Thursday, November 29, 2012

News and Christmas Sale Announcement!



Exciting News and SALES! View this email in your browser

Greetings, Friends!

What a year. For some of you, it has been an "old year," one you'd rather forget. Believe me when I say I empathize. If so, may 2013 be your "new year" whereupon the birds return to sing their hopeful songs over you. 2012 has been an incredibly gratifying year for me. The release of my ninth album, BiRDS OF RELOCATiON, has been heartily received, resonating with many folks, falling on seemingly fertile ground. Hopefully BiRDS has fallen so on yours. I am grateful to have seen this album come into existence. What a grace to me.

One of my new year's resolutions was to paint two canvases a month for the year. As of this writing, I have sold 35 paintings, which is absolutely amazing to me, both in that I produced more than I initially set out, and that so many folks have found something likable, perhaps beautiful in this new outlet of mine. I have, from the start, sought to bring something pretty into the world, to paint scenes I myself would like to see, to remind myself that, though so often obscured, the light has not been overcome by darkness. Nor will it ever.

I am thankful that folks like you still purchase music and art, believing wholeheartedly that if the creative labor of artists is not supported, such intensive work will wither and cannot survive. As a recipient of such affirmative grace, I thank you. Merry Christmas and a whole heart to you and yours.
--
EP, Danielle, Ellis & Monroe

Christmas Sale!


Purchase bulk BiRDS OF RELOCATiON CDs at greatly discounted prices
Sale ends 12/18/12.
BiRDS in Bulk
Box of 5 CDs = $30.00 ($6/ea)
Box of 10 CDs = $50.00 ($5/ea)
 Also, be sure to check out my Box Set
EP Box Set
Includes: BiRDS OF RELOCATiON, Chrome, Scarce,
Miracle of Forgetting, and The Only Thing (Ridgely)
$40.00

What's Coming Up in 2013...



Book


I've been secretly writing a book. This summer, while writing an essay piece for Art House America in which I concocted a narrative to accompany one of my hobbyist photos, it dawned on me that I was in possession of a cache of such black-and-white photos, and that perhaps those too had stories to tell. My interest was piqued to develop the concept, to amass a collection of such imaginings, and to publish them (or attempt it) as a book. Basically, the ongoing work entails me staring at one of my prints and concocting a story to accompany the photo. I realize that staring at innocuous photos sounds like a miserable way to spend a work day, but I can imagine – and have experienced - much worse. Having worked as an electrician's assistant, I can attest. The book is very tentatively titled The Far Side of the Sea: A Photo Essay. I am excited about it. Look for it in 2013!

BiRDS OF RELOCATiON & Chrome CD Release Show


That's right, since I never did an official release show for Chrome (2009), I am doing a double-CD release show featuring songs from both albums. FULL BAND show. It's gonna be fun and folk-poppy!

January 10, 2013
Nashville, TN
The Rutledge
7:30 doors/8pm show
$5.00
w/ guests Ben Shive, Stacy Lantz

NEW in the EP Store!


Handmade Folk Art Christmas Tree Sculptures.
Order by 12/14/12 for Christmas delivery.

Constructed from spared pine tongue-and-groove ceiling
$35 each
Limited Edition Poster
BiRDS Poster
Screen-printed by my talented friend and artist, Ben Welstead
$15.00
BiRDS OF RELOCATiON T-shirt

BRAND NEW item. 100% ring spun cotton T's
$15 each

Clearance Sale!


BiRDS OF RELOCATiON CD + youth "Beep Beep" t-shirt.
VERY limited quantity. First come, first served.
Youth Beep Beep + BiRDS CD
$15 each

Booking 2013 Shows

Though I can't see myself playing 2,013 shows in any single calendar year...I would, however, love to play my songs for you. I have grown to absolutely LOVE playing house shows (small, intimate, casual events literally in someone's living room). If you are interested in having me play in your town, at your church, in your home, I promise to knock the mud off my shoes, and be on my best behavior. Please contact the wonderful Laura Preston for more info: booking@ericpeters.net or laura.preston@cox.net



Wednesday, July 11, 2012

A Tree Grows in the Gutter


Some twelve feet above the ground, in a gutter along the drip line of my neighbor’s roof, a maple tree struggles to grow. In early spring, from my bathroom window looking upward, I first notice the green of the sapling supernaturally peeking above the gutter’s metal confines. Its single, verdant green leaf – for that is all it bears at the time – is in stark contrast to the shallow metal container from which it springs so high above earth, its roots never contacting a single gram of the ground below.

The gutter, having not been cleaned or rid of decaying debris for many years, moonlights as a lofted planter, a trough, a wholly unsuitable, obtuse vessel holding rich, alluvial soil in which a plant’s life somehow manages to flourish. Never was a scene more dichotomous. Mere inches from the sapling, the nearby downspout, clogged long ago, having never been cleared, acts as a dam of sorts, collecting every leaf, nut or branch the sloping roof above will tender until enough time and decomposed material exists to create such a phony and shallow habitat.

I watch throughout spring as the maple slowly inches above the walls of its stagnant, non-draining, seemingly inhospitable vessel, spreading forth new, though tiny, branches and leaves. It reaches up, exceeding all natural expectations despite such an unforgiving environment. The maple eventually achieves a height of two feet tall before the gentleness of spring is replaced by summer’s heat and intolerance. It wreaks havoc on the plant’s natural cycle. This is survival of the fittest. The “soil” in which it grows is no more than three inches deep. Yet, here, a few short months ago, a seed first fell, or was washed down from the roof, thus finally establishing contact with enough dirt to send forth a thread, a handshake, of a root. Here, in that shallow depth, with nothing sustainable to reach into, the nesting tree begins to succumb to summer’s drought and the direct baking of the metallic gutter and soil within, withering its gentle inhabitant to the brink of death. The brown curling along the leaves’ outer fringes are first hint that things are not well. Leaves droop, browning completely, and eventually fall. All that is left is a vertical twig, a skeleton of a young hope that, had it found its place among living, breathing earth, might have grown to be monolithic, bountiful in color, a merciful shade-giver, legendary.

Annually, this same maple tries to recreate its life in the very same gutter. Every year it fails. The rain comes too little, too late, causing it to die yet another small death. Every year I watch the tree’s straining, hoping for its survival and success, knowing that its insufficient setting will eventually stunt its growth, inhibit its thriving, wild nature, even exacting its own destruction. The small deaths keep coming. Eventually a life is saved.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

News and Fall Release Tour Announcement


Now booking 2012 fall/winter “RELEASiNG the BiRDS” Tour
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ERiC PETERS
Greetings, folks!

It has been a most hectic spring wrapping up and releasing my new album, BiRDS OF RELOCATiON (released May 1), and running Good Neighbor Lawncare (my side biz). I am, as they say, “living the dream.”  I have been greatly encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive and glowing response to BiRDS OF RELOCATiON thus far. It is an album I am dearly proud of, and one I am glad exists in the world, even if only for the sake of my own soul.
Summer 2012:
The month of June takes me exclusively out west to Arizona and California. My wife, Danielle, will join me for the California shows -- a much needed getaway for us. (Thank you, grandparents, for making this excursion possible.) From July 13 – August 5 I will have the honor of singing my songs each night for high school folks at a Young Life camp in northern Georgia. My family will join me, and we are very much looking forward to that time together in the Georgia mountains. Upon our return, our oldest son enters kindergarten in the fall (holy cow!), and life as we know it will once again take on a new dimension. Which leads me to the currency of this note…

The “RELEASiNG the BiRDS” Tour:
I am embarking upon a BiRDS OF RELOCATiON official album release tour this fall, and I would like to play in your town. I plan to take a small band or a utility player on the road with me. It’s going to be fun, and I hope you will spread the word, and consider hosting and/or promoting a show in your area. As always, I continue to book and play house concerts, a very intimate and relaxed setting.

Now booking 2012 fall/winter “RELEASiNG the BiRDS” Tour
For info, please contact:
Laura Preston
booking@ericpeters.net or laura.preston@cox.net

Andrew Osenga Fall Tour w guest Eric Peters (that’s me):
In October I will be opening for Andrew Osenga as he tours in support of his new and mighty epic album, Leonard the Lonely Astronaut. We will share the same band, with Andy joining me on electric guitar for my set. This promises to be a really fun show. Details will be posted on Andy’s web site, and  please watch mine for dates and locations too. (www.ericpeters.net)

Original Paintings:
I am consistently adding (and selling) new original paintings in my store, if you are interested and/or curious as to what I am up to in addition to music, lawncare, fatherhood, and eating. As painting is a recently new outlet for me, I am continuing to discover a fine joy and fulfillment in exploring the color wheel, creating textures, and painting scenes I myself would like to see.  Such as this one:


BiRDS Blog Review Contest:
The last fan contest I conducted was in 1999 whereupon fans tried to guess my favorite Veggie Tale song via email (pre-social media days). Methinks it time for another contest. I propose this:
1. If you blog (or if you happen to own your own newspaper or print magazine), write a review of BiRDS OF RELOCATiON. Feel free to be creative. Employ feathers. Mail me giant bags of birdseed. Take humorous photos. Run with it, people.
2. Submit a link to your review via Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag “#BiRDS” and/or “@ericpetersmusic.”
3. Myself, and my trusty assistant Laura, will collect all the reviews
4. I will select my favorite, and  announce the winner’s name with a link to their review via Twitter, FB and my blog: www.middleofthestorm.blogspot.com
5. Or, if that’s too stressful a venture, feel free to guess my favorite Veggie Tale song.

All entries must be received by Sunday July 15.

Coming Soon:
- Limited edition posters
- Official BiRDS t-shirts

PURCHASE BiRDS OF RELOCATiON here and now from my store, in the Rabbit Room, or via iTunes.

Thanks, folks, for all the support, for helping Kickstart this album, and for all the affirmative notes of encouragement I’ve received thus far. I assure you, they are all timely in receipt. Hope to see you on the road this fall! Enjoy the sky.

-- EP


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

BiRDS OF RELOCATiON Release Day!

Announcing the Release of BiRDS



Now Available


I am very pleased to announce the full release of my new album, BiRDS OF RELOCATiON!

The physical CD can now be purchased in my web store, for immediate shipping.  If you prefer a digital download, you can order through The Rabbit Room.

What people are already saying about "BiRDS OF RELOCATiON"...

"Eric has been writing great songs for a more than a decade, but his newest album, BiRDS OF RELOCATiON, feels like a much-anticipated arrival. It feels like the culmination of a life-long journey through the highs and lows of the human heart. Each time the last notes of the record fade, I feel like I've stepped back from a window, having been, for a short time, a voyeur peering into the epic, and ultimately victorious, struggle of another soul."
-- A. S. "Pete" Peterson (The Rabbit Room, author The Fiddler's Gun and Fiddler's Green)

"Eric Peters' music is at the top of what gets played around my house, in my car and while I am running. I am a big fan. He writes incredibly honest and poetic lyrics coupled with memorable pop melodies, and I can think of no better combination."
- Jill Phillips

"Eric Peters is a chronicler of his journey; he's been a faithful steward of the story God is telling through him, and this newest chapter, BiRDS of RELOCATiON, is Eric's testimony that along the way there are moments of deep joy and gratitude--they may seem brief, but they're bright, and they're worth singing about. The joy I hear on this record heralds a long and welcome peace."
- Andrew Peterson (songwriter, author The Wingfeather Saga)

"This is Eric's best record, and I've been a fan of the earlier records. "BiRDS" has a brightness to it, not a false naivete, but a fresh-breeze-after-a-storm kind of clarity. He gets bits of truth stuck in my head all day. Can't ask for more than that."
- Andrew Osenga

“Eric Peters doesn’t write songs as much as he opens up a vein and bleeds them. That’s why his songs feel more like a transfusion than anything else.  His music is most meaningful, I think, to others who have lost some blood of their own. To them his songs are life giving and saving. The more I hear Eric’s music, the more aware I am of how generous he is, always giving away every bit of hope for the journey as he finds it.”
- Jason Gray

Please send YOUR feedback to info@ericpeters.net! I will be featuring some listener comments on my web site, via Twitter and Facebook. If you are a blogger, kindly review the album and send me the link with "#BoR" as the hashtag.

Thank you all for your support, for thinking more kindly of me than perhaps I think of myself. I am a blessed soul to have this opportunity to write and sing my songs for a living. I truly hope BiRDS brings you years of enjoyment and edification. Thank you!

--EP




Monday, March 26, 2012

Digital Release Day Tuesday 3/27/12


Presenting, BiRDS OF RELOCATiON, the new album
by ERiC PETERS.
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BiRDS  OF  RELOCATiON

Digital Release
Tuesday 3/27/12



Dear Friends,
A quick reminder to everyone that my new (9th overall) album, BiRDS OF RELOCATiON, officially releases digitally tomorrow, Tuesday 3/27/12.

For those of you more interested in getting a physical CD, it will be another 2-4 weeks before I have actual CDs in hand, but rest assured, those are coming (honestly, I still prefer physical CDs, too). For now, you can pre-order the physical CD in my webstore.
Thank you for all your support, whether via bringing me in for a show, purchasing my music and/or paintings, occasional prayers, encouraging notes, sticking with me as I write about all manner of life realities. As you’ve probably already surmised, I write these songs, in a way, because I need to know I’m not alone. I suspect you want to hear this, too, from time to time. It is a good and, dare I say, holy privilege to have an opportunity to write about all manner of subjects. God is merciful, wrathless, and more good than I deserve.
If you are interested in purchasing the digital version – including the full art design – of BiRDS OF RELOCATiON, you can order right now in The Rabbit Room.  I will soon be offering downloads for sale in my webstore, as well.
Please spread the word about the album via your favorite social media outlets, or even better, via word of actual mouth.
THANK YOU for your support, and for not snickering at a short fool who, for better or worse, wears his heart on his sleeve.

EP

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Copyright © 2012 Eric Peters, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you subscribed for updates, probably at a concert or my website.

My mailing address is:
Eric Peters
1901 Russell St.
Nashville, TN 37206

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Sunday, March 11, 2012

BiRDS OF RELOCATION Digital Release Day MARCH 27

So pleased and excited to announce that the new album, BiRDS OF RELOCATION (produced by Ben Shive), will digitally release on Tuesday March 27 with physical copies to follow (TBA). I'm very excited for you to hear this album.

Though I'm still working on the final song order, I thought you would at least like to see the song titles:
The Old Year
Don't Hold Your Breath
Soul and Flesh
Where Would I Go
Lost and Found
Voices
Different, Separate Lives
Today Dream
No Stone Unturned
Summer of '69 (Not really. That's a catchy Bryan Adams song, though.)
The New Year
Fighting for Life

More info to come on pre-orders, touring, physical CD release. Stay tuned. THANKS and spread the word.
--
EP

Thursday, March 1, 2012

BGVs, How I Love (Singing) Thee

After finishing singing all the lead/main vocals some time last week, I have begun singing BGVs (BackGround Vocals) on the album (still titled BiRDS OF RELOCATION).

This is the stage of record-making that is, in my opinion, absolutely magical. Drums and bass are fine and dandy, electric guitars and keys are rich beauties, but, for me, layered vocals, sometimes thick, sometimes sparse, padded oohs and aahs are where I'll put my money every time. I am thoroughly enjoying this opportunity to be challenged as a tenor male, as you are about to hear.

This is an example from today's work in the studio: you're hearing just the main vocal and BGVs/harmonies isolated and "acapella." This is the outro to a new song, "Fighting For Life." The guy at the helm is Andy Gullahorn, one of my favorite songwriters.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Hopes Are Shy Birds

Though dark clouds have certainly passed and lingered before my eyes during this particularly slow period of work, I have not yet resorted to loitering on the couch, consuming Twinkies, and watching Ricki Lake re-runs. On the contrary, I have striven to keep myself occupied with various odds-and-ends work while delving into new, creative ventures I never would have imagined myself participating in even just one year ago. In truth, this has been, perhaps, the most creatively fruitful season I have experienced in my entire life, unquestionably so since first becoming a parent five years ago.

For this reawakening and exploratory migration, I have, in part, John James Audubon to thank. For the courage and willingness to utterly fail, I have Christ the Lord.

In reading Richard Rhodes’ tremendous 2004 biography of Audubon, I learned how much (and little) I have in common with the man, the husband, naturalist, and artist: a deep admiration for birds, a staunch need for light, professional failure as a businessman, an incredibly supportive wife, and an indescribable need to create, to see color, to offer beauty, to make art, ideally, of lasting and permanent value.

In 1819, after his Henderson, KY business failed miserably amid a national economic disaster, Audubon and his family were reduced to few material possessions, significant financial debt, and a dark psychological depression, a melancholia I can all too easily surmise. However, rather than succumb to the despondency of the circumstance – the “saddest of all my journeys,” he wrote - it was at that crucial and pivotal moment that Audubon, broken but not hopeless, wholeheartedly devoted himself to his heretofore hobbies of collecting, drawing and painting bird species. With a stout heart, he dreamed of self-publishing an immense work, an opus of his own heart, mind and hands which, if successful, would allow him to solely – perhaps comfortably - support his wife and two sons. It was the unbridled American spirit, newfound in Audubon, at its very best. This monumental and risky undertaking, The Birds of America, would consume, nearly to his own detriment, the next fourteen years of Audubon’s adult life. To support and fund the endeavor, Audubon traveled throughout America, France and the UK to solicit subscribers and patrons (ahem, Kickstarter, circa 1825), collecting specimens, painting, exhibiting and selling subscriptions to the voluminous work with inexhaustible vigor and determination. All along the way, at nearly every stop, in order to provide for his family left behind along the edge of America’s frontier, he painted commissioned portraits, mailing this much-needed income to his ever-faithful, equally stout-hearted wife, Lucy. In short, Audubon leaned into his talents, trusting himself to them, giving himself fully to his innate need to create.

 “The world was with me as a blank, and my heart was sorely heavy; and yet through these dark days I was being led to the development of the talents I loved.”

During my own particular downturn, in addition to the time spent working on and recording an album, I have invested a harvest of my energies in creative pursuit: painting, reinvesting in an old passion for B&W 35mm and Holga medium format photography, woodworking, in addition to my peculiarly obsessive home landscaping, a venture that is without end.

 Temporarily set up in a corner of our master bedroom with a library of books and two children clambering for my attention, I paint. Here in this domestic non-quiet I quietly dream of securing a separate, private studio space, a dedicated work area where I can paint, write, and, if running water is available, establish a twentieth-century-era darkroom, a venue where my archaic Leitz enlarger, developing equipment, and my mind can together sow veritable seed, a place where scenes can appear from out of nowhere on the stark white space of imagination. I like to think this hope of mine is not wishful thinking.

 With piles of wood siding and tongue-and-groove bead-board spared from our recent house addition, I, being too cheap (or wise) to relegate 100-year-old oak and pine planks to the wastes of a garbage dumpster, have begun repurposing much of it, building and constructing objects I never knew I could make: picture frames, a bunk bed, work table, key rack, coat hanger, various house décor. All things considered, I have, in short, delved into the realm of folk art. More pragmatically, in addition to these more or less creative outlets, I work sundry odd jobs to make ends meet, including, but never limited to: mowing lawns, pruning trees and shrubs, cleaning gutters, painting houses, degreasing kitchen appliances, cleaning up construction sites, substitute teaching, hanging ceiling fans. The list is ad nauseum, and rarely do the so-called ends actually meet.

 There is never a simple answer to the question I am frequently asked, “What do you do with your time when not touring or playing music?” Perhaps the better, more direct question is, Why? Why cull, more likely cobble, together a mish-mash income year in and year out, each year the same, each one different, each one in hindsight a miracle? The years carry with them the same struggle, the same burden, only clothed in different hides. Some years are grimier, more pungent than others. That word: struggle. We bristle at it. The Greeks were no fools in their assessment: Mathe pathein. Learn to struggle. I ask again, Why bother? Why prolong a waffling, often floundering, capitalistically failed career? Why persevere? Why hope in distant dreams? Here, reader, you must believe me for I ask myself these very questions on a daily, if not hourly, basis. Too often the voices I lean into are ragged, mercilessly cruel, and tyrannical in their damning condemnation. And if they damn me, they surely damn God, in whose image I am made. And if it is true we are never fully alone, then the voices, reader, surely curse you as well. Take heart in Audubon’s response during his tremulous days of depression immediately following bankruptcy:

 “Hopes are shy birds flying at a great distance, seldom reached by the best of guns.” 

 Hopes are slight angles. Without them – the birds and the hope - we have no need for light, no need for a soul. Without them the world goes pale and silent. St. Matthew’s birds of the air flutters across the sky, and the flurry of their incessant aloft song trills new beginnings. “A bird doesn’t sing because it has answers;” quoting author Sally Lloyd Jones, “it sings because it has a song.” Carry forth, carry on, carry, and be carried.

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:26-27

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Eric Peters Update

Announcing House Concert Tour
Eric's Original Artwork Available in Store
Birds of Relocation Update

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Eric's Original Artwork

House Concert Tour

Original Artwork for Sale


Dear Friends,
Greetings from an unseasonably mild Nashville, TN. Happy 2012.

Birds of Relocation Update:
Like most construction projects, recording for BoR has lagged behind my hoped-for schedule, but there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel. Ben's (Shive) touring schedule has been, and will be, super busy this winter/early spring, so though our work days will be minimal that doesn't mean things are at a complete standstill. After tracking (i.e., recording drums and bass) the first six songs before Thanksgiving, we were finally able to track the final four songs two weeks ago. We are set to record electric guitars early this week, and then I’ll begin recording vocals and background vocals (my favorite part) into early February with the talented Andy Gullahorn. Have I told you that I'm so very eager for you to hear the songs on Birds of Relocation? I am. Verily, verily so.

Original Artwork Available:
In addition to music, I have begun offering some of my original paintings (I paint) and photos (I'm a shutterbug). If you are interested, these are available (and for sale) in the webStore. Please check back there often as I will be continually posting new paintings, photos, and perhaps other various homemade crafts. Of course, CDs, t-shirts (adult and youth sizes), infant onesies, and combo deals are still available, too.
 
House Concert Tour:
This winter/spring/summer I am embarking on a house concert tour. Based on my experience this past fall on the Under The Radar Tour, I am very excited about the prospect. Curious? Here's the scoop:
- $150 fee (50% deposit due upon booking -> helps me book my travel).
- Hotel room (for privacy) is much preferred, but not a deal-breaker.
- A meal (preferably not cold gruel).
- I play my songs in your living room for you, your friends and neighbors.

Click here to Submit An Official Invitation. Laura Preston, booking agentess, will follow up with you ASAP to talk through booking a show in your area and will be able to provide specific details and coaching.

Website Facelift:
Finally, if you’ve visited www.ericpeters.net lately, you’ve no doubt noticed a most welcome new look. A huge thanks and cyber-hug to James Witmer of Grove City, PA for his hard, efficient and dedicated work in giving the ol’ website a new look. For those of you who still follow my rip-roaringly haphazard blogging skillz, we’ve moved all things “bloggy” over to my now-official blog: In The Middle of the Storm. Most recently, I’ve been posting some of my oddball poetry. Embrace the inner weirdo.

--
Eric

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Copyright © 2012 Eric Peters, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you subscribed for updates, probably at a concert or my website.

My mailing address is:
Eric Peters
1901 Russell St.
Nashville, TN 37206

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