Winter Newsletter: Relics of 2013, New Video & What's Ahead
There are two quotes from the late Levon Helm’s autobiography, This Wheel’s on Fire, which I’ve thought about frequently in the past year:“We never thought our ‘career’ was more important than the music.”“When I’m a working musician, I feel like I’m successful no matter how big the show. If I’m not working, I feel useless as hell.”There are things we try to do here at SDP headquarters to propel a livelihood that allows us to write and record... and then hop into a van and take that music to (un)reasonable distances across the great US of A without bludgeoning the propellers or, in this case, the paddlers. Here we are “between the years” with a handful of relics to ramp us into the New (Year of the Horse). Thankful to be doin' this thing, Mr. Helm, that’s where we are. ~ Aaron
Relics of 2013
Whew, what a year! We started 2013 with the news that The Fate & The Fruit had been voted #2 Album of the Year by Wyoming Public Radio (WPR) listeners. Wyom, we love ya! Following a Northwest Duo tour with Benyaro in the spring, we launched the inaugural WYOmericana Caravan Tour with Jalan Crossland and J Shogren Shanghai’d which culminated in a snowball of state support, a Sunday feature in The New York Times, and a rock-u-mentary that will be released later this winter. Over the summer, SDP traveled all around the Rockies playing some of our favorite festivals and historied honky-tonks, and met a slew of new friends along the way. This past fall, SDP became the first Wyoming band to be invited to record a session at Daytrotter Studio in Illinois. Listen to that session here.Wyoming’s largest print newspaper, The Casper Star-Tribune, summed up much of our year in this article. We feel fortunate to have had such a great 2013 and thank you all for being a part of that!
2014: Life is a Carnival
Keep an eye out for new happenings in the coffer: another new music video, a cloud-based live show, a documentary film, the 2nd installment of the WYOmericana Caravan Tour, and drumroll ... Album #3!
New Video!
See post above for the new video release of "The Canyon."
Winter Shows as the Snow Blows
The Duo & Quartet have a smattering of local and regional shows coming up, including our mid-winter landmark tradition -- the annual Sled Dog Tour with IPSSSDR. The largest sled dog race in the lower 48 kicks off Jan 31 in Jackson before crossing into three other states and finishing in Uinta County, Wyoming on Feb 8. We’ll trek along with each leg of the race and perform in many communities that rarely see live music. Slope-side après-ski shows will take us to several ski resorts through March, with most concentrated at the base of our home slope, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Details can be found on the shows page.¡Feliz Año Nuevo!~SDP Nation