Record Release

At long last, Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 U.S. Presidencies is finally out. We spent the better part of last week doing a handful of interviews and gearing up for the cd release show which has come and gone. I am quite stunned by both the book (the three cds come with a 106 page book) and the music that we all made. I cannot remember the exact number but there are over fifty different musicians (including Bill Callahan from Smog, Alan Sparhawk from Low, Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu, Rosie Thomas, Tom Carter from Charalambides, Califone, Denison Witmer, and many more) on the project and nearly as many artists. Because of this I am able to step back from the work, and view it almost as if I had nothing to do with it, which allows me to enjoy it quite a bit more.

As we drift into fall and the election grows ever closer, I will continue to post things here about the project for your curious selves. Yesterday we did an interview on KXPR the local NPR affiliate in Sacramento. If you missed it, you can listen to the archive here.

You will notice that we were interviewed right after two proton exploding scientists (UC Davis Physicists) about the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. We told the interviewer that he had to somehow make us sound more intelligent than those guys. What an act to follow.

You readers may buy copies directly from the label here, from Amazon here, or a digital download from itunes (with a digital copy of the book) here, and now or in the very near future from your local independent record store.

Ps.
To any of the artists or musicians who participated in this project reading this post: My apologies that you've not yet received your copy. The distributor reports that these are "flying off the shelf," and that the second printing has begun. When we get our copies, you will get yours. A good thing this is.

Posted by jeff pitcher at September 16, 2008 10:42 AM

....................................