Spencer Critchley

Spencer

The State of Democracy: An Online Discussion

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I thought I’d try having an “Ask Anything” discussion on Zoom, focused on what’s happened to our democracy and what we might be coming next. I think it worked out really well, with great questions and ideas from the participants, and plan to do it again. Here it is:

Excerpt:

[The behavior of Republican elected officials] is a massive failure of character, is the short answer.

And politics is always different from ordinary life because these people are elected to represent their districts, and sometimes that means they go along with things that they don’t personally agree with. But if you think about it, there’s a legitimate way for that to happen, because they are supposed to be representatives of the voters who put them there — not just doing what they personally think is the right thing — and the challenge of being an ethical politician is balancing those two things. So you have to represent your voters.

But you have to do it without betraying your core principles. Where I think this crosses the line is actually, I think, fairly clear. It’s just that we’ve lost the ability to talk about morality with clarity.

[Read more…] about The State of Democracy: An Online Discussion

Duggup reviews The Desert Mothers

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A very nice review of “Nowhere Motel” by The Desert Mothers at Australian music site duggup.com.au, which has made us their featured artist of the day – excerpt:

Today’s track is a ripper, for a whole bunch of reasons. My favourite one is that if you are interested you get to hear the stages the song went through as it was created as the recording process moves along. (this assumes that like me, you actually are interested in stuff like that). So, if you have ever wondered about how a song is created? Then today is your day because…

1. Spencer Critchley (the driving force behind The Desert Mothers) has documented the whole process from audio sketch to the finished product above complete with MP3 excerpts from the recording along the way.
2. “Nowhere Motel” is a great song (which is a really good thing).

Read the whole review…

The Desert Mothers release “Nowhere Motel”

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My new band The Desert Mothers has a new release, “Nowhere Motel”, which I’m really excited about – give it a listen. Here’s our web site, which has a music player on the home page:

The Desert Mothers: Nowhere Motel

http://thedesertmothers.com

If you like it, give it a thumbs up! You can listen to or buy it at one of my new favorite online music stores indiestore.com or Amie Street. At indiestore, you can buy it for 99 cents, right here: http://www.indiestore.com/desertmothers. At Amie Street, they have a really interesting model under which the price rises, up to 99 cents, as the popularity of the song rises. Right now, because it’s brand new, “Nowhere Motel” is just 13 cents! You have to buy a minimum of $3.00 worth of credits towards this and other songs to get started, but they have lots of great music to buy there, so it’s still a deal. http://amiestreet.com/thedesertmothers. Soon “Nowhere Motel” will also be on iTunes and a lot of other places.

I recorded it with great, great talent from across the country, using a new web-based recording service called esession.com, which is like a virtual recording studio. My players were:

  • Gina Fant-Saez on vocals. Gina is a wonderful singer and songwriter, and the engineer/owner at Blue World Studios in Austin, where U2, Sting, Shawn Colvin and others have recorded.
  • Pat Mastelotto on drums. He was a member of Mr. Mister, and has played with XTC, King Crimson, David Sylvian and many others.
  • Byron House on bass. Byron has played with the Dixie Chicks, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Dolly Parton, and many others. He also produced the latest album by the Waybacks.
  • Bruce Kaphan on steel guitar and dobro. He’s played with David Byrne, Sheryl Crow, the Black Crowes, American Music Club and the Red House Painters, among others.
  • Tom Roady on precussion. The Dixie Chicks, Kenny Chesney, Michael McDonald, Ricky Skaggs, Trisha Yearwood, many others.
  • Gene Rabbai on piano. Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, and more.
  • Me on guitar, songwriting & production (my brother Owen contributed to the songwriting).
  • Marc Urselli mixed it. Marc is a 2-time Grammy-winner, including for Les Paul’s "American Made, World Played", featuring Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and others.

I’ve written an article about the whole experience for O’Reilly Digital Media, complete with MP3 excerpts from the recording process. You can find it here:

http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2007/12/13/esession-online-recording-for-all.html.

If you find that you REALLY like “Nowhere Motel”, I hope you’ll tell your friends about it. You can: