Nancy Rost: News

The Likely Stories CD will be out this summer. Last night we finished the final mixes and set the track order. We'll probably wait until we have the CDs in hand before setting up a CD release party - but I may have copies at gigs sooner than that. Meanwhile, come check out the band's first full show in awhile. We'll be co-billing with Amy Curl & Dan Kennedy at the Project Lodge, one of Madison's newest venues. As always, see the gigs page for details.

Last year, I took a challenge to write some song lyrics with some very specific time and content restraints. Danish songwriter Tim Wille then set the lyrics as a jazzy piece in 7/8 time. English songwriter Paul "Hoopshank" Turrell then did his own jazzy 7/8 piano-based setting of my lyrics, without listening to Tim Wille's version. The resulting pieces are called "Turkey Juice" and can be heard on the Music page of this website.

Tim and Paul were fascinated by the results of this challenge. They built the Wille-Hoopshank Song Challenge Generator to allow songwriters to take random songwriting challenges, alone or with others.

This year, we did a similar challenge on a larger scale. I wrote lyrics using a very narrow set of constraints, Paul and Tim gave people a set of chords to work with, and 23 different songs resulted from the challenge. Writers from all over the USA, UK and Europe participated, and a wide mix of genres is represented. We're working on a compilation CD.

You can hear a few of those songs on the Auto Pseudo Mondo MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/autopseudomondo.

This was my third year participating in February Album Writing Month, and it was the best ever. I wrote 25 songs during the month - almost a song a day! - and I think a lot of them are ones I will be playing for a long time. I have been posting the songs on the Music page of this website, and I will be adding more, and upgrading demos, as the recordings are completed.

Many of these songs were co-written with musicians in Madison and all over the world via internet. Working with all these talented writers has been great fun and a great learning experience - I look forward to sharing with you what we've made.

I now have the February Album Writing Month compilation CDs in hand. They sound fantastic! The music is wonderfully diverse -- and just plain wonderful. I'll have CDs available for purchase at shows, or feel free to contact me to arrange an order.

Likely Stories is working on a collaborative CD due out in 2008. I'm having a great experience getting to record my own songs with my bandmates' cello, guitar, backing vocals and drum parts -- and am loving my first foray into recording piano parts for others' songs. You can preview several of our songs at http://www.likelystories.us.

My song "Golden Gate" will be included on a compilation CD to represent the diversity and quality of this year's February Album Writing Month output. The official release date is February 2008, but I'll have copies in hand by early December 2007 for anyone who might want to buy one then. The compilation includes an amazing array of artists from many genres. The physical CD has a special Strangle Disco megamix bonus track. (See my links page for more info on Strangle Disco.) This year, there will also be an online version of the CD with seven excellent bonus tracks. I'll let you know when that's live!

Check out Likely Stories, my new project with Tracy Jane Comer and Dave Schindele, at likelystories.us!

I will be appearing in a feature-length documentary film about backyard chickens. My role? The piano player. More as this develops.

Just a quick note to let you know I won't be on Her Infinite Variety this Sunday, due to circumstances beyond our control. We will be rescheduling, so do check back here for details.

Two of my songs are among the winners in the 2007 Midwest Song Contest. "The Path", co-written with Seattle composer/performer Becca Palm, placed third in the pop/rock category. "Golden Gate" earned an honorable mention in the jazz category. I know some of the other winners so I know I'm in talented company and am all the more honored. Congratulations, friends.

http://www.midwestsongcontest.com/winners.html

Beth Kille and I appeared on WORT-FM on Friday morning to promote the FAWM showcase. We did a brief interview and played Beth's song "Red" with me on WORT's seldom-used studio piano. An archive will be up on the station's website for another month and a half. To hear it, go to http://www.wortfm.org, click the archive link in the upper right-hand corner, and select the Friday 8 O'Clock Buzz for May 25.

Although I had no hand in the February Album Writing Month compilation CD, "14 Songs in 28 Days", I'm asking people to vote for it in the Madison Area Music Awards. Voting deadline is April 30 - to vote, go to www.themamas.org, and vote in the compilation category (and as many others as you want.) Voting costs $5, all of which goes directly into school music programs. FAWM, the challenge to write 14 songs in 28 days, has meant a lot to me as a songwriter. This CD documents some of the great musical creativity that comes out of this challenge and community. I'd love to see it recognized in this way. (I'll be at the MAMAs in case I need to pick up the statuette on producer Burr Settles' behalf, as he'll be out of the country awhile longer.)