COVID-19 has been a long difficult journey. For all of us. For a musician, it means not getting out in front of the people, those that you meet, the sharing of stories of the road, and well, for many musicians making a go of it as a full time gig, a total loss of livelihood. Venues are empty. for the longest time, bars were closed. Restaurants closed or scaled back severely causing budget cuts to attempt to keep up with loss revenue. And budgets for live music were among the first to go. Musicians responded with live streams on Facebook or other, with virtual tip jars for viewers to donate. Some of done OK, but money aside, nothing replaces performing for an audience. Even if most of that audience is busy dancing in their beers and conversation. There have been creative efforts for live virtual concerts. The famed Woody Fest, held yearly in Okemah Oklahoma had to go virtual this past July. I tired watching, but it is just not the same. Little by little venues are opening up, so are bars and restaurants, the latter being slower to bring music back because of the budget bite they took while closed. It will be well into the summer festival season next year before things are back to normal…and that normal still may be somewhat different. We will see
We at StumbleEast have, like many others in music, devoted this down time to writing and recording. We are marching our way through the tedious process of recording. We are song writers, not techie gearheads. But that said, we are working on our first album, “We All Fall Down”. Release date is not yet set, but we are looking forward to releasing more songs from the heart and soul out there. We write for our connections to our inner self, and hopefully, maybe one or two of the songs will speak to one of you. If so, the project is a success, and that’s the only way we measure it. Peace