February 2010
February 2nd, 2010Just back from a great, albeit freezing, tour of Texas with Red Molly. After landing in Newark, I headed straight to the annual Groundhog’s Day Jam to sing some standards with my Dad’s band. What better way to shake out the kinks from a plane ride? I got to sing Good Morning Heartache for the first time- what a beautiful song. And listening to Joe Licari, my Dad, and Randy Reinhardt dance around those melodies… well it hit me in a new way this time. The syncopation, how they PLAY with the melody and rhythm. It’s fascinating and beautiful and inspiring. Clarinet is such a great place to grab Dobro ideas… they can only play one note at a time, after all! I picked up a couple of Joe’s CDs to listen to. I’ll be playing jazz Dobro at some of the upcoming shows, too. Probably just a few songs at a time, starting at the Poughkeepsie Swing Dance on 2/26. That’s a full band show in a big hall, perfect for dancers. I can hardly wait!
I’ve also got a duo show with Anthony da Costa this month, out in State College, PA. A beautiful room with no need for amplification or microphones. I’m really looking forward to doing some of the new songs we’ve worked up, including the Tennessee Waltz. Here’s a youtube clip of us doing it for the first time back in December.
And in other news… Red Molly’s latest CD, JAMES, comes out this month! WAHOO! I can’t wait for everyone to hear it!
Abbie
January 2010
January 4th, 2010It’s a brand new year, a brand new decade, and for some reason it brings me back to how I felt the first day of first grade… with my brand new pencils and a black and white composition book waiting to be filled. What can I say, it was an exciting day for me!
The new Red Molly CD “James” is being duplicated and I can’t wait to share it with the world. My Dad, Herb Gardner, is our special guest piano player and I’ve got a couple originals on the record that I’m really happy with. Getting our friends involved is always a thrill for me, this time we recorded one of Anthony da Costa’s songs (The Last Call) and have Fred Gillen, Jr. singing a duet (Gulf Coast Highway). Lots of other great surprises, stay tuned for the release!
So excited to announce that my song “The Mind of a Soldier” (Grand prize winning song in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest) will be played on Lufthansa airlines in January and February on all their international flights! The song is literally “taking off!” Let me know if you hear it!
This month, Pat Wictor releases his new CD “Livin’ Ever Lovin’ LIVE” featuring a jazzy little duet that we co-wrote, called “A Little Love is Gonna Do.” We’ll play it live at John Platt’s Sunday Breakfast on January 10th, so listen for the live performance and interview online or at 90.7 FM in the NYC area. We’ll do a bunch of songs live together at the Living Room on January 12th at the Under The Radar Series. Also on the bill is Dala- a lovely female duo from Canada.
I’m happy to announce that the Christmas duet I wrote and recorded with Anthony da Costa has made it to the #5 slot on the Folk DJ charts for December! It’s called “We Need a Little Christmas” and was included on the Hudson Harding sampler. Available on iTunes as a download, along with my grumpy song “Burn Down the Christmas Tree.”
Happy New Year!
Abbie
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