Welcome to the Crowdsourcing Mornings segment! Every weekday morning, Geek Alabama talks about and features one crowdsourcing project from crowdsourcing sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and others. The hope with Crowdsourcing Mornings is to feature and help a project be successful and reach its fundraising goal. Please enjoy today’s featured project!
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Hi! My name is Lisa Bastoni, and I am a songwriter living in Northampton, Massachusetts. I am launching this kickstarter today to raise funds for a new record – my first full length album in five years!
For the first time in my musical life, I will be recording the songs live with a great band in the studio. I would greatly appreciate your support, and would love to have you along for the ride.
If you have known me for awhile, then you know that I have taken a twisty kind of a path through music and art (and life) over the past 20+ years, always coming back to music, or art, or both. The two are completely entwined, and I can’t imagine my life without one or the other. Since our last full-length record was released in 2019, I’ve been able to focus more on the art side of things, including a number of lyric videos for other songwriters, re-entering the day job work force as a part time elementary school art teacher, and culminating with my first ever art show, currently on display at Club Passim. It’s all work that I deeply enjoy, though lately I’ve felt a calling back to music.
It’s time to make a new record!
These songs have come out of the past few years, reflecting personal and imagined experiences and stories, written somehow while navigating pandemic life as a single working mom of 2 young kids. There’s a song about my parents’ 1975 honeymoon to Florida, and a catchy love song about looking at houses on Zillow (a co-write with Willi Carlisle, swoon!). There are a couple of end-of-summer songs written on the Iguana Fund retreat I hosted for other songwriting moms/caregivers last year, a song that starts off about my neighbor’s pool and then becomes a little anthem for the unpredictable yet soul-gratifying artist’s road; there’s a follow-up to “Never Gone to You,” and a great new crop of tunes written with Sean Staples, my partner and favorite musical collaborator.
Sean Staples will once again be in the producer seat for this album. Sean is a multiple Boston Music Award winner, and a mainstay of the Cambridge/Somerville music scene for over 20 years. He is a talented multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, and I’ve always loved his musical taste and sensibility. If you enjoyed our past 2 records – How We Want to Live (LP) and Backyard Birds (EP) – then I can’t wait for you to hear what we have planned for this new one.
In August, Sean and I will be heading into the studio of Zachariah Hickman (bassist, producer and bandleader for such artists as Josh Ritter, Ray LaMontagne, Barnstar!, and many more). We’ll be surrounded by a great group of some of our favorite local players (Chris Anzalone, James Rohr, Rich Hinman, and a few special guests) playing the songs together live and capturing the musical moments that can only happen in just such a setting. I couldn’t be more exited about this process, and about the idea of having a new album to share with you all.
We are hoping to raise $10,000 in this all-or-nothing campaign – the money will go towards paying our musicians and for production, engineering and mastering costs. I have funds set aside for CD duplication and promotion (photography/videos/radio promo/publicist etc) once the album is done, and anything beyond the goal will help defray these costs.
Our anticipated release date will be early in 2024, with rewards and advance copies of the album going out in December 2023.
In the current landscape of music, I don’t know that it’s possible to do this work without the support of a community. And in the current state of the economy, I know finances can be tight, and there are many causes worthy of support. I don’t take any of this for granted, and every little bit helps, even a boost with a like/share!
Thank you for seeing the value in the songs and stories of one independent artist – our mission is simply to add one small thing to the world that is as beautiful and true as we can make it. Thank you for being a part of this, and for helping to spread the word!
As of June 23rd, this project has raised $10,500 of their $10,000 goal. This project has 5 days left to raise as much as it can. For a pledge of $15, you will get one digital album. For a pledge of $25, you will get one signed CD. To learn more and to pledge money, go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lisabastoni/lisa-bastoni-new-album?
