Carolann Solebello

Hello, friends! 

February flew by so fast I barely had time to appreciate the fact that, save a few sub-zero days at the top of the month, it was far less brutal than your typical New York City February. So much so that on a mid-month OUTDOOR background acting job for a TV episode set on a hot Summer day, we actors did not need to act very much at all. It's a wild world these days, I suppose. I try to enjoy the moment and forget the larger implications of all that wildness, but I digress…

As for music-making,…

Happy New Year! I can still say that, right? It's still January, and I'm still constantly writing (or typing) the wrong year... In any case, if you're reading this, I wish you only good things in 2023 -- light, health, love, and a deeper appreciation of all that is beautiful. 

Honestly, that's pretty much what I'm wishing for myself this year. As I concern myself with the daily business of living, I seek to stay focused on each task or feeling or interaction -- sending an email, having a conversation…

So, when I look at my calendar, it seems there's a whole lotta stuff going on. How is it I sometimes feel I'm standing still?

Perhaps a course in astrophysics or metaphysics or just some vigorous physical activity will help me explain the elastic nature of time and memory or at least get my cranial neurons firing again...

In any case, I'm happy to report that I've actually started recording sessions for a new album at The Wind-UP Shop! Well, one recording session... but still, that's more than zero! So…

And just like that, Summer is nearly over...

Every year, without fail, I marvel at how quickly it slips away. How almost imperceptibly the barest hint of chill slips into the early mornings and late evenings even as the days remain long and steamy. How easily the list of things I was *planning* to do grows longer and the list of things I've actually *accomplished* remains shorter than I'd like it to be. How projects I put on the back burner because "I have plenty of time" are now heating up fast and giving…

On Independence Day, I thought about interdependence instead. Because that's just the kind of weirdo I am. 

I thought about a document so breathtakingly radical it sparked not only a revolution and a new nation, but a whole new way of thinking. In declaring independence from a distant and tyrannical monarch, our nation's founders also declared independence from old and outdated ways of thinking about government and society. 

I thought about how radical the phrase "all men are created equal" must have seemed…

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the SERFA (Southeast Regional Folk Alliance) conference in beautiful Black Mountain NC, in the company of a few hundred kindred spirits.

Regional folk music conferences like SERFA are essentially a gathering of the tribe, where songwriters, musicians, radio hosts, concert presenters, festival organizers, record promoters, producers, engineers, publicists, and others who share a passion for folk and acoustic music come together to share songs, stories…

Here in Brooklyn, crocuses and daffodils are waking up under sidewalk trees and in window boxes, tiny dogs are ditching their metallic down coats (I kid you not) and scampering about in the buff, so I, too, am peeking out from beneath my slouchy hipster beanie and turtleneck with fresh energy and a few new ideas...

More on that later, but for now, I'm excited to report that I've got three live-and-in person SHOWS this month in three different towns not too far north of Manhattan: 

Saturday, April 9th, I'll…

Helloooooooo in there... It's been a minute, hasn't it?

A chilly, dark, frightening minute that might actually have been a year, a decade, a century. It's really hard to say. I don't know about you, but time moves just a little differently for me these days. So much so that I almost didn't notice the days are getting longer and the tourists are coming back to NYC and my kid is about to turn sixteen and I finally -- FINALLY -- have some good news to share with you...

NO FUSS AND FEATHERS, the fearsome…

...well, not quite, but I'm excited. I'm one of those people who deeply enjoys the crisping of the air and the falling of the leaves and the making of the soup and the sharpening of the pencils that comes with the arrival of Autumn. You can keep your pumpkin spice, but I'll meet you for a steaming black coffee and a pumpernickel bagel on a park bench any day of the week come September. And yes, Autumn in New York IS all it's cracked up to be. Most of the time... 

Anyhow, Summer was lovely in that I got to…

...and suddenly, it's Summer!

Things are heating up in more than one way, it seems. I had the privilege of kicking off the new season with my first indoor concert in what seems like forever in front of a LIVE (and vaccinated) audience, and it was positively exhilarating! How wonderful to STAND and SING for other humans without fear of infection or slow internet...

Grateful that there will be more of that in the coming months, in manageable doses. Here's what's up in June:

• VIRTUAL -- June 11-13: "The…