News Archives

Tom Kimmel May 2007 News

1. Greetings!
2. News
3. Drawing Board
4. Recommended
5. Perspective
6. Food for Thought

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1. Greetings!

At my shows I often joke that if you sign my mailing list you'll never hear from me... and while that was once very nearly true I'm now impeding my own progress toward hell along the road of good intentions by managing to get a newsletter out five months in a row! That's batting 1.000 for 2007. What's wrong with me?!?

2. News

a. Music News

i. Well there's precious little news this month, though there's a great deal in progress that'll come out in time. (See "Drawing Board" below.)

ii. Just returned from the Susquehanna Music & Arts Festival in the beautiful Maryland countryside. Had a wonderful time there and highly recommend that next year you check out this growing, classy little festival. Thanks to Pam Burns for taking care of me... and thanks to talented, big-hearted SONiA for her kindness.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/smaf2003/smaf.html
www.soniadf.com

iii. New album: coming along, coming along... Most of the album is mixed, but I've decided to add guitar to several tracks, courtesy of George Marinelli (Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby)... and also to add additional vocals on two tracks by the incomparable (and adorable) Andrea Zonn (courtesy of James Taylor) -- all of which happens next week. Co-producer Cliff Goldmacher and I will be wrapping things up and mixing over the upcoming weeks, and I still hope for a 2007 release.

www.georgemarinelli.com
www.andreazonn.com
www.cliffgoldmacher.com

b. Book News

i. I can't tell you how sweet it was for me to participate in the 2nd Annual Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery last month. Something about being appreciated back home: nothing like it. Also have been invited to read at next year's South Carolina Book Festival and at the venerable Southern Festival of Books in Nashville. So the book (The Sweetest & the Meanest) continues to find its way in the world, and that is very exciting for me.

c. Teaching

i. I recently led an NSAI-sponsored workshop in St. Louis that reminded me why I love teaching songwriting so much. Thanks to Jane Godfrey for making it happen. (Note that when on tour I'm frequently able to fit workshops into the schedule. For more info email my booking agent from the Contacts page at my website.)

www.nashvillesongwriters.com
www.songu.com/members/janegodfrey

ii. There's still time to register for these very cool summer workshops:

Cedar Run Song Workshops: www.cedarrunworkshops.com
Swannanoa Gathering/Contemporary Folk Week: www.swangathering.org
SummerSongs: www.summersongs.com

3. Drawing Board

a. As I have mentioned several times, along with the new album there is at present (on my very large drawing board) an audio book, a song book and a series of podcasts and more -- all of which will be forthcoming in good time. At present I'm consumed with the new album, but nothing else has been forgotten!

4. Recommended

Just re-read Wendell Berry's fine novel, "The Memory of Old Jack," the story of an old Kentucky farmer's last day on earth. It's a gloriously insightful and tender examination of a vanishing lifestyle, and it offers an astonishingly clear perspective on the essential life and the challenge of holding on to one's soul in the modern world.

5. Perspective

Last week I stood again outside a prison wall in Nashville keeping vigil with a small group of friends while the state of Tennessee put a man to death. As you may know, state execution is routinely practiced in the southern states, and there are several misconceptions about its efficacy. For example, many people believe that the death penalty deters violent crime, is meted out fairly and administered to evil people, that it brings closure for grieving families. The truth, sadly, is that the death penalty supports institutionalized revenge, does not deter crime, is practiced most often on the poorest of us, on people of color, on people without means for skillful defense, and on mentally ill individuals.

I hung back and avoided the issue for years as I watched activists like Sister Helen Prejean (author of Dead Man Walking) and Steve Earle speak out and raise a flag for a more meaningful justice until I realized that my silence was unconscionable.

If you feel that tug I felt; if you hear that small voice that asks for expression in support of a more genuine, realistic justice that allows for some small possibility for healing and reconciliation, a good place to learn more is this Amnesty International website:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/Our_Issues/Death_Penalty/page.do?id=1011005&n1=3&n2=28

6. Food for Thought

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."
--Winston Churchill

Peace!
Tom