Resetting

Resetting is a very necessary thing.  And a thing I rather wish I had an ability to truly do.  Work for me is an obligation, but also an aspiration.  

My brother and I have had conversations about this.  Somehow we and everyone else in my family have absorbed the message that we are supposed to be working at pretty much all times.    Any spare moment is a moment that we really ought to be doing a thing from the task lists that have been assigned to us. 

Of course, this is incredibly unhealthy, and leads to burn out, sickness, and a general mental malaise. It also makes us not a hell of a lot of fun to be around.

So, here’s a picture of some cows:

These are authentic Texas Longhorns, located on a ranch northwest of Nacogdoches. The ranch is owned and run by some distant family members of ours, and the cows are kept as pets. In fact, they referred to them as “very large dogs”.

While there is cell and Wi-Fi coverage there, it is spotty and somewhat unreliable. As a result, the focus is a little bit more local. Access to my day-to-day job and work very much took a backseat. What work there is to do on a ranch is a lot more immediate and tangible, and the results visible and more immediately relevant to life.

In the process of catching my breath and spending a little time in the woods, I came back to a whole set of songs that I have started but not done very much with. I don’t know how many of these will actually make it to a final form, but here is a list of song titles of things I’m working on:

• Burn the Ships
• Death in the Neighborhood
• Pixie Queen
• They’re Waiting for Me
• Uneasy Lies the Head
• Nobody’s Business

As has been my habit of late, I will typically demo songs in the studio at home, then take them out to open mic to work shop them a few times, and then do a final set of recordings for release.

Along those lines, I do have a little bit of news:

Instead of releasing an entire new album at this point, I have decided to put the songs from Wayfinding out as individual singles as I am happy with their recording, mastering, and mixing. The first two have just been released and are available on cdbaby, iTunes, and Spotify. 

Not That Bright

In The End (Spotify link coming soon)

Please go ahead and take a listen! We’ve also put a lot of work into artwork that was or is intended to eventually be used for the album cover, for the CD print, and for liner notes. I promise I will make those available for download on this website as soon as I release a few more of the singles. 

Also, I continue to play at local open mics in the eastern Massachusetts area, and will be playing at Devlin’s in Brighton on Monday, January 27.  If all goes well, I will also be playing at Pub 340 in Vancouver on Wednesday, February 5. 

I have also confirmed that I will be the featured performer on Sunday, April 5 at Article 24 in Brighton. I really, really hope to see you there!

Please like and follow Tunnel 18 on Facebook or Twitter for more real-time updates. 

So finally, if I can leave a gift for you – here is the sunset from the first night that we spent on the ranch. I dare you to look at this and not feel just a little bit more calm, and recognize just a moment to be still.