We had a great time in Camden's Green Note last night -- thanks everyone who came, sang along and laughed in all the right places : )
There are still two more chances to hear Ember in London:
Sunday, the 29th at Walthamstow Folk Club, in The Plough Inn. 7:30 pm
and:



See the invite on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=77239069337#/ical/event.php?eid=77239069337

We've put some songs on Reverbnation that you may not have heard on myspace. . . hope you enjoy : )

Thanks to Jerry Feldman for posting this on his site -- It made me see guitar-playing in a different way! --rebecca

Woody Guthrie provided the following advice from "Coney Islands on the Lowlands by the Foamings of the Sea" in the late 1940s to folks who wished to learn how to play protest folk music on the guitar, according to the 1962 instruction book The Folksinger's Guitar Guide by Jerry Silverman:

"I can't play any chord by looking at any book and never could...I'll bet you the chording books that Leadbelly has used in his greening and grey years wouldn't make a pile big enough for you to find on your floor. Leadbelly learnt to play the guitar the same way I did, by 'ear', by 'touch' by 'feel', by 'bluff', by 'gessin', by 'fakin' and by a great crave and drive to keep on playing.

"I learned that I could plunk along on 'Birmingham Jail' in the key of, say, G and get by plumb fine and dandy with only one chord change in the whole song, up to D and back to greasy G. A few Chicago boilermakers has caused me to get real flirty at labor union lawn parties and toss in a C somewheres along there where you're down on your knees.

"If I'm sort of lazing it around, I leave out a few of the extrays. If I'm scattering wild oats for my goats, I lay in a few more just to keep my string finger oily and limber. If I play with one other instrument, I do it this way. if it's two others, I play some other way. If it's at a sixteen guitar hoot, I am forced by all of the laws of nature and averages to naturally find some 17th lost part nobody else is using and tickle away with that. I never do play the same song twice alike.

"I've pounded out 'Ida Red', 'Old Judge Parker Take Your Shackles Offa Me' for as high as thirty or forty minutes with no more than two chords D to A, D to A, and D to A ten blue jillion times through a square dance. Lots of the old fullblooded fiddlers will toss you down off from his platform if you go to getting too fancy with your chording.

"I'm high in favor of books and chord books, pictures, drawings, illustrations and so forth and so on. But don't let them get tangled up in your throw rope. Don't let them worry you, nor slow you down, nor stop you. Use your eyes, watch other good, bad and medium players, do like they do. Learn a wiggle from one, a slide from the next, a tickle from the next one, a whang and bang, a walkalong from somebody else, and before you know it, you'll be just as good a doubler and faker, lead finger, and follower, as the rest of them."

For more information about the historical role that Woody Guthrie played in U.S. musical history, you can check out the following link:

http://www.woodyguthrie.org/

This is cool, maybe we'll be the new Elton John and Bernie Taupin, in that we are working apart, yet together. Em has recently acquired a laptop with garage band, and has been experimenting with adding strange beats and effects to our songs, and then emailing them as mp3s! 

We are so modern!

Let's see if an album results. . .Ember songs on iLike - Add iLike to your MySpace

This Sunday, January 4th, one of our older songs "38 Miles" will be included in a programme called "Something Understood" on BBC Radio 4. The show can be heard at 6:05-6:35 am, and again at 11:30 pm. Or you can listen again on the website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/religion/somethingunderstood.shtml

Description from their website:
Each week the programme examines some of the larger questions of life, taking a spiritual theme and exploring it through music, prose and poetry.

We hope you enjoy the video filmed and directed by Giles Thaxton, accompanied by our song "Storm." It was filmed in two days in August 2008, with Super-8 film stock. Locations: Dyfi Estuary, near Smuggler's Cove and the reservoir at Centre for Alternative Technology. Thanks to everyone who helped!
www.gilesthaxton.co.uk
www.cat.org.uk

We hope you will join us on Saturday 29th March at 7:30 pm in the, ahem, school hall in Machynlleth for an evening of music and silliness with Ember and special guests!

Entry is £5/£3 conc. with £1 from each entry going to a charity (yet to be selected).

We will play songs from our new album "Open All the Doors," accompanied by Jamie Smith on accordion, who also features on the album.

Surprise guests will also thrill and amuse you.

There will be drinks and snacks, and you are welcome to bring your own.

There are hostel beds available in the town of Machynlleth for £12.50 if we book in a block, so let us know if you'd like to reserve one. There are also rooms at the White Lion for £50 or £70, or more ritzy surroundings at the Wynnstay.

Fancy dress is encouraged! Why not dig out that ridiculous frock you've been meaning to flaunt for so long. . .

Hope to see you there!

We are very pleased to announce that our brand new CD
entitled "Open all the Doors" is ready now, and is
sounding better than we ever dreamed!  

The adventure started in August when we joined Dylan
Fowler in his Felin Fach Studio in Abergavenny.  It
was time to start recording, after a summer of trying
out new songs, and rehearsing with Job Verweijen, the
excellent world percussionist.  

It was an exciting time, laying down the new tracks
and getting to know Dylan's recording style.  It turns
out he's also an incredible multi-instrumentalist, and
we couldn't have been happier when he agreed to add
some of his intuitive guitar, piano and whistle to the
tracks.

Several other musicians played a part in the
recording, too:  Nathan Thomson brought in the double
bass, Jamie Smith (of Welsh band Mabon) revved up his
accordion, and Gillian Stevens wowed us with her
gorgeous cello bits. 

We won't claim it was an easy undertaking, but now
that the album is finally finished, we couldn't be
happier with it!  This is the first time our songs
have been decked out with so many luscious sounds, and
it feels like a big step in our musical development.  

We've been offered a distribution deal by Proper
Distribution, but for the moment we are able to offer
the CD ourselves, for £12 (including postage)
from our website.  You are welcome to hear a sampling
of the songs on our myspace page:
  www.myspace.com/embersong

and if you love the new songs as much as we do, you can order a CD at:

www.embersong.com/albums

We hope you find time to relax this winter, and have
a very happy new year!

All the best,
  Rebecca and Emily