Kito Peters: News

Four Way Stop is #3 on the All Genres chart at IAC....out of 40,000 songs.
http://iacmusic.com/genre_chart.aspx

We (Kevin Zoernig and Cragin and I) have completed the song maps for the new record. Shooting for something big and spacious and slow and at times heartbreaking. Screenplay by Bergman, cinematography by John Ford. Now on to stage two where we'll subtract and replace parts from the maps, as well as embellishing the tracks. I'm very excited about this record - probably the closest yet to what I think my music should feel like.

"Four Way Stop" (from the CD "Stories") is currently #1 on the IAC Folk/Acoustic Rock/Americana chart - out of 3300 songs in that genre.

"Bully On The Block" from the new CD "Too Much Light" has been chosen for
"powerplay" on an English web radio show called Dalecast. That means the song is being played daily this week on a variety of podshows. Thanks to Steve Page!

On Sunday evening, Nov 30, 2008, I'll be playing a set of songs at the Habirus School of Kabala. The address is 542 Juniper Drive, Santa Fe. I'll be preceded by the redoubtable William Dubby Fuqua. Doors open at 6PM. Some minimal level of donation requested.

I'll be appearing on Diego Mulligan's "The Journey Home" program this Friday on KSFR at 5:10PM. The show will feature live performance, chat, and cuts from the new CD, "Too Much Light."

I've picked 13 songs to work with for the next CD (tentatively titled "High Road"). Looking for a consistent sound palette that would evoke big vistas, Cragin and I spent two night in Guadalupita, NM with our friend and frequent collaborator, Kevin Zoernig. Relying heavily on Kevin's predictably fecund brilliance, we created three "song maps" based in keyboard pads and percussion. I'm totally into what we got, while also wondering if this is the right direction to follow (it's certainly different from what I'd had in mind). The record promises to be quite a departure from previous CDs.

Matthew Finch's KUNM (89.9 Albuquerque) program "Ear To The Ground" will feature our music tonight (10/11/08) at 7:30PM. Matthew will play cuts from the latest CD as well as some live songs I recorded yesterday in the KUNM studio. We'll also chat.

The boxes containing copies of our new CD, Too Much Light, arrived today
from Oasis Manufacturing!

I've finally got viable album photo images (having worked with Anne Hayunga on those), so I was able to meet yesterday with Willy Magee who's doing the "Too Much Light" graphics. It looks like the new CD should be out in late September.
Meanwhile I'm talking with several possible producers and planning our next effort.
I enjoyed playing at Body last weekend and thank all of you who showed up to listen and heckle.

We dropped the song "America Goodbye" from the upcoming CD, "Too Much Light." It just didn't get along very well with the other kids, and now the whole flows much better. I've placed an mp3 of "America Goodbye" in the "Music" section of this website where it can be downloaded for free.

I'm gearing up for a (probably solo) performance at Body in Santa Fe on Sunday, August 10th at 7PM. I'm planning to play a first set of new songs and a second one of older tunes. Of course it's all relative, since half of the "older" songs are on the new CD "Too Much Light" which hasn't even come out yet. It should be a great evening.

I've been caught up in a writing frenzy lately and now have 28 new songs towards a next CD along with 14 worthy candidates we didn't use on the last record. It'll be interesting as ever discovering which ones we choose to develop and record.
Meanwhile I've been waiting for the evening thunder clouds to vanish so that photographer Anne Hayunga and I can get a cover shot for Too Much Light.

I put up clips today (in the Music section of the website) of all the newly mastered songs from "Too Much Light," including five full-length renditions. I hope you enjoy them - let me know! Thanks.

Cragin and I are just back from mastering with the awesome Dom Maita at Airshow Mastering in Boulder. I'm way happy with what we've got. Prior to that trip Ben Wright helped us with mix edits that improved the record a whole lot. Thanks Ben! Now it's time to focus on the graphics and then on to manufacture. The record will be called "Too Much Light."

Our record "Stories" won for Best Pop CD last night at the New Mexico Music Awards banquet (competing against several Grammy winners). Our long-time engineer David Cragin also won for Best Electronica and Best Rock CD! Go Cragin! Since we had nine finalists, we also lost a lot, including Best CD of the Year for the third year in a row. Wait til 2009! Meanwhile I was delighted to win an award for the entire CD (as opposed to for one song).

We (Michael Grimes, the producer, David Cragin, the engineer, and I) finished editing the mixes yesterday for our new CD (which might get titled "Too Much Light"). Next we'll go up to Boulder to sit in with Dom Maita at Airshow Mastering while Dom does his usual magic. Meanwhile it's time to start on the graphics package which typically turns into a project unto itself. Clearly it's going to be a record we're proud of. Among the most prominent audio references this time will be our version of 70s LA studio jazz intermingled with a windswept desert pedal steel vibe. I hope you'll like it.

The 2008 New Mexico Music Awards finalists have been announced. We were selected as finalists in 9 categories:

Best Americana - Four Way Stop
Best Song - Four Way Stop
Best Rock/Adult Contemporary - Pieces
Best Jazz - Six Feet Under; Flood Tide
Best Engineer - David Cragin (for High Flying)
Best Producer - Simon Snaize
Best Pop CD - Stories
CD of the Year - Stories

The awards will be presented at a banquet on May 18, 2008.

I played a bunch of songs recently at the Habirus Kabala School here in Santa Fe and got to try out a form I've been wondering about. I made up lyric booklets which I passed out, and I invited people to tell me what the songs evoked in them after I sang each one. Rather than sitting up there and "entertaining" (a role which interests me little) and receiving feedback only through flippers smacking together, I got to interact more directly with the audience. I thus could get a sense of how the various songs were heard and interpreted, and I felt a far greater sense of relationship. It was probably the best time I've ever had performing my songs. We're going to do it again on April 27, and I'm looking for other venues where I can experiment further with this form.

Despite the recent return (via download) of the single, for me the CD remains the musical unit of choice. It's more than a loose collection of songs; it's like a book whose chapters may be strong on their own, but whose full force can only be felt as a whole. I want our records heard in toto by as many people as possible. To that end I'm going to continue to offer my catalogue of CDs for $5 each.

Yup. We should finish tracking for the new CD this week and start mixing soon thereafter. It's going to be such a diverse record: jazz, folk, country, rock, and even two songs with just piano and voice (Broadway!). It's been a joy to make and hopefully will be one to listen to as well.

Just put some of Martine Tremblay's photos of our recent gig at Body in Santa Fe up on the site.

At least through the holiday season we'll be offering my CDs at $5 apiece (includes shipping)! Buy them all for $30! Email me if you're interested, and we'll work out the details using Paypal.

Thanks to all who came out to Body to hear Steve Hill, Michael Grimes, and me. It was a pleasure to play for you.

We've recorded most of the basic tracks for a next CD. The idea has been to combine a windswept desert element with 70's LA jazz. Of course it won't turn out to be quite either one. Michael Grimes is producing, and many of the usual suspects are involved (Kevin Zoernig, Paul Groetzinger, and Ben Wright prominent among them). Of course David Cragin is again our engineer.

Ten of the 13 songs on Stories now have received radio airplay. KSIL has been playing Prairie Girl in rotation for two years. All good news.

I'm preparing for the Nov 15 gig at Body. Steve Hill on lead guitar and Michael Grimes on upright bass will be joining me. Plus we start work on the new cd project in a week or so. Michael will be producing that one with David Cragin engineering as usual and stalwart players Ben Wright, Paul Groetzinger, and Kevin Zoernig on board again too. We'll be recording the basic tracks at John Kurzweg's studio outside Santa Fe. Should be way fun.