I hope this finds you cozying up to a warm cup of cider with all of your Holiday shopping and creating done and ready to be mailed.  But just in case...

 I've got a special Holiday Sale offering for those of you looking to give something a little different this year. I will write and record a 2-3 minute-long song for the young person in your life.

You give me a little info about them and I will do my best to create something simple, sweet and special for them. (Adults are okay, too!) $50 includes a recording of the song, handwritten lyrics and a holiday card from me.

If you are interested, email me at info@judithavers.com and I will ask you for a few special details and stories and then I'll get busy writing. 

Here is a sample I wrote for a young lady I was babysitting.  She is 10 years old and loves reading, singing, magical stories, Red Maple trees and her sister told me she is very kind to others. 

Happy Holidays to each and every one of you,

Judith

I recently did a radio show in Pittsburgh for Neighborhood Voices (neighborhoodvoices.org) and the

Saturday Light Brigade Radio Show. 

Here is a link if you'd like to listen to the show:

http://neighborhoodvoices.org/live-music-judith-avers

Hope you are having a beautiful Fall and a lovely November,

Judith

A little humor on this cloudy September night.  (I've been missing West Virginia.)

Q: How many bluegrass musicians does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Just one...but the rest of the band stands around and complains about it being electric.

I wanted to stop by and express my apologies for not making it to Nettlefest this year AND for getting my CD out a little bit later than I had hoped. 

My sister, Alicea, died and we have been focusing our energies on our family. 

We are all doing okay and I expect to get back to the album soon - it is recorded and mastered and almost ready!  I am planning on booking a couple of short tours to get it out to you so please check back for dates. 

Also, if you'd like to book a house concert or if your church or venue would like me to stop by and sing some songs, please email me at booking@judithavers.com. 

Thanks so much for listening and for all of the kind words,

Judith

Congratulations to Annie Kitchen of Colorado!!  Her cover was chosen after much deliberation as the winner of the God Bless the Brooders CD art contest. 

I would also like to congratulate Rae Munroe of Philadelphia who was the runner up.  We went back and forth and forth and back trying to decide.  You both did incredible covers!!

Rae's entry:

 Annie's contest entry will be the official CD Cover and she will receive $100.  A few of the contestants will also be notified about the possibility of us using their designs on future posters or T-shirts.  So cool!

I want to thank each of you for your entries - they are all so beautiful.  I love that you entered and all of these mean so much to me. 

Much love and thanks for your patience while we were all trying to decide,

Judith

 A few of the finalists:

Thank you to everyone who entered the CD art contest!!!  We received some great entries - I love them all.  : )

To those of you who entered - there are 5 judges (myself included) and I am sending out the submissions this weekend.  We will have a winner in the next week or two. 

Thanks for your patience and we'll keep you posted!!

Muah!

Judith

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause,

judith

The CD art contest is upon us!!  Details above.  Good luck and I can't wait to see what you come up with!!

Love,
Judith

It isn't always a simple thing - making money for music. At times I wonder if pursuing a career in music is wasteful or frivolous. Do you ever get that feeling? I wonder if most artists feel that way at some point. But then a memory comes back to me:

I'm in Lakin, Kansas at my friend Wade's house. It is 1994 and it is early in the morning. There are beer bottles everywhere and we are all hungover from the night before. The sun is shining in and I see Wade walk into the room and flop himself into in oversized puffy chair (red?) in the livingroom. His overgrown blonde hair catches the sunlight and he rubs his face. He leans over to the stereo and starts picking out a tape to listen to. I am lying on his couch in the clothes I wore the day prior looking at the mess that is his house. I hear a woman's voice. I am gone. I don't know who or what this music is. I'm still at the desperate phase of trying to impress my new strange friends (Wade, Brian, John & Chris) out here in this weird Kansas town and am instantly aware of my limited music knowledge.
In Liberal (the town I grew up in), I was raised on country music - Loretta Lynn, Patsy, Willie Nelson, The Mandrel Sisters, and so on. Later, I listened to any music I could get - REM, heavy metal, punk, alternative - always thinking I was pretty musically evolved compared to the rest of my classmates (yeah, right). Lying on the couch listening to music at Wade's house, I was instantly reminded that I was a novice...a newbie......living in a musical microcosm. It wasn't mortifying like you might expect. The music was so smart. The melodies were so familiar yet so strange to me. I wasn't about to pretend to know what I was talking about (as was my style at the time.)

Me: what is this
Wade: Lucinda Williams
Me: Lucinda.....

I hear another song. Two men singing harmonies that sounded like running down the street in the sunshine.

Me: what is this
Wade: The Jayhawks

Another song. A man singing. Deep and full and like Kansas. Beautiful poetry that erases years of pop shmop from my head.
Me: What is this
Wade: Uncle Tupelo

We go on like this - he talks about music with me. He is not trying to teach me anything. He is not trying to convince me to listen. He is just listening to music on a Saturday morning. He makes me a copy of a tape. The first of many that will follow. Years later, I will still be playing that tape at a gas station in Colorado as I check people out at the register. I will be writing pretty lame songs in my sister's basement and trying to reach some level of poetry...some heartland melody...

It's 2011 and I'm still friends with Wade. He gave me a stack of CD's the last time I saw him - I haven't made it through them all. I give him CD's too. He took me out to "help" him feed the cattle and wrangle a bull back into it's field. He and his family cooked while I walked down long dirt trails at his family's ranch - surrounded by fields and sunflowers and grasshoppers that were excited for the company. I'm still a musician and I'm still trying to write music that makes me - and hopefully others - feel the way I did that honeyed morning in Lakin.

Music is the only thing in my life that has ever "stuck." For better or for worse, we are together....these songs and I. I am blessed with a wife who finds value in what I do and who doesn't care if I make twenty bucks at a show or two thousand. I am blessed with artist friends who share their gifts with me. I am blessed with a beautiful pocket of fans who saw it fitting to donate some of their hard-earned money or time to support my latest album.

Overall, I'd say I have it made.

Thank you so very much for giving. I can't wait for the opportunity to do the same.

Much love,
Judith

Thanks for stopping by my website.  We have 28 days left of our Kickstarter campaign!!  In case you don't know about Kickstarter, it is an online organization that helps artists like myself get their projects funded!! 

We are more than half way to our goal of $3000 with 28 days remaining.  Wow!  It is wonderful to see the support and I am so very grateful to those of you who have backed my new album, God Bless the Brooders. 

If you would like to check out my Kickstarter page and see how you can be a part of it, please check out my page at:

http://kck.st/dUfbgd

I also am posting a new video update below. 

If you know anyone who might be interested in my music or supporting this new CD, please pass along this along!  Thanks to each and every one of you.

Hope you are warm and cozy and that the tea is flowing!!

Much love,

Judith

VIDEO UPDATE: