Meet The Ramshackles!

So we finally got some band publicity photos taken! We have a couple gigs coming up in the next several weeks, one of which is fairly big, so we needed photos for advertising, but also for general marketing purposes. Our cello player is a graphic designer by day (and sometimes by night too!), so she'll get everything all prettied up for us. In fact, here's a flyer she's created for our next gig!

Here are a few shots that I've played around with.

And a couple of silly ones... where we were laughing about who knows what...

and where my mind has wandered off... probably looking at a bird, as usual!

You can find us on myspace by clicking here.

Remember to sing a little, dance a little, and love a lot!

Homespun Girl

It appears that I will be a homebound girl this weekend if the weather forecast is on target. Starting this afternoon, we are supposed to see some lovely snow start falling in these parts, with a total of approximately 6 inches, and maybe more, before it's all over tomorrow night. That's enough to keep the wisest folks at home, hunkered down for the duration. We've got the woodstove nice and toasty and plenty of wood to keep it going, lots of food, good books, and hiking boots for a walk around the mountain.

We're all set... unless the power goes out. We can stay warm, for sure, but since we have well water, if the power goes out, so does our ability to have water for bathing, and most important, toilet use!!! And with several inches of snow on the ground, I am not too keen on going out to the woods for that purpose! We're just keeping our fingers crossed that it is indeed snow that we get and not ice, which tends to wreak havoc on all things higher up, like tree branches and power lines. We will be able to have coffee and tea since we keep a camping stove, fuel, and an old camping percolator-type coffee pot for just this reason, and a few extra gallons of clean water.

So it will be interesting to see what the weekend holds for us. One thing that will keep me busy is getting cover art and labels on my CD, which I am soooo happy to say is finally finished! Thanks to a huge effort by my bandmates, Trey and Diana, we were able to complete the mixing on Wednesday night. While it isn't perfect, we all agreed that it sounds pretty darn good and we were pleased with the outcome. And we really weren't aiming for perfection, more for a real sound. As long as the electricity continues to hold out, I will need to burn the CDs, affix the labels, and get the cover in the cases.... just in time for Christmas! That was the plan from the start, and we worked really, really hard to achieve it!

Here's the cover... that's a dress by freeflightclothing on Etsy... and it's so soft and comfortable!

And here's the playlist, 12 original songs...

The three of us learned an awful lot from this process... it was a challenge, for sure. And it was amazing to see how it all came together, to hear what Trey did with leadwork and Diana did with cello arrangments, and to learn about the recording and mixing world. It's a huge, huge job, but we are glad we made the effort. It was definitely worth it, and I am indebted for a long, long time to my friends, Trey and Diana. Thanks, guys!