Cover Art of J.M. Hart's "So Below" album.

“So Below”, a New Album

Out October 6 on CD, Lathe-Cut LP, Digital, & Streaming

Friends, I am excited to announce that I will be releasing a new album entitled “So Below” on October 6. Moreover, the album will be available for pre-order on Friday, September 1, on Bandcamp.

Largely recorded in my home studio, affectionately named Shrunken Road Studios, where I also produce the Brokedown Podcast, this third effort contains nine songs both spanning and expanding the scope of my sound heretofore.

From straight-ahead busker folk to fuzzed out breakup ballads to psychedelic spaces somewhere in between; the world opens up a bit wider on “So Below”. The title comes from the alchemical principle that is often paraphrased, “As above, so below.” But, “Below”, is where we live, love, and die. “Below” is where we fight wars, drink coffee, and gaze out at rising rivers. “Below” is what we can hold in our hands, so the songs are about that realm.

Once again a few friends help out here and there including drummer Ryan Jewell (Mosses, Ryley Walker, half of the recent albums in my collection), and returning collaborators Ben Taylor (Ben Taylor’s Finest Hour, JC Brooks & Uptown Sound) and Scott Ferber (The Jauntee). Mixing and Mastering duties were again performed by Rob Dobson. Otherwise, I play all of the guitars, bass, and random stringed instruments on the record.

“So Below” will be available on most streaming platforms as well as on Bandcamp. Also available, via Bandcamp, will be Compact Discs and a very limited edition, hand-numbered, lathe-cut LP.

“The Investigation of the Rainbow” - Johann Melchior Füssli (Creative Commons - No Rights Reserved)

Physical purchases will come with a special download of “Zones Below”, a digital-only album featuring songs from the album “So Below” remixed by some friends:

James Toth (James & The Giants, Wooden Wand, One Eleven Heavy), J. Moss (Modern Folk Trio Band), Ben Taylor (Ben Taylor’s Finest Hour, JC Brooks & Uptown Sound), Brian Mosley (Electric Catnip), Doug Kaplan (Mr. Doug Doug), & Francis Thornton II (Without Mirrors, Programmed Cell Death).

You can find “So Below” at: https://jmhart.bandcamp.com/album/so-below

—Further news:

In July, I got out and played a show, live, in person, opening for Jon Camp and Kevin Coleman. It was a small affair, conveniently local, and great fun. I’m hoping to play more shows in the near future. Watch this space for details!

J. M. Hart performing; playing acoustic guitar and singing.

Your host in the mountains with a blue sky behind him

Newsletter – Spring 2023

Hello Friends!

I call you “friends” though we may not even be properly acquainted because if you follow this we are unlikely to be enemies (Not sure I have any of those) and you deserve to be treated in a friend-ly fashion.

If you’ve opened this expecting album news, then we will both be pleased that I can tell you that the next album is recorded currently being mixed. Determining the method of release beyond the obvious ones and zeroes of the Bandcamp page is on the agenda along with the means to do so. Please reach out and let me know if you have preferences or other related thoughts. Are you craving cassettes? Need a 7” (I’ve got some!)? Do you have a label that is interested in releasing song-based music?

I want to hear it!

The album has a couple old friends and at least one newer friend lending a hand to what is otherwise a fairly solo effort. Some of it is a bit different to what I’ve previously dropped so I hope you’ll stay with me for the ride. There will also be some fun extra things about which I don’t wanna over-share. Next time, perhaps.

Meanwhile, I’m already recording more songs and visualizing a world in which a fourth record will exist. No rush on that.

a 7" record and 2 compact discs that are for sale and, in fact, on sale.

This Friday, there will be nothing new on my Bandcamp page aside from low-low prices on all physical media. Get your physical media on the cheap and enjoy it forever. Seriously. Get it out of my studio and into your life.

It’s Spring. Winter only passingly dropped by my corner of Virginia so we’ve no snow to curse as it sorts itself into the storm drains but we are bidding farewell to the cold and hello to the sniffles and blooms of warmers days and nights. We’ve been trying to get outdoors more frequently (Remember outdoors? It’s where the record collection isn’t) and so far it’s mostly just a ploy to generate undignified sweat in mountain trails but, the views have been nice…

Your host, J.M. Hart with a substantial vista of Blue Ridge mountains behind him. The sky is blue with a few light, white, clouds.

There continues to be talk of live performance and I hope to bring news of such a thing to you soon. Maybe. Is that a thing you want? Do you want to attend or even host a show? Please let me know.

To that end and in aid of the earlier album talk, I’ll remind you that my mailbox is here for your queries, missives, and complaints. Please post your electronic mail to rowjimmy at gmail.

Also, following on the last newsletter, I should inform you that I am not to be found on twitter and, in fact, haven’t looked over the fence into that particular dump since my previous mailing. I am on Mastodon, as I stated, at @rowjimmy@shakedown.social. If you don’t know how that all works, ask your kids.

Please stay tuned here for future updates or follow me on Bandcamp to get the condensed edition in your email…

Newsletter, November 2022

Got to thinking the other day, “maybe I should write a newsletter.”

It’s mid-November and the cold has come on. Twitter is stumbling towards what? Surely its demise. But how soon and in what shape? It’s become hard to rely on that thing and maybe we shouldn’t have anyway. It had the possibility, within its framework, to aid the building of communities. People had to attend to, nurture, and feed these communities just like anywhere else but the connection interface was strong. The discovery of these communities was also a good feature. Moving to new platforms requires a redevelopment of these skills. We scatter to Mastodon, Reddit, Instagram, Discord and who knows where else and try to reassemble the networks that have long informed, entertained, and supported us.

The Brokedown Podcast was able to morph into a platform for experimental musicians because I could find and connect with artists so easily on Twitter. Truth is, I’m lazy enough that simple barriers can be insurmountable on the wrong Tuesday. Sending out blind emails to PR folk, managers, or whatever unmonitored gmail account I may find on a website last updated in 2017 is not nearly as easy, effective, or satisfying. We’ll see how that all goes.

But I haven’t come to bury Twitter. I’ve come to drive a fresh flag of sovereignty into the ramparts and look out on the internets and see what is good.

What is good?

The year is ending and, unlike the past three years, will likely slide away without a holiday single from yours truly. I have a couple songs in mind but they’re just not going to be ready for your ears by last week so I’m happily going to forgo the entire thing and point out to you that I released an original song last year and I’m still pleased with it.

That’s my daughter, Piper, and my wife, Amy, singing backup on that tune and they do a lovely job.

Back in June, I released “Slips, Trips, & Falls”, my second full-length album. I got some nice press from Record Crates United:
“…a fine balance between pleasant country-tinged singer-songwriter fare and cosmic Americana.”

Currently, there are CDs available which would make a fine holiday gift for the lover of whatever sort of music I make. I highly recommend it. I’ve also got a couple (very few!) CD copies of the first album, “Sunken Road”, along with a mess of 7” singles if that’s your thing. All, of course, available in the Bandcamp store.

https://jmhart.bandcamp.com

Proceeds of all of that go to production costs for the next album.

Next album, you ask?

Why yes. I have another album that is, at this time, completely tracked. I hope to have it mixed and mastered in due course and move towards releasing it in some way in the new year. Maybe come Spring? We’ll see how things fly.

Inquiries are welcome, nay, encouraged.

In fact, my mailbox is ajar and ready for your missives. Send along whatever you’ve got. I’ll hit you back in due course. If you don’t know, I’ll just put it out there. I’m rowjimmy AT gmail. Use it wisely.

So, nothing new but the new stuff, I suppose, is the current state of being. I remain on the twitter web site if only to see which way the frame falls when it finally goes up in flames. That’s @rowj. Don’t expect much in the way of posts. For that sort of thing, I’m now on Mastodon at the slightly more complicated @rowjimmy@shakedown.social. If you don’t know how that all works, ask your kids or your neighbor’s kids.
I’m also on instagram still @therealrowjimmy or @brokedownpod if you just want the scoop on the show.

An abridged version of this free newsletter has also been issued via my bandcamp page. If you go up there and follow me, you’ll get all the new news when it’s hot. Full versions will also be posted here on my internet website. I’m thinking that now may be the time to get back into the old blog but, no promises on that front. Big news will come via this newsletter so stay tuned, get your friends tuned, keep your guitars tuned (and humidified) and stay warm this winter.

-J.M. Hart