My latest album has been reviewed in Europe a handful of times over the past couple of months.  I'm posting links to two of the most recent ones.  One in Dutch and the other in German.  Curiosity got the best of me this morning.  I tried out Google Translate for the first time. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if they were reviews.  I don't speak either Dutch or German.  I speak a tiny bit of French and even less Spanish, but my accent is so terrible, I never speak to anyone.  I'm sure Google translate mangled some meanings along the way, but this turned out to be a pleasant exercise.  Both articles have done their background research!  I think Rootstime must have found my Linkedin profile.  How else could they know I have a background in biology? Musik an Sich really dug into our desert lifestyle here at the Solar Powered Cabin and some nice facts about our favorite desert, The Mojave.

Rootstime

Musik an Sich (German to English translation courtesy of Google below)

"Pat Kearns, born in 1970, is active not only as a musician but also as a record producer, sound engineer and songwriter. Having lived in Portland, Oregon for a long time, in connection with the recording of the album Down In The Wash, there was a drastic change in the life of the musician and his wife.

The two took the risk and moved into the desert, in the Mojave Desert, which includes in its extent the states of California, Utah, Nevada and Arizona. Anyone who has dealt with it in detail will certainly associate the term with Gram Parsons, since his body was secretly burned in this desert.

But now again to the Kearns family. They bought a small home in the desert and live there completely self-sufficient. There is no power and water connection there. When it rains, there is water and the electricity is generated by solar cells. And here and there this record was also recorded and mixed. And this atmosphere must have been very relaxed, it radiates the music anyway. This is pure American, with influences from folk and country, from rock and pop. If I wanted to associate spontaneously, then I spontaneously fell to certain songs of Neil Young (because of the often sluggish rhythm and the harmonica) or John Lennon, but also memories of The Band wake up with me.

All songs are from Kearns, except for # 5, for "No Expectations" Jagger / Richards were responsible. But this piece fits seamlessly into the songstrings. This music is indeed very relaxed and this lascivious character can spread pleasantly to interested listeners. High performance of any kind should not be expected, no frantic solos, no enthusiastic vocal contributions, everything is laidback of the highest degree and very sympathetic in expression."

The Reverberations and The Cool Whips both have songs used in the recently released independent film, Woodstock or Bust.  I haven't been able to watch the full film yet.  You can find it on YouTube, Amazon Prime, and a few other places for around $4.  We attempted to watch the film but it "wasn't available" on our device of choice, an iPad. 

But we did get to watch the trailer, and this film looks fantastic!  It's well shot, tightly edited, and sounds great.  The film is about two teenage singer songwriters that appear to succeed in sneaking their duo into Woodstock.

Splash, by The Cool Whips, was recorded and mixed at my old Portland, Oregon, studio, PermaPress Recording. It appears on their second album, Baddies.  We intended the album to sound like they were a psychedelic garage band from about 1968.  Splash also appears in the trailer for the film after the two heroines have ingested something psychedelic.  With the phazed fuzz guitar and Eric Ramon's drug dream lyrics, "I want to ride on the back of a bumble bee,"  the song is perfectly placed in the trailer.

So Strange by The Reverberations is also used in Woodstock or Bust.  It appears on their recently released LP, Changes. Here's how we made that album.  And here's their fantastic video for that song.

I'm playing an incredible festival featuring loads of high quality, high desert solo artists and bands.  This is going to be a blast!  It's the nearest pub to our compound.  Hit me up if you want to camp on our land!

It's so nice to be back home in the desert after a successful run of shows in the U.K., a fantastic tour through Oregon and Washington with The Adobe Collective, and another year in the books for recording and mixing the Mt. Hood stage at Pickathon for broadcast.

The studio is coming along!  Here's a pic of it from our first evening back home after more than a month away.

While we were very happy to be back home at our Solar Powered Cabin in the Mojave, our resident barn owl that lives in our defunct water tower, was not as pleased as us about our return.  Here's a short recording of her flying over the cabin while scolding Susan and I.