and you can stop off in NYC to see the Rippingtons on 4/25!

ok, folks, anyone else clicking on the link, what do you think, etc? It'd be great to hear from some of our not so regulars, also- we know you're out there!

I'm still enjoying this one. It's not an everyday thing, but every couple days maybe- a very uplifting tune. I can only imagine what this stellar backing band will be able to do for this CD...

Later
TY

I continue to get very nice emails from people about the demo from the upcoming CD and I really appreciate hearing from people. It's also nice to see that folks appreciate that I would make something like this available.

I just did an interview with Shannon for the Feb issue of smoothviews.com. We talked all about the upcoming CD and also why I made a link to a demo song available. The link to the demo will be featured in the story as well.

Ken

Hey Ken-
When do tracks actually get laid down? Didn't you say it was some time in February?
Just curious....and fishing for another link

Will also look forward to reading the interview...and seeing if having that link in the story helps things along.

Later
TonyY

Keyboardist Jay Rowe and I have already been adding many keyboard parts and sounds to the demos all during the month of January. I will be travelling to NY to record drummer Joel Rosenblatt the second week in February. Then Jay Rowe travels to my studio in MD to record for 4 days, then bassist Tom Kennedy is in my studio for a few days to play all of the acoustic, electric and fretless bass parts and finally percussionist Kevin Prince will spend a day in my studio playing everything from congas, bongos, and shakers to cuica, wood blocks etc. I will give myself a day off after 10 straight days in the studio and then spend about 7 days recording all of my acoustic and electric guitar parts again. All of that tracking will be followed by 4-5 weeks of mixing and a week of mastering. Our distributor's national release date is June 17 but I may make it available earlier for visitors to my website store.

Here's the link to the interview, which is really insightful. I think it is totally unprecedented for an established artist to go public with one of their demos. Welcome to the Brave New World! Or as Sheryl Crow called it on a fabulous NPR interview last night - the new wild west!
Ken Navarro Talks About The New CD

Great interview Shannon-
I hope all who follow that link are patient and give it time to build. If they are used to 20 second sound clips, it'll throw them off....in fact, I have no idea how you'd sample this tune, to try to find it's identifying one phrase, because there just isn't just one- it could be five or six separate tunes, depending on where you took it from. But it works best for me like a margerita....sip it slowly, don't rush it, and just enjoy the warmth as it grows on you.

How about letting us know what kind of response smoothviews gets from this, I think you'll find more and more artists that would be willing to do this if they see that Ken's bold move here is successful.

I also love that he said these demos are so far from he envisions as the finished product, that gives me a real anticipation for what could be next.

Thanks again, and good job as an interviewer! You made some great points on the intelligence of the music listeners....we aren't all dumbed down requiring the same old oatmeal music everyday. Some of us actually have taste left, if we can find anything worth tasting.

TonyY