Author: obrownlee

Happy Thanksgiving! I just uploaded the second single, high fives! It’s called We’re Just Folks…And thanks to Hannah Catzen and Matt McArthur down at The Record Company in Dorchester, it has an OBOE on it! …a sad and mournful sound to perfectly accompany a sad and mournful tune…

This most recent recording adventure was an excellent lesson for me: I’ve committed myself to releasing a single each month, and arranging a budget and a schedule to cover just enough time to do just that, and hang the consequences! But what if a consequence of having “just enough” time in the studio is not getting the best performance out of myself? A part of me wanted to release a pre-recorded/previously-unreleased tune for this month of November, then call Hannah and Matt and say, “Do-over!” and release We’re Just Folks in December. Which would have been ABSOLUTELY fine, and they would have been on board with me 100%…but I also have this penchant for perfectionism – which has been known, in the past, to latch onto the heels of my intentions and drrrraaaaaagggg…so this month, instead of “Do-over,” I said “Do it!” and I leave my birthday month with a feeling of having crossed the next thing off my list, which according to some very sound philosophies, is excellent feng shui. I also happen to be quite satisfied with the product. And with myself, I suppose. Did I grow?

The Free, Downloadable Song

If You’d Like to Support the Song

A Word on the Accompanist:

Hannah Catzen studied, practiced and performed oboe for fifteen years, then like so many music students, took a BREAK, God bless her. Her willingness to dust off and rekindle her love for her instrument made me very happy that we met and she accompanied me on this. She is currently involved in a swing-y, bluegrass-y project that reappropriates engaging and delightful pop songs for their instrumentation, and is playing standup bass as well as singing in this band. Additionally, she is blessed with greener a thumb than I will ever see on myself. She learned the song in short order and was upfront and supportive of it, me, and the idea. Truer souls are hard to come by.

A Word on the Engineer:

A Berklee grad, Matt McArthur is a special specimen. He is dedicated to a comfortable, community environment, conducive to creating great stuff, no matter how old, young, talented, struggling, enthusiastic, stoic, famous or grassroots you may be. But according to Matt, it’s not just about the sound insulation, or the potentiometers, the mics or even the song – it’s about “the hang.” Between the jokes, the appreciation and respect, the professionalism and the well-stocked tea cabinet, I felt very at home just “hanging out” with this engineer and his philosophies. There isn’t much about his company to which he hasn’t given deep thought…

A Word on the Studio:

When first I spent time at The Record Company, I found myself shutting up a lot while I listened to the mission statement: Mostly that the way technology is today, you can make a really decent recording in your bedroom with your laptop, or even your phone. Which, of course, is pretty awesome. However, this does nothing to cultivate your ability to “hang out” with people while you work on things together, which is a big part of what TRC is about. It was founded in 2009 by Mr McArthur and Susan Rogers, PhD, a powerhouse of a woman in her own right, and they…well, see for yourself:

http://www.therecordco.org/about/mission.php

If you’re lookin’ for someplace to record that has really great equipment, quiet rooms, and RATHER ACCESSIBLE rates…DO check this place out!

Just because I’m working Music as a Second Language really hard right now doesn’t mean I’m abandoning my performing career – I can do both! And I just started last week: Trucked my guitar and my tubist, Jesse Metzler, down to 37′ Productions in Rockland, MA, and a few takes later had a live and mixed track of Roll Back Down for the world’s listening pleasure. Sean McLaughlin is helping me immensely not just by being a positive force in the world and the studio, but also by agreeing to be the first of many studios and thereby setting the bar for this idea…

So the concept runs like this: After getting a studio, engineer and one or more other musicians on board, we pick a day, go in, and record and mix a single Olivia Brownlee original tune. Then, I’ll take the tune and post it up here at OliviaBrownlee.com/Music – a page that sooner than later will allow you to pick and choose your own preference of OB tunes (new singles as well as previously recorded songs) and buy them as a collection (probably a pay-what-you-want situation). Then, you can have a playlist of just the songs you prefer! And if I’m very clever (and if the people whose help I seek are even cleverer), a way will also be made to request album artwork for your selections. Eventually, maybe I’ll make my own collections (“Sad Songs” or “Funk Songs” or “Songs in 6/8”), but until then, it’s Listener-Dictated baby! And this way, not only do we get to take our time, but I also get to know different producers, musicians, engineers, and studios, expanding both my network and yours through praxis! Everybody wins! So without further ado:

A Word on the Studio:
37′ Productions is founded and maintained by Sean McLaughlin. In the Wright Studios across from Mary Lou’s in Rockland, on the top floor past innumerable artists and artisans in a maze of rooms that smell of paint and creativity, 37′ is the recording home of gobs of local songwriters, including but not limited to Sarah Blacker, Girls Guns and Glory, and Matchbox Twenty. A comfortable listening/mixing room, an isolation booth, room enough (just barely) for a full brass band but intimate enough for a single songwriter, 37′ Productions is an example of a great use of space.

A Word on the Engineer:
Sean McLaughlin is one of the most positive forces I know in both the studio and the world at large. He is enthusiastic for the artist, the song, the vibe, and brings all his experience and knowledge to bear on every project that comes through his door. He is encouraging and well-prepared. He gives as much time to the actual recording as is practical, he mixes quickly and joyfully and is attentive and compliant to the desires of the artist without compromising his own artistic integrity. Sean and I have been biding our time, anxiously awaiting the opportunity to work together, and I’m so glad it’s now. EMAIL: sean@37ft.com

A Word on the Accompanist:
Jesse Metzler is a freelance low brass musician, specializing in teaching and performing the fat beats and driving melodies of the Crescent City. He was prompt, learned the material I sent him in short order, and played tuba with acuity. Gentle and game, I’d call him any day for a low brass need. EMAIL: jesse.b.metzler@gmail.com PHONE: 617.418.9510

Just now recovering from a REALLY great weekend…

First it was Westerly, RI and Perks and Corks…a standalone excellent venue full of music-lovers, marines and girls on a much-deserved night out. (Many thanks to Mark Aleo, who backed me up on mandolin with no less than 4 hours notice! Good dude, happy noodler, mellow musical companion.)

After which I reached the life milestone of booking a hotel room for no one but myself. Adulthood is an amazing thing. Though the novelty wears off quickly, I hear…

The next day, Friday, dawned full of potential, and I went wandering in the wilderness between Mystic and Stoningham, CT. I got not lost, but stuck, and was rescued by a siren-like singer-songwriter named Fraea Olivia, the solo and band numbers of whom you can find on Soundcloud (three part harmonies in my opinion always deserve accolades, especially these, check out their originals!):

Violets

I busked in Mystic for the rest of the afternoon until my gig at Captain Daniel Packer Inne. I played a 1000-year-old French song for a kind family from Montreal, and the mother spontaneously joined in with me on the treble part, surprising and delighting me. Their children made me leaf cut-outs with the scissors on my leatherman. Another couple celebrating their anniversary offered me a slice of pizza after I begged one of them to try out my new old guitar – we sang “Angel from Montgomery” together. I heard ghost stories of the little girl Aida who 200 years ago died in the restaurant where I was to play. I didn’t see her that night…but she might have been avoiding all the young adults pretending to be grown-ups. 😉

And of course, as annually has proved, the last Saturday of August blessed me with LEMIfest. It is now clear that no matter where I am in the world, on the last Saturday of August I will be in Mashpee on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, jamming it up with some of Boston-and-beyond’s most heartfelt lovers, poets, musicians and listeners. It’s not that I expect to automatically have a good soulful time – it’s just that I always do. Mama Sue and Papa Ricci are just tapped into good things, and their daughters seem to take care of all of us. Even those of us who never met them in the flesh.

And all day Sunday? I slept.

This URL is mine once more thanks to the sympathetic folks at WordPress.com! Try it in your web browser! Okay so the novelty wears off quickly but it’s still so satisfying to know I don’t have to edit the backs of my albums anymore…

Wanna CD? They come shrinkwrapped! 😀

Thank you for staying tuned…

The new article is up! Enjoy!

Thrivingandstrivingmagazine.com

Also, at the end of the article, I mention that I am in Vienna presently…more on this soon!

The weekend is done, the Jim Beam drunk, the music played, the sleep continually put off, the recovery had. I think it’s a great testament to this place that i have no pictures to show – you come, you eat, you drink, you meet, you talk, you dance, you listen, you dance some more… I didn’t have TIME, much less did i give a moment’s thought to trying to preserve these magic moments. I would have had to step out of them to find my camera! 

I got to reconnect with some “old” friends (technically, everyone on the East Coast is a new friend to me, but y’all are getting old, which makes me happy), make some new ones, and share the pleasance and intimacy of music and love with all of them, including-but-not-limited-to some of the finest musicians in the area. And all the while are the spirits of two precious people I never had the chance to meet, and I find myself being very thankful for them. I know I come each year and play my songs and jam my jams and do some dishes and make my bed…but somehow I always feel totally indebted to Papa Ricci and Mama Sue when I go. It’s a feeling that lasts all year long, and renewing it each summer is something I feel blessed to be a part of.

Yup, it’s my church home on the South Shore of Boston.