Hello, friends. My name is James Armstrong.
In early 2015, my great music friend Greg Black and I released our first studio album together entitled “In the Wind”, iTunes link:
iTunes.apple.com/us/album/in-the-wind/id955230688
At the left is a photo of us recording the album, with our ace engineer and musician Scott Ayers:
What follows is my personal statement about the album, which is included in the album liner notes, along with Greg’s personal statement:
"Greg and I always pounded our acoustic guitars, tearing deep gouges in the wood, and we always sang from deep in our hearts, singing as loud as we could. At gigs we laughed off any offer of microphones. We believed in our music and ourselves - we believed that nothing could stop us.
Performing or practicing - it was always an event. One time Greg had talk a guy down who was in shock and crumpled in a corner after I exploded at him for daring to interrupt our rehearsal in the middle of a song. We loudly boasted to anyone who doubted us or our music.
A little later, challenges arose - some music friends changed their minds about forming a band with us, and I got distracted from our main purpose. The trouble reached its peak when I failed to show up for our most important gig. I stopped playing, and Greg moved on, refusing to let the music die.
Years later we played together again, this time electrically, in the woods north of Spokane, where Greg and some friends were living on the land. We called our band “Elderberry Jam” and had a great time playing at ski lodges and for benefits for the neighborhood Co-op.
Since then, I have intermittently maintained my singer-songwriter act, unwilling to let it go, while Greg has burned bright with musical fire.
For this current project, Greg came down from Washington State to San Mateo, California, not far from where I live. We agreed on six original songs each, three days of rehearsal and two days recording, singing and playing together on each song.
Although we are a little older now, we are still playing, singing and performing with the volume knob turned to eleven. Our great passion for the music, and our lifelong friendship live on in this album, and we hope you enjoy it."
MY NEW ALBUM
My new album, "Bright Day, Blue Shore", released on Saturday, October 10, 2015 and we had a great album release party up in northwest Berkeley. Here is the CD Baby link:
cdbaby.com/cd/jamesarmstrong4
...See More
♫ Bright Day, Blue Shore - James Armstrong. Listen @cdbaby
Click to listen at CDBaby
CDBABY.COM
To introduce you to the new album, here are some of the album notes:
Album Notes
Vocal harmony, my favorite part of music, is my focus here. I wrote all of the songs, and have included lyric sheets. We recorded and completed my vocal and guitar parts over a single weekend - 26 songs in 62 takes.
Claudia Chester, Dave Bolick and my nephew, Cole Armstrong, each sing harmony on five of the fifteen tracks selected for this album. Their skill and inventiveness was essential.
Cole sings on track one, and on every third track after that. It is the same for the other singers: Dave starts on track two and Claudia on track three. I played all of the instrumental parts on my trusty Martin D-28 acoustic guitar.
Ace recording engineer James Ward did all of the recording, mixing and mastering at Live Oak Studio (LiveOakStudio.com) in North Berkeley.
My friend Terri Lambert did the album cover and the CD surface design. Claudia Chester took the photos at Live Oak Studio. Disc Makers did the rest of the design, packaging and production.
The album title, “Bright Day, Blue Shore”, that occurs in the lyrics of “In Dreams”, evokes the beauty of Greece’s desert-like Kyklades island group (that includes Paros, Naxos and Thira) in the Aegean Sea.
Imagine a Bright Day on clear water, with the hero Odysseus about to embark alone on a journey toward the Blue Shore, under the watchful eye of his guardian Pallas Athena.
My thanks go out to the great family of people who were patient, kind and understanding toward me. Believe me, what you did means the world, and I love you all."
Here are some images from recording the album:
In early 2015, my great music friend Greg Black and I released our first studio album together entitled “In the Wind”, iTunes link:
iTunes.apple.com/us/album/in-the-wind/id955230688
At the left is a photo of us recording the album, with our ace engineer and musician Scott Ayers:
What follows is my personal statement about the album, which is included in the album liner notes, along with Greg’s personal statement:
"Greg and I always pounded our acoustic guitars, tearing deep gouges in the wood, and we always sang from deep in our hearts, singing as loud as we could. At gigs we laughed off any offer of microphones. We believed in our music and ourselves - we believed that nothing could stop us.
Performing or practicing - it was always an event. One time Greg had talk a guy down who was in shock and crumpled in a corner after I exploded at him for daring to interrupt our rehearsal in the middle of a song. We loudly boasted to anyone who doubted us or our music.
A little later, challenges arose - some music friends changed their minds about forming a band with us, and I got distracted from our main purpose. The trouble reached its peak when I failed to show up for our most important gig. I stopped playing, and Greg moved on, refusing to let the music die.
Years later we played together again, this time electrically, in the woods north of Spokane, where Greg and some friends were living on the land. We called our band “Elderberry Jam” and had a great time playing at ski lodges and for benefits for the neighborhood Co-op.
Since then, I have intermittently maintained my singer-songwriter act, unwilling to let it go, while Greg has burned bright with musical fire.
For this current project, Greg came down from Washington State to San Mateo, California, not far from where I live. We agreed on six original songs each, three days of rehearsal and two days recording, singing and playing together on each song.
Although we are a little older now, we are still playing, singing and performing with the volume knob turned to eleven. Our great passion for the music, and our lifelong friendship live on in this album, and we hope you enjoy it."
MY NEW ALBUM
My new album, "Bright Day, Blue Shore", released on Saturday, October 10, 2015 and we had a great album release party up in northwest Berkeley. Here is the CD Baby link:
cdbaby.com/cd/jamesarmstrong4
...See More
♫ Bright Day, Blue Shore - James Armstrong. Listen @cdbaby
Click to listen at CDBaby
CDBABY.COM
To introduce you to the new album, here are some of the album notes:
Album Notes
Vocal harmony, my favorite part of music, is my focus here. I wrote all of the songs, and have included lyric sheets. We recorded and completed my vocal and guitar parts over a single weekend - 26 songs in 62 takes.
Claudia Chester, Dave Bolick and my nephew, Cole Armstrong, each sing harmony on five of the fifteen tracks selected for this album. Their skill and inventiveness was essential.
Cole sings on track one, and on every third track after that. It is the same for the other singers: Dave starts on track two and Claudia on track three. I played all of the instrumental parts on my trusty Martin D-28 acoustic guitar.
Ace recording engineer James Ward did all of the recording, mixing and mastering at Live Oak Studio (LiveOakStudio.com) in North Berkeley.
My friend Terri Lambert did the album cover and the CD surface design. Claudia Chester took the photos at Live Oak Studio. Disc Makers did the rest of the design, packaging and production.
The album title, “Bright Day, Blue Shore”, that occurs in the lyrics of “In Dreams”, evokes the beauty of Greece’s desert-like Kyklades island group (that includes Paros, Naxos and Thira) in the Aegean Sea.
Imagine a Bright Day on clear water, with the hero Odysseus about to embark alone on a journey toward the Blue Shore, under the watchful eye of his guardian Pallas Athena.
My thanks go out to the great family of people who were patient, kind and understanding toward me. Believe me, what you did means the world, and I love you all."
Here are some images from recording the album:
