NoWhere Radio
Where Independent music and musicians can still be found, like me: "Folksinger"
Also the place to subscribe to the "Patrons of the Artist"system or order CDs online

Whole Wheat Radio
"independent music for independent minds" webcast from the Alaskan Interior, and I'm in the playlists

STREAMING AND DOWNLOADABLE TRACKS:

Verizon Wireless V-CAST

DISTRIBUTION and LISCENCING

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THE QUICK MENU

CDS - information on CDs, past and present
ORDERS - placing orders for CDs
PATRONS of the ARTIST - support Brian's work by becoming a Patron, the complete explaination of how the system works
COMMENTS -what people have written about my music and the experience of seeing and hearing me play. PROMO - promotional material
EDU - detailed information on my educational programs
ALASKA AIS - specific information on my Alaska schedule for Alaskan educators

The Person:
BIO - a practical simple biography
BRIAN - a personal statement and history
THE PERSONAL PAGES - all the things I've written that relate to me as a person. It is not private, just personal, for friends who wonder where I'm at these days or new friends who'd like to try to know me better.

The Life:
THE VIDEO TOUR JOURNALS - Information, descriptions and links to a series of video tour journals I did in 2000, now available on the internet at

ARCHIVE - collected stories of my yearly tours, 1997 to now, a lot of great stories and pictures of events, travels and adventures, a life of routine extremes out on the edge of the bell curve.

The Hammered Dulcimer:
DULCIMER - an explaination and history of the hammered dulcimer
DULCIBUILDER - Brian's dulcimer-building
ELECTRIC DULCIMER - the story of the electric dulcimer
ELECTRIC DULCIBUILDING - for those interested in building an electric dulcimer

Links and Rings:
LINKS
WEBRINGS

Contact Me:
MAILBOX - options for getting in touch

Hello, I'm Brian the Folksinger and this is the main menu page for my homesite. Below you'll find a short description of each of the sections. Most of these main menu links are available at the top or bottom of most pages throughout the site. Many sections have sub-menus not included in the Main Menu list, and there are applicable cross links between sections. All pages have a return link to here at least. Have fun!

This site reflects what I am really about, no fancy promo or glam shots, no slick marketing, just a simple, unvarnished but practical, sincere and honest connection with the world. It reflects what I am, a Folksinger!

listen to Online Audio at

The "Folksinger" page at Nowhere Radio has a track from the latest CD
as well as on-line ordering of CDs and subscriptions to the Patrons of the Artist system

Whole Wheat Radio
Internet radio from the Alaskan Interior!

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Downloads

Thanks to the work of The Orchard, I am available through on-line digital download services. It is set up with my older CD, but will be the standard for my new releases as I retool my internet presense to the latest standards and developments! The Orchard handles Liscensing and distribution to both online CD retailers and digital distribution networks. I have my own studio and can create custom compositions and recordings, subject to the restrictions of my performance schedule.
Contact the Orchard or contact me directly with your request.

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NEW! coming January 16th! Verizon Wireless V-CAST

I got involved in the internet early on and put my music out a lot of places, some of which I have since intentionally left (like mp3.com), because like a lot of the music business, they basically became unethical as I see it, and I have serious ethics and they come first. Other sites I've just lost track of (I sometimes wonder if they still exist, I ought to go check sometime...), though I stayed in touch with the ones I felt really were out to help independent artists, not just themselves, the present example being my partnership with NoWhere Radio. Anyway, the point is that back then the internet wasn't practically useful compared to performing, and so I focused on keeping the website up and focused my computer time on recording. Still, there are possibly many tracks from older CDs still available at:
IUMA  |  Soundthreads  |  Kanoodle  |  Trax In Space

The WELCOME page provides a more detailed and prosaic introduction to me and my music, including a full description of my site, with imbedded links to all pages.

The BB (Bulletin Board) contains irregularly updated but periodic news reports, and progress reports on various projects and ideas. I usually update it every 3 to 6 months depending on circumstances.

The PATRONS section contains all the information and links for the Patrons of the Artist system which allow people to support my art and work through an annual subscription and recieve all production recordings as they are released, as well as recieving privately released recordings and special news.

The CDS link leads to all information on the CDs I have produced to date, with pictures, descriptions, track lists, and the liner notes and my additional comments on the latest release, "A Hobo's Dulcimer".
The ORDERS section allows you to order available recordings on-line or by mail.

The PROMO section was designed to provide information and promotional materials for venues, with a few references and recomendations. I will admit that promotion is not my strong point, I don't have that type of personality. Honestly, I have an aversion to it. The result is I haven't done much with this section. So it goes.

Perhaps the best way to describe and comment on my music is to share what other people have written about it. I used to keep a book for people to write in at my performances. Maybe I'll start doing that again, and now I get comments e-mailed to me as well. I share the rapport, the beautiful moments the music can make, but it is so fine to hear the experience described from their point of view and in their words. If you want to add to it, feel free to contact me, and I can add your experience to the Comments Page

I am seriously committed to doing Educational Programs, I consider it a responsibility, a duty, and a pleasure.

The EDU section is extensive and growing as I keep expanding my efforts to teach. The are descriptions of my many programs and specific references and recomendations from educators and administrators. I do volunteer programs, though paid engagements help allow me to devote more time in my schedule to teaching. I travel nationally and my schedule is fairly regular though my time is often limited.

I was recently accepted into the State of Alaska's Artist's in the Schools (AIS) program
The ALASKA AIS page is just to keep Alaska schools updated on my available dates, as I still tour most of the year and so I usually have a relatively limited window of opportunity to teach. I also am flexible, so how long I stay in Alaska after the regular festival season depends on what opportunities I have to teach, before heading south to tour.

One thing that makes me unique is that I am a singer who 25 years ago took up the hammered dulcimer to replace my guitar, piano, and congas as my accompanying instrument. As a singer, I wasn't interested in "fiddle tunes", or instrumental music in general, so I approached the hammered dulcimer with an open mind. I saw it as a percussion stringed instrument, a piano brought back to its roots as a percussion instrument, one I could play like a drum, or a drum I could play chords on. I developed a entirely new style of playing to use while singing traditional or modern music in many styles. I also immediately began modifying the traditional dulcimer to serve those ends as well. Eventually I built the first solid-body electric dulcimers, which I am still developing, though for many years now I have played nothing else.

The DULCIMER page contains general and historical information about the Hammered Dulcimer
TheDULCIBUILDER page describes my years of custom dulcimer building
TheELECTRIC DULCIMER page tells the story behind the final result, the world's first 5.5 octave solid-body electric hammered dulcimer.
The ELECTRIC DULCIBUILDING page is a new addition, specifically for and about those who have contacted me recently about building their own electric dulcimers.

On the more personal side:

THE PERSONAL PAGES - is the section I've dedicated for the things I've written that relate to me as a person. It is not private, just personal. Since this website is the place where everyone can find me, I want a place for the few things that aren't about the music, for old friends and new for whom the music is just what I do, and what I am, but isn't the whole story.

The VIDEO TOUR JOURNALS were created during and following my tour to Alaska and back in 2000, starting with my arrival in Alaska and continuing through the end of the year, as I drive south to Missoula, Montana and on to Seattle, then back to Alexandria,Virginia, just outsideWashington, DC. They were intended for for a running tour journal on the internet but the host fell thorough when the internet bubble burst. They've sat since, waiting for the time, energy, and opportunity to do something with them. The recent opening of the Google video site motivated me to finally make them available in 2006.

I don't know where it will go from here, but there's general and detailed descriptions in a Directory of episodes, as well as background on the concept and origins and present state of the first video tour journals.

The ARCHIVE contains extensive journals and stories from my tours and travels, going back many years now, a lot of good stories and pictures. This is perhaps the more accurate reflection of my life, of who and what I am, than all the statements and descriptions. What you do is often more clearly who you are than what you say.
It also contains project reports; like The DAW report, describing in detail buying and building my digital recording studio back in 1998-2000, including links, prices, and sources, and one update on additions I've made since I assembled it.

While I have kept journals and attempted to document the life with the tour journals and photographs, it has always been frustrating. So much happens in a moment, and so many scenes happen in a day, or a life, that are so hard to put into words.
In 1998, a passage I sailed in Further (and contained in the ARCHIVE section) decided me to make the major expansion of my recently aquired digital audio recording gear to include broadcast-quality digital video as well.
TheVideo Tour-Journal (VTJ) page talks about what I have done and what I dream about for this new medium.

Finally!

There is a page of LINKS to artist's networks I belong to and archives I am listed in, including a few links to resouces, link-exchanges, and friends.
TheWEBRINGS page list all the Web Rings this site is connected to.
Neither of these pages is guaranteed to be up to date or accurate, because I am on the road mostly, not on-line, and can't keep up with the constant changes on the web, and can't update or evaluate the links. But they are there, and they are just as likely to be good, depending on the last time I had a chance to update these pages.