Getting ready for my solo gig up at the Turning Point tonight with Marc Douglas Berardo and Craig Akin.  I’m really excited to debut 2 new songs I recently finished.  One was inspired by my last gig with Marc, when his accordion player, Juxo, leaned over to Craig during the break and said something like, “Man…  I’m only happy when I’m miserable.”  Little bells went off immediately with that awesome sentence and I turned it into “I’m Only Right When it’s All Wrong” with the help of one of my favorite co-writers Jonathan Byrd.  The second song was inspired by a friend looking for a new band name.  I came up with “Cooper Ponies” and then wrote a song with the ideas that followed.  Oddly, this one was written on a borrowed ukelele!  I was messing around with the instrument while trying to write some catchy jingles and a quirky little melody came out.

In other news, I’ve been having a blast playing jazz swing standards on Dobro with a little trio in my living room.  It’s my dad on keys, Craig on upright and little old me.  Keeping up with these pros with this type of music is a great challenge.  Here in the comfort of my living room there’s no pressure to play anything perfectly, so I’m able to take chances and discover new licks…  all while having a blast.  I have a feeling we’ll end up doing some gigs down the line, but for now I’m psyched to do it just for fun.

If you can’t make it tonight, I have another solo show at the end of the month with Fred Gillen Jr on May 25th in Peekskill, NY.

Abbie

A few new developments underway…  I’ve decided to re-release my first CD “My Craziest Dream!”  It’s a collection of some of my favorite jazz standards, all done up with my dad’s arrangements and a great 5-piece swing band!  We captured these tunes live at NYU with Mark Frankel behind the mixing board.  Looking back, I’m so glad I recorded it this way.  These guys really feed off each other, creating a record that’s totally danceable and fun.  Stay tuned to find out when the new copies are available.

I wanted this year to be about learning and growing as a musician and it’s certainly happening, even in ways I didn’t expect.  After a sore throat didn’t go away,  I got to take a look at my vocal cords with the help of a great doctor in Westchester County.  It’s all treatable stuff, nothing serious, but being on vocal rest (no talking or singing!) has forced me to become a better listener.  For the first time I’m really looking at my vocal technique and how taking good care of myself in all ways can impact my music.  Not just the performance side of things, but enjoying the process of learning, writing and listening in my daily life.  I’m happy to be part of a new songwriting “hang” in Brooklyn with some of my favorite people and doing a lot of work on metaphors… while on the Dobro front, trying to use more dynamics and not play too hard.

Hope to see you at my next solo gig:  May 6th at The Turning Point, Piermont, NY w/ Marc Douglas Berardo and Craig Akin.

Abbie

Hooray!  Happy Birthday to meeee!  I’m out in California now with Red Molly, doing a nice long tour of the Pacific Northwest and taking in some fantastic hot yoga classes, too.  We kicked off the tour with an appearance on NBC in Fresno, which was tons of fun.  On this tour, I’m often in the backseat of the bus doing ear training or theory exercises, trying to just broaden my music skills.  I’ve been doing some object writing challenges with my buddy Jon Paul, to explore the lyrical side of things, and back at home I’ve been taking Skype dobro lessons with Mike Witcher.  What a great teacher and picker!  I’m excited to make this a year of learning and digging in deeper to all sides of music.

On 3/25 I’m excited to play an unplugged show at Rosie’s Cafe.  Craig Akin will be joining me on upright bass and we might even convince Jon Paul to play a few tunes, too!  This is always one of my favorite places to play, hosted by some of my favorite people and somehow always creating a vibe where I’m not quite sure what will happen.  I hope to see you there.

Until next month…

Abbie

Happy New Year!   After some much needed rest and practice time, I’m back in action this weekend with a SOLD OUT solo show at The Circle of Friends in Franklin, MA, opening for the lovely and talented Lori McKenna.  I will, of course, be bringing my favorite bass player Craig Akin with me.  Next week we’ll be joined by Pete Kennedy for another SOLD OUT show in NYC at Music on 4.  Those guys always push me to new limits, so there’s no telling what will happen, except that it’ll be a blast.  I feel like maybe I should book a few more solo gigs!  It seems to be working out!  If you don’t already have tickets to one of those, try coming out to Winterjam on 1/14 where I’ll be playing with a few of my favorite acts.

I am so grateful to find out that my CD “Hope” landed at #15 on the 2011 Folk DJ Chart!  Red Molly landed at the #10 spot and snagged the #5 artist of the year slot too! For me, 2011 was the year for recording and releasing new material, both with the band and on my own.  2012 will be the year to practice my buns off, learn new techniques, practice, write a slew of new songs, and practice some more.  Let’s get to it!

What a ride this year has been!  I can’t even count the number of places I went with Red Molly.  Then putting out a brand new solo CD AND a new Red Molly CD!  Needless to say, I am really enjoying a little time off at home in beautiful Jersey City.

Reso-summit was the perfect inspiration to setup a regular practice routine at home.  I’ve been working on ear training, scales all over the neck of my Dobro, figuring out melodies of my favorite songs, and trying to make my Dobro sound like a real voice.  Today I even got back in the saddle for a little writing.  Though I think I may have to write a dozen or more clunkers before the good ones come along.

I’ve got a few really fun solo shows coming up in January- including an unplugged NYC house concert that is always a blast (with Pete Kennedy and Craig Akin!), opening for Lori McKenna up in Franklin, MA, and doing my part at Winterjam 2012 in Westchester, NY.   Hope to see you there!  Happy Holidays everyone!

Well the new Red Molly CD Light in the Sky was released last month and is already doing great on the charts- #1 album and artist on Folk DJ for October, and debuting on the Americana Top 40 Chart at #31!  We’ve got a tour of the mid-west and then our final hometown tour of the year.  I’m off to Resosummit this month, to sing in the “Backing Up a Vocalist” workshops.  It’s always so amazing to spend time with other Dobro players, learning from the best and going home with new ideas and lots of stuff to practice.  This time I get to perform a bit too, with my friends Greg Booth and Orville Johnson in a one-hour song swap.  Should be quite a hoot!

I’ll mark the end of my touring season with one final solo show at Perks & Corks in Rhode Island, the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Marc Douglas Berardo and I split this show last year and had so much fun we decided to make it a tradition!  Craig Akin will be joining us on upright bass this time and I’m hoping our favorite squeezebox player will show up too!  I’ll never forget playing “Too Soon” with him last year- it gave me chills.

Abbie

Hooray!  The new Red Molly CD Light in the Sky is out!  You can listen to it and get your own copy on CDBaby or iTunes.  We’re super excited about sharing it with everyone and will be doing a slew of CD release shows.  For the one in NYC at Rockwood Music Hall (11/17), we’re planning to play the songs from the album, in order!  Fun.

In other fun news, my solo CD Hope is now on Pandora!  I hope you’ll add my name to your station there.  Just for fun, I made a station with just my name, to see what other kinds of artists out there have similar music.  It’s really amazing what those Pandora people come up with and I’ve already found several albums I need to get my hands on (like Kevin Welch’s You Can’t Save Everybody).  How they manage to keep it free, I have no idea, but I’m grateful.

Abbie