a Gift

I recruited a batch of musician friends — including Dar Williams, Bruce Molsky and Mike Marshall — to contribute brilliant elements. Pete Seeger, as you may have read here, helped refine the lyrics to my ballad about the dark past and uncertain future of Arlington National Cemetery.

Where Will They Go When There's No More Room in Arlington?

The result in 2013 was my first album, “A Very Fine Line” (here’s a really fun Relix/Jambands review).

A new burst of songs exploring life these days

Work flowed on and, although I kept performing with my Breakneck Ridge Revue compadres in the Hudson Valley, I went through a fallow songwriting period until my wife and I settled in Downeast Maine four years ago. Spurred by today’s craziness and songwriting workshops with folks including Bennett Konesni, Amy Love and Noel Paul Stookey, and by the raucous musical community at our weekly Monday “kitchen junket” in Ellsworth, that all changed.

A few months ago, I pledged to myself that I’d produce an album of a batch of my unrecorded songs before my 70th birthday.

That milestone happens to be today and I actually got it done!

The album, Wake Me up Martha, will be released on streaming and download platforms on April 30. A single will drop on March 30. But I’ll do a series of posts about all 13 tunes in the weeks ahead.

You’ve seen sporadic posts here of early iterations of some of the forthcoming songs, including the title track “Wake Me up Martha” (on a social media surprise), “Good News from 2044“ (on a quirky presidential election to come), “Life is a Band” (on community building through food and singing), “New MacDonald” (on the weighty challenges faced by family farmers) and “Good Souls,” an ode to quiet ones in our lives who die before their time.

Here’s the full list:

• Wake Me Up Martha 4:03

• Good News from 2044 2:24

• Prayer and a Toast 2:54

• New MacDonald 5:10

• The Flood 4:19

• Save Dreams for Sleeping 4:23

• Long Short Story 2:52

• Where Will You Be 3:24

• Do Not Fear Tomorrow 3:58

• Nibbling Ducks 2:12

• Skeptic in Heaven 2:48

• Good Souls 3:36

• Life is a Band 3:30

This all leads to a question for the Sustain What community. Are you okay with receiving my music posts amid the flow on climate, geopolitics, biodiversity and the rest? Or would you rather have my music output live on a separate Substack “channel”?

Your part

At the Jesup Memorial Libray in Bar Harbor, Maine, I recently tested out a new kind of “Singing Journalist” event — a mix of talk and performance charting my interwoven communication journey as both a journalist and songwriter. It was great fun for me and the audience. I’d like to try to do this near you at some point. So please consider venues and event series near you that might be a good match for this kind of thing. Send me a message at revkin@substack.com or post a comment.

Life is a band, and some songs need a band - a real one

The album I’m releasing is truly “simple music” for these crazy times. It’s just me and my guitars, recorded skilfully by Lincoln Clapp, a veteran sound engineer, in his 1860 home in Belfast.

But half a dozen of these songs cry out for an ensemble recording. I’m surrounded by wonderful musicians here, virtually all of whom (like musicians almost everywhere) are struggling in the Spotify age to make ends meet.

As I noted here recently, I could just use the astonishing power of an AI music generator like Suno to build out my songs. For an unnerving example of how that works, watch as this video clip transitions from my guitar-vocal take on Good News from 2044 into Suno’s answer to my prompt asking for a “rockabilly outlaw country” take:

It took the AI model less than 30 seconds to mine all the music ever created and generate this rendition (and a second iteration!). Such power is deeply seductive. But I’m committed to doing the work it takes to pull together living, breathing musicians to do better. And I don’t just mean a better result. As in living your life — the joy of music is in the doing, not the end point. My song “Where Will You Be” is about that, as you’ll hear in April.

With all of this in mind, I’m setting up a Gofundme-style funding portal to raise about $7,000, which I’ll match dollar for dollar out of my own savings, to pay for a grand recording conclave at Bagaduce Music’s performance hall in mid May and possibly another at the beginning of June. I’ll also hire local video folks to record the proceedings.

You can contribute right now, if you wish, through this QR code.

Thanks for being part of the community here and do SHARE this post with others. And get out there and make some music as a counterpoint to the zone flooding.