Welcome to the DRM Newsletter: New format…Old news

I'm very excited to introduce you to my new and improved email newsletter. Have a look around. Try out the furniture.

For the last few years I have been sending out my news together with news from the Squid Jiggers and the Half Moon Jug Band. It was an interesting experiment, but we've decided to take a step back in an effort to provide the most up-to-date information from all three acts with the least confusion. The most important thing to me is that you get what information interests you most. I am humbled and honored by the trust you have placed with me by sharing your email address. I sincerely hope you never feel that trust is misplaced.

The Season Cometh…
As I'm writing this, I'm sitting down after a long day of filling Christmas-time CD and T-shirt orders from the DRM website, getting the house ready for winter (yes—it's coming…), getting press releases out for upcoming shows, and baking a few cookies (chocolate chip!). I could feel the chill in the air today, and the overcast reminded me that snow is right around the corner. There is still much to do and so little time—especially here in Maine as the ground is starting to freeze.

Sometimes it seems like the peas have barely been planted when the pumpkins are catching that first frost of the season. The march of the seasons persists, and here I find myself once again contemplating my holiday message to you in a perpetually troubled and wonderful world.

As I was preparing my thoughts for this message, I was reminded of a poem Christmas Bells written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who also lived in Portland, Maine—my home town. You may know it as the carol I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. He wrote the poem soon after he'd learned that his son had joined up and was off to the war front in the Civil War against his wishes, and shortly after losing his wife in a house fire. It was a dark time for Longfellow. We've all had those moments of intense loss being made more intense by the holidays.

Inspired by Longfellow's words, I put pen to paper this afternoon and created my own poem of the season.

'Tis the Season…

A poem by Dave Rowe
Dec. 1, 2015

Frost on creaking stair
Leaves crinkle underfoot
Still, crisp air tickles the nose

The autumn has left its fleeting mark
Soon flakes will cover fallow ground
As winter takes its place

Trees will be gathered and brought inside
Glowing warmly in windows
Laden with lights and garlands

Anticipation and hope of rebirth
For a world rife with hardships and pain
Soon it shall come

The day, the feasts, the parties
Friends and families gathered by tradition
Bound by love, embraces, and cheer

Until the final day of the year
So it continues, this year to the next
So it shall always…
__________________________

May the season bless you all,
-Dave

A brand-new video just for you…Dave's version of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

The new t-shirts are in, available in adult sizes from small to XXL and in many colors. Order now!

December Concerts

Thursday, December 3 • Farmington, ME @ North Church Concert Series: Holiday Concert with Denny Breau and Phil House. 7PM. FMI: (207) 778-2006.

Saturday, December 5 • Belfast, ME @ Belfast Breeze Inn & Music by the Bay. Show with the Squid Jiggers. 6PM. FMI/reservations: 207-505-5231.

Saturday, December 19 • Auburn, ME @ First Universalist Church, 23rd Annual Holiday Concert with Denny Breau and Phil House. 7PM. $15 at the door. FMI: 207-619-FOLK.

Saturday, December 26 • Portland, ME @ Bull Feeney's. Dave's monthly solo pub show in the Old Port. 9PM.

News from the Dave Rowe Music Webstore to help you complete your holiday shopping!

T-shirts! Dave Rowe Music t-shirts are now available.

New CD? Why yes! In Retrospect is a compilation from recordings I have made over the last 20 years including a couple of previously out-of-print cuts.

In the coming soon pile is the Squid Jiggers' Live in Maine DVD—the companion video to the CD we released earlier this year. We've been assured that they will arrive here in time to go under the tree. It is available for pre-order now.

Like us on Facebook, follow @DaveRoweMusic on Twitter, and check out the webpage!