KARL STRAUB ALBUM RELEASE UPDATE

Hi all,

For the first time in a long time, I have news of upcoming releases. The unfinished Graverobbers album "Harlem Hayride" is nearing completion. I don't know what this means in terms of time, but I can tell you that Peter Fox and I have been working on overdubs and mixing the last few months, and it's pretty close to done.

Once it's done, I'll make it available in some form-- not sure yet whether I'll put it on CD. That will depend on capital available-- perhaps I'll try one of those online fundraising things. I'll also be investigating putting the recordings on iTunes, etc.

This album is the last Graverobbers album, and features an eclectic mix of different genres, including rock and roll, country, jazz, and folk. It has what I think would have been the greatest Graverobbers single if we had released it as a single, a few remakes of earlier Graverobbers songs, some Bakersfield style country, a jazz ballad written by me that an elderly piano player told me sounded like Bix Beiderbecke's piano instrumentals, Martin Lynds with brushes (always a treat!), a few stolen guitar licks from James Burton, Johnny Thunders, Chet Atkins and Django Reinhardt, cowboy falsetto on the old standard "Carolina Moon," "Drunkard's Special," a song from the Harry Smith collection, a lot of great soulful harmony singing from Lee Wilhoit, Jimmy Gray on standup bass, a remake of "Sugar Rum Cherries" with Beach Boys-esque harmonies by once and future Graverobbers me, Lee, and the legendary D. Kevin Pera, a pinch of glam rock guitar, and three Thelonious Monk pieces played in country and folk styles.
It sort of sums up all the music we were trying to do in the Graverobbers-- including "some kind of weird Texas thing," as one disgruntled fan put it. I will always feel bad for inadvertently disgruntling that young woman, whose charm was exceeded only by her coquettishness. (I guess she's probably not young anymore, though. It's been a while.)

CrowTown, my new rock and roll band, is working on an album. That project is taking a while, and I don't expect final versions of it any time soon, but we are thinking about releasing some tracks that are close to finished to get our sound out there and generate interest in the band. It's the first time I've been in a rock and roll band for many years, so if you're one of the people who wistfully laments that I don't still write and play catchy pop songs, you're in luck.

This band is more or less all rock and roll music. The band is Antoine Sanfuentes on drums, and Pat and Jim Cavanaugh on guitar and bass. Mostly it's songs by me, most new for this project, with a few numbers written by Pat and buffed to a warm glow by me.

And I have just received electronic communication ("e-mail") from my colleague Eric Brace that we are about to put the Hangtown Dancehall album on front burner status, which is a change from middle burner, where it has recently resided. I'm not sure what this means, but it must be good. Most of that music has been recorded, but I've been taking forever to write the Overture. It promises to be a darn good Overture, though, when all is said and done.