Mid-November

The cold has swept in quickly, and only a few leaves are left hanging on the trees in the backyard.
I've officially been shuddering my way from house to car to venue to car (repeat) for a week or so now, with a few warm reprieves... So it's probably time to get the gloves out and the real Winter coat.
And Justin is terribly excited about taking deep breaths full of cold cold air, the crunch of leaves underfoot in our driveway, and layering up...
When I'm indoors, there's no doubt about how beautiful this is.
Well, indoors - with several layers on and some hot coffee. It's COLD, you guys!

We wound our way around Kentucky last weekend along with the kind and wonderfully talented Micah Dalton, spending Friday in Lexington at the beautiful, newly-renovated Natasha's on its amazing new stage. What a gift to find so many listening ears in such a lovely spot for music. A perfect beginning for the new CD and its new shows...

On Saturday we performed a house concert in Louisville, made several new friends, connected with old & dear friends, and found that we certainly had not driven the farthest to get to the show. (Thank you road-trippers!) And I was surprised with my first pumpkin soup of the season -- Brilliant.

Sunday found us back in the Cincinnati area, at Molly Malone's in Covington KY -- For the official release show and a night with friends, family, fans, and strangers. We do love the Third Floor at MM, and the folks who come through its doors...
Thank you all so much for your support, and for lending your ears to a couple new songs. We think they might stick around for a while.

This week we're circling around Indiana and Illinois... We just got in last night from McKendree University near St Louis. And the drive there and back, while chilled and a bit long, was tremendously beautiful. Not to mention that it was simply the right time of year to encounter Lebanon IL... Its brick streets lined with trees whose leaves were scattered all over town--

The New Release

We began this recording in July.
Well, in our heads, this recording began in January.
But depending on how you see things, that does or doesn't count.

We released our last full-length album in 2006.
And a handful of its songs had released a year earlier.

In other words,
it's been a long time since we've been in the studio.
Like really in the studio.
Which in itself is neither here nor there (though we do like the studio experience quite a lot).
But more importantly,
it's been a long time since we've put any songs, in studio fashion,
onto pieces of plastic
(or digital files)
that can then go out and live their own lives in the wide world.

Thus, in January, we set out to record a demo EP.
Which, to clarify,
meant to us, "a short CD that illustrates some new songs and stylistic choices, that will help potential producers & other folk to determine whether they'd like to work on this next record with us."

But, in January, in the midst of decisions about where and when to record said demo, more songs were coming.
(They do always come in on our stories.)
(Which, who knew, seem to keep unfolding as we keep waking up to new days.)

So we decided to give it time.

In June, we had 8 songs we were ready to record...
and in July we chose five and found ourselves in a lovely studio making them come together.

Into a record that was supposed to be just a "guide."
And we created it in 3 long days and 3 long nights,
being spat out afterwards from the belly of the whale,
with a demo, sure, and one we felt good about.

In September the songs were online, streaming on MySpace and such...
And we also toured up the east coast that month with our dear friend Kyler England, playing at least a few of the songs at each one of our shows.
In the process, we saw that they (the songs) already had lives of their own.
And that we were reining this demo in, in anticipation of our next full record.
Which was maybe fine;
but what if it didn't have to work exactly that way?

The more requests we received for the songs,
the more trusted friends we asked about our predicament,
and the more support we received from fans both while on tour and with the whole Paste Magazine contest (and all your many kind votes)...,
the more right it felt to alter our plans.

The songs are written, they're in our live sets, they're streaming online... They should be made truly available.

So here we are.
And here it is.

Five songs, all of them previously unrecorded, with the exception of Lay Your Head Down, which appeared on our 2007 Holiday EP.

But do note --
None of this implies for a moment that our next full-length is now on hold, :) or that it will be pushed back.
We're as invested as ever in the process of developing our next album, and we'll certainly have updates for you as we go.

Meanwhile, welcome to a new chapter in the Ellery story.
Give a few new songs a new home...

(You can find the EP at all of our upcoming shows, or order your copy online by Clicking Here! Coming very soon to iTunes, et al.)

Our very best to you --

MI and oh, the Sun...

We're spending most of this week in southern Michigan, with our first stop at Henry Ford Community College on Election Day. We were up at 4am and heading in the cold to the Detroit area, only to find that as the hours passed it became gloriously warm, blue-skied, June-like in early-November...

And what a way to pass the time on the morning of the 4th: to the sounds of the final NPR election updates, results from the very first district, the final words from the campaigns-
We'd voted early, but we donned our stickers and hit up a Starbucks for a much-needed coffee break about 3 hours into our drive. Hardly anyone had voted yet, so the baristas were still happy to be handing out free coffee; there wasn't even a line yet. :) (We hear we were tremendously lucky on that front.)

The morning was brilliant, quietly buzzing, so that by the time we arrived on campus in Dearborn, it seemed the world was stirring - (and it was) - with the weight of the day. The whole thing unfolded like a song.

Yesterday's show was in Rochester, just a few miles north. We were at Oakland University at noon, and then there was another afternoon of November's version of June. We got to spend it with dear friends in inspiring conversation, and as we left for the hotel we were grateful grateful grateful for the kinds of people our travels allow us to encounter.

Today we're trying to look out the windows and drink in this last warm day of the year --
The sun's beginning to set, the sky's a little cloudy, yellow and rust-colored leaves are pouring down over the old white house nextdoor, and it's Spring Arbor that will be our home tonight.

Halloween in Peoria.

We closed the month of October with a few days in Illinois...
We had an official showcase at the MidAmerica NACA Conference on Friday October 31st, so we decided to head west a little early and spend some time with family in nearby Lincoln. (Yes, Lincoln, IL.) (Where apparently one is not terribly surprised to see the resident Lincoln impersonator in the waiting room of a doctors office.)

We had a brilliant time with family -- It's the thick of Autumn but Illinois was warm and sunny and begging for deep breaths outdoors. An amazing time to be with people you love.

Early Friday morning we grabbed our coffee and took off for the Peoria Civic Center, where the conference was being held...
As musicians, we're not exactly accustomed to being out and about downtown at 8am. But come on, it was a little alarming that no businesses were even open yet.
At a nearby hotel we met our very-cool college booking agent, took some candy from the receptionist's trick or treat bowl (kitkats at 8am; I'm pretty sure that's wrong), and headed for our soundcheck in the Civic Center theater.

We knew that the venue was beautiful, but we weren't expecting THIS (see photo above; it's the view from the stage)... And thus we were granted unbelievable sound, lighting, and the opportunity to share the stage with unbelievable talent. (Magicians, mentalists, fellow musicians, comedians... These are crazy events!)

Our early-morning soundcheck was for a 3:30pm show, which was truly fantastic. What an awesome crowd of college students, what a beautiful room -- It was a fabulous 15 minutes. (Each artist showcases for 15 minutes; it's actually really cool -- Quick and punchy.)

Afterward we spent some time with other music artists in a hotel room...
You should have seen the lot of us, boring as ever, huddled around the coffee table with our computers and knocking out a bunch of work, feeling quite like a studious office, no one talking, the sun setting out the windows, no one getting up to turn the lights on. I guess when you're on the road you take the moments you can get; it was just unnerving (and kind of hilarious) to see us all resorting the same thing.

But then we were introduced to the Flat Top Grille for dinner... Illinois-ians: Where did this fabulous place come from?
And much later in the evening, we joined our agency's booth in the exhibition center. (This is where musicians, speakers, balloon artists, retailers, those people who make mugs with your school's logo on them, etc... They all come with impressive booths to convince college students of their many merits.) :)
And it WAS Halloween, so at some point in the afternoon it had apparently become the appropriate time to change into costumes. So this hour or so was -- So entertaining. There was a costume contest for students (did the ScoobyDoo team win? We were impressed) -- Some serious creativity going on there. And this was in addition to the number of amazing people we got to meet - (Thanks to all the naca participants for making us feel so welcome!)

On another topic, I didn't say hello to Mr. Belding this time (though we passed in the hotel lobby), but I did touch a boa (snake, live one), and I think this counts.

When all the festivities had ended for the night, and after spending some seriously fine time with new friends, we took off for the quiet of Lincoln IL, to our dark & peaceful temporary home there...
A beautiful way to say hello to November.