S/D: Tompkins Square Records

Such a great label wish I didn't hear so many bad things abt the dude that runs it

??

ROSCOE HOLCOMB
SAN DIEGO FOLK FESTIVAL 1972
LIMITED EDITION VINYL LP NOVEMBER 27th, 2015
CD & DIGITAL DECEMBER 4th, 2015

POST / SHARE A TRACK : "SINGLE GIRL"
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/single-girl-roscoe-holcomb

Tompkins Square label is proud to announce the release of the first commercially available full live concert recording of old-time legend Roscoe Holcomb. The vinyl LP will be released in limited quantity on Black Friday via independent record stores. The CD and digital versions will be available widely on December 4th.

Discovered by folklorist John Cohen in 1959 in East Kentucky, Roscoe Holcomb is among the most revered traditional musicians to emerge during the folk boom of the 60's. A favorite of Bob Dylan (who name-checked him in his 2014 MusiCares speech), Eric Clapton, and many others, Holcomb's high lonesome singing and driving banjo style can be heard on several classic Folkways recordings.

San Diego Folk Festival 1972 was recorded at the annual event produced by Lou Curtiss, who provides insightful notes on how the concert came together. John Cohen, author of 'The High Lonesome Sound' (Steidl) also contributes new notes to the set. Previously unseen photographs from the event were shot by Virginia Curtiss. Jean Ritchie duets with Holcomb on a beautiful eight-minute version of 'Wandering Boy'.

CD : TSQ 5210 / LP : TSQ 5227
Tompkins Square is distributed by INgrooves and REVOLVER in NA, Cargo UK for Europe

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/Roscoeholcomb.JPG

Quite a good album, posted about it on the Roscoe Holcombe thread. Re the xpost rediscovered Hurlbert LP, here's a follow-up:

SUNRISE : BILL MACKAY PLAYS THE SONGS OF JOHN HULBURT
Available now on Tompkins Square via every digital service, worldwide (also LP & CD)


Hear / Post "Sunrise" performed by Bill MacKay
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/sunrise-bill-mackay

Tompkins Square and Ryley Walker teamed up to produce a reissue of guitarist John Hulburt's 1972 private press LP, Opus III, released in 2015. Ryley and Bill MacKay released their duo LP, Land of Plenty, this year as well. And now Bill MacKay releases his own album of John Hulburt tunes !

Through his extensive work in creative folk, experimental rock, and improvised jazz, Bill MacKay has emerged as a highly inventive composer-songwriter and versatile, unpredictable guitarist. MacKay's recent releases include a duo record with Ryley Walker entitled 'Land of Plenty', and 'Altamira', the third recording by his band Darts & Arrows. MacKay is now featured on Tompkins Square in a unique setting playing music by Chicago folk legend John Hulburt.

'Sunrise: Bill MacKay plays the songs of John Hulburt' features MacKay's intimate takes on a handful of songs from Hulburt's 'Opus III' LP. 'Opus III' demonstrates Hulburt's incisive and melodic songwriting and sure command of fingerstyle guitar.

Rather than radically reinterpret the material, MacKay chose to largely follow the contours and melodic structures of Hulburt's originals while imparting his own unique phrasing and colors to the arrangements. His very personal interpretations on Sunrise should lead listeners not only to 'Opus III', but also to MacKay's own impressive and diverse catalog of songs and sounds.

** This release is dedicated to the memory of Gene Lubin, John Hulburt's dear friend and bandmate in The Knaves, who passed away on December 10th, age 71. Gene graciously gave us notes and photographs for the Opus III reissue, and was an inspiration to Bill, Ryley, and so many other musicians **

The Record Store of the Mind
Book Tour 2016
17 Cities. 17 Special Guests.

"One of the most thoroughly enjoyable, informative, wise and good-hearted books ever written about music and the industry"
-- MOJO * * * * 4 STARS

"What pulls its disparate elements together is the accommodating warmth and wit of his writing and the wealth of great stories he has to tell"
-- UNCUT 8/10

Tompkins Square label's Josh Rosenthal will read from his new book, 'The Record Store of the Mind', w/ Special Guests :

April 2 - Deep Thoughts, Jamaica Plain MA w/ Sam Moss
April 3 - Feeding Tube Records, Northampton MA w/ Trevor Healy
April 4 - Albany Public Library, Albany NY w/ Mike Eck
April 5 - Rocket 99, Kingston NY w/ Peter Walker
April 6 - Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn NY w/ Kid Millions, Harry Taussig
April 7 - Brickbat Books, Philadelphia PA w/ Chris Forsyth
April 8 - Red Onion Records & Books, Washington DC w/ Bob Brown
April 9 - Atomic Books, Baltimore MD w/ Max Ochs
April 10 - Steady Sounds, Richmond VA w/ Diane Cluck, Mark Fosson
April 12 - Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill NC w/ Steven Weiss (UNC)
April 13 - Horizon Records, Greenville SC w/ Wes Tirey
April 14 - Downtown Books, Asheville NC w/ Wes Tirey
April 15 - A Cappella Books, Atlanta GA w/ Tyler Higgins
April 16 - Grimey's, Nashville TN - Record Store Day DJ set & signing
April 17 - Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville KY w/ Nathan Salsburg
April 18 - Boxcar Books, Bloomington IN - A Bill Wilson tribute
April 20 - CityLit Books, Chicago IL w/ Mike Vallera

Media Inquiries

'The Record Store of the Mind' by Josh Rosenthal
Praised by The Believer, Oxford American, Boing Boing, Record Collector (5/5)......
ISBN : 9781625179135
Retailers : Available via Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Think Indie, Revolver

'THE RECORD STORE OF THE MIND' SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
https://player.spotify.com/user/tompkinssquare/playlist/6MNJ5c9qZb0ScEOcsQtXA5

"Josh Rosenthal is a record man's record man. He is also a musician's record man. He is in the line of Samuel Charters and Harry Smith. In this age where we have access to everything and know the value of nothing, musicians need people like Josh to hear them when no one else can."
- T Bone Burnett

Grammy-nominated producer and Tompkins Square label founder Josh Rosenthal presents his first book, The Record Store of the Mind. Part memoir, part "music criticism," the author ruminates over unsung musical heroes, reflects on thirty years of toil and fandom in the music business, and shamelessly lists some of the LPs in his record collection. Crackling with insightful untold stories, The Record Store of the Mind will surely delight and inspire passionate music lovers ... especially those who have spent way too many hours in record stores.

Celebrating ten years in 2015, Rosenthal's San Francisco-based independent record label Tompkins Square has received seven Grammy nominations and wide acclaim for its diverse catalog of new and archival recordings.

ALSO :

> Check out the new Tompkins Square model guitar, built by Trevor Healy ! Video (linked in article) features William Tyler, Ryler Walker, Chris Forsyth and more. https://www.fretboardjournal.com/video/tompkins-squares-10th-anniversary-guitar

> Roscoe Holcomb 'Live at San Diego State Folk Festival 1972' recently
featured in The New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-discovery-of-roscoe-holcomb-and-the-high-lonesome-sound?intcid=mod-latest

BEYOND THE CONFESSION : KID MILLIONS REWORKS HARRY TAUSSIG
AVAILABLE AS A LIMITED EDITION VINYL LP FOR RECORD STORE DAY

NEW HARRY TAUSSIG LP, TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG, OUT APRIL 22

HEAR / POST A TRACK FROM 'BEYOND THE CONFESSION :
KID MILLIONS REWORKS HARRY TAUSSIG'
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/piano-wire

HEAR / POST A TRACK FROM 'BEYOND THE CONFESSION :
KID MILLIONS REWORKS HARRY TAUSSIG'

HEAR / POST A TRACK FROM HARRY TAUSSIG'S FORTHCOMING ALBUM,
'TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG'
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/where-sparkling-stars-twire

Kid Millions is a musician, composer and writer best known as the drummer and founder of Brooklyn's experimental rock behemoth Oneida. For the last twenty years, Millions has been at the forefront of the NYC experimental music community collaborating with artists as varied as Laurie Anderson, Yo La Tengo, Boredoms, So Percussion and William Basinski.

Enter his album-length conversation with the recordings of the unjustly obscure guitarist Harry Taussig, whose 1965 private-press album Fate Is Only Once was reissued by Tompkins Square in 2006. This strange gem was followed by two new Taussig recordings - Fate Is Only Twice (2012) and The Diamond of Lost Alphabets (2014). Tompkins Square proposed that Millions take this raw material and fashion something completely new. Millions took the material up to Kingston NY and through working with his engineer Matthew Cullen emerged with an album of rare beauty in keeping with the spirit of Taussig's work while suggesting directions previously unexplored in his oeuvre. To create this new work, Millions and Cullen overdubbed guitars, drums and organs onto the original tracks and sent the material into other damaged psychedelic dimensions only hinted at in the original works.

Millions writes in the liner notes, "[Taussig is] not slavishly attended to technique but we also don't feel any boundaries to his expression. One of his classic tunes is subtitled "Fantasia in A" and in a way this term is a perfect label for his entire oeuvre. A fantasia is an improvisation that touches on many themes and styles. Some of his songs are very tight and tidy and I was drawn to some of them. But I also wanted to stretch these moments of loose revelation and turn a spotlight on Taussig's generous search."

We're left with a kind of revelation - a so-called "remix" album which can actually stand on its own and illuminate both artists' work.

* Kid Millions and Harry Taussig will perform at Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn NY on April 6th to celebrate the release. This will be Taussig's first-ever concert in New York City. Tompkins Square's Josh Rosenthal will also read from his new book, The Record Store of the Mind

TSQ 5234 / AVAILABLE VIA INDEPENDENT RECORD STORES ON RECORD STORE DAY, APRIL 16th. FIND A STORE NEAR YOU
http://www.recordstoreday.com/Stores

TOMPKINS SQUARE LABEL REISSUES TWO LP's BY BOB BROWN;
'THE WALL I BUILT MYSELF' (1970) & 'WILLOUGHBY'S LAMENT' (1971). BOTH PRODUCED BY RICHIE HAVENS, ORIGINALLY RELEASED ON HAVENS' STORMY FOREST LABEL.
AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE MAY 13th - LP/CD/DIGITAL

HEAR / POST A TRACK
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/it-takes-the-world-to-make-a-feather-fall-bob-brown

The first legit reissues of these rare, stellar LP's by DC-based singer/songwriter Bob Brown. Richie Havens took Bob under his wing, produced both albums, and released them on his Stormy Forest label distributed by MGM. Although they failed to make a commercial impact at the time, cosmic-folk enthusiasts and vinyl-heads have long placed these albums in high esteem alongside the works of exploratory greats like Tim Hardin and Tim Buckley.

Bob is still with us. He recently performed with Ryley Walker's band at Tompkins Square's 10th Anniversary show at Rough Trade, and he'll make special appearances to celebrate the reissues :

April 8th - Red Onion Records & Books, Washington DC (w/ Tompkins Square's Josh Rosenthal reading his book, The Record Store of the Mind) (6pm)

June 29th - Joe's Pub, NYC (9:30pm)

Available Worldwide May 13th, 2016
The Wall I Built Myself (CD : TSQ 5111 / LP : TSQ 5128)
Willoughby's Lament (CD : TSQ5135 / LP : TSQ 5142)
Tompkins Square is distributed by INgrooves and REVOLVER in NA, Cargo UK for Europe

What a voice--the soundcloud post in there between Karen Carpenter and Tim Buckley

Higher than Karen's? But the poise, with slightly precarious balance of both voices

TOMPKINS SQUARE LABEL SIGNS IRELAND'S BRIGID MAE POWER

Irish singer/songwriter Brigid Mae Power has shared stages with Lee Ranaldo, Alasdair Roberts, Richard Dawson, and Ryley Walker.

Born in London to a big Irish family, she moved to Ireland (Galway) when she was twelve years old. In addition to the guitar, she plays accordion, baritone ukulele, piano and harmonium; creating hauntingly dreamlike soundscapes.

Her self-titled debut album, recorded with Oregon-based musician Peter Broderick, will be released worldwide by Tompkins Square on LP, CD and digital on June 10th, 2016.

LISTEN / POST A TRACK
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/its-clearing-now-by-brigid-mae-power

^^^sounds good!

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1242850928_16.jpg

https://tompkinssquare.bandcamp.com/album/the-diamond-of-lost-alphabets

Imaginational Anthem vol. 8 : The Private Press
Out September 16th on Tompkins Square
2LP set (only 500 - ltd ed) / CD / Digital

8th volume of the acclaimed acoustic guitar series focuses on impossibly rare private press recordings 1968-1995

The guy who taught Bob Dylan how to fingerpick. A sitar gifted by Jimi Hendrix. Among other obscure tales . . .

LISTEN /POST Gary Salzman "The Secret Forces of Nature" (1968)
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/the-secret-forces-of-nature-by-gary-salzman-68-from-ia-vol-8-the-private-press
ompkins Square label presents the 8th volume of Imaginational Anthem, the acclaimed series focusing on acoustic guitar, particularly in the American Primitive vein.

Since 2005, the series has revived interest in old masters of the genre while also giving many folks their very first taste of artists like William Tyler, Steve Gunn, Chris Forsyth or Daniel Bachman.

Volume 8, compiled by hardcore record collectors Michael Klausman (former used LP buyer for NYC's recently shuttered Other Music) and Brooks Rice, features some of the best and most obscure private press guitar records virtually no one has heard. In fact, so-called guitar soli expert, Tompkins Square owner Josh Rosenthal, had never heard of a single artist on the comp (except for Perry Lederman, whose track was Josh's sole contribution to the collection). "Just goes to show what a bottomless pit music discovery from the past continues to be. There's just no end to all the riches from past decades."

Amidst the obscure entries are bits of rock-star lore; Joe Bethancourt was supposedly given a sitar by an admiring Jimi Hendrix, and Perry Lederman was reportedly responsible for teaching Bob Dylan how to fingerpick. But the true joy of this collection is derived from discovering incredible acoustic guitar performances completely lost to time. Until now.

BINGE-LISTEN TO ALL 7 volumes of Imaginational Anthem on Spotify
https://play.spotify.com/user/tompkinssquare/playlist/5W9uRE4Yfhmm4X74lcT7Qw?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open

2LP Gatefold set (Ltd 500) : TSQ 5289
CD : TSQ 5272
Distributed by INgrooves and Revolver in NA, Cargo UK for Europe

Tompkins Square Catalog: http://www.tompkinssquare.com/releases.html

IMAGINATIONAL ANTHEM vol. 8 :
THE PRIVATE PRESS

1. One Kind Favor Perry Lederman
2. Snow Queen The Keithe Lowrie Duet
3. Obadiah Michael Kleniec
4. Where The Pinery Narrows Lee Murdock
5. White Pines Tom Armstrong
6. Raga Joe Bethancourt
7. The Presence Kip Dobler
8. Wen Also Found Herb Moore
9. That Spanish Thing Nancy Tucker
10. The Diamond Cutter Jackdaw
11. Missy Christa Rick Dietrick
12. The Secret Forces of Nature Gary Salzman
13. Prayer Blessing Stan Samole
14. Blue Wind Boy Russell Potter

Thought I'd just stick this here (from the Rolling Takoma thread)

got to check out the new imaginational anthem - private press thing coming out soon, and seriously, it is fantastic. not the same old-same old by any stretch. lots of interesting surprises, all killer no filler.

― tylerw, Tuesday, August 9, 2016 3:37 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You were right when you said exactly the same thing about the latest Wayfaring Strangers so I'll take your word for this one too.

― Evan, Tuesday, August 9, 2016 3:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Speaking of IA Vol. 8, think somebody on here was asking about track list? Just posted that & other info, with a couple audio links, on the Tompkins Square thread.

― dow, Tuesday, August 9, 2016 5:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Saw that, thanks! So is this all stuff with vocals or guitar soli style?

― Wimmels, Tuesday, August 9, 2016 5:44 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

all instrumental, mostly acoustic

― tylerw, Tuesday, August 9, 2016 5:48 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ah, great! Gonna pre-order this one. Thanks.

― Wimmels, Tuesday, August 9, 2016 6:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just had the promo for this - cracking cover! Some of those titles, though - the genre is ripe for parody, innit.

― Sunn O))) Brother Where Art Thou? (Chinaski), Tuesday, August 9, 2016 7:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Tyler's right, this is a great comp. The stuff on here I'm not immediately connecting with has less to do with the quality of those tunes as it does my relationship to some of these styles and my personal saturation point irt Westernized 'ragas' (give me "East West," Peter Walker, and Sandy Bull, and I'm good for like three lifetimes) and the endless "bluesy and bendy" recitations of things that all sound like variations on One Kind Favor / Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down / Cannon Ball Rag / etc. The tracks on here that fall into those camps are very good, they just don't move me. Stuff like Stan Samole's "Prayer Blessing" and Herb Moore's "Wen Also Found," though - whoo boy, those are hitting the spot.

I'm like most of you in that all but one or two names here are completely unfamiliar to me (which, as someone else said, is kinda insane if you think about it), and though the temptation is always great to just seek out the full albums by the three or four players you like most on the comp and forget to buy the comp, I'm glad I pre-ordered this one and look forward to many more spins.

― Wimmels, Wednesday, August 10, 2016 11:35 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

LEGENDARY GUITARIST HARVEY MANDEL TEAMS WITH RYLEY WALKER COHORTS FOR EXTRAORDINARY LATE-CAREER ALBUM

Snake Pit out November 18th on Tompkins Square LP/CD/Digital

Listen/Post:
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/snake-pit

Harvey Mandel is among the most innovative guitarists to emerge from the Chicago blues scene of the late 1960s. His career began at Twist City and other local hotspots, sharing stages with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Buddy Guy. He came up in that scene alongside Charlie Musselwhite, Mike Bloomfield, Barry Goldberg and Steve Miller, leading to an invitation from Bill Graham to open for Cream at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium in August 1967.

Mandel was a member of Canned Heat, appearing with them at Woodstock. He played on numerous John Mayall albums, and on the Rolling Stones' 1975 LP Black and Blue ("Hot Stuff", "Memory Motel"), having auditioned for Mick Taylor's job, which ultimately went to Ron Wood.

Known for his "tapping" technique and sinewy, sustain-driven phrasing (thus his nickname, "The Snake"), Mandel's solo albums such as Cristo Redentor, Baby Batter and Righteous have been sampled and drooled over by guitar geeks, DJ's, and fans of funky, soulful, otherworldly composition.

Harvey's fifteenth studio LP and his first widely distributed album in 20 years, Snake Pit was recorded in two days at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA. Harvey teamed with fellow Chicago-based musicians Ben Boye (keys), Ryan Jewell (drums), Brian Sulpizio (guitar), and Anton Hatwich (bass), who have all played with singer/songwriter Ryley Walker, among their many other musical pursuits. Harvey and the band had not met previously, nor had they rehearsed. He played snippets of song ideas for the band on his iPhone, and then they would lay down a track in one or two takes. Hard to believe when you hear the album, but that's exactly how it went down. Minimal overdubs with strings and percussion were added, but mostly what you hear is what happened spontaneously in the studio. The album contains six new original compositions by Mandel and two revisited songs : "Baby Batter" from his 1971 Janus LP of the same name, and "Before Six" by Larry Frazier, which appears on his first album, Cristo Redentor.

Snake Pit marks a spirited return in a career that now spans six decades -- all the more intense and poignant given Harvey's recent battle with cancer.

Read more about Harvey Mandel via Aquarium Drunkard:
http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/03/11/harvey-mandel-an-appreciation-on-his-70th-birthday/

Track list:
Snake Pit
Space Monkeys
NightinGail
Baby Batter
JackHammer
Buckaroo
Before Six
Ode to B.B.
Harvey Mandel - Guitar
Ben Boye - Keys
Anton Hatwich - Bass
Ryan Jewell - Drums
Brian J Sulpizio - Guitar
Jose Najera - Percussion
Recorded at Fantasy Studios
Real strings arranged and performed by Dick Bright
Produced by Harvey Mandel and Josh Rosenthal
Recorded & mixed by Jesse Nichols
Mastered by George Horn

Had missed Richard Crandall's TSQ reissue In The Flower Of Our Youth 'til tylerw's recent tweet about listening to it, and just got this about his new album:

Eugene-based guitarist Richard Crandell's 1980 private-press LP
In The Flower of Our Youth is one of our favorite rainy day / road trippin' solo guitar records. Reissued on Tompkins Square in 2008, it captures the aura of the Pacific Northwest in unique and powerful ways.

Crandell's struggle with Essential Tremor moved him toward the mbira (African thumb piano), and he recorded on the instrument for John Zorn's Tzadik label. But Richard has returned to the guitar at times. Then And Now is comprised of material recorded over the past 25 years, some recorded this year, all previously unreleased.
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/swallowtails-by-richard-crandell

Here is Richard's own take on the new album, Then And Now :

"Most of these recordings were discovered about five years ago. They were recorded on a DAT recorder in the '90s. "Road Trip" was in standard guitar tuning, capo on the 2nd fret, inspired by my 50-state 'American Friends' tour. "Funk Dat" (love the blues), "Haley Suite" (love Bach) and "Route 22" (love Tennessee) were tuned in DADEAD, capo on the 2nd fret. "Over/Under" (love John Fahey) was in dropped D tuning with the capo on the 2nd fret. "V-Blues" (love Scott Joplin) was in DADGAD, capo 2. It was the only tune which I've written that has a modulation by "brute force." "American Friends" was my 12-string rendition of a Bill Bartels' classic, reflecting his Virginia roots. "Swallowtails" was a solo 12-string version of a duet which I wrote in the early '80's. I like my foot-tapping on this one. The duet was originally on Oregon Hill with Bill Bartels. "Unknown Lament" was a 12-string piece from the same album. This solo version has a unique coda. "Down to Earth" was recorded 3 years ago. and was written in CGDGBE, a tuning which Tim Danforth showed me. The last tune, "Cinema Verité", was recorded a couple of weeks ago, on Kyle Lindros' ukulele. It is my only uke composition. Kyle's dad Billy, named it, as well as In The Flower Of Our Youth and many of my other tunes. English is my second language. Music is my first. Especially rhythm. Enjoy!"

Then And Now is now available via every digital service, worldwide.

Available Everywhere Jan 27, 2017

Richard Osborn, Endless

https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/in-a-monastery-garden-by-richard-obsorn"> https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/in-a-monastery-garden-by-richard-obsorn

First-generation American Primitive guitarist Richard Osborn studied with Robbie Basho in the late 60's. 40 years later, Osborn finally recorded, appearing on Tompkins Square's 'Beyond Berkeley Guitar' comp in 2010. 'Endless' is his first widely available solo guitar album.
LP (TSQ5340) ltd. ed of 500 / CD (TSQ5333)

"[Osborn has] an unhurried, quiet spirit of adventure, a love of ringing strings and slowly revelatory meditations on the natural world."- Acoustic Guitar

"He's a student of mine and he's better technically than me or Fahey."
- Robbie Basho

Acoustic Guitar Sessions Presents Richard Osborn's Steel-String Ragas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgFWiJ4hJoA

awesome, he's Proper, looking forward to it

yeah, this one was pretty great: https://richardosborn.bandcamp.com/album/freehand

Tompkins Square to Reissue Rare 1975 Private-Press LP by Philip Lewin, Available on LP/CD/digital 2.24.17

"Phil Lewin's homespun debut is a loner folk masterpiece; accidentally psychedelic, lit by heartbreak and timeless in its sadness and hope."
- Jeff Conklin, WFMU

Philip Lewin
Am I Really Here All Alone ?
1975 Private-press LP (only 300 signed and numbered copies pressed at the time) now remastered from the original tapes.
HEAR / SHARE A SONG
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/watercolours-by-philip-lewin

In his own words, today :

In 1967 I began my life in the student union of a university. In other words, I was in school. But, classes definitely took a back seat to people-watching and attempts at relationships. I would not say that I was particularly good at the latter, but I made a great observer. I even stayed near the school community for an extra year until an opportunity came up to move in with friends in Toronto, Canada, which turned out to be a pivotal opportunity for me.

I was once told that one should first write about one's own experiences, then, expand to documenting the observed experiences of those around, and, finally write about what one imagines. Am I Really Here All Alone? encompasses all of the above. Something else I realized in writing lyrics is that sometimes it is good to be transparent about the meaning and others times, not so much. "Unusual Day" is an example of me being honest struggling to develop and maintain a relationship, but ultimately realizing it was not going to succeed. "Watercolours" documents a crushing experience, but is couched in metaphor. I hope that listeners will relate through their own experiences, and because my reality is implied, not specified, will not be limited to mine. "Sweet Georgia" is an example of me, as a writer, leaving my personal space. I think of it as an attempt to clone William Faulkner to Bobbie Gentry. "The Magic Within You" is actually a commission where I was asked to write a song for a benefit to be performed by Doug Henning, the groundbreaking stage magician and friend. I once heard John Prine complain that there was no point in writing a 'train song' because Steve Goodman had already written the perfect one with "City of New Orleans". Naturally, I had to write "Back Home, To You", my idea of a train song where I tried to capture the movement of the train in the rhythm of the guitar. As for the other six songs, to me, they all reflect realities, experienced, observed and imagined. Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." However my question is, "Am I Really Here All Alone?"

-Philip Lewin, 2017

LP (ltd 750) - TSQ 5326 / CD - TSQ 5319

Listening to this Lewin LP, it's pretty great

https://tompkinssquare.bandcamp.com/album/am-i-really-here-all-alone

You know, it's weird: I always though this was a pretty good / above average psych folk record, but then I heard the far-less loved follow up, Diamond Love and it was way more my speed. Totally different vibe (more cocaine-and-jacuzzi / real people than stoned / pensive), an entirely different mood. If you have any interest whatsoever in that style, it's worth finding!

yeah, i just had a friend tell me the same thing -- kinda more of a full-band boogie thing?
i like the one Tompkins just released, though (though occasionally that noodly lead guitar action wears thin).

Good news about this guy today:

Legendary guitarist Harvey "The Snake" Mandel (Canned Heat, John Mayall, Rolling Stones) has had quite a week in support of his new album, Snake Pit. His MOJO interview just hit, he was featured on NPR World Cafe, he announced a show in Chicago with Ryley Walker's crew backing him up (May 13th, Martyr's), and today is his BIRTHDAY !

Tompkins Square's Josh Rosenthal wrote about Harvey in honor of his 70th birthday two years ago.http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/03/11/harvey-mandel-an-appreciation-on-his-70th-birthday/ A couple of things have changed since then - Harvey is presently cancer-free, and Tompkins Square released Snake Pit, his most acclaimed new album in decades.

BUY 'Snake Pit' on LP/CD

"Mandel's trademark sound is as supple and searing as molten steel" - DOWNBEAT Editor's Pick
"A storming return to the fray" - MOJO, 4 Stars
"True musical heroes are hard to find, and Snake Pit could be the album that finally gets Mandel his due as a top-shelf guitar savior" - CHICAGO READER

Snake Pit - TSQ 5296 CD / TSQ 5302 LP - Tompkins Square is distributed by INgrooves and Revolver in NA, Cargo UK for Europe

wait rolling stones? when?

ha, i think he auditioned in the mid 70s (and maybe plays on a track on Black and Blue?)

looked it up, yeah he plays on "hot stuff" and "memory motel"

Yeah---Wood wasn't totally settled in, so they also had Mandel and Wayne Perkins and maybe some others.

A Weekly Sale from Tompkins Square

Each Friday, we select 4 titles from our deep catalog under a theme, and they're 5 bucks each. Sometimes CD, sometimes vinyl. The only catch is you gotta buy all four, which is still a pretty good deal.

Inevitably, when we do a limited edition piece, we wind up with a few extra boxes around the ol' HQ. Here's what's on offer this week ! :

Roscoe Holcomb - San Diego Folk Festival 1972 - Vinyl LP
Michael Hurley - 78rpm 10" vinyl
Dillard Chandler - The End of An Old Song - Vinyl LP
Tyler Ramsey (of Band of Horses) - 78rpm 10" vinyl

For all 4 items above, paypal $20 directly to :
orders at tompkins square dot com
For Canada, add $25
For the rest of the world, add $35

The deal is good til next Friday, when we'll pick another four titles for you.

Brigid Mae Power is releasing some new stuff (not on Tompkins Square, but her album from last year was so good I figured i'd post it here nonetheless)

https://soundcloud.com/oscarson/brigid-mae-power-i-dont-know-how-to-do-this-naturally/s-EzcTA

5ive Dollar Fridays ! A Weekly Sale from Tompkins Square

This Week : A Salute to Harry Taussig

Today (March 31) is pioneering American Primitive Guitarist Harry Taussig's 76th birthday !

He released a private press LP in 1965, Fate Is Only Once, reissued by Tompkins Square in 2006, and has recorded three more albums for the label. Harry was also honored with a recent tribute/remix album by Oneida drummer Kid Millions.

Tompkins Square will release a new Taussig/Max Ochs joint LP, out May 26th, to mark the 50th Anniversary of Contemporary Guitar, Spring '67, a Takoma sampler which featured Max, Harry, Bukka White, Robbie Basho and John Fahey. Harry will also play select dates with Max on the West Coast in support of the new release !
More on that new LP and tour here.
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/into-the-veil-of-years-by-harry-taussig

Meanwhile, we celebrate Harry's birthday with a sale (see label site; it's his stuff and other)

You did what you could back then:

http://www.tompkinssquare.com/tomarmstrong.html

Tompkins Square's recent double-LP, Imaginational Anthem vol. 8 : The Private Press, shed light on forgotten, impossibly rare guitar recordings spanning several decades. Tom Armstrong's The Sky Is An Empty Eye is the first of several reissues planned by Tompkins Square of full albums by artists featured on IA8.

Armstrong's self-released LP from 1987 sports blissed out acoustic numbers like the one featured on IA8, along with some electric workouts and even a deep psych vocal tune.

In his own words, today

..."In 1984 I was offered a half partnership in an engineering firm in Dallas, so I moved to Texas. Made a big pile of money. My wife bought me a Tascam 4 track recorder for my birthday, I went crazy with it. Recorded a bunch of melodies that had been rattling around my brain since I was 8 years old. Liked what I heard, decided to make an LP.

"It wasn't too hard to track down a studio to master my 4 tracks. By this time I was an old hand at graphic design for promotional material, so I designed the cover myself.

"Handed the albums out to business associates, as promotional material for other business interests, at a drunken open mike at a bar in Pinos Altos, NM."

That was one of my favorite tunes n IA8 and that LP's been on my Discogs wantlist since I heard that comp, so I'm happy about this one

yeahhhh love that one ...

This is quite the reminder---I def need to get Vols. 1 and 2, for inst.

Each Friday, we select 4 titles from our deep catalog under a theme, and they're 5 bucks each. Sometimes CD, sometimes vinyl. The only catch is you gotta buy all four, which is still a pretty good deal.

This week, we announced our reissue of Tom Armstrong's rare 1987 private-press LP, which you can Pre-Order Here. Tom was featured on Volume 8 of our acoustic guitar series, Imaginational Anthem.

So our theme this week is 'Guitars' :
Get the first FOUR volumes of our Imaginational Anthem series for $20 !
(Vols. 1-3 come as a box set, plus you'll get vol. 4)

For all 4 CDs, just paypal $20 directly to :
orders at tompkins square dot com
For Canada, add $15
For the rest of the world, add $35

The deal is good til next Friday, when we'll pick another four titles for you.

Thanks as always ! ...

Imaginational Anthem vol 1 :
Max Ochs, Brad Barr, Suni McGrath, Harris Newman, Harry Taussig, Jack Rose, Steve Mann, Glenn Jones, Gyan Riley & Terry Riley, Bern Nix, Bob Hadley, Janet Smith, John Fahey, Kaki King, Sandy Bull

Volume 2
James Blackshaw, Peter Lang , Jose Gonzalez, Jesse Sparhawk, Michael Chapman, Sean Smith, Fred Gerlach, Christina Carter, Billy Faier, Sharron Kraus , Robbie Basho

Volume 3
Richard Crandell, Ben Reynolds, Greg Davis, Nathan Salsburg, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Cian Nugent, Matt Baldwin, Mark Fosson, George Stavis, Keenan Lawler, Shawn David McMillen

Volume 4 :
Chris Forsyth, William Tyler, Sam Moss, Nick Jonah Davis, Pat O'Connell, Tyler Ramsey, Micah Blue Smaldone, Mike Fekete, Aaron Sheppard, C Joynes

Wow---TS breaking through to what was (maybe still is) called The New Music---I'm intrigued by the implied possibilities and by news of this specific album; I only know her via Dolmen Music and Turtle Dreams.

Meredith Monk's Groundbreaking 1971 Debut LP 'Key', Reissued by Tompkins Square for Record Store Day - April 22, 2017

Composer, singer, director/choreographer, creator of new opera, musical theater works, films and installations, Meredith Monk is one of the most unique and influential artists of our time. Awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Obama in 2015, Monk has blazed her own influential trail through music and movement over the past 50 years. Pitchfork noted in a recent review of her latest ECM release, 'On Behalf of Nature': "Meredith Monk's influence as a singer and composer extends through Björk, Joanna Newsom and beyond."

'Key' contains Monk's earliest compositions for voice, composed and performed from 1967-1970. In her words:

"In 'Key' I wanted to create a constantly shifting ambience. Each song dealt with a different vocal character, landscape, technical concern or emotional quality. I was trying for a visceral, kinetic song form that had the abstract qualities of a painting or a dance. I knew that I didn't want to set music to a text; for me, the voice itself was a language which seemed to speak more eloquently than words. I chose certain phonemes for their particular sound qualities. In a sense, each song became a world in itself with its own timbre, texture and impulse."

The Tompkins Square reissue faithfully reproduces the original 1971 LP on Increase Records, with textured cover and original insert images and notes, exclusively released in a limited edition for Record Store Day - April 22, 2017.

LP - TSQ5371 / Tompkins Square is distributed by INgrooves and Revolver in North America, Cargo UK for Europe.

Recordstoreday.com
Meredithmonk.com
tompkinssquare.com

xgau:
Dolmen Music [ECM, 1980]
Monk has classical voice training, but I expect it was her folk and rock experience that taught her how to make these almost wordless songs sound so demotic, so literally unrefined--they obviously don't merely "express" emotion, but they don't merely distill it either. On record, the ostinato structures mean that the four shorter pieces composed between 1972 and 1975 come across better than the title work, which lasts 23:39 and features six voices with intermittent accompaniment. But anybody who wants to go further than Lora Logic and Pere Ubu will listen to it all. A-

Alice Gerrard alb is pretty cool, ditto all the Charlie Louvin I've heard, although I haven't heard this 'un. Lena Hughes will have to grow on me more than expected, but def intriguing. Haven't heard Spencer Moore.

5ive Dollar Fridays !
A Weekly Sale from Tompkins Square . . .

Each Friday, we select 4 titles from our deep catalog under a theme, and they're 5 bucks each. Sometimes CD, sometimes vinyl. The only catch is you gotta buy all four, which is still a pretty good deal.

Our theme this week is 'Americana' :

Charlie Louvin - Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs
(w/ William Tyler, Chris Scruggs, Andrew Bird. Notes by Holly George-Warren)
Spencer Moore - s/t
(He witnessed a show by the Original Carter Family)
Alice Gerrard - Follow The Music
(Grammy-nominated, produced by Michael Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger)
Lena Hughes - Queen of the Flat-Top Guitar
(Notes by John Renbourn)

For all 4 CDs, just paypal $20 directly to :
orders at tompkins square dot com
For Canada, add $15
For the rest of the world, add $25

Armstrong update:

TOM ARMSTRONG - THE SKY IS AN EMPTY EYE
OUT TODAY on Tompkins Square
Rare Private-Press LP reissued for the first time on LP/CD/digital

Listen to / share 4 songs from the album
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/sets/tom-armstrong-the-sky-is-an-empty-eye

BUY LP / CD

Tompkins Square's recent double-LP, Imaginational Anthem vol. 8 : The Private Press, shed light on forgotten, impossibly rare guitar recordings spanning several decades. Tom Armstrong's The Sky Is An Empty Eye is the first of several reissues planned by Tompkins Square of full albums by artists featured on IA8.

Armstrong's self-released LP from 1987 sports blissed out acoustic numbers like the one featured on IA8, along with some electric workouts and even a deep psych vocal tune.

** Tom will play a few tunes and sign records at Good Records, 1808 Lower Greenville Ave., Dallas TX on Thursday, May 18th, 8pm **

Never lose that Louvin feelin'(Guessing that Ben was not discovered when Charlie was a teen) (Roland White protesteth too much---he's got the R&R drive)

5ive Dollar Fridays !
A Weekly Sale from Tompkins Square . . .

Each Friday, we select 4 titles from our deep catalog under a theme, and they're 5 bucks each. Sometimes CD, sometimes vinyl. The only catch is you gotta buy all four, which is still a pretty good deal.

Our theme this week is 'Nashville':

Ben Hall - Ben Hall !
(Discovered by Charlie Louvin as a teenager, produced by Eric Ambel)
William Tyler - Behold The Spirit
(His debut album)
Roland White - I Wasn't Born To Rock N Roll
(Reissue of 1976 solo album by bluegrass legend)
Charlie Louvin - Hickory Wind : Live at Gram Parsons Guitar Pull
(Live recording from Gram's hometown of Waycross, GA)

For all 4 CDs, just paypal $20 directly to :
orders at tompkins square dot com
For Canada, add $15
For the rest of the world, add $25
(Don't forget to include your address !)

Behold the Spirit is great, Tyler before he figured out what he was gonna be but more adventurous and stranger

5ive Dollar Fridays !
A Weekly Sale from Tompkins Square . . .

Each Friday, we select 4 titles from our deep catalog under a theme, and they're 5 bucks each. Sometimes CD, sometimes vinyl. The only catch is you gotta buy all four, which is still a pretty good deal.

Our theme this week - "String Dazzlers" :

Peter Walker - Lost Tapes 1970
(Recorded in Levon Helm's living room in Woodstock)
Don Bikoff - Celestial Explosion
(1968 private press reissue. Playing in the UK in May !)
John Hulburt - Opus III
(1972 private press reissue discovered/produced by Ryley Walker)
Mark Fosson - Digging in the Dust
(Unreleased home demos recorded for John Fahey's Takoma label)

The deal is good til next Friday, when we'll pick another four titles for you.

Thanks as always ! .

Lost Tapes is great. Living in the UK, these deals make my teeth itch.

For all 4 CDs, just paypal $20 directly to :
orders at tompkins square dot com
For Canada, add $15
For the rest of the world, add $25 I see what you mean.

(Oops, just came across this, which runs through midnight 5/18 I reckon, with new sale this Fri.)

Weekly Sale from Tompkins Square . . .

Each Friday, we select 4 titles from our deep catalog under a theme, and they're 5 bucks each. Sometimes CD, sometimes vinyl. The only catch is you gotta buy all four, which is still a pretty good deal.

This week, Tompkins Square announced a very special limited edition LP,
The Music of Harry Taussig & Max Ochs, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of their first Takoma recordings.(See site for T&O show info too.)

So it's entirely appropriate for our sale this week to focus around guitar, namely the past 4 volumes of our Imaginational Anthem series :

Imaginational Anthem vol 5
(Steve Gunn, Jordan Fuller, Danny Grody, Nick Schillace, Will Stratton, Bill Orcutt, Daniel Bachman, Eric Carbonara, Tom Lecky, Alexander Turnquist, Cam Deas, Yair Yona)
Imaginational Anthem vol 6 : The Roots of American Primitive Guitar
(Sylvester Weaver, Sam McGee, Riley Puckett, Davy Miller, Lemuel Turner, Frank Hutchison, Bayless Rose)
Imaginational Anthem vol 7
(Chuck Johnson, Sean Proper, Norberto Lobo, Simon Scott, DBH, Jordan Norton, Kyle Fosburgh, Christoph Bruhn, Michael Vallera, Dylan Golden Aycock, M. Mucci, Mariano Rodriguez, Andrew Weathers, Wes Tirey)
Imaginational Anthem vol 8 : The Private Press
(Perry Lederman, The Keithe Lowrie Duet, Michael Kleniec, Lee Murdock, Tom Armstrong, Joe Bethancourt, Kip Dobler, Herb Moore, Nancy Tucker, Larry Conklin, Rick Deitrick, Gary Salzman, Stan Samole, Russell Potter)

For all 4 CDs, just paypal $20 directly to :
orders at tompkins square dot com
For Canada, add $15
For the rest of the world, add $25

Texas Songwriter Will Beeley's Rare LPs from 1971 & 1979 Reissued by Tompkins Square

On June 30th, Tompkins Square will reissue two albums by Texas singer/songwriter Will Beeley - the self-released mega-rare (only 200 copies) private press LP Gallivantin' from 1971, and Passing Dream, originally released by Malaco Records in 1979.

Recorded in San Antonio, Gallivantin' shows Beeley's heartfelt, folky side - a wistful set of original tunes, plus a cover of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" and a spaced-out, 10 minute+ Eastern-influenced psych take on Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Little Wheel Spin And Spin / Co'Dine".

Recorded in Jackson, Mississippi, Passing Dream reveals the shifting musical direction of opposite sides of the 70's - a tougher, huskier, more alt-country sound emerging, presaging modern day troubadours like Chris Stapleton and Jamey Johnson. Released by Malaco Records in 1979, the album features the very first studio credit by guitarist Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Levon Helm), along with drummer James Stroud (Marshall Tucker Band, Eddie Rabbitt), keyboardist Carson Whitsett (Paul Simon, Tony Joe White) and other crack studio players.

Now a truck driver living in New Mexico, Will Beeley recently recorded his first new album since 1979's Passing Dream. Produced by Jerry David DeCicca of The Black Swans (who also produced Larry Jon Wilson's final album), the new one features Michael Guerra (The Mavericks), and is mixed by Stuart Sikes (Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose, Cat Power's The Greatest). The album is slated for release on Tompkins Square sometime in 2018.

PRE-ORDER

Hear / Share a Track

Gallivantin' - CD - TSQ 5395 / LP - TSQ 5401 / digital
Passing Dream - LP only - TSQ 5418
---------------------------------------------------
In his own words, April 2017 :

I grew up in San Antonio, Texas. From the time I could remember I had always made up lyrics so I learned how to play guitar so I could put the lyrics to music. I had gotten into folk music and singer/songwriters like Dylan and Tim Hardin so learning how to play the acoustic guitar was my only choice. Plus with an acoustic guitar you can play it anywhere. A friend of mine named James Harris, taught me the basic chords and showed me how to play "The House Of The Rising Sun," and "Don't Think Twice." Those two songs and Bm had pretty much all the chords I'd ever need to know -- James was right.

I started playing around San Antonio in '67 at a place called Doogie's Stonehenge, near San Antonio college and a folk music coffee house called the Gate House on 4th St. At the Stonehenge I saw people like Townes Van Zandt and singers who played the Austin, Houston, and Dallas clubs. By '69 I was getting warm up spots in some of those clubs. I did the Gallivantin' album in 70 with the financial help of a friend of mine, Phil Pena. We only had 200 copies pressed but it was enough to get the attention of a couple of DJs at KTSA, Ron Houston and Johnny O' Neal, who liked it and started looking around for a label. In '71 Elektra flew me to Memphis and then down to Muscles Shoals to meet with Russ Miller. He liked the new songs I had written and said they'd be interested in 9 months to a year. I was also looked at by Capitol Records and then A&M. Wayne Shuler was a promotion rep for A&M who had done work with Malaco on the Mississippi Fred McDowell album and introduced me to Tommy Couch and Wolf Stephenson. They signed me in late '71. Between '71 and '73 we cut enough tunes for an album. Malaco looked for a label deal to release it and in '74 Malaco released a single called "Rainbow Highway". It charted on a few radio stations but never really went anywhere. I was pretty disappointed and not writing all that much so Malaco released me from my contract, with first refusal on future material, and I went home to San Antonio to concentrate on writing. I got a job selling new cars for a Ford dealer by day and wrote songs by night. In '76 I went back to Malaco and played my new album's worth of songs. Malaco liked them and on the week of the 4th of July '77 we cut the Passing Dream album. The album and the arrangements of the tunes have always been my favorite studio work.

Passing Dream was released in October of '79. A single, "Rainy Sunday/Standing At The Station" came out and went pretty much nowhere. I got airplay on the country stations in San Antonio but very little anywhere else. After playing in honky tonks for a couple of years and not really doing all that well I came to the conclusion that it was time to make some changes. My wife was expecting our second child and getting a real job was the obvious decision. We opened a small record store that lasted less time then my wife's pregnancy. I had been selling more records to clubs than people walking in, and one of the clubs offered me a job as a DJ. This started a career that lasted 21 years. I was moved to Albuquerque where I bought the talent for the Midnight Rodeo for 13 years. We brought in everyone from Willie Nelson to most of the acts that topped the country charts in the '90s. In 2002, I found myself at 51 and too old to be doing what I had been doing for over 20 years and had to start a third stage in my life.

For the last 14 years I've been a long haul truck driver. My wife and I team drive going coast to coast hauling different types of cryogenic frozen liquids--liquid natural gas, liquid nitrogen, and most recently liquid helium. Josh (Rosenthal) contacted me to see if I was interested in the reissue of Gallivantin' and Passing Dream. I was totally surprised there was any interest. I sent Josh a homemade demo of some recent tunes I've written and he blew me away with an idea to record a new album. Half of it are songs I wrote as a follow-up to Passing Dream and the other half new material. I told my wife a few weeks after I sent the demo to Josh I'd love to go back in the studio one more time. My voice has seen better times but the spark was still there. Recording in the 21st century is very different from a hundred years ago. Something else that was interesting was working with people who hadn't been born yet or were toddlers when I wrote the tunes as a follow-up to Passing Dream. Jerry DiCicca did a great job producing the new album. It's very different from Passing Dream and I hope you enjoy it.

touring re 50th Anniversary album mentioned above:
Tompkins Square‏ @tsq2 May 28
More
Max Ochs & Harry Taussig at Down Home Music, El Cerrito CA

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DA8XijjU0AAa32X.jpg

Hear/post a track from Gentle Wilderness:
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/at-morning

Hear/post a track from River Sun River Moon:
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/morningstar-by-rick-deitrick

Tompkins Square is proud to release two solo acoustic guitar albums by Rick Deitrick, out August 25th. Gentle Wilderness was released as a private press LP in 1978.River Sun River Moon consists of previously unreleased recordings from the same time period. Deitrick came to our attention via Brooks Rice and Michael Klausman, who compiled Imaginational Anthem Vol 8 : The Private Press, which features Rick's "Missy Christa" from Gentle Wilderness.

Ohio-born Rick Deitrick took up the guitar at 16 and decided to approach his playing as if he was the only guy on an island and the instrument had just washed ashore one day. According to Rick, "I completely divorced my playing from any formal music knowledge, but it was very important to me to use original tuning. During those years, the sixties/seventies, there was a lot of acoustic guitar playing, often using open tuning as a base. I wanted to create whole tones without de-tuning and keep access to the complex sounds stock tuning provided."

Rick pressed 500 copies of his tranquil solo guitar record, Gentle Wilderness, in 1978 on Niodrara Records, and sold many at performances and directly to music shops who would pay for them. He gave copies to various libraries and left a few albums in the middle of the wilderness, next to trails, "so people would find them." Rick sought inspiration in nature and in particular the various rivers scattered around the Western United States, often composing songs seated beside them -and even occasionally perched on boulders in them. He never played the songs the same way twice and did two passes on each composition in studio. Rick would sometimes literally come straight out of the mountains and rush to the studio to record the ideas he'd gathered. "Missy Christa" was recorded at Mount Olympus studio in Hollywood and was named after Rick's daughter; it was originally composed right next to the Big Sur River where he had been camping.

Rick currently resides in Los Angeles, "still strumming, waiting for the other shoe to drop."

These records are part of an ongoing series of full album reissues from artists featured on Imaginational Anthem vol. 8 : The Private Press. The first was Tom Armstrong'sThe Sky Is An Empty Eye, which just received a 4 star review in MOJO.

TSQ 5456 River Sun River Moon (LP)
TSQ 5432 Gentle Wilderness (LP)
Tompkins Square is distributed by INgrooves and Revolver in NA, Cargo for Europe

Larry Conklin & Jochen Blum - Jackdaw -
Available on LP and via every digital service worldwide - October 6th, 2017

Hear / share a song:
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/water-time-by-larry-conklin-jochen-blum

Larry Conklin bought his first guitar, a Gibson J-45, in 1970, after he got out of the army. "I taught myself to play. I wrote songs and instrumentals (at that time Bert Jansch was my guiding light). I listened to a lot of people - Leo Kottke, John Renbourn, Django Reinhardt, Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson - and especially Rev. Gary Davis, who played only with his thumb and index finger as I did."
Larry's first record, Jackdaw was self-released in 1980 and includes beautiful solo 12 string acoustic guitar tracks, as well as gentle acoustic duets with violinist, Jochen Blum. Larry met Jochen in Florence, Italy, in 1980 and commented that "his violin playing put excitement into my music. It was special. I pressed 300 copies and sent them out into the world."

Larry wrote "The Diamond Cutter" in 1978 while going to Seattle Community College, in a creative writing course. The inspiration for the song, according to Larry "was a girl who wrote a poem to a departing lover - 'You only deal with cut glass. I deal with diamonds.' I introduced myself to her as the Diamond Cutter." In 1985 while living in Berlin, Larry got a letter from a woman in Seattle who informed him that Charles Royer was running for a third term as Mayor of Seattle and that "The Diamond Cutter" was being used as a campaign song. Royer won, November 5th 1985.

Post-Jackdaw, Larry moved to Europe and in 1987 began recording for Tukan Records. In the 21 years that he lived in Europe, Larry toured and recorded with John Renbourn as well as blues artist Sidney "Guitar Crusher" Selby. Larry returned to the United States in 2002 and now lives in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. "My ambition these days is to work up the perfect set list, an evolving challenge, but on any night when I am playing in Hilo I will play "The Diamond Cutter". It's on my set list. It somehow led me here."

Jackdaw is the fourth in an ongoing series of reissues by artists featured on Tompkins Square's recent 2LP set, Imaginational Anthem vol. 8 : The Private Press.

from latest newsletter:

Sonny Clark : The 1960 Time Sessions with George Duvivier and Max Roach Limited edition 2LP set will be released November 24th, 2017
for Record Store Day / Black Friday. Please get with your local indie record store and encourage them to carry it. WBGO has premiered the set.http://wbgo.org/post/sonny-clark-steps-out-shadows-revelatory-new-reissue-1960

Tompkins Square has signed Welsh multi-instrumentalist, Gwenifer Raymond. Her debut LP will be released in early 2018. Check out the new video for her first single, "Sometimes There's Blood."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UudOLTjmgZc

Philip Lewin dropped by WFMU and played songs from his 1975 private press LP, Am I Really Here All Alone ?, reissued by Tompkins Square this year. Listen HERE.
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/75512

Larry Conklin talked to The Stranger in Seattle about his newly reissued 1980 private press LP, Jackdaw.
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/10/24/25485939/how-seattle-folkie-larry-conklin-survived-leeches-and-recorded-the-reissued-1980-cult-classic-jackdaw

Texas singer-songwriter Will Beeley talked to BBC4 about his two 70's LPs reissued (out now on Tompkins Square), heart attacks, and truck driving. Look for a brand new Will Beeley studio LP in 2018!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b095rbtc