New Live Album "Extended Release"
REID GENAUER & FOLKS - NEW LIVE ALBUM “EXTENDED RELEASE”
Free full album preview available today. Official release Feb. 21, 2020
2018: “CONSPIRE TO SMILE” REVISITED
In 2018, I rallied a group of musicians, including my bandmates from Assembly of Dust and Strangefolk, to record an album called “Conspire to Smile”. The intention of the album was to act as a reminder, an illustration of the transformative nature of music and the community it inspires. I don’t have statistically significant Neilson data or a Phd to support it, but I can say with certainty that it worked. With more than 24 musicians who contributed their time and talent and 500 Kickstarter supporters the very act of making the album was transformative in and of itself. For me personally it’s like a little musical magical wand, a daily reminder to bend toward the positive. For those that have engaged in the music, the Facebook group or the larger community it fed, the effect is similar.
2019: REID GENAUER & FOLKS LIVE
By way of further actualizing the ideal of Conspire to Smile, I took the show on the road last year under the moniker “Reid Genauer & Folks.” Again while I can’t claim Enormo Dome heroics or world peace, the shows were unusual in several ways. I plucked musicians from my east coast and my west coast collection of friends which created a melting pot effect. I also paired a group of “Folks” with good odds of personal and musical chemistry, which they found. Lastly on the heels of Conspire to Smile the audiences showed up with a collective intent to be there, to conspire. Turn up to 11, dance vigorously and voila, a collection of original/cover material and each of us within the bubble was indeed transformed. Stupid simple and splendid. This little act of transformation happens at every live concert. The only distinction with these shows was that we explicitly took the time to point to the potential of collective creativity and celebrated the effect it had.
2020: “EXTENDED RELEASE” LIVE ALBUM
“Extended Release” is a collection of select songs from 2019 tour dates, 11 songs from 3 venues: The Brooklyn Bowl (NY), The Great American Music Hall (CA) and the Jerry Jam Festival (NH). A full preview of the album is available to stream or download today. For those that couldn’t make it to the shows it’s a window into the meaning of the music. For those who were there it’s a chance to relive little moments and musical transformations. For those who were “over served” it’s a chance to remember what it was that happened and hear themselves scream “Free Bird” in the background while the band grimaced. I named the album “Extended Release” for 3 reasons:
The shows were/are a link in the extended process of rolling Conspire To Smile out from itch to inception.
The performances represent the extended release/relief that live music provides - if nothing else just for me personally.
The tracks are in fact extended versions of the songs. They’re interesting to listen to because this was a group of musicians who had never played together and in some cases had never played the material. We had zero rehearsal. If you listen you can hear the band find each other in the music. While I’m obviously not the most subjective arbiter of “goodness” in regards to these performances, I was none the less moved by the emotional and sonic nuance that these folks found and musically articulated.
THE "FOLKS"
Jon Trafton (Guitar)
Adam Terrell (Guitar)
Scott Metzger (Guitar/Vocals)
Dan "LEBO" Lebowitz (Guitar/Lap Steel/Vocals)
Melvin Seals (Hammond Organ)
Jason Crosby (Keys)
Danny Eisenberg (Keys)
Yahuba Garcia-Torres (Percussion)
Dave Diamond (Drums)
John Leccese (Bass)
Reid Genauer (Vocals/Guitar)
TOUR DATES - FEB & MARCH 2020