I meant to post this on the day, but it came and went because life was busy as usual, and then it seemed a bit too late. Yet, it's a marker I can't let pass without comment. In the early hours of June 30, 2009, I posted a video of 13 year old Edward playing a cover of a Bobby Long song. I thought it was good; I was happy he was having fun teaching himself guitar, and I wanted to share it with my friends. I never imagined our lives could change so much from one video. 

As many of you know, Bobby saw the video shortly after it was posted, and kindly tweeted the link. I'd gone to bed after the few online friends who were awake had seen it, and woke a couple of hours later to find my Twitter feed had exploded as friends excitedly shared Bobby's tweet and the YouTube link. It already had over 250 views, and would hit 1000 in the next 3 days. 

Edward had already decided that music was his future, however we never dreamed he'd have such wonderful support, from so many, in such a short time. Some of you were online when Bobby tweeted. Some found Edward's music while searching for something else. Still others came aboard when they saw him perform live. However you got here, we're so happy that you are.

Thank you, all of you, whether you've come to shows, bought CDs and shirts, made donations or cookies, put us up in your home, or simply liked, shared and retweeted. It's been an amazing start to what looks to be a terrific career, and we can't wait to see what the next five years will hold. Hopefully, we will see you all on the road!

The weather has been crazy lately, and it seems to be indicative of what's coming up for Edward. 
He's spent some time in a couple of different studios lately, working on demos as well as an upcoming single release. One of those recording sessions was videoed, so hopefully we'll have that to share with everyone soon. He's booked a few Florida shows in March, as well as a music festival in Mississippi and a showcase in Austin during SXSW. On top of all that, he's participating in WorkPlay's weekly Singer/Songwriter competition which ends in April, he's working on the new CD, and finishing his school work so he can graduate in May. 
Glamorous, huh? ;)
This next week, he has 2 radio interviews scheduled. One is a phone interview that will be recorded and aired locally several times prior to the MS music festival. The other is the in-studio with DJ Kym Possible of BlazeRadio.org that was rescheduled twice already. Third try is the charm, right? That will be live on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 12:30pm CST, so tune in and tweet your questions and requests to @DJKymPossible. 
More to come, obviously, so check back soon!

I hope you had a lovely holiday, full of laughter, love, and great music! 

Edward spent much of December catching up on school work. He did work on some songs, and sat in with the WorkPlay Christmas Band for their Rock School Christmas party, which was a lot of fun.

In case you've missed it, he's now on ArtistSignal.com, which is a site that helps promote artists while making them some money. The artist with the most votes in a month gets $10,000 to use towards their career, and the other artists on the site split another $5,000 according to the number of votes they received. He's been on the site since August, and has made a few dollars a month. In October, he earned a little over $2, and in November, just under $5. I was fairly happy, because he seemed to be doubling the votes received and the income each month. Then December happened. Not only did he increase the number of votes, but he picked up a lot more fans and voters. I attribute a good part of that to the site itself, as they featured him on their homepage slide show for a full week! He ended up at number 82 and earned just over $19, almost 4 times his November results! 

There was a moment of sheer disbelief at midnight on New Year's Eve, as the new month started and he had the first vote of the year, instantly putting him in 1st place with the $10,000. However, votes for other artists soon began flowing in and we sadly watched him drop. He's currently holding steady around 60, and we intend to keep him moving back towards the top. Every vote helps!

ArtistSignal.com is free to join, free to vote, and free for him to belong. The funds come from advertising on the site. You can vote every hour, for as many artists as you like, and there is even an app so you can conveniently vote from anywhere on your phone. Some of our friends have gone so far as to set alarms to remind them to vote each hour, and I can't thank them enough for their dedication. It may not be in the next few months, but I know that Edward will make it to the top spot, and it will be because of all of you. 

I'm currently working on getting some performance dates for the spring, and they will be posted as soon as they are confirmed. Edward is still working on the CD, and we'll keep you up to date on that as well.

Have a wonderful January, stay warm (or cool, if you're in the southern hemisphere), and we hope to see you on the road! 

Morgan

Two posts in one week? What? 

I was so excited to get the news out about the EP that I decided to save the tour tales for the next blog, and here I am!

We hit the road at the end of October. On the 24th, Edward played City Vineyard in Birmingham, AL, opening for Lee Lindsey, a terrific Canadian singer-songwriter who is touring with Shani Drake, a fine violinist from Seattle with a lovely voice. Lee and I connected several years ago because of our talented sons (hers is Sam Bradley) and we've emailed and chatted a lot, so I was glad to finally meet her in person.  She wrote a song that Sam often performs called Like a River. Edward has covered it occasionally, and performed it with Sam at a private show last year. Lee invited Edward up to sing it with her that night, and though it was a little rough without a rehearsal, it was beautiful and touching. Our street team leader, Kymber, got it on video, so you can Google it if you want.

We met up with Lee and Shani again two days later at South Creek Vineyards and Winery in Nebo, NC.  Lee, Shani and Edward took turns playing outside on the deck for a very attentive crowd who were enjoying the wine tasting and the beautiful, if breezy, day in the mountains. Edward didn't have a coat with him, and when the sun moved away from the stage, his hands were almost too cold to play. One of our friends loaned him a jacket, and a thoughtful gentleman in the crowd let Edward borrow some knitted gloves, and though he managed to play one song with them on, they didn't work very well for fingerpicking. He did keep them on when he wasn't playing, though, and when the show was over, we discovered that the gloves' owner had left before Edward could return them. Thank you, sir!  We promise they have a good home. 

Lee and Edward sang Like a River again, and it was better the second time. I think Lee's road manager, Kenzie, got video of it, but I'm not sure. Kenzie is a great gal, by the way. She and Lee are driving all over North America for their tour, and I may be a wee bit jealous of their RV. We had a lot of fun with all three ladies, and I hope we get to see them all again. 

South Creek is a gorgeous place and the owners, Jim and Mary, were the perfect hosts. Get up there if you can - it's well worth the trip! You can see pics from the show, including the gloves, on their Facebook page.

Sweet friends came to the winery from Greensboro, then brought us home with them and spoiled us rotten. We really didn't want to leave (they shared their home with us again on our return trip), but we were expected in VA the next day at StellaWiki's. We had a couple of days of downtime, which was great for catching up and visiting, and then we all drove up to Richmond on the 30th for Edward to play at GlobeHopper Coffeehouse. It's a cool little place and Kimmy is a fine hostess. Not only can she make delicious beverages, but she can run cables and route electrical cords, too!  She asked us back, so I'll try to make that happen as soon as possible.

Halloween at StellaWiki's is the way to do it. Send the men out with the kids to get candy while the ladies kick back with a cold one and a movie. If we didn't love decorating and dressing up so much at our house, I'd be tempted to start a new tradition!

The next day, we loaded up both cars and drove up to Fairfax, VA for the Only About The Music- Artists For Autism concert. The Grafton Institute was the beneficiary charity, and the money raised is going to their music therapy program. 13 artists (a combined total of 37 musicians) performed over 2 days, all on the same stage at the Auld Shebeen Irish Bar and Grill. It was hectic, a little crazy, and a lot of fun!

We saw old friends like Bobby Long, Lee Lindsey, and Surviving Allison, and made new ones, including Alex Starling, Tom Bertram, Denny White, Shannon Labrie, and Miles Garber. The line-up also included Toy Soldiers, The Hunts, Naseem Khuri, and David Mayfield Parade, who were the final act of the weekend. So much talent in one place, and such a great bunch of people!  Everyone was excited to be part of the show, and especially to help Grafton and the kids they teach. The coordinators kept things running as smoothly as possible and I still don't quite know how they did it. They not only had musicians, technicians, and audience to contend with, but also emceed, and ran a silent auction and raffle, composed of an incredible selection of items donated by the artists and friends of OATMAFA. There were one of a kind performance photos, autographed memorabilia, handwritten lyrics, signed guitars, and so much more. Everyone had a great time and a lot of people went home with new treasures and wonderful memories. We hope the OATMAFA gang ask Edward again for the next one, even if he did keep calling them the Oatmafia.

He and Lee did rehearse Like a River and performed it during her set, and quite a lot of people commented later about how great it sounded. I know there are videos up of that performance, so if you Google one, you'll probably find all  of them. 

Edward and I hung around Fairfax for an extra day and caught Mike Nesmith at Wolftrap. Mike looked great, and there were several points during the show when I closed my eyes and just listened - he still sounded like that 20something in the beanie. He didn't do any Monkees songs, but we didn't care. He did all our favorites from his solo career, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was a perfect ending for our mini-tour. 

FYI- Our fantastic street team leader, Kymber, is working on a special project with us, so stay tuned. We'll let you know as it develops. Until then, take care!

You read that right... there's a new EP.  Yeah, it snuck up on me, too, so let me explain.
We were getting things ready for the mini-tour: a couple of dates in Alabama and North Carolina with Lee Lindsey and Shani Drake (both lovely and very talented ladies), and another solo gig in Richmond, on our way to Fairfax, Virginia for the Only About the Music - Artists for Autism show (I'll post more about that later). Edward had been working hard on the new album and decided he would cut an EP with the first few songs he had ready, to give people a taste of what to expect on the CD. He picked out the font and found a photo he took in New Orleans of his name scrawled on an elevator. With that and a stack of maps, the sleeve art started to come together.  As soon as he liked what we'd designed, we sent it all off to the magic place where those digital pieces become real stuff. We were on the road when we placed the order and had it shipped to the hotel, so the night before the Fairfax show, we were up in our room doing EP quality checks. Good thing we did, too, because GraceNote decided right off that this was some other EP of the same length and auto-filled the iTunes info with unfamiliar characters. I'm sorry, but I couldn't tell what language it was, only that it wasn't anything I could read. We wrestled with it a bit, and I believe it's straightened out now, but we were worried for a little while.  
The EP is called 'Lost' and it will be available through the Store on Nov. 15.  Two of the four songs were previously released as Indiegogo incentives but have been remixed for this EP. The other two are new! These are great songs and Edward is very pleased with how they turned out. We hope you enjoy them!

Hi, all!

I'm not sure how summer disappeared so quickly, especially since it's still hot and muggy in Alabama, but the Halloween decorations are out in stores, so it must be Fall, right? It's been a busy few months, to say the least!

In June and July, Edward took part in a singer-songwriter contest sponsored by WorkPlay Theater in Birmingham. The audience voted on the performances, and some nights over 25 artists participated. Edward placed in the top 10! The 10 winners' performances on Finals night were recorded, and will be released to Birmingham radio for airplay very soon. 

One of the exciting things about that contest was the opportunity for us to get to know more area artists and their music. Several of them share a mutual admiration with Edward, and he's been able to perform shows with a few of them. 

The folks at WorkPlay like him, too; he was asked to help teach their Rock Band Summer Camp, and had a great time working with the kids. He taught guitar and also played during the kids' performance for their parents at the end of the week. 

The other day, I was Googling a YouTube video that one of our street-teamers posted from the competition, and ran across something interesting. Acoustic Pie Radio is a 24/7 internet radio stream hosted on Live365.com. A link to Acoustic Pie's blog turned up in my search, so I opened it to see why. It turns out that they have a monthly (or nearly) Top 20 song list voted on by the listeners, and Edward was number 5 on June's list!  I was floored, partly because there are a couple of big name artists who are further down on the list, and partly because the song they voted on was 'Enough'. I'm not sure how that song got in their rotation, but I'm glad the listeners enjoy it. You can see the list here:  http://acousticpie.wordpress.com/

More recently, Edward has been working on the unreleased and Rejections recordings for the Indigogo perks. The keyboard and recording equipment he purchased are definitely getting a lot of use. He's also writing and pulling material together for the new CD, and has been recording some demos for WorkPlay in their studio.

All that, and senior coursework, too!

Coming up, Edward is very excited to be a part of Only About the Music - Artists for Autism. This is a 2-day show, Nov. 2-3, at The Auld Shebeen in Fairfax, VA, which will benefit the music therapy program for Grafton School. Thirteen artists are scheduled to perform over that weekend, and it's going to be an outstanding show. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.onlyaboutthemusic.org.

That's it for now! Thanks as always for your continued support, and we hope to see you on the road!

We not only reached our $2000 goal, but you guys surpassed it! Thank you so much!

The CDs and EPs will be mailed out shortly. The packages with handwritten lyrics will take a bit longer. If you sponsored at a higher level than that, you're going to have to wait a little, because some recording has to to happen before you get your 3 other unreleased tracks or the Rejections CD. And, of course, those who got the digital download of the new CD have to wait the longest, but, boy, are you going to love it!

We appreciate all the donations as well as the sharing of the link, which definitely helped get us over the top. We couldn't have done it without you guys, and Edward can't wait to get started. I'll update on the process as often as I can.

You guys! The Indiegogo is up to $1,230 and there are still 3 days to go. We are SO close! Please tell all your friends, and if you were planning to donate and just haven't gotten around to it, now is the time!http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-ed

We're up to almost $400 and that's so exciting!  It's even more exciting now, though, because Edward decided to up the game a little.

For every $500 that is donated, a new song will go up on Soundcloud that can be downloaded for FREE.  These are songs that are not on the EPs or CD, nor are they any of the ones selected for the perks. They are completely new!  

Pretty cool, huh? 

Now we just need everyone to share the heck out of the link! 

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-edward-hartline-make-a-new-cd/x/2654410

Well, we're going to give this crowdfunding thing another shot. 

Here's the link: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-edward-hartline-make-a-new-cd/x/2654410

Edward wants to record another CD, but the equipment he has won't quite do what he needs.  We're hoping to raise $2000, which will go towards a better mixer, a recording microphone, a keyboard, and production costs. The keyboard will be portable, so he can also use it for shows.  That should make fans of his 'piano songs' very happy, because he'll be able to perform them more often!

Kickstarter is a great tool, but we decided to use Indiegogo this time, for the simple reason that whatever he raises, he keeps, regardless of making the goal. That makes quite a difference, believe me. Should he pass the goal, any extra will go towards promotion of the CD and touring. If you can invest, we'd be very grateful, as every dollar truly does help. If you can't, please spread the word.  The more who know, the better!

He's got a whole new batch of songs that he can't wait to start working on, and he's set other recordings as part of the perks, so the new equipment is sure to have quite a workout as soon as he gets it.

Speaking of touring, we are working on that right now. Hopefully, I'll have another blog post regarding that very soon!

As always, thanks for your continued support.