About this project
Hi Guys,
This is your chance to be a record executive and help me get my new album out. For as little as $1 you can help finance the project and if we don't reach our goal, you won't be charged.
There are 40+ songs that I have been singing. Some have become the meat of my live shows. I want to get some of them down to share with you. Give me your input on the songs that I should include. I always listen to my producers.
I've learned a lot from the last two projects. With Tossin' It Away, I had the good fortune of working with Lou Whitney at the Studio in Springfield, MO. Lou has an innate grasp on what I am trying to accomplish. Recording goes swiftly. Struggles are quickly overcome and Lou's suggestions always seem to work. Bill Glahn is my advocate and my conscience. There will be no auto tuning and if I become enamoured with bells and whistles, they remind me of the task at hand.
We took Tossin' up to Minnesota where John Eller and Dave Boquist from Son Volt did a great job. I'd love to be able to afford them again.
A lot of the planning will be dependent on funding.
I would like to use the Skeletons, Lou's crew for some backing tracks. So far, I've never had drums. I'd like to see what happens with a proper band.
Mastering was and will be done by Randy Kling in Nashville. Randy has mastered everyone from Elvis to Alice Cooper. He had my last project between Waylon Jennings and Porter Wagoner. He is the best.
The minimum expenses are $2500 for recording and mixing, $800 for mastering and another $1000 for production. Everything above that will be reinvested into making it a more professional album. I'm only asking for $4000 everything over and above will be used to make it a better album.
Double the bottom line and there should be a more than enough to do what I want.
The theme will develop in the hard work done in the studio. Songs will struggle for inclusion and some will emerge as surprises
Please do what you can. I'll try to make you proud, It is all dependent on you,
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
7
Backers
$131
pledged of $4,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Unsuccessful
This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on February 28, 2011.
Pledge $1 or more Pledge $1 or more
Your pocket change helps. I'm not too proud to stand in front of the grocery store, but this is easier on both of us. You'll get a hearty handshake and our deep appreciation.
Pledge $15 or more Pledge $15 or more
You'll get an advance hard copy or a digital download of the new album. Be the first on your block.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
You'll get an advance hard copy or a digital download of the new album and your choice of 'Tossin It Away" or 'Landfill"
Pledge $35 or more Pledge $35 or more
A trilogy of terror. You'll get the advance hard copy or digital download of the new album and both "Landfill" and "Tossin' It Away"
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
You will receive a personally signed copy of the new CD, a signed lyric booklet and your choice of a previous release.
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
You'll receive a personally signed copy of the new CD, a signed lyric booklet, your choice of a previous release and your name as an executive producer
Pledge $250 or more Pledge $250 or more
You'll receive a personally signed copy of the new CD, a signed lyric booklet, your choice of a previous release, your name as an executive producer AND a framed, signed copy of the album art work
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
You'll receive the personally signed CD,a signed lyric book, both previous releases, your name as an executive producer, a framed, signed copy of the album art work AND I'll play the new album live for you at your home, club, school of favorite charity (within 800 miles of Chicago - we can negotiate travel if you want me to go farther. I don't have a passport though)
Project By
Connected as Mike Felten (991 friends)
However you cut it, it has been a long hard road. The only constant in my life has been that Martin D-28 and the Harmony Sovereign. The Harmony has been with me since about 1965, the Martin since 1971.
Through all the turmoils of living a life, I could always count on sitting down with one of these old friends and having a long talk. One of the songs on the first album, "Talking '66," was written on the back of a Capitol Records bag. I brought home "Yesterday and Today" in that one. Songs have evolved, been discarded and new ones always appear. They have been with me on a thousand stages.
The music biz always wanted me to deliver some sort of formula that I wasn't interested in.
I wanted to play in the back of pick-up trucks and smoky dives and behind chicken wire. I wanted to be a Saturday night for folks who lived lives full of Monday mornings.
Finally in 2003, I put some of my songs on an album. It was called 'Landfill'. The songs were stories about people who rose from the dirt and returned to it. Folks that I remembered and cared about, but were vanishing. They were memories of ghosts. Trails home fading fast.
In 2007, I did " Tossin' It Away" dedicated to the church of unredeemed. If the ghosts were lost, we had to have hope for souls.
I have been on the road since then. Some songs work and some don't. People identify with some and ignore others. I keep trying. I am not seeking a lowest common denominator acceptance, I'm trying to unravel the mystery of who I am and tell the stories of the people who become a part of me along the way. Maybe they're your stories too.
The new album with be a continuation of the journey
