Episode 21 – Frank Migliorelli

Best known as guitarist and frontman of The Dirt Nappers, Frank Migliorelli is a formidable solo artist as well.

Frank has written and published a library of music for advertising agencies, children's publishers, and video game projects. He's been a finalist in top songwriting competitions. As a producer, he’s recorded such great artists including the award-winning duo "Satan and Adam”—now featured in an award-winning documentary, "Bill Perry: Love Scars," The Uptown Horns and a number of other album releases. He's written and produced music for a 20th Century Fox "X-Files" video game, numerous  children’s video games for Scholastic and Sunburst, and even wrote a soundtrack for a "Chippendales" video. “When you’ve done everything from writing music for little kids, ad agencies and half-naked guys in bowties,” says Migliorelli, “you want to step back and try something different.” When The Dirt Nappers take the stage, you are in for a night of  the best of Americana folk, rock n' roll and soul around.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome to yet another edition of Acoustic Northeast, bringing you the singers-songwriters and acoustic music scene of the Northeast U.S. We chat about music with singers-songwriters. We talk about topics that are important to them. And maybe best of all, you get to hear them play live for you in studio, which is located in beautiful historic Brewster, New York. I am co-host Dave Goldenberg.

SPEAKER_04 0:30

And I am your other co-host, George Malice. And we do have sponsors. We're brought to you by, first of all, hereathear.com, which is run by Elisa Zuckerberg. And uh if you have a gig in the tri-state area, post it on hereathere.com. Or if you're looking for places to go with live music, you can go to their website, her website, and check out what's going on in your area. We're also brought to you by Hudson Harding Folk Radio Promoters. You can get a hold of them. Check them out on Facebook. And also we're sponsored by WBXO Internet Radio, WBXO.com, and they stream our show there as well. You can listen to our show wherever you get your podcast, and you're listening now, so. And also please subscribe. We are also on YouTube and AcousticNortheast.com. We post the song performances of our guests on our YouTube channel. Also, listen to our Acoustic Northeast Spotify playlist, which features past and future musicians that we have here in studio. And today in studio, we're lucky to have a great singer-songwriter. His name is Frank Migliorelli. Frank, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Hey guys, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_04 1:48

We appreciate you making the ride over here. Why don't you kick us off with a tune so that people can get an idea of who Frank Migli Migliorelli is? I'm gonna screw your name up a few times.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

That's all right.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

It's been happening for years.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Tell us what you're gonna play. Uh this is a tune called Take the Wheel. This is actually the opening cut for our new album, which is coming out in July, um, July 10th to be exact. And uh kind of wrote this one when I was uh locked down in COVID. It's called Take De uh Take the Wheel.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

I got a wide line fever popping in my vein. Walls of this cabin on making me insane. I got a key for the gas or let's run it to the ground, talking with too long about getting out of town. Polish choppy jackets we're going for a ride. Highway, way too far a spring, walk outside, put on a leopard skin jacket, another minute cut, just turn up some trouble, yeah. We're taking up some doubt, take the wheel. Baby, grab the keys and take the wheel. We're gonna drive on out and take the wheel. Get your motor running. Roll down the window, baby. Don't you hear it on it? I'll push it on the pedal, slam it to the floor. Keep your renting on in the pretty highway, roll. You're looking pretty perfect, girl. I love the way you drive. Turn up the music, make the highway, come alive. I'll take the wheel, baby. Baby, grab the keys and take the wheel. We're gonna drive all night and take the wheel. You go to running. Roll down the window, baby. Don't you know? And yeah, you look like Bonnie Papa with that mask across her face. Knockin' off a little stove, running out of state. Taking all the back on top of the tank off do it gas. The cops will never catch us, cause we don't use easy pets. Yeah, you look like Bonnie Popper with that mask across your face. We're knocking off a little stove running out of state. Taking all the backwards, got the tangle filled with gas. The cops will never catch us loads. Don't use these pants. I got white life feeble popping in my face. All of this cabin, I'll make it wind. I gotta get full of gas, bro. Let's run it to the ground. Talkin' way too long about getting out of town. Talkin' way too long. Talkin' way too long. I'll take the wheel back. Baby, grab the teaser, take the wheel. We gonna drive all night and take the wheel. Take the wheel back. Drive all night and take the wheel. Drive all night and take the wheel.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

That's Frank Migliarelli live in studio, White Line Fever. I just love American road songs, and that has that has all of it. The drugs, the white line, Bonnie and Clyde love it. So, Frank, you um are known really as the front man for of Frank Migliarelli and the dirt nappers. We're fortunate to have you solo in the studio today. Tell us a little bit about the band and and how y'all got together.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Um well the nappers, I started that um it was about 2014, 2015. I hadn't really seriously thought about like putting out records and um you know, really getting back to songwriting. I had kind of dabbled in it um over um a little earlier um in that decade. And then I got I didn't like the the way that that project was going. So I just pulled a plug and I said, I gotta start a new band. And uh I really want I took like a lot of the songs that um that I really liked that I said I'm gonna really record these. And I just started looking for really good players, and um just put the word out, and uh uh one of the first guys I brought on was uh Tony Tino on uh on bass, who's amazing. He's actually out uh off Broadway right now in uh Music City, the new uh musical about singer-songwriters, which is kind of cool. And um uh I had the great uh late great uh Duncan Cleary on guitar, um, who unfortunately passed away and just started putting a call out. Um Jeremy Baum played on the album. He's a Hudson Valley guy, and uh I just knew I knew a lot of musicians, so we just started like kind of pulling guys together, and um really the core kind of formed by the second album, third album. The guys who had played before kind of stuck around. Um Tony's been with me since the beginning. Cheryl Marshall's been singing back up. Um I've known Cheryl for years from the days of like Tramps and the Uptown Horns rhythm review. Yeah, yeah, no, and um and uh Tony brought in uh Dan Weiss on keyboards, who's been amazing um to play with. And uh actually yeah, Tony's responsible for a lot of this because uh he he said, uh, you know, uh we were working with um on the second album with um Andy um um Tanya's ex-husband. I can't remember I can't remember his uh last name, but he he was moving down to Nashville, so um he got uh Thad DeBrock to come up, and that was kind of like everything solidified. Um so it's really since the second album, there's been this core group of guys. The drummers kind of been rotating through every now and then as they do.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Like Spinal Tap, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:05

Yeah, very much like Spinal Tap. It's really funny.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

When did you inform them that they were going to be known as dirt nappers?

SPEAKER_03 8:10

Uh the first album. Um I I was like, I gotta come up with a concept for this. And I was at the um I I used to work down on uh 21st Street, and um and I would go to lunch over at the old town bar on 18th Street.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

I I worked at Chiate Day back then.

SPEAKER_03 8:27

Yeah, okay. So we're kinda in the same neighborhood. And um I was sitting at the bar once, and uh Jennifer, who was uh the waitress there, who was also a great concert pianist, said, You look really tired today. And I go, Yeah, I got I need a rest. But I said I'll sleep when I'm dead. And she said, Well, when? When you take the big dirt nap? And I was like, Dirt? I never heard that before. And I was like, What a great name for a band. So I had the name for the band. I rushed back to the office and registered dirt nappers, and then I was like, boom, okay, I got the concept for the band. And then, you know, it it's been, you know, just a really good bunch of players and musicians who have signed on. And uh it's just been it's just been a lot of fun. Our drummer at the moment out is not at the moment, he's been um with us for a while, is uh um Tom Sagusa, who um was with uh the Asberry Jukes, right? And Southside retired. So um a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_04 9:27

Yeah, well now this past year. This past year.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

Yeah, Tommy Deal um drummed with us, but he kind of moved out to eastern Connecticut and had a kid, so it's been kind of tough. And uh um Phil Semino also drummed with us, who's an amazing drummer. Um played with Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles and stuff. So I've just been so fortunate to have these great musicians. And when you you show up, you play a note with us, you're a dirt napper. So there you go.

SPEAKER_04 9:54

Where where did you hail from originally? Where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_03 9:57

Um I was born in the Bronx, Northeast Bronx. Okay. Grew up on Kingsland Avenue, and then my parents moved to Pelham. Um you know, where I spent.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

I know it well. I was right on the border in Neuro Shell, right on the side. Oh, all right.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

That's upstate. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:11

That's upstate. Right, right. Not really. Once you're out of the Bronx, once you're north of the Bronx. I grew up on Long Island, so that's okay. Yeah, north of the Bronx is upstate. So you hung out on North Avenue and hung out at the barge. Sure. Absolutely. Which bar did you go to up there? Which didn't you go to?

SPEAKER_03 10:27

Yeah, that's more like it. Uh was it Church Key? Church Key. Oh man, we're gonna be. We used to hang at the barge though a lot.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Oh, yeah, down off of Pelham Road. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was it. That was a quick one. Greasy Nicks was a good place. Greasy Nicks. I went to school with the guy who who owns Greasy Nicks. Oh god. Yeah, small world, man. Steamers, man. Oh yeah. Steamers, great burgers. With with meant you want cooked onions.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

Yeah, and the corn. You got an ear of corn with lathered with butter. It was just like hungry now. Oh, it's good. It's good.

SPEAKER_04 10:58

But you don't eat meat, dude. So you'd have the corn and the butter. Corn. Corn? Yeah. But anyway, um, yeah, that's interesting. I didn't know, I didn't know where you hailed from. So was there music um in your home like growing up?

SPEAKER_03 11:12

Yeah, yeah. Um, I I got remember um like my parents also had a big stereo system. Like my father, I think, built a bogan amp, one of those you know, homemade things with tubes, and uh he built his own speaker cabinets and stuff, which was kind of cool. We had and the thing used to get hot. It had a like a smell of like cooking tubes to it. But um what was your what was your dad listening to? Um, it was more of my mom, actually. Really? Yeah, my mom had um, you know, they had it was funny because I listened to one of your last other podcasts, a woman who was talking about show tunes, and I was like, Yeah, my mom like had show tunes on all the time. So I was, you know, got exposed to that early. And um, I don't know what it was with my mom, but she um she would just buy us records, um, which was kind of cool. And um, like I'd come home and that early VJ Beatles record was in our living room, which I wish I still had it. We kind of chewed it to pieces. Um, but you know, everything from uh, you know, singles of 45, she would come out and like throw one on the table, which is so we always had music, no one was playing anything. Um, she bought my dad a guitar once, thinking that he was gonna learn, and it stayed up on top of the China cabinet for years until I pulled it down and said, What is this?

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Yeah. So how old were you?

SPEAKER_03 12:34

When I started playing guitar, I don't know, 10, 11, something like that, uh 12, maybe, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:40

So your influences were basically what you're hearing come around the house.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

Yeah, and and you know, we listened to a lot of radio, and yeah, and I don't know if you remember, but like AM radio was great. I was like, W W M A W A B C W W DJ were like amazing stations. You would hear Edwin Starr and Stevie Wonder and then turn around they play Led Zeppelin, and you were like, What? You know, yeah, and it was amazing. So I had a little Sony transistor I used to keep under my pillow at night, and I would just listen to so much music. Um I I do remember the the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and then um to us anything like a broom, a hockey stick, a baseball bat was a guitar, and we would just air like guitar like lunatics, and we wanted to be. Um, I'm not a fan of his anymore, Billy Falcon. He's kind of gone a little right wing on me, but um, he had a great line in one of his songs. He said, We were all vaccinated with a phonograph needle. That's why I I can't stop shaking. I still want to be a beetle, and uh like so I grew up in that era, yeah. Um, but I love the stones. I was more like into the stones and the doors. So you're a rocker.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

You're a little ballads, but uh you're also very melodic.

SPEAKER_04 13:56

Yeah. Which probably, you know, probably comes from listening to AM radio and listening to show tunes. Oh, definitely. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

You guys discussed that well in the that episode. Yeah. The monkeys were huge for me, also. Really? Did you like did you watch the show Monday nights, seven o'clock, seven thirty? Wrote to them for their autographs, um, you know, had I still have all the records. Do you have a favorite monkey? Um I gotta say Mickey Dolan's. Yeah, well, he's the only one still alive. Still and that guy, totally underrated, sings like a bird. I agree. Love Mike Nesmith. I've listened to all his solo albums.

SPEAKER_04 14:35

He was really the the one real musician.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Well, Peter Torque was also.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

He's a keyboard player.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

He was the bass player, keyboard player.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

He toured for a long time after.

SPEAKER_04 14:47

But as far as writing goes, I think it was Nesmith more than that.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

Yeah, and Boyce and Heart were the writers behind the machine kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

So when did you discover that you were a songwriter?

SPEAKER_03 14:59

Um I probably I wrote a couple of like really bad broken heart tunes in high school. Yeah. Yeah. And um but they're all right, you know. But um I don't know, I just uh started doing it. Um I was like, oh, I want to write songs. And then as I got a little older, and I was in um I was in Michigan for a while, um going to school. Um we had a band, there was a battle of the bands, and we won, we were in the top three the first year, but we only had one original song that I wrote. And that that was the critique was this is a great band, but they need more original songs. So the next year I just sat down and started writing songs left and right, and that's I just kind of never stopped. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:42

So you know, but you just don't write songs for yourself. You did you did songwriting and stuff for uh advertising agencies and stuff like that. How did you get into that?

SPEAKER_03 15:52

And um I was um I have a background in digital media, okay, and um I kind of uh did a lot of work with um in the early days of like Apple Computer and stuff like that, helping people understand how to use computers, um, how to teach with them and and learn with them. And um after doing that for a number of years, um I got an offer from a company in Pleasantville, Sunburst, um, which was a media company that was wanted to get into CD-rom production and uh for classroom stuff for kids to learn, basically making computer games for kids that taught them.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

And uh so I walked in there and there was a great animator there, and there was a couple really good educators, and um we realized we had to do a demo for this publisher in the next day or two. And someone said, Well, we need music, and I was like, Well, I could play guitar and I got like a recording studio where I just kind of noodle around. So I wrote all the kids' songs for these demos and then became like the house composer for um this publishing company, and we must have written probably 60, 70 kids tunes that got published, so it's kind of cool. And I I worked for um a number of different media companies would hire us and done jingles, we did uh stuff for Scholastic. I'm sure you know remember Scholastic and stuff. So that was kind of fun.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

What's it like writing on demand? It's one thing when you know you're walking down the street and you see a sign or somebody says something that speaks to you, but when you're given a creative brief and say this is what we need, how does that work?

SPEAKER_03 17:27

I actually find that easier than coming up with original songs. Like we were doing this um this science series, the kids were learning about dinosaurs, for example. I was like, okay, so I gotta write these three songs about dinosaurs. I saw what they were learning about. And one thing I noticed about kids is kids love to memorize dinosaur names. So I was like, okay, that's a you know, you ask a kid what their famous favorite dinosaur is, and they were telling so I was like, so why not write a song of like the dinosaur hall of fame? Turned out to be a huge like kid hit with this like CD. I still get emails from people because it's up on YouTube somewhere, and uh people say, Oh, I remember the song when I was a kid. Yeah, it's called the Dinosaur Hall of Fame.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

So anyway, give us a couple bars from it. Come on.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

I couldn't do it. No, no, there's like, but you know, we probably did like 40 of those kinds of songs, like schoolhouse rock kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 18:24

Yeah, well, you did an album. You did an album of kids' songs too.

SPEAKER_03 18:27

Yeah, that was an idea I had because uh um one of the things growing up was we my mom really pushed us to read and learn how to read. And um so we were all like early readers, and and we always had we had the the book of the month club came in the mail and stuff like that. And uh I always loved kids' books, and I still I was like a creepy old guy going into a kids' book story, you know, books of wonder and stuff. But I I'm like um I I love kids' books, they're funny, they're like nuts, you could goof with kids with them and everything. And I always thought like a good book, like every good book should have a good song to it. So like I thought about like Mike Mulligan as a natural, you know, steam shovel, and it's one of my favorites five Chinese Brothers, even though people have like maligned that book now for the wrong reasons. But um Makeway for Ducklings. Makeway for ducklings would be a good one. Where the wild things are. Great idea what a framework. So we you know, got all these. Uh it was during COVID, and we did the whole album remote. And and uh I wanted to kind of like just celebrate these kids' books. Yeah, I got a copy of it and I gave it to my great niece and nephew.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

Yeah, I don't I don't think I think I stole it. I don't think I bought it actually.

SPEAKER_03 19:45

I have one in my bag if you want. But um, yeah, we did that one remotely um because everyone was in lockdown, and I said, guys, we're not gonna have a uh you know gig soon, so let's uh let's make a kids record. And they were all then we had a blast. That was great. Yeah, we had Susie, we got some of Springsteen's people, and Tanya joined us from the Ivid Brothers and guys from uh um Porter Carroll from uh Hall and Oats. It was great. Fantastic. It was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_04 20:14

Fantastic. Yeah, that's um that's definitely do you want to write a kid's song, Dave? I've written many kids' songs.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

Well, that's right. You wrote for Nickelodeon, right? I I loved working with kids because it they're liberated in a way that grown-ups are not you know, they can't be nonlinear, you know, completely non-linear.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

Yeah, they love it, and they'll love any style. So we would write in reggae, we would write in soul, we would write in different modes. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

All right, so why don't um why don't you give us another song? Maybe a grown-up song. Grown-up song.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Um let me do um this is off the new record, um, also. Um, and this is we actually did it as a duet with um Tanya Elizabeth, who um was up in Beacon and I met her um with Andy Stack. Um, she was married to Andy Stack, but they have since split up. But Tanya moved down to Nashville and became the uh fiddle player for the Avid Brothers. And um I was running a songwriter um series in Croton years ago, and uh Tanya did it one night, and we just always stayed in touch, and she was on the kids' record. And when I came up with this song, I just imagined her singing it with me. But since I can't have her show up everywhere I play, I figure I better learn how to do this myself. So this is called She's Been Waiting Forever.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

She waited for night to fall, waited for man to call. She waited, yeah, she waited. It often ended up that way. Time slipped into another day. She waited. Yeah, she waited. Seems like she's been waiting forever. She stares out from a window seat. She waited. Yes, she waited. She comes potted every steam and waves of threads back in her dream. She waited. She waited. It seems like she's a waiting forever. Holds a breath and she does and breathes. She waited. Yeah, she waited. She shuts the doors and walks away. Hangs a hope for one more day. She waited. Yeah, she waited. She's been a waiting forever. Waiting forever. Waiting forever.

SPEAKER_04 24:54

That's Frank Migliurelli. Thank you. Beautiful song. Here on Acoustic Northeast. So let's talk about the new album. Because um and the title is Abnormal Conditions, and uh it's out in July. And there is a cut on there called Is It Michigan? So talk about that. You the um the influence of Michigan on on that. You were well, you went to school there?

SPEAKER_03 25:20

Yeah, yeah, I went to state.

SPEAKER_04 25:23

So you did like five years there? Is that what it was? Yeah, I think it was. So you did the five-year plan?

SPEAKER_03 25:28

No, I think I just hung out like uh four or five years. Um and um yeah, I just you know, i it's pretty funny that uh all these years later, you know, I still go back there, I still visit people. Um the best friends of my life are there. And you know, my wife says, I just can't believe you guys. Like we're we have a never-ending um text thread. These are the guys I played in bands with and lived with, and um it's also just a very beautiful place. I mean, I love New York. New York is a gorgeous state. Um, and um, you know, people when they think about Michigan, they think about Motown, they think about Detroit and stuff like that, or the Flint lead crisis. But Michigan is one of the most beautiful places. I mean, if you've never been like standing on Lake Superior, it's like insane, it's gorgeous. Um, I tried to talk my wife into like going camping on our honeymoon at Isle Royal, which is the little island in the middle of Lake Superior. She was like, No, we're going to Portugal. But um, you know, um Michigan, Portugal. But they and uh, you know, uh about a year ago I said, you know, I really I love these guys. I love I I I do miss that place. I miss um, you know, Michigan State's an amazing place to be. And um I just started, I thought I was writing like a kind of a mellow tune, but it turned out to be a rocker. It's very very much like uh got a great Neil Young vibe to it.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

It's Heartland Rock.

SPEAKER_03 26:56

It is very Heartland Rock, and the initial we just released it as a single two weeks ago, and people are digging it. Um I get the radio reports today, but um we s when we sent it out, usually you get a bunch of passes, you know, on the radio reports. And we I don't think we got any like hard passes on everyone said we're gonna review this sounds good, so hopefully, you know, that'll that'll be a good precursor for when we release the the main record. But um the band rocks on it. Um, and we had uh Lisa Lowell and uh Suzy Tyrell um singing back up with Cheryl Marshall um on it. Lisa and Susie and Cheryl with the original Banshees of Blue, right? Um, the hot hot um David Johansson's Alter Ego, Buster Pointexter. And uh Lisa and Susie are out right now with uh Mr. Springsteen as a part of the E Street band, which is cool.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

That's great.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

That's yeah, really nice having them on the record. Well, good luck with the album.

SPEAKER_04 27:53

I wanted to talk a little bit about because you made a move a few years ago. You moved upstate and now you're would it be safe to say that you I don't know if I want to call you a farmer?

SPEAKER_03 28:03

No, don't call me a farmer. No, no, you're a land manager manager.

SPEAKER_04 28:09

Tell tell everybody about that because it's really it's a beautiful thing that you're doing up there.

SPEAKER_03 28:14

Yeah, my dad um my dad grew up on a farm in the Bronx where Co-op City is now, and um, you know, he uh he went on to go to medical school and became a surgeon, but he wanted to own a farm again. He wanted to get back to the farm and he started buying land up in uh Dutchess County, northern Dutchess County. And um he started a dairy business up there. We had 250 cows, and um that went on for a number of years. But um it was uh somehow they had one point amassed like a thousand acres, and uh my dad got sick, got Alzheimer's, and you know, we just started downsizing and selling off pieces and things like that. And uh this was actually right before COVID. Um my um my wife and I sold our house in Croton, and we were like, we gotta find a place to live. We've been going up to the farm to kind of manage that transition. But so we decided to move up there full-time and we bought out the last remaining 220 acres. Um, and we started a community farm where people could come and they could grow their own vegetables, which is cool. Um, so this year we have about 25 families with plots, which is amazing. Um and we started these big plots, but we call them community food plots, and we grow vegetables and donate them to um Red Hook Response, who they actually cook meals, they have a community kitchen and deliver meals. If you need a meal, you call Red Hook Responds and say, I want two dinners, and they bring the food to them. So um, since we started this in 2021, or whenever we started during COVID, um, I don't know, we uh donated probably close to 9,000 pounds of food. Um, we took a hiatus for last year because my daughter got married, um, and so we couldn't handle it. But we just started up the community food program again, so we're pretty psyched. So it's beautiful to get back like that. No, it's cool. You know, I I love the Hudson Valley, it's beautiful. Um there's great art, there's great music, there's great restaurants, but it really hurts when you drive through town and you see people lined up at the pantries for food. And uh it's wonderful. You could farm to table this and talk about who's chefing this and that and I hate that. Uh you know, especially when we should be growing food and just giving it to people. So anyway.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

So when when is it since since you have this big farm, when are you gonna be Max Yasger and hold a festival?

SPEAKER_03 30:45

We've had a couple of festivals up there. We did a couple of Day of the Deads, which um were really nicely attended, but unfortunately, given the political climate, we've been a little hesitant to do one of those uh again. Um because I don't yeah, yeah, no, it's it's bad.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

That's a scary thought, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 31:01

Yeah, yeah, no, it sucks. Um and then we have um uh we we had uh two spring festivals where we raised money for the um local elementary school um garden program. But um it takes a lot of work to put on these things, and we've had we had music, we had um you know people playing and and stuff like that. 500 people showed up. So I don't want to be Maxiasgar. Um but no, we have a a bunch of uh two farmers who have a a beef business who grow hay on our farm, so we're able to sustain that. Um we have a flower farm. My wife is turned into a dahlia maniac. Where's this farm located?

SPEAKER_02 31:41

It's up in Red Hook. So where in Red Hook?

SPEAKER_03 31:43

Is it or do you have a website so people uh yeah, it's uh oh yeah, I should tell you the name Four Corners Four Corners Community Farm, FourCornersFarm.org. Um you could find out about the farm. And where can people go to find your music? Uh dirtnappers.com, uh bandcamp. Um sign up for the newsletter on the website at dirtnappers.com. So it's all good.

SPEAKER_04 32:07

Yeah, so um thanks for making the ride down from Red Host. No problem. Yeah, no, we appreciate it and good luck with the album. It sounds like you're gonna get some great traction.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hopefully. And uh good.

SPEAKER_04 32:20

And it's just it's just great to keep writing and keep being productive and lead leading a good life that you guys are doing.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

That's what we do, I guess, you know. Yeah, you're still writing, right?

SPEAKER_04 32:28

Well, we're all still, you know. I mean, you know, we ask people, we've had you know a lot of people on the podcast, and you know, most of them say, you know, if we ask them a question, why do you write, or whatever, they go, it's just like what you said, because that's what we do. It's in our blood. Even if the song doesn't go anywhere, I'll slight this one. We don't write necessarily, we don't write for the radio, for God's sake. We write for ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

No, definitely. And uh that's what it's all about. I do it for the money, but I understand what you mean. Yeah, uh we all do, but okay, the money.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

Yeah, the pennies from Spotify. There's a song for you. Pennies from Spotify. Okay, well we're gonna make me cry. You know, we need to send this out to all our listeners and say, write a song with the title Pennies from Spotify. And the best one we'll play it on the air. Oh, that's a joke.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Send it to right, send it to acousticnortheast at gmail.com. That's a great idea, George. It's our first contest.

SPEAKER_04 33:29

And then we'll our and then our podcast will be banned from Spotify. That could be a badge of honor, though. Yeah, you know, there's so many people who are saying, I don't want my stuff on Spotify. But unfortunately, if you want to get heard, you you still gotta be there. Yeah. But anyway, so what are you gonna play us?

SPEAKER_03 33:49

I'll do one more for you. This is um I I um bumped into Marshall Crenshaw at uh uh a movie screening one night, and um was talk to uh we were talking about stuff, and it turned out he lives in um next town over from me. And he said, Oh, I come over to Red Hook all the time to charge my car in your town hall because no one ever uses those chargers. So I was like, uh that's pretty funny. I said, Marshall, I'm working on a new record. I said if uh you come over to charge your car, come over and sing backup on this tune. I got this like very crenshaw-ish tune for you. And he was like, Oh, uh, yeah, send it to me. I'll give you listen. He emails me back, he goes, Okay, I'll be over in a couple weeks. And so anyway, I got Marshall to sing harmony on this.

SPEAKER_04 34:31

Marshall Crenshaw, unbelievable. Yeah, he was a pretty great writer.

SPEAKER_03 34:34

Yeah, oh my god, my god. He's doing he's still out there, he's uh he's bomping around uh with a trio right now, doing a little mini tour. So um, so anyway, this is uh ever since ever since you went away, and um it was like a perfect Marshall Crenshaw kind of blend.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

So Will I spend my days at the matinee, the only place during the day that I can hide away, had the tears in my eyes. Since we went away, I don't go out in the time. I wear red and glass across my face, look straight ahead and walk with the face of a sad man Whose heart is broken too. Since you went away, figure out what I'm gonna do. Cause you don't know what it's like. Trying to hide from the light of day. Feel much better when the night comes down. No one's ever gonna stream in this way. Trying to hide from the light of day. Spend my time in a lonely room, waiting for the day for me to break. I feel much better when the night comes down. No one's ever gone to see me the next way I don't talk. People we used to know all the places we used to go. Don't stop a broken alone, ask me every day. It's been like this ever since you went away.

SPEAKER_03 37:16

Thanks for having me, guys.