Deer Tracks (for solo mandolin) has arrived!

Deer Track, July 8, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

I'm very pleased to say that I now have a box of Deer Tracks CDs in my possession and tonight I'll celebrate a little by sharing the final track from the new CD. Unlike almost everything I post on this blog this track was recorded in a real studio (Wild Sound in Minneapolis) with high end mics and mastered through some very fancy processors.

The recording sessions are a little bit blurry but I think this is one of the tracks where I actually played the piece straight through, without punching in a bit here or there to help things along.

Those of you who enjoy the sheet music will note that I have rendered this piece in both standard notation and mandolin tablature. The tab should serve to simplify the performance of the piece by revealing the patterns that I use when fingering the notes. I will be publishing the music to all 21 of the Deer Tracks on this CD in both standard notation and tab for this reason.

I have lots to do tonight but I wanted to get this track onto the blog first. I will write more about the CD and its availability later. I hope you enjoy this short piece.

Walnut Dog

Walnut Dog (mp3) (pdf)

Taking a short break from all things Deer Tracks to record and post a fun tune from a little over a week ago. More Deer Tracks to come.

Music tip of the week: check this excellent interview (and performance video) with Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge from the folks at Fretboard Journal. I highly recommend the great EP from this duo, available here.

Deer Tracks Season #7

Deer Track, September 6, 2009 (mp3) (pdf)

Today was a big one. Thanks to the timely help of Pat O'Loughlin (who also took the photo above), Braham Ketcham and Steve Kaul, I sent the finished Deer Tracks (for solo mandolin) master recording and graphics files off to the folks at Oasis CD manufacturing.

With luck I should have the finished "product" in my hands before I head up to Regina, Saskatchewan for this year's Classical Mandolin Society of America convention. A number of my Kickstarter supporters will be there so I will be able to give them the result of my summer project in person.

Today's recording is another of the unexpected positive results of the Deer Tracks Kickstarter project. This piece was written back in September 2009 but was significantly altered as I was reviewing and preparing for the studio sessions. In the end I decided not to record it in the studio but I did record it here at home last week.

Even though I have completed the initial task that I set for myself the Kickstarter gift will keep on giving for some time as I continue to make home recordings of the many Deer Tracks that didn't make it to the official recording. I hope you find this one interesting.