Wow, I cannot believe it is already June. I’ve been working super hard at coordinating all the things that come along with releasing an album while also getting ready for a few markets coming up.

Two months ago I shared some of my processing about how I reconcile my doubt about making music. How I work through the voices that ask “why?”. That was really helpful for me to do. It prepared me to move forward to the logistics phase of the process that comes with putting music into the world. Ideally, we could just push publish on a batch of wav files and thousands of people would hear the songs somehow! But that would be akin to hanging a piece of art deep in a forest and being sad that no one came to admire it.

It’s just not how it works.

After the deeply internal and solitary creative process of making anything, comes the very outward focused journey of getting the word out. Giving you the thing. Sometimes I avoid this work completely and just let the music land where it lands. The term “shameless self-promotion” gets thrown around a lot by independent artists because I think there really is a lot of shame that comes up when you are trying to get folks to listen to what you made. The doubt creeps back in and it’s really easy to give up. It’s hard work to get people’s attention…period. And when you have no label or team advocating for you, you have to carry a lot of steadiness within you. You have to dig really deep and say…this is important. Even when part of your brain is yelling “THIS ISN’T THAT IMPORTANT” or “YOU LOOK DUMB”. (Am I pep talking myself right now?? LOL yes)

All that being said…

Today, I’m so excited to share the schedule of live shows I put together to bring you these songs in person. These will all be full band shows with friends who helped me make the album. I’m anticipating each of these shows will be fun and unique and special. There will be duets and special guests and maybe a little Alcohol & Feelings thrown in.

I really hope you can join us and would love to sing to you. 🙂 My friend Erik Walters aka Silver Torches will be a part of the Spokane and Seattle shows. Erik’s music is super inspiring to me, he just released a new record that is so stunning. And Max Harnishfeger, who mixed and co-produced my new music will be opening the Sandpoint show!

July 11th - Spokane, WA - Place Holder Studios w/ Silver Torches

July 18th - Sandpoint, ID - Idaho Pour Authority w/ Water Monster

July 20th - Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern w/ Silver Torches

(feel free to email me with questions about any of these shows) Head to
instagram for easily shareable graphics to invite friends!

For the first time ever I ordered a small edition of this new album on vinyl. If you’d like to add it to your collection, the pre-order is available now. Records will ship the week of July 11th or you can pick up your copy at one of the above shows. Check it out!

In case you missed it, I released another new track from the album along with a remastered version of Fire And Flood which is a song I put out a little while ago.

A little bit of backstory about “If Not Every Mountain”:

I released this song early because it sheds light on a lot of the other songs on the album, 10 of which were written after this one. This isn’t directly a breakup record, it’s an album about me and the conversations I have with myself. But in a big way, it started here. 

I’m also releasing this song early because my sweet, amazing friend Abby Gundersen arranged strings for it and that is really special to me. I love what she added. It made the ache of this song glitter.

“If Not Every Mountain” was the first song I wrote after I knew my 12 year marriage was ending. The sudden fracture of my closest relationship was completely overwhelming all of my senses. I was confused and powerless. Moving toward a state of numbed shock. Alone night after night in the house we owned together while he was out on tour. The quiet had become deafening. The solitude like walls closing in.

In times of great upheaval I default to disassociation, working hard to hold everything together. This time around I was trying to not give into my typical cold stoney nature. And I couldn’t gratitude or silver linings my way out of this one.

I needed to let myself feel how bad it felt.

This song came as a gift, truly. It helped me name my pain. It’s why I come back to songs over and over again.

It has since become a beautiful metric for my healing journey. I don’t feel these words like I did before. Turns out, life goes on quite beautifully after divorce. I can sing this song in front of people and not need to cry.

Listen to the new track now.

Enough about music! 😛 This weekend kicks off market season and I’ve been working hard on some new prints, cards and original pieces to share with you.

The warm afternoon light in my studio has been inspiring me to get back into a regular painting practice. This weekend I got to go visit Powell’s Books in Portland and track down where they had my work displayed this past weekend. They’ve been ordering my prints through Faire and I was so curious to see the setup.

It was amazing to see my art in an iconic retailer like Powell’s! Selling art wholesale is a really interesting aspect of my business I’m still exploring. I haven’t had a lot of accounts and the profit margins aren’t that great. But even so, this was a cool experience and just the fact that my art is being seen by more people because of it makes me feel grateful.

Another fun recent project was painting this little free library! I’m looking to book more mural gigs for this summer…no project is too small. 🙂 Don’t hesitate to reach out with ideas you might have.

June 7 - Zephyr Folk Festival - Playing a solo set this Saturday at Zephyr Lodge for this new folk festival. Should be a really fun weekend!

June 7 - 8 - The Farm Chicks - Spokane Fairgrounds - Excited to have a booth at Farm Chicks this year! Come say hi!

June 20 - Alcohol & Feelings at Zola - Switching up our location and day of the week this month. Come party late with us 9-midnight at Zola!

June 21 - Bazaar - yes, I realize it’s crazy I’m playing until midnight the night before the longest work day of the year for me. Please bring me a coffee and I’ll give you a free greeting card lol. Terrain’s Bazaar is one of my favorite events of the summer! Don’t miss the fun, music and handmade goodies all across main street downtown. 11am to 8pm.

As always, thank you for your attention and how you show up so thoughtfully in my life and art/music making world. I hope your garden is blooming and you are having plenty of time to enjoy the tender sunshine of late spring.

karli