August Newsletter
My mother, Marge Strassman helping celebrate my birthday August 15, 1983
Happy Birthday to Me!!
Greetings and I hope that everyone’s summer is going along swimmingly! It’s August and that means that it’s my Birthday Month! My birthday is August 15 and as much as I love getting gifts I enjoy giving them as well. For anyone who has their postal details in their Debra Cowan Updates profile, I’ll send you a real, hand-written, hand-made card through “snail-mail”. Not sure how to update your profile? Here’s how:
Click on the “Manage Subscription” link at the very top of this message. Besides being able to send you a card, I would also like to be able to send out emails to folks in different regions to get the word out about specific shows. Without zip/postal codes and names, that is difficult to do. I don’t want to send an email about a gig in Chicago if you live in Los Angeles or outside the USA. So please take a moment and provide-at the very least-your first and last name, your zip/postal code and the country in which you reside. Thanks!
The Standing O Project
Last month, I told you about the Standing O Project. It’s the thrill of underground radio at the speed of the Internet. I’ve been honored to have been named a Featured Musician at Standing “O” Project, and I’m inviting you to join me in this very cool, grassroots effort to ignite the musician and fan community like never before. Remember how great radio could make you feel with a new song by an undiscovered artist? I must admit that when I was in my turbulent adolescence, underground radio was THE only way that I discovered much of the music that has influenced my own musical growth as a performer. The Standing O Project is a bit like that except that YOU help many artists like myself by becoming a subscriber.
You can try it FREE for 10 days, no credit card required. The Standing “O” Project is an exciting new initiative that supports musicians by connecting them with their fans in new and meaningful ways, and exposes all of us to exciting new music the way radio used to.
To learn more about it, visit my Standing O Project profile.
New John Roberts/Debra Cowan Recording
It’s now official: John and I have committed to doing a new recording and we are looking at a possible release of January 2015. We’ve decided to call the recording “Ballads Long and Short”. The phrase comes from the song, “The Broadside Man” written by my friend John Conolly and Bill Meek and will be included in the recording. I am very excited about this project and it will certainly be one of the most pure folk music recordings I’ve ever done. We are now in the rehearsing stage and we’ll be going into Babyland Studio with amazing recording engineer, Mike Barry in Medford, MA to record in mid-late October. I’ll give periodic updates as this process develops.
As a wee bit of a teaser, here’s a rough clip of John and me singing “Twa Corbies”. That’s John playing the banjo.
Please Spread the Word!
(sculpture created by Betty Gerich, my mom in-law)
“Harmony” ©Betty Gerich
For those of us that wear all the hats in this business, the absolute best way to let folks know about the music is through YOU telling your friends, acquaintances, family and co-workers about the music. Because you have chosen to receive these updates, you are the best publicity tool I have and I am very grateful. Here are the things you can do to help spread the word:
-Tell others to subscribe to Debra Cowan Updates by sending them this link: https://debracowan.com/contact/subscribe/ Let them know that they will receive a download code for a free full album download of one of my recordings. If you would like this gift, you can always send me an email and I’ll send you a code as well!
-If you see that I’ll be performing in a certain region and you know folks in that area, let them know!
-Like my Facebook page and share it with your friends on Facebook. Facebook has taken steps to insure that the more interaction business pages generate, the more reach they have. By liking, commenting and sharing posts from my Facebook page, the reach is extended and more people will find out about the music, recordings and events that I am involved in.
-Follow me on Twitter and Instagram.
Dates Needed to Fill-In for September 2014
(John and Debra) Sun. 9/14: California- 100 miles north or east of San Francisco.
(Debra solo) Tues, Wed. 9/25, 26, 29, 30- NY, NW PA
That’s all for now.
As always, please keep in touch and I look forward to hearing from you.
Debra
