As I’ve written before, I love touring. One thing that often weighs on my mind, though, is how incredibly unsustainable it is to make my living by driving a loaded-down minivan all over the country. In the wake of the […]
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A few days ago, on the bus home from the grocery store, I was absorbed in a book: The Argonauts, by Maggie Nelson. A passage in the book struck me by reminding me of a recent situation in my own life, […]
Tremolo. Delay. Overdrive. Fuzz. Condenser. Dynamic. Phantom power. Daisy chain. Ground, lift. Passive, active. EQ. Direct, bypass, signal, gain, frequency. Musicians standing still onstage with an ear cocked toward the monitor and an index finger held in the air, signaling […]
As the daughter of two professional musicians (Susie Burke and David Surette), I kind of had a head start when it came to my music career. They taught me that it’s possible to make a good living as a musician […]
Recently I was at a music camp in New Hampshire, playing Appalachian old-time tunes on a porch with a few other musicians. Someone suggested a tune called “Indian Ate the Woodchuck,” which is one of my favorites, but I was […]
Recently I opened a couple of shows for my friend Mark Erelli, a great singer, guitarist, and songwriter who’s also based in Boston. During his shows, he began the musician’s traditional “I have CDs for sale” spiel, but his was […]
As I write this, I’m on a plane from Seattle to Boston, returning home from my band’s first-ever West Coast tour. In just over a week, we worked our way up the coast from Santa Barbara, California, to Mayne Island, […]
Note: This post is a sort of follow-up to my previous post,What Happens When You’re A Songwriter Who Can’t Write Songs. What Happens When You’re A Songwriter Who Can’t Write Songs.
Teaching music is often a way for independent musicians to supplement their income from performing. To use a modern term, it’s a side hustle. For me, it’s become an increasingly central part of my life when I’m not on the […]
Do you ever have those moments where your perspective zooms out for a second and you suddenly feel overwhelmed by the absurdity of things that usually feel normal? For example, you check the news, and instead of thinking “What ridiculous […]
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