Spring Tour: Desert West

We are very excited to announce our new album Love Songs From Montecito will be out May 1st.  To inaugurate this batch of songs into the world we are headed out on tour performing mostly home concerts. The first leg of this tour will be Utah and Arizona.  Into the summer we'll be around LA and will make our way up to the Pacific Northwest this fall... from there we'll see where the wind takes us.

We have some incredible hosts already filling out our tour.  If you are also interested in helping us release this new music, check out our open dates and sign up to host a home concert.  Below is a list of dates and cities we'll be touring. We are looking for hosts approx. 100 miles or less from the cities listed below: 

• Friday, May 1st - Salt Lake City - BOOKED
• Saturday, May 2nd - Salt Lake City - BOOKED 
• Sunday, May 3rd - (Salt Lake City) - open
• Monday May 4th - (Salt Lake City) - open
• Tuesday May 5th - Boulder, UT - BOOKED
• Thursday May 7th - (Flagstaff AZ) - open
• Friday May 8th - Phoenix AZ - BOOKED
• Saturday May 9th - Tempe, AZ - BOOKED
• Monday May 11th - Phoenix, AZ - BOOKED 
• Tuesday May 12th - (Phoenix, AZ) - open
• Wednesday May 13th - (Phoenix, AZ) - open 
• Thursday May 14th - Cave Creek, AZ - BOOKED
• Friday May 15th - Phoenix, AZ - BOOKED
• Saturday May 16th - Phoenix, AZ - BOOKED
• Sunday May 17th- Cave Creek, AZ- BOOKED
   

Philosophy on making and releasing a new album

In the next month we are going to be recording our debut Z+B album and this new collection of songs will only be released at our live performances. "Why?" you ask. Well... we're now old enough to be nostalgic for a time when you went to a concert and if you liked the band, the only way to get the music was from the artist right then and there.  There are so many places to stream your music online as an independent artist.  It feels like you labor for months or years on recording and the second you upload it to "said site"  it slips into entropy and dissolves into the gigabytes of noise on the internet.  So, with this next album we want to "marry" our music with the live performance.  As an artistic experiment, we want to throwback to the "indie band days of old" and only have this  "album" (CD and MP3) available for sale at our show. I.E. You have to come buy it out of our thrift store suitcase cause its not on itunes or spotify.  
 
Help us release this album
 
Along with releasing our debut album, we are embarking on a nationwide house concert tour.  As we record this album we are looking for folks who want to host a home concert.  We are set to begin at the end of March in Los Angeles and the route will be determined by those of you who request to host us.  Please help us by:  »REGISTERING TO BE A HOST HERE«   
 
"What is a home concert?" 
 
It is simply a performance of our music in a host's home (or unique space).  We have performed home concerts for the last 4 years in tiny spaces, large spaces, next to the ocean and in the mountains - the mark of a good home concert is solely based on the people involved.  
To date, these types of shows have been the most fulfilling performances for us and a beautiful space to honestly share our work.  We are very excited about the home concert movement.  More and more musicians are doing these sorts of shows to skirt the politics of venues. We are passionate about the home concert and we feel these sorts of shows are the future of folk music - or return to the past; however you see it. 

Paisley Dress - Graylings Sessions

Paisley Dress is one of those songs that descends suddenly from the "great unknown." It had this old country feel, like nothing I'd ever written.  It was late one night, I was visiting home, I sat in bed and thumbed over chords on a child's classical guitar I had borrowed. I had this familiar lonely ache in my stomach as I stared out the window, at the hollow cone descending from the streetlight. From the black  I waited... I willed for a women to walk through into the light. A choked melody formed in my voice and with it the words "I went out walking..."  

Throwback to ridiculous - Blood Red Skies

In a former life, I wanted to be a worship leader. I had a lot of musically talented friends who sang in the worship band in a non-denominational Christian mega church.  I desired to join them under the smokey blue and green stage lights, standing with my guitar in front of the powerpoint cards - decorated with clouds or a green field, upon which the words of a hymn rolled in like holy karaoke. This was a rock n' roll church and I wanted in. The only issue was, I wasn't a smooth and tuned tenor like a lot of the contemporary worship leaders of the day.  To compete I would need an edge and for me that was to write my own worship tune .

So, one evening with a fervent heart I sat down with my guitar and waited for the 'Spirit' to lead. As the old adage goes "the lord works in mysterious ways."  I did not divinely receive a worship song, rather, I was blessed with a pirate themed break up tune rife with stolen catch phrases from my late great Grandpa Vern.

We worked with the wonderfully talented Damon and Cassandra of Mind Fruit Films to shoot this video. It is low-budget film making at its finest. 

Delta Dream - Live - Graylings Session

[Zach] - The art of sleep evades me.  So I went to the doctor for some help - I turn down his sleeping pills and he offers an alternative.  He hands me a pair of sunglasses that blink red and blue lights.  "Wear these before you go to bed," he said " they will help your brain activate Delta Waves." I give the doc a duck-face...  he explains further - "Your brain enters different frequency waves during sleep and you are having trouble getting into Delta brain waves" -  this is the medical way of saying "you're still afraid of the dark."  SO, I give it a try.  I crawl in bed with my Delta Shades on. I start to imagine the desert and I am laying on warm sandstone staring at the turquoise sky through these glasses. The sun falls on my skin and I wait for rest to cover me.  I find some sleep and a love song.

My best friend recently told me that he and his wife are having a baby. He sent me an audio file of the babies heart beat after their last visit to the doctor. I was filled with wonder listening to what sounded like a train under water or the panting of a dog and realizing this was human struggling to be born. In the beating of the heart, I began hearing tones and a definite phrase - so as a musician I started to put instruments to what I was hearing. I know it sounds "over the top" but I felt like there was a composition that existed in the heart beat; I was just hearing it and putting instruments to what heard. I wonder if this child will hear this one day and feel a connection.

My best friend recently told me that he and his wife are having a baby.  He sent me an audio file of the babies heart beat after their last visit to the doctor. I was filled with wonder listening to what sounded like a train under water or the panting of a dog and realizing this was human struggling to be born.  In the beating of the heart, I began hearing tones and a definite phrase - so as a musician I started to put instruments to what I was hearing.  I know it sounds "over the top" but I felt like there was a composition that existed in the heart beat; I was just hearing it and putting instruments to what heard. I wonder if this child will hear this one day and feel a connection.