CROWDFUNDING RADAR: A Handful of Projects with International Flair

Before I get to my usual three album campaigns, I wanted to highlight two crowdfunding campaigns of a more personal nature. Both involve roots musicians with recent health concerns using GoFundMe to crowdfund not an album, but the ability to survive. The first is Joshua Ray Walker, whose recent cancer diagnosis has left him with mounting medical expenses and an inability to work. You can read a full write-up on the campaign here. The second is Jay Neilson, brother and musical partner of Tami Neilson, who suffered a brain injury during a recent surgery and is facing months in a rehab facility as he learns to walk and talk again. If you have some money to spare, both are very worthwhile causes. Now on to three album campaigns with an international flair.

A Different Thread- Third Album (click here to view campaign)
I featured A Different Thread during the crowdfunding campaign for their last album and their brand of “Trans-Atlantic Folk” continues to impress me. Alicia Best (from North Carolina) and Robert Jackson (from Lichtfield, England) met while busking in Ireland and found that their blended voices and combination of Appalachian and British folk worked perfectly together. Now the pair is raising $20,000 to fund their third album and have a number of backer perks on offer to reach that goal. The album is available for pre-order in digital, CD, vinyl, and cassette formats, the latter with a personalized message. They are relying on their many other talents for personalized perks. They’re offering a signed and numbered heart poster, a thrown ceramic mug made by the duo, a hand-sewn tapestry, and a homemade papier-mache mask.

Amelia Hogan- Unsafe Passage (click here to view campaign)
Amelia Hogan’s music pulls heavily from Irish, Scottish, English, and Canadian folk traditionals but maintains a link to the modern day with original recordings in those styles. She’s a well-known collaborator, working with the likes of Ray Frank, Molly’s Revenge, and The Irish Club of Alaska. Hogan is also a veteran crowdfunder. She successfully funded her previous two albums through Kickstarter, and is now looking to raise $15,000 to fund her third record, Unsafe Passage, which features collaborations from many of the artists she’s worked with over the years. For this campaign, Hogan is offering some unique campaign perks. In addition to a pre-order of the album in digital and CD formats, she is offering copies of her two previous albums on CD. Other perks include a limited-edition fine art print, custom tea blends, an online or in-person tea party, and a book of recipes inspired by the album’s songs.

Melanie Beth Curran- Glenswilly (click here to view campaign)
The inspiration for Melanie Beth Curran’s new album came from a 2024 visit to the Library of Congress, where she found a set of mostly forgotten field recordings from Irish-American folk artists. These songs range in location from Michigan to North Carolina to Montana and show the true range of the Irish-American diaspora. The recordings touched something in her own Irish-American heritage and she determined to re-interpret these songs in her own style. The result, along with a few originals, is the new album, Glenswilly, for which she is currently crowdfunding $17,500. Backer perks for the campaign include a pre-order of the album in digital and vinyl formats, a sticker pack, an Irish-American-themed spa basket, a house concert, and, for those on the upper end of the backer pool, a custom-made gown by Curran.