My new double album - BENEATH A FLAGLESS MOON Volumes 1 & 2 - goes on sale today. The official launch date is February 1st but not much is really official in the indie world!
It is available exclusively through davetutin.com.
The cost is $16 plus shipping. But it contains 18 new songs, so that's less per song than most download sites charge. And with the physical CD, of course, you get all the info of who played what on which songs as well as the lyric booklet. Both domestic and overseas shipping are below actual cost.
This 2-disc set has been a labor of love. It is my first work written and recorded in my own studio here in Santa Fe. One or two of the lyrics were written back in New York and other places and finished here but the mood of the album is very influenced by the peace and calm of my new surroundings. No bass or drums, this is largely an acoustic set but with terrific keyboard additions by Jim Oliver and Peter Farrell that range from simple piano to a sampled Brass Band. My good friend Michael Stearns even added Hopi flute on one track - a bit of real Southwestern flavor. My 'band' is completed by my best New York buddy Craig Snyder playing guitar as only he can and by the hugely talented local Santa Fe mandolin player Sharon Gilchrist. The final mixing and mastering - also completed in my studio - were done by the man with the golden ears Rob Eaton. Rob survived working with both Bob Dylan and Madonna, so I was easy!
Also on the album, singing harmony vocals on several tracks is famous mezzo-soprano opera star Deborah Domanksi. I met her at a party and asked if she ever did anything outside of opera, she said she was waiting for someone to ask her...so I asked. The results are quite beautiful. You can expect to hear even more of Deborah on my next album (already being recorded) where we bring back the bass, drums and electric guitars and the old poet and the young opera singer really rock!
But, I'm jumping ahead. I am incredibly proud of Beneath a Flagless Moon - but as I always say, it doesn't matter what I think, it matters what you think. I hope you'll show your support of independent music by buying a copy and, if you like it, by encouraging your friends to do the same. Finally, my thanks to Lam Ngo for creating the graphics files from my design and to my wife for taking the photo of me in Amsterdam and for, well, being my wife!
if you're curious, the cover photograph was taken by me at a family party many, many years ago when I was in my teens. The people in it know who they are, and I thank them for helping me capture a mood from a time when everything we did was..beneath a flagless moon.
Love and youth are sisters
And both were ending soon
As we held on to each other
Beneath a flagless moon
Our hearts were making promises
We knew we could not keep
Memories don't die
They just fall asleep...
Just ordered my copy. Can't wait to hear it! Congratulations on getting it done. Having just finished my own album, I know how much work is involved.
Posted by: Jeff Shattuck | January 20, 2012 at 08:17 PM
Well, that's true, but I'm happy to say that where Raised In Vain took three years, this one was about a year. But, yes, still a long time and lot of effort.
The next one should take even less time. Having my own studio plus the creative energy I seem to have gained after moving to Santa Fe are both major contributors. When I did the last one I was fitting in sessions while doing a 9 to 5 job (or as everyone will tell you in my case 10 to 5!) and that ain't easy.
Posted by: Dave | January 21, 2012 at 05:19 PM