A Short Story Explaining Why My Face Is On Vinyl Records in Germany

Hello. My name is Sam, and I like to write songs. Here's a little story about why there are vinyl records with my face on them in Germany.

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One time, I moved to Columbus, Ohio after spending a year attending the wrong college in Nashville, Tennessee. Ohio was a better fit for me, and English Lit was a better major for me. I had studied Music Business, but that was just the pits for me.

I wrote some songs and made the walk from my dorm at Baker West to Kafe Kerouac most Tuesdays for the Open Mic there. Jason runs a tight and supportive ship.

I helped open up a refugee benefit show there for The Gentle Lurch. They're a band from Dresden, Germany. Lars and Neli were over here for OSU as well. But they were nice enough to come to our cassette tape release show with Field Sleeper in the fall of 2015. After that, Lars and I became buddies and shared a beer at Dicks Den from time to time. When we threw our record release show in the US, it was a refugee benefit again. I think that will continue to be the case for release shows going forward.

Wow! CDs! And Grandma Bodary's quilt that she made for my high school graduation is on the CD! Hooray!

They invited me over to come visit when they went back to Germany, so I did. Last year, I spent about a week and a half adventuring, meeting nice folks and playing nice shows. The Sound of Bronkow Music Festival was the highlight; I finished my set while the church tower above me sounded for 8pm. I nearly made enough money to pay back the plane ticket! This shit is seriously the dream.

They were nice enough to reach out about giving the record a proper release through K&F Records in Germany. I recently got an email with nearly four weeks of shows. So that will happen in August. And I'm intimidated and don't know what to expect, but work is supportive and friends are supportive and I might even have one or two Hello Emerson members along for the ride.

Fingers crossed we can make back our plane ticket money, and make Lars and Neli some diaper money (they had a baby!)

So, this news doesn't mean a lot to you United Statesians - you all can already listen to the record. But we're excited about our tour and distribution deal with our friends in Germany.

Let me know if you want a vinyl - they're up on the store for North America and will arrive in June. If you're in Europe, I'll be seeing you in a couple months.

With love and gratitude, Sam

A New Song and Tiny Desk Video

Hello and happy Sunday!

(in short; we recorded an NPR Tiny Desk Contest video with a new song here. Keep reading for words behind the links.)

I have a short list of my favorite NPR Tiny Desk Concerts. Reggie Watts is wonderful, Rodrigo Amarante is absolutely enchanting, The Tallest Man on Earth seems just effortless, and Sharon Van Etten is incredible, and on and on and on.

Dan thought that it would be fun to be a part of a thing. And Jack and I agreed. So we recorded a little video in my attic office, next to my desk, where I’m typing this message right now.
Take a listen to a new song in the making. It’s a song about smartwatches, inkjet printers, independence, and Bruce Springsteen. It’s also about other things, but I’ll figure out what those are in a few months after we arrange it and spend some more time getting to know it.
Anyway, watch the video here, and if it makes you think of someone important to you, let them know and send it along the wire.

That’s all for today. I’m going to eat breakfast out in the city and then figure out what else I need to pick up from the grocery store.

Sam

~~~

Also, a side note. After we released a record, I took some time to write thank-you notes here on our website blog. I’d like to do that more because it was a small thing that felt good and important. I’m going to be writing little notes about some of my favorite music in Columbus, Ohio. And they’ll come off as little thank-you notes, popping into your inbox and up on the blog.

If you’ve got some other Columbus music that I should listen to, shoot me an email and get me in the loop.

THANKS | Sharon Udoh

Soooooooo Sharon didn’t really do anything on this album, buuuuut was kind enough to have Erin, Jack, and I play on hers. I was in my last year of school when she had us out to Musicol to record. When I was there, I asked her how people did it. How do people make a record? 
Sharon’s answer was essentially: “I don’t know. Does it look like I know what I’m doing?”
Thanks for always being honest, and never playing the same show twice. Thanks for being the King, the Queen, and everything in between. Sharon, you make everything around you shine a bit brighter, and challenge everyone to kick themselves in the ass and get out and do better. Thanks for that.

Thanks | Alexander Paquet

Alex is one of the first people I met in Columbus at the Kafe Kerouac open mic night. He may have played a song by The National. He may have played a Cheryl Crowe song. He may have played a song by The Microphones that I thought he had written for the first few weeks. But, whatever it was, we slowly picked up a little friendship. He made me think about songs in a different way, and then I quickly returned to my old way of thinking about songs.
We moved in together in August of 2016, and my opinion of Alex has only grown in the time living together. He was always the first one up and out of the house (thanks for making some of the best coffee in the city at One Line) and always pushed himself artistically and academically. He’s studying accounting, and I’ve never seen someone so passionate about economics and numbers in such a genuine and wonderful way. 
Alex has been an inspiring and welcoming friend throughout the past months. He’s helped me understand me, and he’s helped me accept and love my domestic idiosyncracies around the house. He’s opened my eyes and ears to new things, and his ambition makes me want to push myself harder.
You’d made a friend for life, whether you meant to or not. Thanks for being the first sounds on the album.

Thanks | Tony Rice

When we play shows, I try not to be anxious about sound. If I see Tony behind the board, all my anxieties flutter away like they were never there to begin with.
Every time we were at Brothers Drake, Tony’s been there to have our back. When we played Sofar at MINT, Tony was there to make sure that everything sounded great.
We played with The Western Den and Honeysuckle at Brothers Drake just recently, and Tony sent us a recording of the show a few days after. Just because. What a lil fella. That night, Dan said that I should ask him to do sound for the release show. And wouldn’t you have it, he seemed unfazed by the number of Hello Emerson members that we were planning to have that night.
So, thanks to Tony. You make things sound great. And you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into on August 25th.

THANKS | Nick Vermilye

Nick Vermilye played tenor saxophone on the record. And man he’s great and all that. But also, I asked him to play a sax solo in Uncle. We thought it might be a good idea.
Oh no.
To his credit, he played it beautifully, and he humored me. But after listening back to this song about driving on I-75 to see a great uncle in hospice, we decided that even the most tasteful sax solo maybe didn’t fit the thematic material of the song.
But damn it was a good solo that no one will ever hear. I think I still have the audio file in the stems. We’ll see if our club remix of Uncle ever surfaces. If it does, you’ll know who’s playing the sax.

THANKS | Jon Weisbrot

OH DAMN so Jon is dumb good. He’s crazy. He’s so good at sax. He’s righteous. He’s sassy. He’s an animal.
When we had the first horn sectional in my house, we said that people could follow the charts, but then pointed out a few spots where people could get a little loose. And man, did Jon get loose.
He’s got this laser focus, where he can nail anything, and then laugh it off and just rip some improvised lines that the song needed, but I could never have written.
Jon’s great. Thanks for the sassiness.

THANKS | Lee Tucker

Lee is a monstrous trumpet player. He plays with Booty & the Kidd in Columbus, but I think I met him through Dan’s OSU music school connections. He killed everything he played.
At the end of Lake, there’s a big ol horn outro. Lee’s trumpet signals that with this trill sorta line, perfectly wrapping up everything on the album with this sort of casual triumphant little phrase. I was so happy when I heard it in the studio. I think my favorite part of the entire project was working with Lee and the horn guys in the OSU studio, jumping up and down, yelling encouragement, terribly excited for what they would do in the next take.
Thanks so much for lending your time and talent, and giving me something to jump up and down and shout about.

THANKS | Zach Zerkel

Zach asked if he should bring his bass trombone instead of his regular trombone. We said, yesyesyes of fucking course you should do that.
Whenever I was trying to wrangle people’s schedules, Zach would always be the first person to respond with his availabilities. It might seem like a small thing, but when you’re trying to schedule 15 or so musicians, it’s a complete dream. He’s super diligent, on his shit, and communicates clear as a bell. Oh and he can riiiip on the fucking trombone.
Zach, I’m really happy you brought your bass trombone to the recording session. And I hope you’re bringing it to the show on the 25th.

THANKS | Kristen Peters

A ways back, I played some acoustic guitar for a show that Kristen played at King Ave 5. It was the first time that I had played guitar without singing, and I was terribly nervous, but she made sure I was as ready as I could be. I think Jack Doran connected me with her, and I’m happy we got to make sounds together again.
And she just got married! Hooray love! Thanks so much for playing a great violin, writing some great songs, and leading the trio in the studio. Oh man, and balancing music with everything else in your life. I look forward to trying to do the same. Be well and enjoy the honeymoon!