Portlandia For Christmas

Hey fellow traveler

Mama here. Currently nursing almost 14 month-old, sniffly Emmett and typing one handed. It is lambswool grey and drizzly here in my hometown of Portland, OR. The TV show is more spot-on than caricature. On this 10 day trip I’ve overheard such gems as “I’ve always wanted a jumpsuit” and “I mean, we are lucky to be very focused on grass-fed, certified organic, free-range, rural consumerism”. I love this town where i had my salad days, but i am deeply grateful to be living in sunny Austin, TX where tacos abound and people are living in a more casual swing.

sweet pic of Bug that my sister, Marisa McClellan of foodinjars.com took!

Bug and i will be headed back to Austin on the 30th whereas Papa will go to San Diego to play a rocking New Year’s Eve show with Steve Poltz. I plan on baking some GF pumpkin bread, walking around our sweet 78704 neighborhood with the pup, writing some songs during naptime, and taking each day as a gift wrapped in news print.

As soon as Papa gets back we are diving headlong into mixing the new record. Mixing means finding the right home for each sound; putting the guitar at the right volume so the vocals can be heard (and more importantly, felt), adding tambourines & chimes like sprinkles, seeing to it that the album is more of a cohesive whole as opposed to a bunch of sounds clunking around in the same time signature. It’s crucial. I can’t wait to hear the final product myself, but i am more excited for the 644 people who pre-ordered the record on Kickstarter to hear what we’ve made. I hope they like it half as much as i’m proud of the thing. That would be a win. Here’s a picture of our amazing folk choir, and yep that is a finger in the upper left corner:

 

Hullo, nice to meet you!

Howdy!

Rose-Press family here. We are a sweet little nuclear unit of acoustic music traveling prowess. We consist of:

  • Papa ~ Andrew Pressman, originally from Carmel Valley, CA on bass, management, phone calls, meat cooking, van packing, lettuce-free, solid as a rock solutions.
  • Mama ~ Raina Rose, originally from Portland, OR on vox guitar & songwriting, social media-ing, gluten-free, sweet potato & kale cooking, joyous minimalist.
  • Baby ~ Emmett Rose Pressman born in Austin, TX in November of 2011, on giggles, yogurt, stumbly mumbly, road tested, good attituded tiny monster.
  • Pup ~ Hopi, found in Arizona, a deserted desert mutt turned glorious folk hound.

We are independent musicians living in Austin, TX the Live Music Capital of the World.  Emmett has proven to be an able traveler. As of the end of 2012 he’s been to over 68 gigs, 7 music festivals, 3 recording sessions, 2 conferences, 18 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

This is the ongoing story of our lives together on the road, attempting to stay healthy & loving while making great music and running after the New American Dream.

the 3 of us at SXSW 2012