I now have three ukuleles, one tenor in drop E mandolin tuning, (tuned like a mandolin, but with the e string one octave lower), one tenor in traditional ukulele tuning, and a baritone ukulele that I have in octave mandolin tuning. i also have a vintage bowl back mandolin. With these instruments I am exploring the art of songwriting. My original intent was to write music to accompany my flute playing, and some pieces have been written for that purpose. But songwriting has taken center stage in my creative endeavors, at least for now. I have done some songwriting for years, with my celtic folk rock band Rusty Nail, and more recently in Aimless Thieves. In those cases I would come up with lyrics and a vocal melody, and present them to the band, along with a general idea of what the song should sound like. Unable to articulate chord structures, the results were not always what I had envisioned, despite my band mates best efforts. Now I have the freedom to shape the songs in a way I could not before. This has unleashed a flood of creativity, as songs are coming one after another. There has been a lot going on in my life as well, the kind of changes that often produce creative output in an artist. I don't know where these songs will end up at this point, some would fit in Rusty Nail, some would fit Aimless Thieves, but for many others, I don't know where they belong. As part of my solo act, or some future project? That will be decided by the future. A small taste of what I'm working in can be seen in this video and this one. New CD, "Leaving the Path" "Leaving the Path" represents a departure from the traditional, new age style of play that was featured on my first CD, "Rain on Broken Glass". The new record is more upbeat, more energetic and experimental. I've embraced the more diverse world music aspect of my music, with world percussion, kalimba and other instruments backing up the flute. I hope you envoy this new path that I am on.
Chris Otto Leaving the Path is now available on line at CD Baby, Amazon, and ITunes. |
This is not to say that I am giving up the flute, either in live performance or recording. It just means that I am exploring something new, and I must follow this exploration and find out where it leads. If this is a left turn, or a right turn (even a wrong turn?), only time will tell.
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