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Try, try again, so it is said.

I can’t say that I am thrilled about the progress I have made getting music released recently. It appears I have taken too big of a bite trying to release two more albums this year, having only a few songs on each ready for mixing.

Those albums are very different than the first one and each other, and even are being released under different artist names. How did I get myself into this fiasco?

The Remissions release was unsatisfactory to me and moving on is not acceptable. So here is my plan. I will be re-ordering the songs, eliminating one (Consuelo), reworking one (Entropy) and adding a new single. This will make Remissions II a much better album.

I am very excited about the new single I am adding. I have been wanting to finish a song about Giordano Bruno for many years now, and it is almost done. It would not fit on my rockabilly album ‘Branded’ or on the alternative “Past Out”, but it fits right in with the theme of “Remissions”. My mailing list will get a message soon with a pre-release version of the song, so sign up if you haven’t yet.

No more mopathon or agitated complaining! It’s time to knuckle down and do what I know how.  I do believe it all comes down to a schedule, and I have historically been horrible in that regard.  As the annoying saying goes “You ain’t gettin’ any younger”.

It’s so easy to blow off commitments to myself.  I would never do that to somebody else, nor would I accept it done to me by another.

So I’m off to train my mind.  Not going anywhere physically, but undertaking a discipline of self love.  I have to…lots of music to release this year.

I am becoming discouraged with trying to maintain a website, mailing list and social networking profiles to get people to listen to my music.  Most likely this is the last post I will make here for a while.

The biggest issue is the spam I constantly get here.  I have deleted thousands of spam comments and have yet to receive a single message that relates to my creative endeavors.  This is a horrible time suck and, from what I have been able to figure out, there is no way to get rid of the spam other than to pay a service that works marginally, if at all.

I am investigating options other  than a wordpress site to solve this problem.  Until I come up with a better solution, there will be little new from me on this site in the future.

You can always join my mailing list if you like my music and want to know what is going on with me.

It has been a really long time that I have toiled to craft the Remissions album into a marketable product.  I am not sure it is truly marketable, but at long last it is a product.  Sad to say I don’t have a lot of energy left to push it into recognition, so I have decided to proceed to my next album Branded and work on my live performance. So to this end Remissions will have to stand on its own.

If nothing else it has been quite an educational experience.  Though the album was officially released 4 days ago it has not made it to the streaming services yet.  Oddly enough my distributor put up a banner saying the release was under review, but never notified me that I was not finished with the process.  After the release party came and went without the album on the streaming services, I find out there is really no customer service to help me troubleshoot the problem.  I decided to completely re-do the release, and am being notified again that it is under a 3-4 day review.  At this point I can’t say when it will be available for streaming, since the only support option is to become mired in a jungle of virtual assistant utilities that are of no help at all.  Such is the state of technology corporations these days. Se la vie.

The Week is finally here! Rehearsing like crazy and working on the logistics of the event, I’ve fallen behind in what I need to do re: social networking and the like.  But I am here now.
So whaddayathink about my new banner? It’s the same one on all of my social networks (buttons above).  That is a result of the CyberPR total tune-up.  Now if I could only get it together to post regularly and use bunches of hashtags–cchheesshh!

I expect to livestream the band at the release party on at http://cnbyrd.bandcamp.com/remissionsreleaseparty  Come join the fun and you might get to hear me butcher a song or two it’s been so long since I played in front of (gulp) PEOPLE.

But I do have a couple of solo gigs coming up here in Santa Fe.  Keep in touch with me to find out just where.

I’m so stoked about the @indiesourcemag review of my debut single, WOW!  Now I have some wonderful quotes to use in promotions…and GIGS!  I will be playing Cowgirl here in Santa Fe on 28 March and am near securing a resident weekly coffee shop brunch gig (to be disclosed soon).

But back to the review.  Name dropping three of my favorite songwriters?!  And “what separates Craig from other artists is his fearlessness in his writing.”  WWHHHAAAATTTT?!!!  I couldn’t have made up better myself! 

But more big excitement about the release party! Ceremony Studios is hosting the “Remissions” release party on 18 March.  The plan is to livestream the band playing the whole album plus a couple of songs off the next one. But if you can’t catch the livestream the recording will be on my YouTube Channel.

Cheers for now with tears for Ukraine.

Only a couple of more weeks until my first single drops. Visitors to this page can hear it here and now, though it has not been released yet. (SSHHHSH–that’s a secret!!!)

The real treat is the official release of my debut album, “Remissions” on March 18th. It’s been a long time coming and is very exciting.  

I expect to live stream the band playing the entire album at the release party on that evening.  I hope you can join us if you are not in the vicinity. Otherwise, it will be posted for all eternity on my you tube channel.

Hello friends new and old, and good tidings! All the best to you and yours as we navigate our way into a  new, unknown place.

This is a brief update to allow any visitors to my site to know what is happening with my album release. To my embarrassment I have been rather remiss in posting, but this certainly does not indicate I don’t value your interest or that I have not been working very hard on my album release.  As I am quite ambivalent about social networking platforms and hesitate to post on them, here is by far the second best place to find out what is happening in the Byrdstir sphere of little influence (for now). The best place is on my mailing list which is available to you by clicking the Opt-In Here button on this page.  There are still a lot of openings on my VIP list (the first 100 subscribers), but that may not be the case in another month or two once the album drops.

So as not to bore you with a lengthy post that you most likely won’t read, I will get to the point.  Though I have pushed back the album release several times, this new date of March 18th is solid.  The whole album is nearing the completion of the mix stage and almost ready to go to the mastering engineer.  So get ready to join me on this flight into whatever the upcoming next few months brings, and I look forward to interacting with you as we work our way into a future that will not be lacking in surprises.

4 Nov22…with the new moon I’ll be making a schedule and keeping to it.  It is absolutely essential that I organize my time to be as efficient as possible in order to successfully accomplish the release of my debut album ‘Remissions’. That is to book each moment of the day to a designated activity.

There are so many important tasks to be done that are at the periphery of the crux work of producing the album itself.  One that I am overjoyed about is the completion of all song artwork and the album cover art by Santa Fe artist Mark Frossard.  It is all under wraps at this point, except for a couple of songs posted privately.  You will get  access to that once you have joined my email list, along with regular exclusive updates as to how the album is progressing. Still working up to 100 charter members for the VIP Club.  See the Opt-In Here button.

Together in the One.

Byrdstir

I find myself remiss with regard to keeping in contact with my dear followers, and will make up for it soon.  If you would like to be among the first to know of what is going on in my sphere of little influence and hear exclusive early releases from the album production process, please join the list with the “opt-in” button on this page.

But just to keep any extraneous visitors to my site in the loop about what is going on, I have put off the release date for the album until the 11th of February 2022.  This delay will not only make it a better album but will give me some time to work on the social networking piece of the puzzle.  Of course, any help in that area would be sincerely appreciated.

Though I feel compelled to write an occasional missive, I am keenly aware that my words will most likely not be widely read for months or even years, if ever. Still I persist, since it is one of the few ways I can disperse my viewpoint, other than my songs.

First I will address my writing style. I am constantly being electronically reminded that my sentences are too long; that readers prefer short statements that they don’t have to figure out. In my past few posts I have made an attempt to conform to that expectation, but I refuse to comply anymore. Of course it is my problem if potential followers don’t want to exert the mental energy it requires to understand what I am attempting to convey, but I really don’t care anymore. I am going to write the way I feel like communicating, rather than pander to some common intellectual denominator.

What brings this about are recommendations to and expectations of me in preparation for my upcoming debut album release. I am being informed that unless I have XXK twitter followers, XXK Facebook likes, XXK Instagram, followers, etc.,etc., there is little chance of the industry reviewing or even listening to my music. My immediate reaction is the thought that music reviewers are there to review music rather than social networking skills. Apparently this is not the case in current media practice.

As it is, this post is already considered to be too long to hold a reader’s interest. So to be more succinct about it, I am exerting maximum effort to produce a debut record album on a very limited budget. I am recording, editing, hiring session players, arranging instrumentation, investigating launch activities, hiring public relations professionals, a bio writer, a mastering engineer and on and on, as well as continueing to educate myself to put out the best product I possibly can. Yet I am expected to use a large chunk of my day to build a mailing list, post to numerous social networks, develop a marketing plan, book performances and so forth.

In response to this burden, I simply will quit dedicating my working hours to anything other than producing my songs and not fret about it. I can’t afford to hire people to do all of these peripheral activities for me. And crowdsourcing? I don’t have a crowd from which to source or the time to create one. That is not in my personality profile anyway. When I delivered newspapers as a youngster I could hardly bring myself to knock on doors and ask people for the money they owed me for a service I had already provided.

What I can do is marshall my limited resource to produce the best album I can. If few people ever hear it, so it goes. I have two more albums ready to produce when this one is done. My songs are not written by a committee or molded by a team of social scientists for maximum likeability. They represent me and the way I see and feel the world I have experienced. If they are not good enough to warrent recognition, that’s life. It goes on

I Am Having an Identity Crisis!

In the midst of work releasing my Americana singer-songwriter album, I realized that I should be putting to use my music outside of that genre.  Firstly, I am planning a Spring 2022 album in the rockabilly, country space that features a different type of sound than that released under the name CN Byrd.

Introducing 2Step Tanglr

Here is a link to a song I wrote a few years back as an homage to my New Mexico upbringing.

Chile Eatin’ Man

As you can tell, the song is about eating chile, though my pal “Dirty Dan” immediately went to sexual innuendo.  It will be featured on a 2022 album by 2Step Tanglr to be named “Branded”, after the title track.  This music is really made for a dance band, which one day I hope to have.

But That’s Not All, Folks!

The CN Byrd music will be performed live in two basic ways; either solo or with a band.  These offerings will include some edgier music, particularly when done with a band and will be know as CN Byrd and the BarDoze.  Keep in mind the debut BarDoze album to be called “Past Out” which will be released next year. Or better yet, opt in to my mailing list on this page. I will be posting samples of these two albums in the coming weeks, first for my list and a week or so later for the general public. So join me now and I will let you know everything that is going on with me and my various iterations.  I am still in the Charter Member phase, which is good news for you among the first 100 subscribers.

I hope you like “Chile Eatin’ Man”.  Drop me a line and tell me what you think.Firstly.

Is an agreement come to over social networking worth the paper it is written on?

I am patiently avoiding  being distressed by  what seem to be “verbal agreements” being made over social networking communications that are routinely being blown off.  As I am in the process of putting out a record album, these written commitments seem to have little value, even though they involve well-paying jobs and little time.  

I am relying on the expertise of other individuals to help me with this demanding project.  There are certain things I simply cannot do myself.  I can’t sing a woman’s part.  I can’t play a flute solo. And I can’t get others who I thought I have hired to do these things for me to respond to my communications in a timely manner.

I feel like a suitor that is led on by a teasing potential partner.  It would seem that the subject would immediately decline the job, as a few have done.  Unfortunately this lack of responses requires me to search for  alternatives just in case nothing is forthcoming after 3-4 attempts to schedule talent.  

I still refuse to be discouraged and will keep on keeping on, though it may mean pushing back my album release.  As of this moment I am on track, but that could change over the next week or so.

I will keep you posted.

I am feeling rather ambivalent about my website.  I would rather be confident that it is doing what is necessary to build  recognition for the music I am about to release, but that is not quite what I am feeling.

Why is that so?

I am not a web developer nor am I rolling in the dough.  That said, I am rather happy with the look and feel of the site, as simple as it is.  I think the real issue is that it is not being visited as much as I would like.  Of course that is not the fault of the website, rather my un-developed ability to drive people to it.  At this point I am not trying to sell anything except some interaction with potential fans of my music. It seems as though the ‘if you build it, they will come’ slogan doesn’t apply to websites.

Begging for Comments

So I am asking anyone who takes their valuable time to poke around my baby page to  drop me a line and tell me what they think.  There is a blue link button that says ‘send me a message’ that you can use for that purpose.  Of course I would be remiss if I did not mention my mailing list and the special recording that is available to you for joining if you have not already.  So help me out here and let me know your thoughts on the matter.

Byrdstir

I have discovered that I am not very good at manipulating social media to my benefit. I have been putting in some effort to try and build an active and updated mail list to support my debut full-length concept album “Remissions”. It is scheduled for October and I have been promoting it by doing Facebook and twitter posts every few days. What is rather strange is that, while my posts get many likes, the visitors do not click the link and join my list. There has been no real incentive to join my list except to support me in my effort to release a self-produced concept album. But that is about to change.

the reason

I am posting a solo acoustic version of my first single “Gina Rides a Tiger” as a private link on my SoundCloud page. I will send out exclusive links to the 17 friends who have subscribed. This song was written for my younger sister who succumbed to the ravages of breast cancer after 11 years. Possibly that can build my contact list, though in reality it is much easier to simply click “like” or add an emoji than to click the landing page button and fill in an email address. That will not get you exclusive access to this release.

the album

The group mind of the music industry has concluded that albums are dead. Singles are the only things that matter anymore. There was a time when a well-conceived album had a listener hooked for the whole ride. So many of my favorite songs are deep cuts that never were singles. And concept albums are even a more discouraged rare beast. Having grown up with Sergeant Peppers and Dark Side of the Moon makes me very sad to hear this prevalent philosophy in the business. Putting out this singer-songwriter album is my firm commitment, whether it is listened to or not. Then I can move along to my more commercial fare that may get some reviews, playlists and streams.

If you appreciate the music of Damien Rice, Tory Amos, John Martyn and Suzanne Vega among many other similar songwriters, I invite you to join me with the button to the right. You will not be disappointed when the album drops and you are one of the charter subscribers, particularly if it does see any success.

the art

Another benefit is the beautiful song and album art being created by Santa Fe artist Mark Frossard. These are not random paintings plastered up to fill visual space when the songs are playing on the streaming services, but intimate images based on the lyric and feel of each song. As a charter subscriber, you will receive special access to me, the songs and the artwork. If this go as I predict, you will become an recognized influencer by sharing the dusky jewels of the “Remissions” collection.

Until next time….Byrdstir

My past seems unclear when I look back to find out why I have always written songs and not done anything with them. There is something about putting the way I feel into words and putting those words to music that has forever fulfilled a deep longing; as hesitant as I have been to share my creations with others. Now at long last, the time has come to break out of the shell and face the fire with my own flame. My only hope is that something touches you deeply and that my work can help ease your burden and let you smile and ponder and dream.

As a follow-up to my unreleased 2010 “Emissions” EP (in the player on the right)’, I am preparing for release a ten song concept album entitled “Remissions”.  I will be releasing acoustic versions of two singles soon, before the first studio release drops in August.  If you are on my e-mail list you will have early notice and free downloads of these stripped down versions.  So please use the opt-in button on the right and join me on this totally excellent journey!