Gillian will be completing a month-long tour of Italy and Sicily in March and April for RockettaBooking. See below for the complete tour schedule:

giovedì 28 marzo: IL CONVIVIO, Modica (RG)
venerdì 29 marzo: PIZZAPEPPER, Siracusa
sabato 30 marzo: AL KENISA, Enna
domenica 31 marzo: LA CHIAVE, Catania
mercoledì 3 aprile: BIRRERIA 34, Taurianova (RC)
giovedì 4 aprile: MOLLY MALONE, Lecce
venerdì 5 aprile: KEY DRUM, Sarno (SA)
sabato 6 aprile: BAR PINO, Campagna (SA)
domenica 7 aprile: GODOT ART BISTROT, Avellino
lunedì 8 aprile: LE MURA, Roma
martedì 9 aprile: FAT, Terni
mercoledì 10 aprile: “InModoAcustico” @ BAR MODO INFOSHOP, Bologna
giovedì 11 aprile: LENINGRAD CAFÉ, Pisa
venerdì 12 aprile: LA MELA DI NEWTON, Padova
sabato 13 aprile: BAGNO SOLO SOLE, Cervia (RA)
domenica 14 aprile: LOCANDA SAN ROCCO, Fermo (AP)
lunedì 15 aprile: CIRCOLO ARCI LEBOWSKI, Gioia del Colle (BA)
April 16: Foggia, Italy: Tolleranzazero
April 17: Reggio Calabria, Italy: Circolo 79
April 18: Castellemmare Del Golfo, Sicily: Picolit
April 19: Caltanissetta, Sicily: Sale & Pepe
April 20: Catania, Sicily: TBA
April 23: Rovereto, Italy: TBA
April 27: Berlin, Germany: Sofa Salon

http://bigthink.com/think-tank/the-folk-harp-innovative-and-accessible

You can download a digital copy of the album on iTunes or order a physical copy of the CD through my online store, along with gorgeous supersoft Hinterhaus T-shirts, stickers, and other goodies. All preorders of the album were post-marked today.

In other great news, The Big Think just posted a wonderful article about (and video of) my performance at The Nantucket Project. That’s the conference where I got to meet Senator John Kerry! A very nice birthday surprise for The Hinterhaus indeed.

I am indebted to you for making my career and, by extension, this music possible. As an independent artist, I don’t have the backing of major label resources, but I have something even better – I have your support. And now I’m going to ask for your assistance in ringing every metaphorical bell tower around the world to spread the word about this record.

The following is a list of things you can do to help The Hinterhaus get up and start taking its first wobbly steps in the world:

1) The Gift of Gab

The single most important thing you can do is simply talk. Talk about The Hinterhaus with your friends, family, and coworkers. Play the record for them when you’re driving your car or are in for the night with a bottle of wine (or freshly mixed manhattan. Did you know there’s a cocktail recipe in my new album? that’s right). Include your favorite harp cover next time you and your buddies are having a YouTube binge session, like this video of me singing Yo La Tengo. Choose a song from The Hinterhaus for your next mix tape (or CD, or dropbox file, or…whatever). If you’re the extroverted type and go up to talk to your favorite performer after their next concert at, say, The Mann Center, suggest me as an opening act next time they come through town. Likewise, if you bump into the owner or booking agent of your favorite local venue, drop my name. Use that button on the upper right hand side of my mailing blasts to forward the newsletter to someone you think might be interested. Every little bit has a ripple effect.

Bottom line? If you’re digging The Hinterhaus, tell someone.

2) Social Media Firestorms and the Digital Frontier

Do you use facebook, twitter, tumblr, instagram, Google+, YouTube, Reddit, livejournal, lastfm, bloggr, diaspora, Pandora, or even [shudder] Myspace? AWESOME. Share a link, post a status update, like my BandPage, include @gilliangrassie and #TheHinterhaus in your next tweet, put something on Reddit and up, up, up it (did you know I was a reddit.com/r/gaming darling for a hot second because of a Morrowind Theme cover on YouTube?). Write a review on iTunes and rate the album. Write a blog post if you feel so inspired (oh my gosh, I’d be so flattered!). If you’re a regular reader of a music blog (coughPASTEcoughPitchforkcough) and hear something that reminds you of Rob Reich’s accordion on Marrow, or think that The Canonization of Margot Price would be relevant listening for the next article about eating disorders and body image on XOJane.com, mention it in a comment. It all makes a HUGE difference.

If you’re not a varsity-level internet fiend and didn’t understand any of the previous paragraph, it’s totally fine. Don’t worry. We’ll go back to analog activities right…now.

3) Call your local Radio Station

Radio, especially AAA radio stations are still extremely important in getting the word out about new albums and turning on new listeners to their next favorite artist. Radio stations, especially public, member-supported stations like WXPN are also VERY responsive to their listeners. If you call your local NPR affiliate station and request a song from The Hinterhaus, and a handful of other people in your area do too, the station will notice. And they might just start spinning a track off The Hinterhaus or have me in for an interview or in-studio performance or Tiny Desk Concert. XPN has been very supportive of me in the past, but I’ve never had a track on “regular rotation,” (meaning, for AAA, 6-7 times a week, rather than once a week). Requesting your favorite song off the new Gillian Grassie album by phone or station website makes a BIG difference.

4) Buy the record

Ok, I know this seems obvious. But seriously. Come to a show and buy the album. Get a friend and go in on a CD bundle together. Download The Hinterhaus on iTunes… and then write a review. You’d be shocked by how few full digital album sales it takes to make it into the top 100 chart for iTunes singer-songwriter genre… and by how big of a deal it is to be on that list, even for a day. If just 1/4 of the people on my mailing list bought The Hinterhaus on iTunes on the same day, we’d be there. No joke.

5) Buy (or make!) a T shirt… and wear it.

Eric created a totally gorgeous design that pairs with the album artwork, and then local wunderpress Camden Printworks silkscreened them onto supersoft, designer T shirts with a special ink that’s also very, very soft. This is not your average college sports jersey, I promise. They’re really, really nice. You can pick one up at any show or order them online here.

6) Study Buddies

Are you in college? I would LOVE to play at your school. Or do an interview for your student paper. Or be a guest on your college’s radio station. Or all of the above. Let’s talk. E-mail me.

7) Have a House Concert

First off, house concerts are one of my all-time favorite ways to perform. They are fun, and casual, and intimate, and always very, very special. If you’ve never hosted a house concert before, but are curious, shoot me an e-mail. I promise it’s a lot less intimidating than you might be imagining, and totally worth the effort of throwing a low-key party.

***

If you have other great ideas for grassroots promotion, I would love to hear about them! My e-mail address is gillian@gilliangrassie.com. Please don’t hesitate to use it.

Okay, like I said, I don’t have the major label rolodex or bankroll to expect the kind of coverage Teagan and Sara have had about their new album release (Heartthrob came out today too! have you heard it? It’s awesome!!!), which is part of why I decided to release this album in January. That gives us ALL of 2013 to start rolling a tiny snowball down the hill in the hopes of it becoming an enormous hinterhaus igloo by next winter (there’s probably some problems with that metaphor. work with me).

Here’s to the strength of our collective nudges.

Thank you so much for everything.

-Gillian

join the mailing list and get free music at gilliangrassie.fanbridge.com

Gillian Grassie @ Scratch from Scratch Vimeo on Vimeo.

You can also read their blog post about the event. Here’s an excerpt:

“We recently invited singer-songwriter and virtuoso harpist Gillian Grassie, just back from a five-week tour of the US, to perform for us here at Scratch. Gillian was kind enough to play the role of “surprise musician,” positioning herself in the cavernous stairwell linking all the floors of Viacom’s fifty-three story Times Square headquarters. Her haunting voice and seraphic accompaniment echoed throughout the vertical space, slipping into foyers and offices through cracked doors and usually quiet air ducts.”

I earned myself these blisters, which I consider to be little badges of honor for jam sessions well-had.

Feet Dry and Fancy Free

On Wednesday it was back to civilization for my first show at the legendary Caffe Lena! I taped a performance and interview with WEXT’s Chris Wienk that aired the same day – he was a real treat to work with. Also, if you missed it, here’s the little Nippertown.com piece where I tell some stories about my very first band…

Looking forward, I’ll be up in Middlebury playing at 51 Main this Friday night. Send your friends, it’s free entry, great food and drink. I’ll be playing from 9-11 PM. I’m back in NYC on December 8th to perform for the 10th Annual Advent Hope Benefit Concert, proceeds to assist Hurrican Sandy relief efforts. That starts off at 7 PM at 111 E 87th St. The Winter Solstice will find me performing a special holiday show at The Tin Angel in Philadelphia on Friday, December 21st, with an as-yet un-named special guest. Get your tickets early folks! In the New Year, I’ll be down in the D.C. area for a house concert on January 5th, and up at the Acoustic Long Island series on February 6th. And Keep your ears peeled for news about The Hinterhaus release this winter!

Spring has sprung and new beginnings abound. I’ve been listening to a few versions of The Hinterhaus master and am chomping at the bit to share this music with you! Look for an official release sometime around September. As a teaser, I hope you enjoy this video of a live, solo performance of the title track at the Kito Theatre and Museum in Bremen, Germany in January:

The Hinterhaus – live at Kito in Bremen, Germany

In the spirit of trying new things and being adventurous, I’ll be joining the talents of Liz Filios and Tara Demmy in a staged reading of a new play by my dear friend Amelia Longo called True Stories. The performance will be at The Painted Bride in Philadelphia this Wednesday, May 2nd, as part of their Bridal Salon Playreading series and is being directed by Alison Garret. Now, friends, it has been a LONG time since I got up on stage to do anything other than sing and play harp, so if you’d like to take the plunge into uncharted waters with me, I’d welcome your company. The show gets started at 7 PM – $5 gets you in the door AND free food AND free booze (yes, please!). True Stories is a memoir performance that tells the story of a woman struggling with the ideas of truth and expectation in a relationship and in love. It drills down into her experiences to explore the idea of multiple perspectives in one individual; taking direction from the line “The true story is vicious and multiple and untrue after all,” in Margaret Atwood’s poem “True Stories,” it is an active search for truth in a world of multiple possible truths.

I’m also thrilled to be a (small) part of the TedxEast conference in New York City on May 11th (eep!), where I’ll performing a few songs for the conference guests and speakers, including, yep, The Roots.

After that it’s off to Europe again where I’ll be playing a few dates in Germany, thrilled to be sharing the stage again with Stefan Honig. German folks, stay tuned, because I’ll be announcing a few more shows (including Berlin!) in the coming weeks as well as an appearance on Balcony TV, Hamburg.

Fresh of the plane, I’ll play the other side of the river in NJ at Barrington Coffee House on June 22nd, and join Karen Gross & Suzie Brown at the Tin Angel on June 30th in a concert to benefit Girls Rock Philly. July sees me at the Princeton Farmers Market and co-billing with Zack DuPont and The Darling Side downstairs at World Cafe Live, Wilmington: The Queen.

If you want to see/hear more from me, please don’t ever hesitate to get in touch with venue suggestions or house concert inquiries. I’d love to play for you this summer.

Much love,

Gillian

I really can’t explain why it’s taken me this long to take a stab at penning a holiday song, but it was easily one of the most fun days I’ve ever spent in the studio. It feels like I waited my *entire* life to put sleigh bells on a record… Many thanks to Helen Leicht for the invitation to participate and to Tim Sonnefeld for squeezing in some last minute studio magic at MilkBoy Recording in Ardmore, PA.

WHEN THE NIGHTS GET LONG

Everybody wants somebody
when the nights get long, the heat turns on
I’m no exception to the rest
with clumsy mittened hands and the best intentions

When Frost, he comes a-painting
all the window panes in tiny slippered feet
oh, he’s a joyful artist like a four year-old
he paints in shapes and whorls
or maybe lacy sutures to mend all the broken hearts

Everybody wants somebody
when the nights get long, the heat turns on
and I’ve been waiting oh so patiently for something right
for sugar and spice and all things very, very nice

the cold it makes us bolder
I’ll just lean on your shoulder since I’m shivering
oh, won’t you please pull me nearer
and we’ll dance to thaw our toes
a snowflake’s on your nose
I guess I better kiss it quick

I don’t have a wishlist
I got too much stuff as it is
don’t worry about packages
because you’re bundled like a present
your scarf’s tied like a bow

Everybody wants somebody
when the nights get long
when the heat turns on
I’m glad you’re with me

NBC Philadelphia Music Box Feature

If you like the video, consider checking out other episodes from the series and sharing your enthusiasm with NBC Philadelphia to ensure that other independent artists can continue being featured! Many thanks to Vincent Gabriel Antonini for producing the series. You can check out lyrics to “The Canonization of Margot Price” and “Back to Your Flat” on the lyrics page!

Much love,
Gillian
gillian[at]gilliangrassie.com