Saturday, March 2, 2013

Postcards From Vermont Vol. 1

Postcards From Vermont Vol. 1

                    Released 2013
New Radio Performance / Interview-http://www.prx.org/pieces/105177-up-close-and-acoustic-with-michael-veitch

New Review For "Postcards From Vermont Vol 1" just in:
The Chronogram 
and here's
Indieshark 

                                                                                              cover art: Brother Rick Veitch
Here's Postcards From Vermont Vol.1  released May 30th ! I just found it on GoogleMusic  https://play.google.com/store/search?q=veitch+postcards+from+vermont&c=music where you can sample every track and buy as a download. It's also up on CDBaby 

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/michaelveitch14

with samples and nice graphics. Plus all the other Veitch CD's  & Downloads can also be found there.

And here's a new Review by Cyrus Rhodes for "Muse's Muse" 

Muse's Muse Review

And you can also get "Postcards From Vermont Vol. 1" download cards on actual signed postcards which can be mailed as well as turned into music on your computer or IPod. Visit the  VeitchStore  for more info.

My brother Rick Veitch did the graphics. I was able to amass a large body of new work while living in Germany for two years-most of this project is the fruit of that labor with a few of my favorite Vermont inspired songs from my previous CD's, "Painted Heart" "Heartlander" and a live version of a song that appeared on "Southern Girl." 40 years living in Vermont unleashes a lot of creative juice.

 It's called "Postcards From Vermont Vol.1" after a song I co-wrote with Stuart Cudlitz by the same name. It's a Volume 1 because I have so many fricking songs about Vermont, they need two discs to hold them all. Of course, this being 2013, these tunes are ONLY being released as downloads-carbon neutral, environmentally safe-only radio and reviewers will get CD's for now. I may do a limited edition two CD set when I finish Vol. 2. More info to come on that front. The whole album is now fully available on CDBaby, I Tunes, Googlemusic, Amazon, and numerous other download sites  listed here-
Apple iTunes 5/30/2013
Rhapsody 5/30/2013
Amazon MP3 5/30/2013
24-7 5/30/2013
Omnifone 5/30/2013
Google Music Store 5/30/2013
Rdio 5/30/2013
Muve Music 5/30/2013
Slacker Radio 5/30/2013
Spotify 5/31/2013
Rumblefish 5/31/2013
Emusic 6/1/2013
GreatIndieMusic 6/1/2013
Xbox Music 6/1/2013
Last.fm 6/1/2013
Bloom.fm 6/1/2013
Tradebit 6/2/2013
iHeartRadio
.  . Tune in...fire up your IPods...And if you would like to receive a free 2 song download RIGHT NOW- go to Veitch 2 Free song download at distrophonix . and enter the code 1WWHT3IV 
and for updates,  visit and join   FacebookMusicPageMichaelVeitch

Here's the track list for the new album:

1. Close Enough To Touch  3:34  *
2. First Snow Of The Year   3:21  *
3. Home Again (Duet w/ Solly Aschkar) 3:31 *
4. Never Been To China 4:42 **
5. Fevered Dream  3:30 **
6. Last Farmer In Vermont  3:35***
7. Hand On The Wheel  4:08 *
8. Irene Meets the Bartonsville Bridge 5:31 *
9. Quarryman  3:19 ****
10. Slide On (For Chris Whitley) 4:13 *
11. Sunday Driving (Live) 3:47 *****
12. Postcards From Vermont 5:13 ******

* Recorded  at Osterwald Studios Munich, Germany
Mixed at Coldbrook Studio, Bearsville, NY 
Engineer, Michael Veitch, Julie Last
Mixed by Julie Last

** Recorded at Mark Dann Studio, Woodstock NY
Mark Dann, engineer and bass on Never Been To China

 *** Recorded at Brockway Mills Basement Studio
Mixed at Soundesign, Brattleboro, VT 
Engineer, Michael Veitch and Billy Shaw
Mixed by Billy Shaw

**** Recorded at Jersville Studio, Woodstock, NY
Engineered and Produced by Julie Last  
Mixed at Coldbrook Studio, Bearsville, NY

***** Recorded live at the Flynn Theater, 2002
Mixed and Mastered at Chuck Eller  Studios, Charlotte, VT

****** Recorded at Majik Kabin, Ascutney VT and Coldbrook Studio, Bearsville, NY Engineered by Rick Davis and Julie Last 

All songs produced by Michael Veitch except "Quarryman" produced by Julie Last 

All songs written by Michael Veitch except:

"Quarryman" written by Michael Veitch and Julie Last

and "Postcards From Vermont" written by Michael Veitch and Stuart Cudlitz 

Kyle Esposito played bass on tracks 2 and 12
Footch played violin on tracks 2 and 10
Jim Pittman played pedal steel on track 4
Mark Dann played bass on track 4
Jerry Marotta played drums on track 9
Sera Smolen  played cello on track  9
Chuck Cornelis played bass on Track 9
Julie Last played drums and percussion on tracks 2 and 3
Michael Veitch played guitar, sang, did keyboards, bass and drums on everything else. 

Lyrics: Partial list-work in progress

Close Enough To Touch
Words and Music Michael Veitch
Copyright 2013 Burt Street Music (BMI)
All Rights Reserved


From a long ago box
Falls a long ago letter
Saved for what reason
Unlike the others
Left between two pages
And the years of a lifetime

Forget me nots still trying to ask
Gathered up along the old path
Color faded but tightly written to last

Chorus:
Hello! how you doing?
I miss you so much
Hello! I’m still wishing you here
Close enough to touch
Close enough to touch
Me here

Bridge:
It said “glad to know, that all goes so well
We made our mistakes
And the stories we tell
And a door was left open
Ever so slightly
To walk through

chorus

From a long ago box
Fell a long ago smile
Saved for a reason
Somewhere in that pile
Left between two pages
To wait …

Chorus


First Snow Of The Year
Words and Music Michael Veitch
Copyright 2012 Burt Street Music (BMI)
All Rights Reserved  

Home where I was young
Winter was pure magic
A crazy new world
Buried in white blankets

So peaceful and shining
Those falling frozen tears
Quiet light on a quiet night
The first snow of the year


Old climbing Hemlock
Outside my window
Dressed in  new finest

Branches heavy and low

Ready for the long sleep
As Moonsmiles reach us here
Reflected in the ice below
The first snow of the year

Our wandering footsteps
Following us all the long way home
Feet up by the fireshine

Let those frost winds blow

Making longs shadows
In our candle’s dim glow

All safe and warm  here
Let it snow let it snow


So peaceful and shining
Those falling  frozen tears
Quiet light on a quiet night
The first snow of the year

 


Home Again (Duet w/ Solly Aschkar
Copyright 2012 words&music Michael Veitch
Burt Street Music (BMI) All Rights Reserved

 

Times this hard, won’t soon be forgotten
Here on this land, broken and forsaken
Empty fields, once the meaning of our lives
Lives that moved on, or sometimes were taken

Never was it easy, to toss those years aside
Who see’s it coming,  until the pain arrives?

Driving through the heart
Driving through the rain
Driving through the heart
Home again,  home again

Old scars, all locked up to stay
Did you ever believe
You could throw those keys away?
Just as wishes can come true they can vanish with no trace
Our dreams they get shattered
When you think you have it made

Never was it easy to leave those tears behind
A  million miles runnin‘, wasn’t far enough this time

Chorus

Bridge:
Fallin in your arms here, where the road divides
Everything is made clear, as we dry our eyes
Never thought I’d need you, there was too much pride
Never thought I’d need you, like I need you now

Chorus



Fevered Dream
Words and music Michael Veitch
Copyright 2013 Burt Street Music(BMI)

All Rights Reserved

Fevered dream
Born in a prayer
Tied up and left here
To a stranger in there
Not easy to talk loud
When trouble calls
In a fevered dream
As darkness falls

Fevered dream
As a train whistle blows
Through valleys of tears
You walk that road alone
Looking back through the years
And hard one’s you’ve known
Through a fevered dream
To a place called home

Br: Shadows sliding into view
Sunshine keep trying, to break on through
Time to swallow the fear and pride
Just take it for the ride, just take it for the ride

Fevered dream
While the moon turns cold
Damp are the sheets
A story grows old
You’ve got people to meet
And places to roam
In a fevered dream, while a train whistle blows


Last Farmer In Vermont
Words and Music Michael Veitch
Copyright 1987 Burt Street Music (BMI)
All Rights Reserved 

I went to see the Last Farmer in Vermont
He was sittin' watchin' TV
And eatin' pizza and looking mighty relaxed
You could say he was truly laid back 

I asked him where are the cows and the chickens and the horses
And isn't it time he be gettin' out doing some milking?
He says he only brings em' out on weekends
So the tourists flying by on the highway can see em'

Chorus:

It's a hard life, but somebody's got to do it
Somebody's got to be the Last Farmer in Vermont 

I asked him how does he do any farming
Will all those condos and shopping malls and interstates
And bypasses and gas pipelines
And ski areas and sports complexes, housing projects, regional landfills and trash incinerators 

Chorus:

And once a year, the governor comes down
Gives him a plaque, shakes his hand and pats him on the back
Says keep up the good work with a big smile on her face
Says it's people like him who make Vermont such a very special place

He figures one of these days he's going to 
Head down south and retire
With all that Green Mountain money
When he sells the farm to some big corporation
Who wants to turn it into a museum and
A 24 hour truck stop.

Chorus

And where' Ethan Allen and the green Mountain Boys when we need em'?  
  


Hand on The Wheel
Words and music Michael Veitch
Copyright 2012 Burt Street Music (BMI)

All Rights Reserved
Hear the knees as they buckle out there
Clearly something’s in this air
Nobody at the helm seems to care
As the storm  gathers closer

Feelings that never feel too good
Whispers run through the neighborhood
Failed prayers where mighty oak stood
And the window it keeps closing

And the only thing that’s certain, nothing is certain
And the only thing true , stands behind the curtain
The only dreams ever worth dreamin; Still worth dreamin’
Belong to me and you,
Ours is the hand,
the hand on the wheel, the hand on the wheel

Dark clouds bring the roarin’thunder
Poundin’ rain, chaos and lightening
What we can’t explain , we can only wonder
Yea, seeing is believing

And the only thing that;s certain, nothing is certain
The only thing true, stands behind the curtain
The only dreams worth dreaming, still worth dreamin’
They belong to me and you, ours is the hand
The hand on the wheel, the hand on the wheel.

Who knows how this passion will end
Strong branches, they only bend
And smile back at the mighty winds
As they grow to the horizon

Chorus twice


Irene Meets the Bartonsville Bridge
Words & music Michael Veitch
Copyright Burt Street Music (BMI) 2012
All Rights Reserved

She was standing tall in a photograph
More than a century since she was born
Weathered and worn and built to last
Faced many a storm, faced many a storm

Truss and timber cross the Williams
Every winter, year upon year
Never thought there would come the day
Turned to splinters, turned to tears

18 inches of drivin’ rain
Can make for a very unpleasant day
Irene, meanest damn weather I ever did see
Irene, meanest damn weather I ever did see

Last I saw of the Bartonsville Bridge
She was headin’ downstream, headin’ downstream
A sadder sight you may never see
There goes a little piece of you, And a little piece of me

God help us if she ever returns
No One alive will forget her
Irene, meanest weather I ever did see
Irene, takin’ the Bartonsville Bridge downstream

And here come April Fools again sayin’
No reason to be worryin’
If All of Vermont washes away
It’ll be God’s will cuz hell it ain’t manmade
Irene, meanest-Irene takin’

From the wreckage she will rise again
Cross the Williams, helping a friend
Strong and sturdy, the newest and best
Pray Irene doesn’t come visit Bartonsville again


Quarryman
Words and Music by Michael Veitch and Julie Last
Copyright 2007 Burt Street Music(BMI) and Landing Leaf Music(BMI) 
All Rights Reserved 







 Slide On (For Chris Whitley)
Words and Music Michael Veitch
Copyright 2012 Burt Street Music (BMI)
All Rights Reserved
Where did you go?
When I came knockin on your door
Nobody home, just a note on the dirt floor
Gone out for a while, and don’t wait up for the show
I can still see the smile,
All cheshire and slow

Wherever you are, I know you’re wailing on a steel guitar
Slide on, slide on, slide on


Pillars of gold
Your name in the bright lights
Left on the road
Victims of the hard nights
When credits roll
You stand above the crowd
Man, you played it loud, you touched all the clouds

Wherever you are,
I know you’re wailing on a steel guitar

Slide on, slide on

Below the skin, the pain still lives
Between our tears,
What could have been  surely now it never will
It was in your hands when the looks could kill

We sing a song to you tonight old friend
A song to the dream let slip through those fingers



Slide on


Sunday Driving
Words and Music Michael Veitch
Copyright 2002 Burt Street Music (BMI)
All Rights Reserved

Sunday I'm walking through a junkyard
I'm looking for a certain blue car
A 60's Tempest with a million miles
I think that it found me first
Sat behind the dashboard turned the radio on
There's Cousin Brucie playing Rock and roll songs
The Beach Boys singing we'll have Fun Fun Fun
I'm rolling the windows down

chorus:

Flowers may grow, through those holes in the fenders 
My back roads will always remember
Sunday Driving with my father and brother and 
Holding on, holding on to each other
Far away from turbulent waters
Sunday driving forever and ever

Riding the shotgun over holy hills
I've got to break through, got to ring those bells
I've waited all week for my one day away from
Six days in hell

chorus

bridge:
He used to say son, put a long road behind you
See what this living is for
Don't surrender when the world surrounds you
Here's the key to the Pontiac door

Pins and needles on the back of my neck
And goosebumps here in this sorry old wreck
My past is the past and I guess that I 
Ain't over it yet

chorus  

Postcards From Vermont Vol. 1
Words and Music by Michael Veitch and Stuart Cudlitz(ASCAP)
Copyright 2013 Burt Street Music (BMI) 
All Rights Reserved  

River Jealous
That River is still jealous
Of all these lonesome valleys
Where it turns and runs when it runs
Under somber trees
These same green green mountains
Radiant in all their colors
Hidden winter coats are waiting

That is all that I read
That is all that she said
On that first postcard from Vermont- postcard from Vermont

Snow still turns to blue
Most quietly in the night shine
What else can it do
When I always think of you?
Again we tap the maple
Reducing the still yet sweetness
That ran through our hearts to meet us
From field stones to cast iron

That is all that I read
That is all that you said
On a postcard from Vermont-postcard from Vermont

Bridge: We were the Young Splinters-playing bars for beers all winter-Down on Main Street-Flying dust dirt roads-Hauling hay then heavy loads-Culling great oaks, elm and pine stands-From your old man’s family’s land-counting our future in board feet

Along the way
You wrote to say my hero
Ted Williams came to stay
And fish the great Ox Bow
You thought that I should know and
Yes, no ring on that finger
But fires still burn and linger
You thought I ought to know

Bridge:  Memories stacked, no cordwood  saved, what was taken has long been forgiven. We believing and me still meaning to make it back 

Along those jealous rivers
Hot and cold still shivers
Still swimming alone and naked
Whenever those rivers flow

That is all that I read
That is all that you said
On your last postcard From Vermont-postcard from Vermont