April 2011

APRIL 2011 E-ZINE
The Ides of April have slid by, and I'm on my own hook with this month's E-Zine - a rare treat for me, and probably not for you:). Thanks to (and for) a busy couple weeks of booking, evaluating mixes of the new live recording, working on the new website, writing a couple songs, and doing a whole lot of long overdue work on an old house; here at long last is your long overdue E-Zine. Oh yeah, it's baseball season :)

Concert details, latest news, much more at http://andrewmcknight.net
1. Upcoming Shows
2. Thanks for Tuning In!
3. Beyond Borders Selected for SERFA Showcase
4. Great American Taxi Plays "Made by Hand" on NPR's "Woodsongs"
Song for the Month: "This Old Dominion"
Essay for Earth Day

This is completely a grassroots effort - help a little or a lot by sharing the music via email or Facebook, hosting a house concert or something in between: http://www.andrewmcknight.net/help
Thanks most of all for reading this!
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1. UPCOMING SHOWS More details and links at website.
4/23 * SHEPHERDSTOWN WV - Panhandle Earth Day Celebration (with Beyond Borders), 4:30pm
Also performing - our friends Aca-Perco, The Woodshedders and lots more. Gates open at noon, $10/carload - rain or shine, great family fun, food and craft vendors. Morgan's Grove Park, corner Rte. 480 & Morgan Rd. [ZIP 25443]

SA 5/7 * POMFRET CT - Vanilla Bean Cafe, 8pm
At the intersection of US 44, CT 169 & 97 in Pomfret Center [ZIP 06258]

NEW SUMMER/FALL TOUR DATES ADDED: Check the website Performance calendar to see if the tour bus is coming your way - we've added shows in the Carolinas, Maine, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, Indiana and lots more. We're still confirming details on several additional shows, but it's easy to see where I'll be and....

..if you'd like to help us fill out the tour itinerary, including getting it someplace not listed above - maybe it's time to host a concert or a "Songs in the Parlor" night, recommend a venue, talk a local organization into hosting a show - any and all of it would be a huge help and greatly appreciated.

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2. THANKS FOR TUNING IN
It's a relief that we pulled off a Ustream vidcast from my house with no significant glitches. It was great to kick back and share some songs and stories with old friends and new listeners coast to coast. The chat was lively from what I could tell. It was nice to share a couple of new songs, including "Walk Along the Shore", a song my late friend Keith Pitzer had started and we worked on together a few months before his death in 2009. It's taken me a long time to be able to do it, but the time has come.

So we'll do another one of these coming up probably in May and probably on fairly short notice. If we have good wi-fi from the SERFA conference maybe we'll do a few short vidcasts throughout the weekend, who knows. I've also pondered a guitar-oriented vidcast showing how I play one of my songs. It is a strange experience though - just me and the computer, no audience! What's wild is if you can see the chat while you're playing, you know what people are thinking and sharing with each other. Nothing in my performing career quite prepared me for that, except maybe live TV - but at least there is a camera crew.

Anyhow, I'm glad to be able to use that technology to sing for you even from the comfort of my living room - thanks to everyone who tuned in, and hope to see even more of you next time.

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3. BEYOND BORDERS SELECTED FOR SERFA SHOWCASE
We are excited to be part of the Formal Showcase at the Southeast Regional Folk Alliance conference Saturday May 21 in beautiful Black Mountain NC. The Formal Showcase runs all three nights and includes some fabulous artists like Al Petteway and Amy White, Beaucoup Blue, Chuck Brodsky, Debra Cowan and Molasses Creek.

The conference is a regional version of the Folk Alliance International conference and trade show, and it is a great opportunity to make booking and network contacts while playing a lot of great music with a lot of great musicians. All that in rhododendron season in the southern Appalachians make for a much-anticipated weekend. For more on the conference visit http://serfa.org.

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4. GREAT AMERICAN TAXI PLAYS "MADE BY HAND" ON NPR'S "WOODSONGS"
During their recent performance on the syndicated public radio show "Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour", our pal Vince Herman and his bandmates shared their rendition of "Made by Hand". Thanks a ton y'all! Vince has devoted a lot of his time and energy to ending mountaintop removal and their fans on the jamband circuit have been responding to the message, and their version of our song. The original version that Chance McCoy, Les Thompson and I wrote and recorded remains available as a free download at http://andrewmcknight.net/downloads

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SONG FOR THE MONTH
"This Old Dominion" from Where This River Runs, an John Denver-esque homage to redbud and dogwood blossom season.
http://andrewmcknight.bandcamp.com/track/this-old-dominion
You can listen to the whole song, read lyrics, and share with friends via Facebook, email, blog and more.

Bandcamp.com is our direct partner for selling Andrew's CDs and downloads - they take a minimal percentage, it's easy to use, offers the best audio quality downloads, and allows us to personally ship your CDs.

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ANDREW'S ESSAY
You mean I haven't written enough yet? In keeping with the spirit of Earth Day, I'm going to recycle not one but two pertinent pieces from my website archive.

It's Not That Hard Being Green: 12 Ideas to Lighten Your Footprints http://andrewmcknight.net/beinggreen

An Essay for Earth Day 2006, a more philosophical take on our relationship with the planet that sustains us, written near the famous conservationist Aldo Leopold's boyhood home in Iowa. http://andrewmcknight.net/earthday2006

Now I can get busy on May's essay along with everything else :) Thanks for reading!

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