Dear Friends & Listeners,  

This past summer I recorded my eighth album, Common Wealth. Its sound is influenced by the regional flavor of my adopted home in the southeast, new friendships with local jazz musicians, my love for piano, and some deep emotional spelunking, surfacing with gifts to share with all of you. It includes songs many of you have been enjoying in my concerts and asked about such as "Red August", "To Love You This Much", "Grandma Say", and "Learn to Lose".
   
Since 2000 I've made six home-recorded albums and one studio album, Boneset. Studio albums can be costly, and this summer I gave myself the gift of three weeks' studio time at White Star Sound in Louisa, Virginia. It's important to me to give as much consideration to the quality of my new recordings as I've been giving to my songcraft for years. I'm happy to say that eight musicians including myself and co-producer Colin Killalea collaborated beautifully to bring Common Wealth to life. 

Listen to a preview of "Jenny" below, which began as a one-minute song commissioned by a fan earlier this year:

$40k will modestly cover the many expenses involved with independently releasing and promoting an album. See FAQ below for details on how funds will be spent. With your pre-orders and support I aim to cover project costs so that next year when I return to writing songs, teaching and touring I'm able to do so debt-free.  

Please note, crowdfunding is not income--$40k is my actual projected project cost, and does not include paying myself for the months of work involved with recording, promoting, creating merchandise, fulfilling pre-orders and other aspects of independently running an album release campaign through to completion. I say this to highlight that making an album is a labor of love requiring support in ways which may not be obvious without first-hand experience of the process. I trust that in releasing Common Wealth in the way I envision, with your help, that the work will bear fruit in wonderful and unexpected ways as creating and sharing music always does. 

If we reach or surpass the $40k goal 10% of funds will be donated to music education. I was fortunate to have had piano lessons from the age of seven, and continuously benefit from my ability to communicate and socialize through music. This is something I wish for more people of every age. As fundraising progresses I'm sourcing ideas on how we might best allocate $4k+. We could choose to gift instruments to a school or elder center, help fund an open mic for teens, etc. Let's think about it.

Please help me launch Common Wealth in whichever way/s you can--any support you provide will really help! There are various means of pre-order and support available on this page, including purchasing the new album as a digital download, signed CD or vinyl, handwritten lyrics, original song, house concert, singing & songwriting workshop, a special concert hangout package, and more. Please get in touch if there's something you'd like to see added here!

Sharing news about this campaign over any social media outlets you engage with is another great way to help. I'm posting project updates on Instagram & Facebook including new musical and creative content each day. If you write for media and are willing to host an interview or post mention of my album campaign please contact me. 

I love making music to share with all of you. Thank you.

-Diane

FAQ
What will $40k cover?
$5000 Studio Rental
$4900 Musicians & Engineer (not including Diane)
$1500 Mixing
$800 Mastering
$500 Cover Art
$4800 Vinyl Pressing--500 units + packaging & shipping
$1500 CD Pressing--500 units + packaging & shipping
$6000 Album Promo Campaign (PR company, 4-mo. commitment, av. $1500/month)
$5000 1-2 Music Videos (quality yet low-budget, hiring for services) 
$450 Promo Photos
$1000 T-shirts + other merch supplies
$1500 Intern to help with fulfilments
$1200 Credit card fees (3% of $40k)
$1250 Overseas postage on pre-orders, est. 50 @ $25 per order
$600 US postage on pre-orders, est. 200 @ $3 per order
$4000 10% of project goal donated to music education
$40,000 total

What will you do if the project doesn't make its funding goal?  To begin with, funds planned for promotion, music videos, and donation to music education would need to be reduced or excluded. Let's make the goal!