Festival ticket? CHECK!
Hotel Reservations? CHECK!
Plane ticket? CHECK!
That’s it. There is no doubt about it now. I am most definitely going to the Deep Blues Festival this year. I was a little worried once the house thing started happening and we started hemorrhaging cash, but it’s all done now. To say I am excited is to certainly understate things. I am probably gonna heavily feature bands that are gonna be at the festival here on ninebullets over the coming month. Speaking of the festival, it’s a month and some change away in Lake Elmo, Minnesota (20 minutes from the St. Paul airport) and it’s gonna be great. If you are within driving distance or have the ability to hop a plane, you should make a great effort to attend. Also, if you’re going, holler at me and let me know. I would love to find someone to share my hotel room/split the bill with, and I’m always in need of fellow drinkers.
One have the bands playing DBF 08, Chris Cotton & The New Hokum 3’s, have just released their new album, The Big Sea. The Big Sea and DBF are an excellent testament to what the relationship between this scene’s artists and its fans is all about. See, when Chris wasn’t able to cover the mastering and pressing costs of the album in advance, he issued a simple request:
I need 250 people to commit/and buy my new album in advance for me to be able to Mix, Master, And duplicate my new album. It is done being recorded onto analog tape and is completely unmixed. The financier’s up to this point of the album is a friend of mine, and myself, and both of us are done as far as money goes.
Sometimes the “Y” in DIY just isn’t enough, and in this case the fan base stepped up to the plate and The Big Sea got to see the light of day. A great many artists at the DBF are doing the DIY thing. There really isn’t anything original about that, but The Big Sea is the first cd I’ve ever felt like a played a role in the release of, so I decided to feature it first as well.
According to Chris’ web site he prefers to not try to pigeonhole his sound into a specific genre, but if you have to he doesn’t care what you call it as long as it ain’t blues. Fine, The Big Sea ain’t a blues record. It’s a folk record with a heavy hill country/blues lean to it…songs that sound like they’ve come from an era long since passed, preserved in sepia prints and analog tapes.
He’ll be playing Friday afternoon at the festival…perhaps we’ll see you there.
Chris Cotton - The Gambler
Chris Cotton - What Would You Do
Chris Cotton - .44 Pistol Mama
Chris Cotton’s Official Site, Chris Cotton on myspace, Buy The Big Sea
Chris Cotton and the New Hokum 3’s are a bad ass blues outfit outta California. They are trying to raise the funds to put out a new cd. Last week Chris sent out a myspace bulletin asking people to commit to buying a copy of the cd once it’s out and got 110 commitments pretty quickly. He needs 140 more. I decided to post his bulletin here to raise a little awareness.
I need 250 people to commit/and buy my new album in advance for me to be able to Mix, Master, And duplicate my new album. It is done being recorded onto analog tape and is completely unmixed. The financier’s up to this point of the album is a friend of mine, and myself, and both of us are done as far as money goes.
I approached many people I know with $ and presented a business plan that was very well thought out and developed throughout the stages of production and they all came back with different versions of the same answer:
“I think your proposel and budget are very conservative, and realistic; even promising; although I am not comfortable loaning out money to my friends in general because of past situations…”
Fair enough. I am a very simple business person and I see things in a very simple way. I make money, and I pay my expenses. Nothing more or less.
I want to try and do something a little different though. I want to find 250 people who own my past albums that are willing to absolutely commit to purchasing my new album and doing it in advance.
What are the perks of this small investment of $15 that will not be realized for several months?
I will promise that:
- You will receive a copy of the album within one week after I get them back from the duplicators. I will personally mail them to you.
- You will be thanked in the liner notes(because you will have sent me a check that cleared for your cd before I take the design work to the distributors).
- I will cover the cd shipping out of my own pocket so the total cost of your investment is $15.(USA only, send me 20 if you live outside of here to cover airmail and fill out those extra forms).
- If you have friends you want to buy these first ever copies for, I will thank you with sharpie on the cd if you buy more than one. No Limit.Actually 250 limit.
Thats all I need to finish the album.
I wont ask anyone to send me anything until I have 250 orders, period. So all you have to do to commit is to send me an email, pass this along to people that you know have my record(s) or people who may care, and send me an email to this address:
chris@cottonchris.com
please place this in the title line: I Want the new record.
In the body just tell me how many copies you can commit to purchasing in advance, and your name and thats it.
When I get to my goal I will send everyone an email telling them where to mail the check to.
Thanks for your support,
Christopher Cotton
Chris Cotton and the New Hokum 3’s - 44 Pistol Mama
Chris Cotton and the New Hokum 3’s - Dying Crapshooter’s Blues
Chris Cotton and the New Hokum 3’s - Morgan City Mississippi
