Currently Listening To ...

Father Lucifer by Tori Amos.

The track is from Boys for Pele. This song reminds me so much of London. It was impossible to ever be sad while singing in my head "Nothing's gonna stop me from flo-o-o-o-ating." I love the piano part and the beautiful sparse arrangement - - - especially the addition of trumpet (yea James Watson!). What lovely colors!

The Tale of Molten Java and My Shower Curtain

This past weekend we played a show at this sweet little coffehouse called Molten Java in Bethel, CT. Upon entering their restroom, to my delight, I discovered that the curtain hanging from the ceiling, whose job it was to conceal cleaning supplies (I think that's what it was hiding, although I didn't even sneak a peak behind it), was a twin to my very own shower curtain! See image below for visual reference. Exciting, yes, I know. ;-)

Hudson Valley Concert Series

Join us for a concert with our full band in April:

We will be joined by David Gluck on drums, Dan Castellani on keyboards (and perhaps accordion??) and Chris Anderson on bass. Wine and light refreshments will be served before the performance and during a post-performance reception.

One Week Til Memphis

Hey Y'all! Jessa and I are gearing up for the trek to Memphis on Wednesday! (Hence me practicing my greeting with you). We've been invited to perform on Friday night at the ASCAP showcase as part of the 2009 International Folk Alliance Conference. We open the show, which begins at 6:00 - and are followed by musicians from Los Angeles to Galway, Ireland. Jessa and I will play an acoustic set of songs from our debut album as well as two new songs which we are currently recording. We've been laying down tracks for a new record - due later this year on Cordless Recordings.

Joining us on the drive south is Anais Mitchell - check her out online here

We hope you will stop by if you are attending the conference and look forward to meeting you. 

Beth

Airplane in the Hudson River

Yesterday I drove into NYC and brought my Taylor to get repaired at 30th Street guitars. Little did I know, just a couple hours later, a commercial airline plane would be making a crash landing in the Hudson River! It is a miracle that everyone walked away alive, and a testament to the pilot's skill. One of the really touching aspects of the whole event was how many different people, who did not know each other, came together to rescue the passengers. Ferry boats and water taxis, filled with tourists and sightseers, rushed in to help immediately. The bravery and compassion that these New Yorkers showed makes me proud to call this city home. 

CMJ

We had an awesome time playing CMJ on Thursday. Our set was at The Living Room, a sweet singer/songwriter-friendly venue on the lower east side of manhattan. We had the full band there, and started the set with three accordion-laden tunes. We played three brand new new songs during the set that we will record when we go into the studio officially next month! Here's the setlist from the show:

Tangled Up
Like You
No Shelter (new one)
Irrelevant
Reincarnate
Lullaby
My Own Way (another new one)
Life (impromptu)
Between Us (yet another new one)

At the show we had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with Gliss from LA, and tried to catch their set at The Delancey the following night, but missed them by 5 minutes. I blame it all on traffic and not on my propensity for being late ;-)

All in all, it was a great weekend ... it's fun and exciting to see so many musicians littering the streets of new york city, gathered in their tour vans, lugging guitars and amps and cymbal bags, double parked or searching for a spot. License plates from Wisconsin, California and Ohio, people dressed up and dressed down, whiskey and beer flowing, and an electric vibe of "happening-ness." I love this time of year.

We Signed to Cordless!

Hey all,

Just in case you didn't see the news on our website, we just signed a deal with Cordless Recordings!

We wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes sneek peek at the signing, so we snapped some photos with my camera phone. Check it:







Beth





Jessa





Mark making sure it's official

Our Show at Purchase College

On Thursday we played a sweet show at Purchase College for the first time since we attended as students. I actually can't remember the last time I was at Purchase - - - hmmmmm. I'll have to ponder that for awhile. Abby Payne opened the set with some stellar songs from her new record. The sounds were lovely. I found myself humming some of her songs in my head at the after party.

The Callen Sisters followed suit by debuting three new and as-of-yet unrecorded songs. One is a ballad that Jessa sings by herself. It's a beautiful heartfelt little tune. She played it in the middle of our set on the stage by herself. When the band came back to join her, Chris, our bassist, belted out a hilarious Tom Waits cover.

The other two new songs rocked...partly because I was playing my new ASAT Classic. It is pretty sexy as far as guitars go, I must admit. Here, to your left, is a nice pic for your viewing pleasure.

My new song, as Dave, our drummer, likes to tell everyone, begins in the time signature of 5/8. If that is musician garble to you, just know that it sounds like a funky groove - and it's really fun to play with the full band.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the show. We had fun playing for you and experimenting with the new sounds of the accordion and stand up bass. If you missed the show, then boo hiss! Haha... we are going to be adding a string of tour dates in New England this Fall/Winter, so stay tuned.

Love,
Beth

Studio Time

Hello kids. It's an exciting time of year, what with all the school busses back on the roads, and we have good news for you. We started production on our sophomore album! Woo! At band rehearsal this past Wednesday we ran through two of the new tunes and started getting ideas for arrangements. If you are in southern NY on September 25, come by and give them a listen at Purchase College. We're playing an alumni concert with Abby Payne. This particular concert is going to be really fun because Dan is going to rock the accordion and Chris will man the upright bass.

These photos are from one of our demo recording sessions. Jessa keeps her harpy downstairs, and when we record, she and Dan get the exciting task of lugging it upstairs (that are slightly too short to fit any large items up them).

The Callen Sisters' Sophomore Album - Planning Stages

Hello all,

I know it's been awhile, but my sister and I have been up to no good - and by that assertion I mean that we've been writing our follow-up album to our debut. I am very, very close to being done with all the writing for this record!! (yaaaaaay!) I have a total of 11 songs, 9 of which I plan to record, and 6 of which will most likely (cross fingers) end up on this next recording.

This week I'm dog sitting for our drummer, Dave. He has a very sweet Australian Shepherd mix named Leia, and she and I have become quite good friends. Dave also happens to have a piano, which I find myself seriously lacking in daily life. Because of this easy access to a keyed instrument, and perhaps because of the lack of responsibility to tend to my own home - and let's not neglect to mention the amount of beer I have been consuming - I finished a track I was having a lot of difficulty with. It was mainly the lyrics that were perplexing. I had two lines that just would NOT come. No amount of coaxing was doing the job. It's a funny thing, lyrics. I don't know why they take so long for me sometimes. I suppose it's because I base a lot of what I write on actual experience...even if that is exposure to someone else's experience.

Whew!!! I feel as if I have been 'talking' a lot... so I will bid you adieu. Keep your eyes and ears alert, as we will post more on the recording progress (and other exciting news that you will have to join the newsletter to experience).

Love and Peace,

Beth



P.S. This is an election year. I encourage you to register to vote. Please visit our website, www.thecallensisters.com and click on the "Register to Vote" banner to register.

Join The Callen Sisters Street Team

Harmony, Melody, or Lyrics?

As a songwriter, how does the creative process begin? By plugging away at some guitar chords? Some plunkety plunk on the piano… or perhaps a melody that has you entranced?

At a very early age, I loved to write lyrics and build little melodies around them, but as of late, I find myself mostly writing the harmony first. (Being mainly a guitarist that means a chord progression or riff, although the piano is transforming that process for me). Lyrics are written in a slew of notebooks in various corners of my ‘music room' and melody always comes last. Now this is a very personal formula…a custom formula, you could say. I'm sure many people have it quite different than that.

The most blessed experience is when a song comes all at once – like a little lightbulb being switched on in your head. It's like you take a breath in, and there it all is, simultaneously and unwavering. I have only had one of these moments, but I always hope more will come.

On the Radio

Hey all! Just a quick note to let you know that "Like You" was featured on Longtown
Sound 262 on WLSO.FM.

the link is:

http://wlso.fm/wordpress/archives/918



Hope you all have an amazing New Year!

Win a Harp and The Callen Sisters album

Check out The Callen Sisters on Harp Magazine - www.harpmagazine.com for your chance to win a small harp and The Callen Sisters debut album (go here: http://harpmagazine.com/promotions/sweepstakes/the_callen_sisters/). You can also download one of their songs on the Harp magazine site for free (find it here: http://harpmagazine.com/promotions/downloads/). Tell all your friends!

Love :)

Universal Healthcare

Canada, France and the United Kingdom provide quality healthcare for its citizens. Why is the United States the only country in the Western world without Universal Healthcare?

Are you or anyone you know not covered by health insurance? Do you currently pay out-of-pocket for your health insurance? Have you been denied coverage for any reason?

This is a problem!! Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. How have we become a nation that supports a system that rewards people for NOT caring for the sick? This is amoral and disdainful.



“If you can find money to kill people, you can find money to help people.”
--French doctor, Sicko



Please, please, please, I beg you... write your Congresspeople, your Senators, sign petitions. Use this link as a starting point:

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/PNHP/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=629&t=SickoCure.dwt


~Beth

The Callen Sisters Album is Complete

Our debut album, (self-titled) is finally complete! It only took us two years and change, but finally all our hard work has paid off. In celebration, we'll be hosting two CD release parties. . . one will be in our hometown of Saratoga Springs, NY the other we'll hold for all you Cosmo types in NYC. ;-)

I really want to thank everyone who had a hand in making this record. Your hard work and dedication made it all possible. It's funny, because Jessa and I went into the studio separately at first. We each were recording a set of our own tunes with two different producers. Neither of us had any plans or vision of making an album, and certainly not together. I really need to say thanks to Dan Castellani - a true visionary who helped bring this together, who assembled the wonderful musicians, and got us on our path to where we are today.

With Gratitude!!! ,

Beth

Photo shoot in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Well, our photo shoot with Merri Cyr went swimmingly! We're really excited to see the results...which we'll hopefully get next week. We found out, interestingly enough, that we all grew up in the same hometown - Westport, MA! As the words rolled out of her mouth, our jaws just dropped. It's not too often that you meet someone from Westport out in the world. Most people have never even heard of the town. And the world grows even smaller!

We took some studio shots and then found this really neat cafe in Greenpoint (Brooklyn, for those of you who aren't familiar with the area) with really beautiful yellow walls and got some interesting shots there. The light was just right, so we're thinking those may be contenders for the album cover. Merri and our makeup artist Lauren Gott were the best, most relaxed yet professional people to work with. Can't wait to give you all a peek! My hair is wavy in the pics! ;-)

Beth

Little Musical Snapshots

There's this funny lag time between writing a song, presenting it to the musicians you play with, recording it, and releasing it. It's really kind of strange. It makes me see how the songs I've written are really like little musical snapshots. The songs on our first record (still unreleased - I'm so sorrryyyyyyy and I can't wait until it is!) were written nearly two years ago or more. "Like you" was probably written when I was only 19 or 20 years old. Anyway, thing is, this first record hasn't even been released yet and I already have six or more songs/song sketches for the next recording.

The nice part about songs, unlike clothes, though, is that I find that I don't grow out of them. They don't become tired or ragged, no matter how many times we play them. They are sweet little reminders of where I've been and how much I've grown.


~Beth

Photos for our record with Merri Cyr

In a few weeks, Jessa and I will head into the studio, this time the photography studio, to take photos for our upcoming record! We will be working with critically acclaimed photographer Merri Cyr, who has done album covers for such luminaries as Yo Yo Ma, Paula Cole, and Jeff Buckley (including the cover of Grace, one of my favorite albums musically and photographically!), to name a few. View her lovely work here: www.merricyr.com

Although we'll be taking a break for the month of June, we hope to see you all again soon! Stay tuned for album release info!! (we are so excited)

;-)

Love,

Beth

New Track Posted!

Jessa and I posted a new track from our upcoming album! This one was penned by yours truly...it's called Anomie. A comment on the social state of our present culture, it touches on the themes of disillusionment, alienation, and anxiety.

Let us know what you think!

Listen to Anomie on myspace: www.myspace.com/thecallensisters
or at our home: www.thecallensisters.com

~Beth