Dear Friends,

I woke up on Sunday in a rush to get out the door. I answered a few emails, checked my bags to make sure I had what I needed for my Texas trip, and had a quick look at the Kickstarter Campaign. My eyes almost fell out of my head! WE DID IT! We reached our goal to fund the recording of my new record! I was a bit stunned. Here we are with ten days left in the campaign and we are 101% funded. What a gift.  

I was hesitant for years to raise funds through crowdfunding. (I didn’t believe that there was enough goodwill for people to invest in my music. Hell, music is free on your computer machine and that machine is crowded with new music. Not all of it is good. Maybe the world didn’t need any new music?) This experience has proved me to be wrong. I have been moved by friends and believers in song who have come from the far reaches to be a part of this project. Just amazing. Thank you in every language.

Now with ten days left in the Campaign, this gives us the chance to talk about “stretch goals.” What is a stretch goal? A stretch goal is a funding target set by the project creator beyond the original Kickstarter goal. Stretch goals as a term and a practice emerged from the Kickstarter community as a way for creators to stretch beyond the initial, official goal of the Kickstarter project and raise more money (and often make more product or add something really cool to the whole thing!).

So, as I write to you now, I am in Cedar Park, Texas about to start the recording of our album with some of Texas’ finest musicians. Along with the legendary Walk Wilkins as producer, we are joined at Jumping Dog Studio by Oklahoman keyboard master and engineer Ron Flynt (The Mystiqueros), Austin drummer John Chipman (The Resentments, The Band of Heathens, The Chicks, Ruthie Foster and so many more), and the epic bass man Glenn Fukunaga (Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, The Chicks, Kevin Welch and one thousand others), and our special guest from The Netherlands, piano genius Bart De Win. We start today and we will try to make art out of 10 songs or so. Knowing that I can pay these valuable men for their time and talent allows me to focus. The value of that is immeasurable.  

However, we want to stretch our total while our campaign is still live. (When I refer to, we, I am referring to Susie Markland at SHC Music Tribe, my friend, and manager who is the mastermind behind the scenes.) We hope to raise more funds for a few key post-production items. Funds for a graphic artist for album art, funds for CD replication, and very importantly, funds for a publicist (we have a guy) to get the record out into the world and give it its best chance to succeed. 

If you have already pledged, I want to alert you to the fact that one can “adjust” their pledge while the campaign is still live until 9 am May 5 on the Kickstarter page.  A few folks have already done that, and it has been invaluable. Thank you.  Also, it is appreciated that people continue to spread the word about our Kickstarter by sharing and alerting their friends, neighbors, and enemies.  

You all have brought inspiration and beauty back into my life. The covid trouble just about undid my faith in a future in music, but this Kickstarter experience has reignited my soul and my belief in this work. Thank you from the deepest places.

MDB
4.23.23
Cedar Park, Texas