Tonight's Music

Guess what?  A new knitting song is here.  We just wrote and recorded it one hour ago.  Hope you get some mild enjoyment from it at least.  Listen while you can.  Tomorrow I may decide I hate it.  That happens.  A lot.

Unraveling by Brother Chicory *knits 

https://brotherchicory.bandcamp.com/track/unraveling

Brother Chicory Knits Sneak Peek!!!

We've been working on this project for a few months now.  In July we wrote 7 songs around the theme of knitting.  Since then we have been working on the arrangements, recording, designing and voila!

I am particularly bad at secrets.  Here are a few sneak peeks of some of the work I'm doing tonight!

making music about knitting

We are doing it.  Marrying our passion for music, knitting and life.  Announcing Brother Chicory Knits, a side project of wondrous possibilities.  Visit our webpage below to see the site!

www.brotherchicoryknits.wordpress.com

Pilgrim Sound Next Weekend!!!

We will be playing music in Sterling, Illinois next weekend for the Pilgrim Sound Arts Festival.

http://www.pilgrimsound.org

Who's gonna be there?

Some Hopeful Vibrations in Film

I hope you all enjoy these snapshots of inspiring moments!!! 

I hope you can catch a vibe or a feeling or something hopeful about our time there. Maybe these videos will bring you to a place of exploration and we are so glad to share them with you all!  

I hope you will watch each of them with some meditative breathing and silence in between each, asking in Prayer, what shall I learn from this?  

The Family Ride

We've been spending time lately pondering and researching family adventures.  With two children and one in-utero, this seems like a big undertaking, but as in life, we take one day at a time and try to make healthy and accommodating choices for us and all of those around us.

This blog below has been a real source of inspiration today.  If you're curious about family adventuring, and specifically bicycle touring as a growing family, you'll love it too.

The Family Ride

This is one awesome family!

Darn Tough Socks - Our First Sponsor!

If you know us well, you know that we only wear Darn Tough socks.  They are simply the best.  If they ever do wear out, Darn Tough will replace them with no questions asked.  It's a pretty amazing deal.  You just have to make sure you don't lose them.  We've been touting the benefits of Darn Tough to our friends and family for about two years now and we are super happy to announce that Darn Tough is our first official bike-tour sponsor!

Whether you are a pretty active person or not, these socks are the way to go.  They are supremely comfortable, don't bunch or stretch out and what's best (for me) is that they won't let you get blisters.  It's pretty amazing the difference a good sock makes to an active lifestyle!  If you don't own any yet, go out and buy a pair.  You'll be an instant convert for life.

We love Darn Tough!  

Another Visit in NC

A Bike, A Quilt and our End of Winter Compost

 These were some of our first pictures of Spring this year.  With the sun and the warmer weather after a long, cold, exceptional winter, comes new life and rejuvenation.

Naomi has finally grown into her little bike and loves to glide down our street over and over again.

 There are so many babies on the way.  A big community project was to finish this quilt for a dear friend of ours.  The theme was owls and other than the standard cotton panels on the front, the back is soft and warm with an owl flannel print.  A truly cozy quilt!

All winter, our compost bin has been cooking and processing lots of good organic matter.  This spring marks 1 1/2 years of our humanure operation.  Even on the coldest days, this compost is still cooking hot!  A few more weeks and we will be reaping the benefits of this rich-black gold.

The Windows Shake Reminding Me of the "Chance for Peace" Speech

The windows shake reminding me of the "Chance for Peace" speech.  No I am not in a war zone, but it sounds like one.  We are an hour away from the base at Fort Bragg, but today alone I have heard around a dozen different explosions which shake the windows and doors.  I can't stop thinking of the literal monetary cost of these constant war-game exercises and Dwight D. Eisenhower's 'Chance For Peace' speech.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

My religion has taught me that we are to practice peace and joy and to be delighted by them.  So why all of this constant practice of drama and tumult?  This has been going on for years.  Will we rise above it? Ever?

The other night I dreamt that atomic bombs were going off all around me.  Life suddenly felt hopeless.  Was it because these bombs are affecting my dreams?  They were busy all night last night.

Touring with a Baby

I came across this great write up about touring with a baby.  Check it out!

Touring with Baby

We are Brother Chicory

I can't help but feel like we've been hibernating for a while.  The last year has been the most stationary experience we've had in almost a decade.  We have been on a pilgrimage and have chosen to live in tents, to move around, to find ourselves and the nature of love, to meet people and learn about them, to live in cities and on farms and many places in-between.

We are currently in North Carolina and getting ready for a nice break from a home-life.  More to come.  The kids are growing, the music is flowing and things have seemed to take a very new turn for the better (not that we had anything to complain about).

So what comes next?
 Well, I promise...I'll start posting regularly again.  I took an intentional (two years) break from much personal technological endeavors (blogging and selling Etsy stuff).  We have gained focus and direction.  The experience has been enlightening.  

For a long time I've felt like the music we played was something I had no choice in, as in, I couldn't stop writing and playing, but I didn't necessarily feel like I was totally into it as a listener.  One of our main meditational tasks has been to develop our creative expression.  For the first time, we have a slew of songs that feel truly personal and enjoyable.

Mike playing the banjo has been a large part of learning how to work together better.  He is doing so well, and I am excited to be sharing the composition process with him now.  We've got a song coming together right now that is so much more technical than anything we've ever done.  And it is so exciting.

We're ready now.  We have a big 10 week bicycle-trip coming up.  We are trying to figure out how to bring music with us.  Even if it means playing smaller instruments that we may not be great at playing.  I just don't think we can do without.

It's been a long time coming and we've got a long way to go.

We are Brother Chicory; a band and a family of adventurous musicians and life livvers.

Sew the Seasons

Watch the video by clicking on the link below:

Sew the Seasons 

January brings the snow,
makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes loud and shrill,
stirs the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daises at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy damns.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children's hand with posies.

Hot july brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm september brings the fruit,
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasents,
Then to gather nuts is pleasent.

Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the snow,
to Blazing fires, indoors we go. 

Originally "The Months" by Sara Coleridge (19th century)

Acoustically Speaking

Making Musical Memories in Michigan Part 4

Phil Wintermute

Though he is no longer with us, Phil had an effect on people that is hard to explain.  He was loved by so many and held dear.  He always encouraged other musicians just to play, "And when you have 8 or 9 songs, record a cd."  It was so basic with him.  There was no magic formula, just embracing the spirit of playing heartfelt music AND sharing it.  We'd go to Dagwoods and Altus while Phil played and just soak it up.

Making Musical Memories in Michigan Part 3

Brandon Foote (& Gifts and Creatures)

Worked with Brandon for a little over a year.  Always upbeat, pleasant, humble.  A musician unlike many others.  Throughout the years and his various musical involvements, there is a commonality of good humble ROOT music.  Just feels like it's a part of you.

Buy Gifts & Creatures' music HERE.

Making Musical Memories In Michigan Part 2

Theme & Variation

Friends from Michigan.  They are incredible people, songwriters and incredibly talented.  No record label, just legitimate indie music.  Here they are in Impact FM, our Lansing independent station, performing "Hate"

Support them by buying their album HERE.

Making Musical Memories in Michigan Part 1

I could write all day about the music in Michigan.  So I'll turn this into about a 10-15 part series.  Don't let that sound boring.  It's anything but.  Just listen as I put tracks up.

Part 1

Daniel Kahn---------------------------

New Orleans

Nakam

Buy at Earthwork Music

A Tribute To Blues, Jazz and Women

Grooving blues and the amazing talent of Barbara Dennerlein & Emily Remmler (and their band).  Classic video and a great song!  Hope you like it!  Stormy Weather blues for a stormy day.  Organ solo at 2:28. Guitar solo at 4:05.  Sax at 5:33.  The bassist uses very catchy and groovy phrasing! 

Barbara once again, on a pipe organ.  Solo. 

 

And some Gypsy Jazz for the finale.  One of my favorites of Django and Grapelli.  Grapelli never played the same thing twice. He always improvised.  Django could only play with two fingers on his left hand.  The others were disabled. 

Making Musical Memories: The Messiah Will Come Again

Roy Buchanan:  Not well known.  One of the best guitar players out there.  Interpretation of words to notes was his specialty and makes his music speak more clearly than most orators.  This song makes me cry for some reason.  Many of his music does.  He died mysteriously in a Virginia jail.  Two days before my birth. 

Watch the whole thing.  Serious.