I write this note hurriedly, and from inside of a shipping container that has been converted to an office. The container sits outside of the st. damien's hospital, which is shown on the cover of this e.p. I've been living and working in haiti since february, and before that I was in peru working at an orphanage in a small town called Lunahuana. In both places i've had moments of great beauty and peace and i've also seen a good share of misery, pain, and suffering. The beauty moments I could never describe in a song or a story, and the energy that would be needed to describe the pain and desperation that i've seen will likely not come to me anytime soon.
To miss something is to actively long for it, and in that sense I don't miss playing music or shows, nor playing the guitar really. That being said I really enjoyed spending a night in September with my good and talented friend Jon Crawley, playing some songs I've never recorded into a single microphone in his room. Jon did all the rest of what you hear, with the exception of the truly perfect mandolin and pedal steel provided by my true and old friend Kerry Hutcherson. I really enjoyed listening to what Jon did. He's probably the most sincere person I know and it comes across in the way he plays music I think.
This record is available for free download, but if you find it worthy of pay, you can name your own price using the buy now link above. Any money provided will go directly into the hands of haitian people that I know well. Be it for food money, school fees, to buy some tin roofing, or to pay for a funeral. Basic things.
I don't have the space, time, or energy to recount the depth of the need here in Haiti, but you can trust that it is as real as anything else that is real. The world is organized in a strange way, and while there are a great number of complexities in addressing the injustice that we've created, it is undeniable when you sit in a cholera tent watching a young mother die that the injustice of it all is a sick, real, and observable truth.
If you get this record you're probably on the lucky side of the draw when it comes to filling your basic needs and choosing the life you lead. I hope you'll not only enjoy the songs but also give some money to a few people in haiti that could really use it. If you can't spare much or any at all, I'm still more than glad to share a share with you.
Thanks also to my ol' buddy Beau Jennings (you should listen to his songs) for designing the cover stickers. The front is a picture of the hospital I live at, the back is the river that ran behind my home in Peru. Thanks to Bryan Icon Figura for helping with getting the CDs made, logging into my Facebook account to tell folks about the record and for making the bandcamp site found here....
credits
released December 2, 2010
Produced and Recorded by Jon Crawley
Mastered by Rich Stine
Pedal Steel, Mandolin and Dobro by Kerry Hutcherson
supported by 7 fans who also own “Eating an Ocean”
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