tour journal 3: june 15-20

Monday, June 15

Drove from Amarillo to Albuquerque; house concert tonight at Christina Herr’s and Martin Rowell’s beautiful house on the NW side of the city. I met Christina and Martin by chance--during last year’s AMA conference. I’d gotten called at the last minute to fill in for Robin and Linda Williams, who were scheduled to play a showcase at 3rd and Lindsley but couldn’t make it due to travel delays, and C. and M. were there. Martin is from north Louisiana, too, so we had a lot to talk about. Nine months later, I found myself in their home--a perfect cozy setting. I arrived late afternoon, loaded in, and laid myself out flat for an hour. Windows open, great breeze. Before I knew it, it was time to change clothes and get ready for the gig. For a Monday night we had a good turnout, I’d say around 25 people. I love playing house concerts, but those of you who know my music might agree when I say that it’s not the most obvious fit--typical esoteric polite strummer I am not. Not that everyone who plays house shows IS, but . . . I think you know what I’m sayin’. I requested a small p.a., just to make sure the vocals got out there. I was told later that one audience member asked our hosts, “what’s the microphone for?”. The size of the room and the adobe walls required that I keep the guitar amp turned down, but that’s okay--I love that kind of challenge, and I think having to play at low volume can bring great things out of a performance, creating a kind of tension that you have to work through. Lots of folks brought food--amazing food . . . who was it, Linda(?), who brought those enchiladas? Along with the great food, I remember quite a few dogs came along with their owners for the show as well. Martin and his pals opened the show and it was a great treat to hear them. A great night--thanks so much to Christina and Martin for hosting me, and for opening their house for the show; I really enjoyed meeting so many folks from the local music community. Check out Christina’s own great music here: http://www.echristinaherr...com

Tuesday June 16

Sought out the Owl Cafe in Albuquerque for breakfast; it was big, beautiful, and tasty. Carnitas in adobo sauce, w/scrambled eggs, beans, and home fries. I didn’t eat another meal all day. Drove to Kingman, AZ, though was tempted to stop in Flagstaff . . . lots of evergreens, hills, but the tourist-attraction factor probably would’ve made it a more expensive option. Found a Days Inn in Kingman, where a gang of workmen was also staying, tipping beers in the parking lot when I drove in. They were surprisingly quiet, gone in the morning without a sound before I woke up.

Wednesday June 17

Drove from Kingman to Los Angeles today. (Again, lots of video shot along the way with narration that I can’t get to right now since my camera’s broken). Lots of anxiety driving into the city--but the traffic was no crazier than Chicago or Atlanta. Stayed with my friends G. and M., who have a beautiful spot just up the hill from Sunset; from their dining room table you can look all the way down to the water. They are the living answer to the stereotypical Hollywood character-sketch. Native southerners, they’ve retained a kind of down-home vibe in their home and their extreme hospitality while embracing the things about L.A. that they love.

Thursday June 18

Wasn’t sure where I was going to stay tonight, but G., when he realized I had nowhere to go, graciously invited me to stay there again. I had a couple of meetings that day not far from their place, so it was really convenient. Had a beer with my old friend Chris Offutt, at a patio bar sorta joint on Sunset, the Cat and Fiddle. Chris has had several books published since our days together in grad school, and is currently working as a writer/producer for a popular series on Showtime. And bless his heart, he keeps writing my songs into his screenplays. I am very grateful, and flattered that he likes my work so much.

Friday June 19

Up and out early, for the drive north to Brookdale, CA, up in the hills outside Santa Cruz, where I’m playing tonight with fellow east Nashvillian Stephen Simmons. M. made me some incredible trail mix for the ride. These folks were so kind to me--two of many roadside angels I’ve encountered along the way this trip--it was hard to leave, and made me eager to return, though next time, I’ll play a show!

I ended up getting lost, thanks to my GPS spokeswoman, who tends to talk a little too much in the abstract, and a little too slowly, when I really need to know where and when to turn. Somewhere around Gilroy (home of the annual garlic festival--and yes, you can smell it all over, it’s wonderful)--but eventually I found the way, though when I got closer to Brookdale it took a while to figure out exactly where to go. I’d been there when McMahan and I stayed there a few years ago, and I guess I’d oversimplified the route in my mind. The gravel road up the hill to the house where I’m staying felt pitched at about a 60 degree angle, and the single lane might’ve been about 4 feet wide. Tight turns and steep drops, winding thru those stoic old redwoods. This ain’t Hollywood, no more.


from my journal:

Sat. 6/20, 9:08 a.m.
Pamela and Alistair’s
Brookdale CA

The blue-plumed black bird drops into the gutter & cocks its head. I’m in bed, up on the 2nd floor of a beautiful old house at the top of a hill, just down the road from the Brookdale Inn, where Stephen (Simmons) and I played last night. Terrible gig. I made $15, and sold 2 CDs; Stephen had a hostile encounter with a managerial type--and I’m really glad I wasn’t around when it happened. The booker who’d hired us had been fired, a non-local company had just assumed ownership of the place, and no one seemed to know anything. Our names weren’t on the marquee (though acts for every other night that week were)--it had the vibe, even before setting up, of inherent chaos and failure. A cocktail lounge singer with excessive vibrato warbled away on the other side of a curtain, for the dinner crowd, while we were setting up. Music, sweet music. But we made it through, played for our hosts and one of their friends; yes, a crowd of three. Got back here by midnight, had a beer with Stephen, much gnashing of teeth, etc.-- some elements of our conversation probably couldn’t have stood the daylight--I came up here and crashed at about 1, while downstairs at the front door a cat was pleading to be let in.

I wish I could spend a week here, writing and thinking, it’s so quiet and cool. Pamela and Alistair, our hosts, were so sweet--made us dinner before the show, and breakfast and coffee before I left.

Gotta clean out the van--picking up Ron and Rich at the hotel by the Oakland airport, on the way up to Napa. I need a day just to get re-organized (but was I ever?)--but that won’t happen til Monday. Busy today, playing a party tonight, then up early for the drive back down to Watsonville for the KPIG show tomorrow morning; another show back up north of Napa, in Sebastopol tomorrow night.

(as much as I'd like to, the #$%&! myspace photo upload thing is preventing me from adding photos to this post; please visit my facebook page to see them.)

After thinking about this over the last week, it seems I’m more excited about writing what’s in the present tense (or near-past), than I am about going back--as in excavating the journal from my trip last month.  And it might be of more benefit to me, than to you the reader, to transcribe and post them; to find what’s there. I had hoped to post them at a faster pace, but too often what’s happening in the present moment trumps what went on in a hotel room or club four weeks ago. I'll keep on with it, but for now, a diversion from the tour-blog path:

I just came in from working on the front garden. My hands are sticky from grabbing the rosemary, cutting it back so it doesn’t completely take over, elbowing out the sage and whatever else it wants to cover. The skinny weakling, dill, is an easy target. It’s the first time I’ve trimmed anything back significantly since getting home from out west.  Abundance, I suppose, is the charitable word for what’s happening there . . . two tomato plants (though they deserve to be called bushes at this point) going nuts--lots of vine, and fruit now, but not many turning red very quickly. The two in the backyard are in more orderly shape, but aren’t producing much--I re-staked them last week. Basil, oregano, thyme, a bell pepper plant that’s hanging on, but not producing fruit yet. Orange mint, another aggressor, and my excuse for buying bourbon last summer--so I could make a few of those mint juleps. Yum. Cilantro bit the dust while I was gone.

I’ve enjoyed these long days that are as quiet as I want them to be, though the dogs ensure that the peace comes in limited quantity.  (One is barking at the back door right now.) I think I’ve been seeing this in the wrong way, though: I have a bad habit of treating (relative) silence as emptiness, a void, when it can just as easily be seen as abundance. Time there for the taking--a blessing that I too often misuse, or neglect. I’m getting better--asking myself often, when in the middle of a task, “what are you doing? right now? is this a good use of your time?”, etc. Too often, it’s not, but maybe I’m getting a little better at being more self-aware, by cultivating the habit of asking those questions.

In music, too, seeing silence as a positive thing seems so important--often the more courageous move when in the middle of a performance is to NOT play--let a measure or so go by, then play something you feel, instead of feeling like you have to spit out notes to cover the time.  My favorite soloists have that ability to breathe, to let silence participate in what they are playing: Miles Davis, B.B. King, so many others. It’s a hard thing to learn, at least for me--too often the lack of silence in my solos means that anxiety has won out over music.  Every night I keep trying to leave some air in there.

I’m re-reading Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor right now. Slowly. She writes character descriptions like no one else--very visual, but somehow always toned with that wry sense of humor: “Mrs. Watts’s grin was as curved and sharp as the blade of a sickle.” Or this one:  “Enoch had on a yellowish white suit and a pinkish white shirt and his tie was the color of green peas. He was smiling. He looked like a friendly hound dog with light mange.”  A fun read, but a heavy one. So much going on there, like she’s debating ideas concerning religious faith within herself (a devout Catholic), by how she moves the characters around. And meanwhile, tells a hell of a good story.

Okay, here goes. I usually spend a lot of time editing my blogs, but for the tour journal stuff, I'm going to try to resist all temptation to clean things up, or hide, etc., except when needed for clarity, or protection of the innocent bystander (or guilty conspirator).

from my journal:

Friday, 6-12-09
La Quinta West
rm. 119, Little Rock, AR
9:25 a.m.

Started the tour last night at the White Water--played solo--used both the Fender Deluxe & the Epiphone amps, which was great--but the Epiphone started humming occasionally--not good. I just got 2 amps fixed (the Princeton & Super Reverb)--so I guess everybody will get a turn. All the fellas came out to the gig, Hoffpauir, Michaels, Jason, Greg Spradlin, et al. Big fun. Drank 2 Maker’s Marks over the course of the night--but hadn’t eaten dinner so it hit me harder than usual. I did 2 sets, got back here a little after 1. Sat up w/ the computer, eating chips & salsa, & drinking a beer. Slept fine, just not long enough.

Kevin Crawford was there last night--hadn’t seen him in years--seems like he’s doing well. Played “Colfax” & he loved it. (He was in the band at Jack Hayes w/me--so far, only a few people who were in the band then have heard it). Stumbled thru “La. Snow” early in the 2nd set. Hard to keep a Christmas song at instant recall in June.

Eating a banana for breakfast, drinking a carton of o.j.; thank you, Boo. I gotta empty out the melted ice in the cooler & re-do--a lot of stuff in there. Going to Sims of course, for lunch--I guess I’m going to stay in Hot Springs tonight w/Dan, Karil, and Nate. Watch the intake, soldier. I hope they’ve got wireless--got things I need to do.

Still hard to believe I’m going to be out for a month . . . may the angels watch over me.

I left Nashville yesterday 2 1/2 hrs. behind schedule--predictable. Guitars: had the ES 300 packed in the van, then at the last minute switched it out for the Tele. I didn’t want anything to happen to that one (it dates to 1947)--& it seems more fragile than the 125--

I should shower & shave, etc.

From Tuesday:

Dogs are asleep on the wood floor--windows closed, a/c coming on--already heating up out there. Huge limb(s) fell off the old pecan tree in the backyard while I was gone. it’s a big damn mess, and I’ve been working on it with loppers and my pathetic little battery-powered chainsaw as the temps and mosquitoes permit. A lot of good wood there though, for the smoker, and the fireplace.

The tomato plants are all crazy with vine, but not so much fruit. i don’t think they’ve been tended to much while i’ve been gone. Not sure even where to start to cut them back--just started pulling off a few suckers this morning.

2nd day back and i still haven’t made it to the grocery. Boo left a few things in the freezer, (including some amazing ice cream from the Pied Piper), but i’ll have to hit the store today. I want nothing artificial or processed! Had too much of that over the last month. Though I have been guilty of devouring the box of “strawberry milkshake” pop-tarts in the a.m.--something my daughter Charlotte must have picked out. And the sack of “sweet chili” doritos when it gets on about lunchtime. (Yes, I know, I can scarcely fathom the half-life of all the chemicals in these two products.) Update: I did make it to the Kroger yesterday and bought fruit and vegetables; I feel all better now. The pop-tarts are almost gone. But they go so well with strong coffee that they are hard to resist.

Yesterday I plugged a guitar into the amp I bought in Salt Lake City; I like it. A Guyatone, Japanese, from the 60s, I think. 1 12” speaker, maybe 20 watts. Tremolo and reverb. May be the best $150 I’ve spent in a while. It needs a little work, but nothing extensive (I think).  Some curious modifications added by a previous owner including what I think are 2 1/4” jacks for external speakers, both mounted in one of the horizontal braces across the back. Weird. But loud, warm, and small--yes!

Started cleaning out the van--yeesh. Still have a ways to go. Had to get some of the crap cleared out just so I could fit the dogs in there when I picked them up from the kennel Monday. The van was stalling out yesterday after starting it up--like it doesn’t know how to act when making 5-mile trips instead of 500-.  Ron and Rich were really forgiving--they’d fly in for the weekend gigs and would barely have room to fit.

Been thinking a lot--about change, about habits--including my own self-destructive habit of spending way too much time on the small stuff, and not enough on more ambitious, goal-oriented things. Feels like denial, like laziness, even though I can keep myself so busy with inconsequential crap that it becomes its own justification. (can’t possibly plan another trip to L.A., not when I’ve got 4 checking accounts to balance and floors to clean, etc.). Really trying to see thru my own b.s.; it will take a lot of effort to change some negative patterns. But it’s a good time for it, having been away for so long. Many things are now seen with fresh eyes.

So much to talk about, to say--it’s gonna take some time. And there are photos from the trip, as well as plenty of potentially useless video I shot, until the camera started acting up (again). In my room in Hood River, Oregon, when I should have been sleeping, I kept messing with it, thinking I could fix it. As a result, it is now completely inoperable. 

I’m going to be reading back thru my journal, and will be posting things chronologically as I find and edit them. I was hoping to have done more blogging while on the road, but didn’t seem to be able to find the time or head-space to make it happen.

Hope you’re all having a good summer, and I look forward to seeing/catching up with you soon.

Dear fans/friends/wary bystanders:

This week I start a month-long tour out to California, Oregon and back. I'll be playing a lot of places I don't visit much--and I would appreciate whatever support you could offer--by coming to a show, or by sending along any music-loving soul you know in one of those towns. (in the next week, DALLAS is the keyword, folks; I have a Saturday night there and the response from the local media has been, well, underwhelming. So, if you have pals in DFW, PLEASE tell them about this show. It's grassroots time, baby.) I'm previewing songs from the new record that's due out later this year--and I'm eager to share those with you and anyone else who happens to come through the door. And I apologize if I'm rehashing stuff from my previous note, but . . . ya know, saying too much is hardly ever a problem for me. Neither is overexposure . . .

Still some days off in there; if I'm within reasonable distance and you'd like to host a show, for 5 people or 500, send me a message: kevingordonmusic(at)comcast.net

I am on my second cup of coffee, sitting at the desk barefoot and eating a big slice of cantaloupe. Woke up at 7, and too soon after was dragging the laptop on to the bed, and researching Dallas media contacts--a regular part of the pre-show assault, and in this case, all too necessary since I hardly ever play Dallas. Nothing against Dallas; I just don’t seem to get there much.   (I’m at the AllGood Cafe, on Saturday June 13; send everyone you know).  

Went down to the Wash last night to deliver posters for my show there tomorrow (no time like the present: my publicist’s motto at Stealth Promotions Presents) and to listen to Pete Finney and Co. render some classic country music. Incredible.  I love Jon Byrd’s singing; he’s the real deal, and a damn fine human being, to boot.  Finney and that amazing Tele player really nailed it; whoever-that-guy-was on guitar played with great tone, chops, and . . . God bless him, restraint. Rhythm section, too, played just what needed to be played and nothing more.  I was having a fine time, and had just finished my second pint when Pete called me up to sing.  Man, do you really want me to drive your Bentley after I’ve been drinking?  Well, okay.  Did Ole Slew Foot, which I know from Johnny Horton, and Bucket’s Got a Hole In It.  Great fun, but I quickly made my escape afterwards.  And I felt, and feel, country music like Lightnin’ Hopkins was country, like Brownie Ford, like Jerry Lee.  I love hearing that music played so purely like it was last night, but it was all too apparent to me when I was up there that maybe I come at this from a different place. Not “country”, not even “alt. country”, somewhere else. Turns some purists off, I’m sure, but at this point, well, that’s pretty much the way it’s gonna be. I’m in awe of those guys I heard last night, and sometimes wish I could tuck it in, in a little more traditional way. Thanks, Pete, for letting me infiltrate and render, such as I do. I went to school last night, and once again found myself thankful for living where I do, and getting to hear such talented folks just killing it, three blocks from my door. 

The new record is coming along nicely--working at it piece by piece, whenever it’s possible. I’m really excited about it; it’s different from anything I’ve ever done. More details to follow. I’ll be previewing songs from the record during my upcoming west coast tour, which starts in Little Rock AR on Thursday June 11.  Hope to see you along the road somewhere. Still plenty of open dates--and remember, I love playing house concerts . . . NO venue or crowd is too small. Send me a message if you’d be interested in having me stop by. I’m fired up about the new record and the new songs, and want to share this music with as many people along the way as possible. Here are the dates, as of today:

June 11 White Water Tavern Little Rock AR

June 12 (tba)

June 13 AllGood Cafe Dallas TX

June 15 (house concert) Albuquerque NM

June 19 Brookdale Inn Brookdale CA

June 20 private party Napa CA

June 21 KPIG Watsonville CA

June 21 Ace Ciderhouse Sebastopol CA

June 23 The Crepe Place Santa Cruz CA

June 26 Tucker Farm Center Calistoga CA

June 27 The Music Store San Francisco CA

June 27 Plough and Stars San Francisco CA

July 3 private party Hood River OR

July 4 Waterfront Blues Festival Portland OR

July 5 Laurelthirst Pub Portland OR

July 6 Sellwood Riverfront Park Portland OR

July 11 (TBA) Kansas City MO

Just found out that tomorrow I'll be the spotlighted community member on the new nodepression.com site!  If you haven't checked it out yet--well, tomorrow would be an excellent time to do so. I like it a lot, and I'd say that even if I weren't being spotlit. 

notes--re: 4/24/09

We got down to work by 11ish, me running a half-hour late per usual, arriving at the studio with everyone else up on the deck, cooling their heels and smoking, looking down at me. Cut 4 more, in this order:

One I Love
Don’t Take It All
(song w/working title:”Bus to Shreveport/Don’t Tell”)
Trying to Get to Memphis

This gives us a total of 12 tracks, counting the four keepers from the September session. There are still some songs left, which will be recorded in a more stripped-down format at Wow and Flutter.
.
“One I Love” is a co-write with Gwil Owen, and is the closest the Ramones ever got to sounding like KG, ha ha. Lot of fun going primal on this one. I gotta admit--this song was a dark-horse going in, but the track’s so good, it’s almost certain to make the record.

Went to lunch at The Woodlands--vegetarian Indian food. Excellent--and as Ron is fond of saying, it was “fluffy, not stuffy”.

“Don’t Take It All” is a slower, darker piece, and it took a couple of hours to get it. I’d never settled on the music for the solo section, but for obvious reasons, had to come up with something. Which took a little time. But the track turned out great, with Ron playing some cool fretless bass.

“Bus to Shreveport”: my favorite track of the day. It’s unfinished, but we cut it that way on purpose. It’s a narrative about the time I rode the greyhound to Shreveport, from Monroe, at the age of 12, to go see ZZ Top at Hirsch Coliseum, with an uncle who was 18, 19 at the time, and his kinda impulsive friend Hank. A big adventure, that’s all I’ll say right now. The song and the way we recorded it seem to capture the seedy S’port rock n’roll vibe; it rocks like _____(insert your personal favorite expletive) and doesn’t hide any of the fun we had cutting it. Good thing.

“Trying to Get to Memphis” is an oddball; I finished it last year and have only played it live a few times, solo. A guy knocked on our door one night, asking for gas money to get to Memphis, because his wife’s mother was gravely ill. But it's more about the way situations like this make you feel--how it’s impossible to know if the story’s true, and what to do about it. The vibe of the track is like nothing else I’ve ever done.

Dinner was a 2nd night in a row of Five Guys . . . not a very healthy option, but after a full day of recording, those bags of greasy treats looked mighty fine. (There will be a big salad tonight). Loaded out, and got a CD burned of the rough mixes, and got home at 12:45. Took a Benadryl and slid off to la-la land.

Listened to the roughs this morning in the car, coming back from taking the kids to play at a friend’s house up in Greenbrier. It’s exciting to hear so much new stuff at once, but you’re constantly reminded of the “rough” nature of the tracks. Some of my vocals are good, some not so much, but either way, at this point are really only there to guide the band through the arrangement of the song. Guitars, too--inevitably what you thought was the perfect tone or part for the track will end up sounding not so perfect after some studying. So now it’s back to Joe’s studio, Wow and Flutter, to add additional parts, re-do existing ones, and cut more songs. A big thanks to the band, who worked tirelessly and absolutely killed: Joe McMahan, Ron Eoff, Paul Griffith, and Scott Martin. And to Mr. McMahan again, who somehow manages to function brilliantly as producer while simultaneously playing his ass off; and to Adam Bednarik, (alter ego: Porcelain Man), for doing a great job at the console. Will keep you posted; I think we’ve got a good one here.

recording notes 4-09

from 4/23

studio: house of david, nashville

cut 4 songs today, in this order:

Gloryland
Don’t Stop Me This Time
Black Dog
Pecolia’s Star

producer:
Joe McMahan

band:
KG, Joe Mc, Scott Martin, Ron Eoff, Paul Griffith

engineer:
Adam Bednarik


I’m a little brain-dead this morning--another night of abbreviated sleep. But I’m excited about how things went in the studio yesterday.  We got (what we think are) great tracks for four songs--the band sounded incredible. In this order, we recorded:

Gloryland
Don’t Stop Me This Time
Black Dog
Pecolia’s Star

We had cut Gloryland previously, with the same band, at Wow and Flutter back in September, but because of my own lack of allegiance to the click track, it was obvious we’d need to do it again. (For everything recorded back in September, we recorded my guitar and vocal first, to a click, then the rhythm section came in and played to those tracks--which worked fine, except for this song).  So because everyone was familiar with it, we cut it first. Several good takes, but the first ended up being the best overall rhythm track. My own effort wasn’t the best, but we’re probably going to re-cut my rhythm guitar track anyway, for tone-related reasons. We took a lunch break--everyone else had been working on sounds for a while before I’d gotten there, dragging in a little later than expected, so after a couple of hours on G-land, a break was in order.

Don’t Stop Me This Time is a new song--or a song I’ve finished in the last few months, after revisiting one of my favorite work-tape fragments from a cassette dated 2002. I’ve been playing it out some, so some of you have heard it already.  Got two good takes; I’m personally not sure yet which one I like better. It’s a little early for that.

Black Dog--another newly completed song--and again, based on something I started a few years ago. I’d had the refrain section, musically and lyrically, for years--only in the last couple of months did the rest of it reveal itself.  This is gonna sound funny, but it’s one of the most musical songs I’ve written yet.  I don’t know how I found all the chords for the bridge, but I know they didn’t arrive because of years of formal study.  All I can say is, when I was writing it, I could hear the notes in my head, and that told me where to put my fingers when I was singing the melody.  This will make more sense when you hear it. I hope. I’m saying this more out of astonishment than pride. I think it works, and the track is great. (Again we have two hell-yes takes to choose from). Both Don’t Stop and Black Dog are intensely personal songs, facing some of my own drama and demons, which, I think, resemble those of a lot of other people.

Pecolia’s Star is about a woman named Pecolia Warner, whose voice I encountered in a book by William Ferris called Local Color, about folk artists in Mississippi. Warner was an African-American quilter from Yazoo City. Each chapter of the book is written as a first-person monologue, so it’s like you’re hearing her voice in your head while you’re reading.  Something about her voice made the song happen, that’s all I can say.  The verses are written in her voice, and the chorus shifts to third-person. I don’t think I’ve done that before. It’s a quieter song than the others, so was a great way to finish up the session. I had used the ES-125 on the first three tracks, but for this song, on Joe’s suggestion, changed to a Telecaster. I played through Don Hamilton’s beautiful blackface Deluxe amp for all four tracks. Thank you again, Don, for the loan.

We’re going back in today to try to get four or five more. It’s a good groove--working in a studio like House of David creates a kind of focus that’s hard to get when recording at a home studio. Windows are all covered, so you don’t know if it’s dawn or dark outside. Makes it easier to listen, somehow.

I was posting updates on Twitter yesterday (kevingordonmuzk, if you want to follow)--until my phone battery died, and will do the same today, time and work permitting. (Yes, I know, those updates are called tweets, but I still can’t use that word and not LOL.)  I'll post some photos, too.

Hi everyone,
just wanted to let you know that I've posted a new live track (of a previously unreleased song) on my page on reverbnation (www.reverbnation.com/kevingordon). Just sign up to be a fan, and you can hear it, as it is a "fan exclusive". I transferred my mailing list there a few days ago--many of you have probably received an email from them asking for confirmation of your status, re: me.  Agreeing to receive messages from reverbnation only means that you'll be getting them from me, through them--not that they're going to bombard you with solicitations, etc. It's just an easier way for me to reach you. You would only get other emails from them if you've signed up to receive them from other artists on that site. Email me if you have any questions--and thanks, as ever, for your support!