Keith Hampton: News

RACINE THEATRE GUILD JULY 18-27, 2008 (click Calendar for more)

...is the title of my 3rd CD.

I am currently in pre-production. Some songs I've been working on are:

worry train
the known unknown
you remind me
hover
ghost in a car
open hand
redwood high
simplicity
song i wish i'd written (a.h. tull)
joymaker
bless my heart

Watch MUSECAST for updates.

Watch online.



Five friends will document one year in their struggle to make careers in the fickle and elusive entertainment industry.

We were inspired by "one year" projects like Brotherhood 2.0 and Ze Frank. Please join us on our journey, we don't know what will happen either.

In addition to being a documentary of sorts, we'll also be sharing what we've learned about the industry so that young aspiring filmmakers, musicians, writers and actors might benefit.

This isn't a reality show. No one hired us to do this. You won't see dramatic confrontations directed and edited in order to sell more Mountain Dew. Just five regular people with five separate but related passions.

Travis Richey
Keith Hampton
Eric Steffens
Phil Brown
Mary Van Luven

~Welcome to The Musecast.

BIG NEWS! Read it here.

SUMMER 2007 ROAD BLOG

My friend Steve has an excellent blog, and he was kind enough to write about my CD there recently.

Here's the link.

Thanks Steve!

I made the website a bit more colorful... it matches my mood these days.

I'm heading west toward Chicago in June! NYC, Philadelphia are first, then more gigs to come... If you want to burn me a road trip mix CD, be my guest!

As requested by an audience member at the Mozaic room, here is the poem I read on stage during my set. It was the first time I've ever included my own poetry in my show, and thanks to all who gave positive feedback. I like it too...!

NON-SENSE

lover, how do you see me?
as a dangerous endeavor,
sometimes sweetly motivated
but often up to devilry?
do you fear that i aim to
steal your soul's ability?
see me as i am:
a man-shaped mirror designed to collect
the finest of your light
and broadcast it back to the universe
as it shimmers through our friendship faces

lover, how do you taste me?
do i betray the coffee and
sweet things in which i delight?
how does my own scent,
which i make both
with & without effort,
ring across your tongue
when you sample my best places
as i sigh into you?
sense me as i am:
made of the same essence as you,
like every dear one, every stranger.
find in me the comforts of familiarity
and the intrigue of my own mysteries.
let joy sweeten all our miseries.

lover, what do you hear in me?
i have simply said my "peace."
i have given love and only asked
for an occasional kiss.
but you seem to hear
some trepidatious terms in a contract
i have not proposed.
hear only my song.
won't you rise and sing along?
be a kind of harmony,
cast away the fear of always
and spend now with me.
i have many ways to soothe and charm you.

hear me truly as i am:
be near to me when you wish, or
when you can.
i have no means to harm you, no schemes.
say not, lover, how you experience me.
rather, continue
from within you.
let me the blessed
witness be.

(c)2006 Keith Hampton. All rights reserved.

iTunes users can now listen to and purchase songs from CHANCE & CHANGE by clicking here.

The album will also be added to all your other favorite digital download services like Rhapsody, MSN Music, and many more.

In other news, I've disabled the guestbook feature on this website (hopefully temoporarily) because of excessive junk entries lately. Damn the spam!

Click on SONGS to read lyrics and hear song clips from the new CD.

The 12-track version will be available for sale at, and after, the Jan. 9 release concert. 17-track, limited edition "deluxe" version with lyric booklet and extra songs can be ordered here.

Hooray! The CD is done and the release concert will be Tuesday, January 9th (8:30 pm) at Johnny D's Uptown Restaurant & Music Club.

Pre-ordered copies will be sent in advance of the show, and will include goodies (lyric booklet, bonus songs). You can still order the bonus version from the CDs page.

I have a new set of promotional photos, taken by my longtime friend and collaborator, Martin R. Anderson. They will soon show on this site, as well as Sonicbids, MySpace, and the like. CD is almost entirely mixed, and one more recording session should get it done. My goal is to ship pre-orders before the end of December. More news soon!

Maybe this could be the cover art for a "One More Mile" CD single?



Thanks to http://www.churchsigngenerator.com

Here's a sneak peek at the new CD's cover art. This is not the final version, but it shows a glimpse of what Chris Duke and I have been working on.



SUPPORT CHANCE & CHANGE:

$25 gets you an advance, autographed copy of CHANCE & CHANGE, along with a bonus disc of extra songs. Other amounts accepted, appreciated, and acknowledged.

This website layout matches the new CD cover art. Wait and see!

Oh and I have a show on Aug. 12th in Oxford, MA. Y'all come!

I deleted the demos I had posted over the past year... Stay tuned for new songs from CHANCE & CHANGE!

-kh

In just a few (long!) sessions up at Jim's house in Salem, we've managed to record basic instrumental tracks for all 12 songs I've planned to include on CHANCE & CHANGE. Over the rest of the summer, we'll add vocals and overdub any extra parts we can dream up. Visit the homepage to pre-order the CD and get a special bonus as a thanks for your early support.

Until then, you can hear the new songs live! Check my performance schedule at http://www.keith-hampton.com/calendar.html.

New shows are being added! Hooray!

"That's why I want a revolution. If only something would happen! We all sit jawing away, and we're all so clever, and I feel that we get further and further from the things that really matter."

-V. Woolf
Melymbrosia (early version of The Voyage Out)

On Saturday, June 3, we recorded instrumental tracks for 4 songs:

turn the wheel
miss you mine
storm warning
damage

Catherine Birrer played percussion, and Jim Dalton played lead stringed instruments.

The remaining songs will be done over the next few weeks, and then it will be time for vocal and other overdubs.

Soon, I'll be working on the art and layout with a brilliant artist, Chris Duke.

Thanks to Jim & Maggi Dalton for the use of your home and talents; to David Liquori for you excellent ears and for driving me around; to Catherine Birrer for finding "the groove;" to Anna Huckabee Tull for loaning me your beautiful Taylor guitar (you're not done yet...); to Mary Gerbi for loaning me her husband; and to you for listening.

Keep in touch for news about release shows and other gigs. I'll post sneak peaks at the album so you can see how it develops.

Happy solstice!

"Chance & Change" will be recorded during the early summer of 2006. Personnel include Jim Dalton on a host of stringed instruments (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, banjo, dobro, etc.), Catherine Birrer on percussion, and other special guests.

David Liquori of Cambridge Acoustic Recording will engineer at Jim's house in Salem. Artist Chris Duke will design the cover.

Thanks to all who have pre-ordered the CD! I need to raise $3,000 for production, replication, and promotional expenses, and there is still a long way to go.

In the meantime, I've posted another preview in the MUSIC section of my website. In addition to demo versions of "Turn the wheel" and "Come & gone," now you can hear "Rather hear a lullaby," which was recorded on ProTools by Julie Vallimont at home in Arlington last year. Thanks Julie!

Listening to:
Feist "Let it Die"