Kirby Lindsay over at The Fremocentrist has written a great article on the recording process for Molly’s album!  Click here to check it out.

It’s a real pleasure to get to show off some of the work that’s been coming out of the studio! Two of our artists recently released full-length albums which I’m happy to share with you. Each has also agreed to offer a free downloadable MP3 from their album exclusively for Empty Sea fans.  Both of these discs are getting airplay on KBCS 91.3FM – thanks guys!

Jeremy Serwer – Roads

Roads (June 2010)

Free download from the album:  Nervous Energy (click to download)

Click here to purchase Roads on CDBaby.

Fueled by an inordinate number of pastrami sandwiches from the Phinney Market, I produced and engineered Jeremy’s album Roads earlier this year at Empty Sea.

I was thrilled to recently find out that Roads received a CDBaby Editor’s Pick award.

Editor Alex Woodward wrote, “There’s something immediately gripping about Jeremy Serwer’s voice; it’s got just the right amount of gravel to complement his soulful timbre, or the female vocals who accompany him on several tracks…Album highlights include the haunting soul of “Dirty Entity” and the lovely “Bare Witness” which recalls Elliott Smith’s gorgeous melancholy. It’s really compelling, heartfelt music.”

The Blackberry Bushes - Little Bit of Grace

Little Bit of Grace (July 2010)

Free Download: Mermaid (click to download)

Click here to purchase Little Bit of Grace on CDBaby.

We had a full house over here while recording this inaugural studio album for the rocking stringband The Blackberry Bushes: a four-piece band and mandolin wizard Matt Sircely (Hot Club Sandwich), who I co-produced this record with. We’re all thrilled with the result, and the Bushes hit the road to tour just after the discs were delivered – word is that they’ve already had to reorder.

What else are we up to?

Too many projects to list – or apparently, update this blog with any regularity.  There are several more album projects nearing completion – and several more coming down the pike!  Plus a number of exciting longer-term projects which I can’t spill the beans on just yet, but which are going to be pretty darn cool.

Interested in recording here?  Check out our recording section for more information and then contact me to set something up.

There are a lot of stories to tell about the more than 20 shows we’ve hosted in the past few months, but I’ll start with the story of recording one of my favorite rootsy singers, Martha Scanlan.  You may know Martha from her role as frontwoman for the Reeltime Travelers, where she first recorded her original tune, “Little Bird of Heaven.”

So as it turns out, prolific novelist Joyce Carol Oates liked Martha’s song so much that she decided to name a book after it.  That seemed like an apt time to re-record the song, and so, together with her good friend Dirk Powell, Martha visited Empty Sea to lay down a new version.

Now as it happens, “Little Bird” is my favorite song from the Reeltime Travelers’ album Living Reeltime, Thinking Old-Time. So I will admit to being a bit star struck by seeing one of my favorite singers walk through the studio door to record one my favorite songs of hers!  The recording took place the night before Dirk’s show with John Doyle (the first in our Folklife Masters concert series), so I was meeting Dirk for the first time as well.

To make a long story short, it took longer to set up mics and check levels than it  did for these consummate musicians to record a killer version of the tune — in one take!  The result was a new version of “Little Bird of Heaven” that is a bit older and wiser than the zeal and youth of the Reeltime Travelers recording.  First-take serendipity was the name of the game here.

It was a real pleasure to work with Dirk and Martha to put this together.  You can download “Little Bird of Heaven” here to enjoy it yourself!