Background
In 2015, Scott, a self-described semi-demi-hemi professional musician, as well as a mathematician, lawyer, English language scholar, and philosopher, made the decision to convert to Catholicism. This was after a great deal of study and online philosophical discourse.
Naturally, this also inspired him to music. By December of 2015, he had completed the 18 tracks that he intended for release on a CD called The Gift. He had other songs, but this was all he could squeeze onto a single disc.
Then, to the devastation of his family, he died suddenly and unexpectedly, in February of 2016.
He was tinkering with a few of the vocal tracks, and planned to re-record a few sections, but they shall now have to remain as complete as they ever shall be.
Music has been part of Scott’s life since childhood. He took up the guitar at the age of ten, and began writing songs and composing music shortly thereafter. He performed solo and in numerous bands for over three decades.
Most recently, in the 2000s, he formed Crooked Timber with Rob Maloni, and together they recorded two albums; I Don’t Mind If It Rains A Little, released on their private label in 2008, and Fadograph of a Yestern Scene, as yet unreleased. Rob is currently finishing the mixing on Fadograph, which had been put on hold when family commitments took him some six hours away across Pennsylvania. We’re hoping we’ll be able to release that some time in 2017.
The Album
Scott laid down all the tracks for The Gift from September to December of 2015, performing vocals, lead and rhythm acoustic guitars, slide guitar, banjo, banjitar, mandolin, octave mandolin, harmonica, lap steel guitar, fretless bass, fretful bass, and percussion. It was always his intent to release the album under the Crooked Timber name, and so it shall be.
The CD is complete and ready to send out for professional printing.
The $1500 raised through this Kickstarter campaign will be used to fund the replication and distribution of these CDs, as well as to print marketing materials.
I would like to make 1000 copies of The Gift , with jewel cases, sealed and ready for sale. These will then be offered in local retail stores, which have already expressed an interest, as well as through churches and religious groups, and online through Amazon.
If the goal is exceeded, those funds will go towards replication of other Crooked Timber CDs, with the aim being to make them available on Amazon as well.
Hopefully, all the Crooked Timber CDs will then become self funding in the future, with Amazon remaining the primary online retailer.
Rewards
The CD itself, in either digital or physical form, is just waiting for folk eager to buy it for themselves, or as a gift for music-loving family and friends.
If you've always wanted to be credited as a music producer, now is your chance! One of the rewards on offer is a limited number of producer name credits, to be included on this and all future printings of The Gift.
The Fender fretless guitar featured throughout the album is available by pledge. Due to the expense of freight, shipping costs for this item will be added to the original pledge amount – so be mindful where you are in relation to Ohio if you want it!
The clip below is of Scott playing the bass during Via Dolorosa.
The following website offers some details about the bass, which is one of the early and more desirable ones made in Japan.
http://www.rexbass.com/2011/01/fender-jazz-bass-special.html
Scott left behind notes on biblical sources for many of the songs on this album. Some had imagery inspired line by line from varied sources, while others indicate a passage that sparked off a general theme. The complete lyrics to The Gift, in two versions, with and without sources, will be available in pdf form as a pledge.
Six pictures linked to the album will be available as 16" x 12" rolled or matted prints, or as a large 36" x 24" framed canvas. I will hand make the frame myself out of hardwood from a local Amish woodyard.
All of these prints may be chosen with or without the accompanying inscription. You will be able to specify which prints you choose, and whether you’d like the quotes removed or left on the image once the project has been funded. The images below show both versions, so you can better decide which you prefer.
The cover art to The Gift will be available in a full size (uncropped) version.
A line from the poem The Tyger, by William Blake, served as the inspiration for the second print being offered: “What Immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry.”
“A lamp to their feet, a light for their path” and “Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime” are lyrics from The Word
Gethsemane is, unsurprisingly, a scene in an olive grove.
“The ones who walked in darkness, have seen a great light” is a lyric from Wonderful Counsellor
All prints will be ready to ship shortly after the project is completed, definitely well before Christmas.
Thank you for reading this, and I’d be most grateful if you would pass a link to this campaign on to anyone who might be interested.
Risks and challenges
I’m planning on getting everything out early in December, so that supporters will receive their rewards in time for Christmas. The album is ready to be professionally replicated, so the sooner we reach the goal, the sooner we can get the wheels in motion.
I don’t anticipate any delays in this, although overseas supporters may want to consider the vagaries of international postal services over the holiday season. If it’s very important to get items to you by a particular time, let me know, and I’ll do my best to accommodate you.
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Funding period
- (27 days)