New England Trip & Kitchen Remodel

New England Trip
Merry Christmas to everyone! It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for us as we have been traveling up and down the northeast for the last couple of weeks. We have had a blast so far with the release of our new album, "Transition". Two weekends ago we were blessed by Tom and Patty Flaherty who opened up there home to us and all of their friends as they hosted the first of what we hope to be many more Living Room Concerts. They put on quite a warm evening of fellowship, food, and of course music. We set up shop in the corner of their living room and performed tunes off our new disc and shared the stories that inspired them. For the three of us, it was probably one of the most genuine of "concerts" to experience. (More on Living Room Concerts and our CD Release Party in the next blog). Thank you to Tom and Patty for your genuine hospitality and servant hearts.




Kitchen Remodel
The rest of this month has dealt us a series of exhausting days. In the spirit of being "economical" (synonymous with "cheap"), Lauren and I have undertaken the task of remodeling our kitchen on our own. With the help of some family and friends (Justin O'Brien pictured) we have successfully demolished what could be some of the most disgusting kitchen cabinets to ever grace Green Terrace. I have very little experience as a "handyman" but so far, the house is still standing and i fixed the plumbing under the sink without reading a manual. High fives all around! I like to live by the motto, "If someone else can do it...I can do it." Lauren now refers to me as the "Dandyman" (instead of "handyman")

In all honesty, this project is a referendum on my pride. Lauren comes from a father who fixes everything on a moment's notice with whatever object is laying around, and a brother who just passed his master's test as an electrician and dabbles in home improvement himself. Needless to say, I have a lot of ground to cover and a lot to prove to my new wife. She's very gracious, though, and reassures me that I have nothing to prove. Unfortunately, as previously stated, my pride has a lot to prove. :) It has been a fun process and we look forward to the final completion of the kitchen this week before mom & dad Brown visit for the holidays. That leaves me....holy crap! I've got a week?! This blog is over!

New Album Set for Release

As some of you might know, Lauren and I have been working in the studio over the last year with our good friend and fellow songwriter Nate Graham. The project began as a demo of 5 songs with Jabin Baxter (drums) and Jonathan Gascho (bass) and after our prospects for the demo fell through, we decided why not make melonade out of melons! So we turned a 5 song demo of songs just by Lauren and I, into a 12 song ep of original tunes written by Nate, Lauren, and myself.

What has been really authentic about these recordings is the live nature of all of the tunes. As you can see in the picture above, all of the acoustic tunes were performed live in the studio. It seems like everybody's trying to get that "nashville" sound these days, but for the three of us circled up in a small sound room, the big "nashville" production was the furthest thing from our minds.

We set out to make a disc that was true to who we are: three simple songwriters who love laughter and musing over melodies. It's a new approach for all of us, but it feels more real and appropriate to the music inside. That's why we've decided to call the new album "Transition". Check back for an exact release date set for late November.