It's been a little bit since I've posted.  I was a little depressed because of the whole quarantine situation.  For a moment, I didn't really know which way I was supposed to go.  The pause that quarantine initiated turned out to be a positive situation for me.  It gave me some time to step back from the recording studio we have been building.  We've been working on it seven days a week since the beginning of the year and I had lost a little perspective on what needed to be finished and when.  Now we could see the real tasks at hand.  And that's kept us really busy with a lot of woodwork - sanding, staining, poly-urethaning and epoxying.  Everything is coming together and I think we'll be doing our first sessions late in the summer.

The depression also gave me a bit of inspiration.  And out of that came a new single called Bird on a Fence.

Back in early April, after a few weeks in quarantine, the weather took an unusual turn for the desert; we had three or four days of rain in a row.  As I was making coffee on each of these wet mornings, I watched a dove sitting on our fence. It was soaked by the rain, feathers ruffled and waiting for a break in the weather so it could dry off enough in order to take flight. The dove seemed irritated by the rain. Lots of us were experiencing something similar. Our usual behavior was curbed and many of us were also grounded - like the dove - waiting for changes beyond our control so that we could take back to our lives and the dove could take back to the sky.

Besides the YouTube video of the single above, you can find the single on all digital platforms.  Please add me to your Spotify and Apple Music playlists.

My wife, Susan Kearns, filmed the video while I was recording Bird on a Fence.  The video was shot on our compound in the Mojave Desert.  The new studio is still under construction and so we used the current cabin recording set up and ran microphone cables out to the new live room.  Joshua James Huff did the editing.  Joshua has been an almost constant collaborator the last few years.  He photographed and designed the cover of my first solo album, So Long City and directed The Solar Cabin Sessions.

I'll be opening up the evening on Monday, March 9, for KaiL Baxley.  The show is free.  Music will begin about 8pm.  And Susan Kearns will be joining me on upright bass. KaiL is headlining every Monday in March, and he's bringing a bunch of high desert artists to The Alibi to support him including Stevie from St. Lou and Landroid. 

The Z107.7 Local Music Showcase, which I host, is now available by podcast.  Here are the links to get you there.

http://z1077fm.com/music-and-shows/podcasts/
 
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id393171775

Keep up to date with the latest for this event on Facebook.

Pat Kearns presents an evening of independent music at Landers Brew.

Caitlin Sherman - In an "about damn time" kind of moment, Seattle based singer-songwriter Caitlin Sherman is stepping out solo. She’s had her fair share of collaborations over the years, most notably the cosmic psych rock of Evening Bell and the hazy noir of Slow Skate. As a songwriter and arranger in both projects, she also held the role of girlfriend and wife. Now she is neither. Her debut solo album, Death To The Damsel is a meditation on love lost and independence found in the wake of back to back romantic/musical entanglements. Each song an act to unbind oneself from the past in order to look forward. There will be no White Knight to free the damsel. It’s high time she untie herself from those tracks and make a move. “Find me a fire, I’ll find the escape, an exit from all that we built an invisible stairway, hidden from shame for a quick getaway.” And so that “heroine without a hero needed” emerged with ten songs charting her own path. Dark contemplative songwriting explored through fresh unpredictable pop sensibility, dripping with art and purpose.

Pat Kearns is a singer songwriter and recording engineer originally from Portland, Oregon. His newest album, Down In The Wash (2019), was recorded at his off grid homestead cabin in Landers using solar powered electricity.
https://www.patkearnsmusic.com/bio-and-pics.html

Northern California songwriters Jeremy Powers and William Duke join forces with a new band Sunset Canyoneers, delivering their self-titled debut on eclectic Spanish record label - You Are The Cosmos. A delectable full-length album of organic yet cosmic country folk-rock, it evokes the Gram Parsons-to-Big Star period when intoxicated Southern soul and rustic power pop revived Country and Western and gave rich pleasure to the crossover pop charts.
http://xopublicity.com/epksunsetcanyoneers

I am the new host for the Joshua Tree Local Music Showcase... straight from the news desk at Z107.7 KCDZ, here's the scoop.

"With the departure of Pat Michaels, the long-time host of Z107.7’s Local Music Showcase on Sunday afternoons, a new host has come on board. Managing editor Tami Roleff introduces Pat Kearns…

Pat Kearns, who moved to Landers from Portland, Oregon, and built a home and recording studio that are totally off the grid, has been involved in all aspects of music for 25 years.

“I’ve worked in radio before. I’ve been a professional audio engineer for over 25 years.”
Kearns is also a singer-songwriter, and has released two albums of his own: “So Long City” and “Down in the Wash.”

“ ‘So Long City’ was about saying good-bye to Portland and love affair with the desert down here. ‘Down in the Wash’ was really, once I got to be here, was influenced by the quiet and solitude I found out in Landers.”

Kearns has plans for the Local Music Showcase.

“There’s some local music that I’m in touch with that wasn’t on the show, so I’ve been gathering new artists that aren’t in the library and adding them to the library. And I also want to promote shows that local artists are doing, both in the Morongo Basin, and a lot of people are starting to play at the Alibi down in Palm Springs. I just want to make sure that everyone in the Hi-Desert knows about these things that local musicians are doing.”

The Local Music Showcase, which features the unique sounds of the desert is the only Morongo Basin program of just local artists, can be heard on Z107.7 Radio at 4 p.m. Sundays, right after the Ben Vaughn show.

If you’d like to contact Pat Kearns with suggestions for local music, email him at z1077localmusicshowcase@gmail.com."

My next high desert show!  With some fabulous folks; Kaz Murphy and Sarah Kramer.  More details to follow!

Recently, I spoke with Cathryn Beeks at her trailer in Lucerne Valley for The Listen Local Show podcast.  We talked about everything from my two solo albums (So Long City and Down In The Wash), my old band - Blue Skies For Black Hearts, and the journey we've been on while building our studio at Goat Mountain.  Have a listen here!

I'm getting very, very close to opening my new recording studio out here in the Mojave Desert.  We're naming it Goat Mountain Recording.  It's 100% solar powered. We've been working on this project for just over five years now. I have a long list of folks to credit and to thank who made this undertaking possible.  Hold tight!  I plan to give them their moment in the spotlight when we're ready to fully unveil this amazing studio.  The building is up, we're beginning to build forms for the concrete outside of the building, and the power will be turned on for the first time very soon.  We have one more inspection to pass with San Bernardino County and a lot of sound treatment and studio equipment to set up.  I'm trying not to put too much pressure on us by announcing an opening date, but I expect that we'll be fully operational this Spring.  I will begin to schedule bookings once I have a firm idea when we'll be operational.  Email me to get on the calendar.

I also have two shows coming up in the high desert.  This Saturday, January 18 at The Palms in Wonder Valley.  And February 22 at Furst Wurld in Joshua Tree.  Find more details here: Performances.

I will be playing the Two Bunch Palms Spa and Resort this New Years Eve.  Think of me as your piano man for the evening at a Casablanca meets upscale spa in Desert Hot Springs.  But instead of piano, I'll be playing flat picked and finger picked acoustic guitar and singing songs about the folks and creatures far out in the Mojave.  Susan Kearns will be joining me on upright bass. 

There are two other chances to catch us around the desert before the year ends.  I'll be at the Sugarloaf Cafe from 11am to 2pm on Saturday, December 21.  I can't say enough good things about their food, their staff and their patrons.  Make sure you try the pie!  We will also be playing at the Art Queen Stage in Joshua Tree from 6pm to 8pm on Saturday, December 14 during the Joshua Tree Art Walk which occurs every second Saturday of the month.

Here's Mojave Moonlight (starts at 3:24), which I'm sure we will be playing at each of these shows.  The studio version (recorded in our Solar Powered Cabin) is featured on my album, Down In The Wash, which came out this past May.