[singlepic id=275 w=320 h=240 float=right]Below is the letter I sent out today to the folks who support my work through Patronism.com.Thanks to them, I am going to take a few days to focus on writing new songs after I complete a series of gigs in the Rocky Mountains.Some of my patrons spend $2/month and others contribute more. But all of them have access to my entire catalog, radio shows, demos, b-sides, live recordings and so many other very special releases that were not released commercially and are EXCLUSIVE to Patronism.They make it possible for me to afford to create and produce more content when my gigs and other endeavors often allow me to “get by” some months…Im excited, inspired and so grateful.   if you want to be a part of this amazing relationship, please visit http://www.patronism.com/wendycolonnaHi Patrons!I hope everyone is having a good summer with adventure and time for reflection. . . I  am excited about a few ongoing and upcoming projects and wanted to connect with you and give you a heads up on what your support has been creating and what my intentions and career goals are in the upcoming months . . . So here goes. . .We had an amazing show at Austin City Limits last month (waiting on the audio and video to post on Patronism), I had a really positive experience in W. TX and New Mexico a few weeks ago and I’m about to do an Olympic Distance Triathlon next weekend.  I am feeling stronger, more capable and more inspired than I have since I began recovering from the lung infection that kicked my ass for eight months a year and a half ago.  I have been expanding in my skills.  I worked for a few months writing lyrics for a Korean Pop music group, writing music for other folks lyrics and am exploring what it might look like to do more children’s music in the future as well as working with an Episcopal Church some of the year helping with their music program.  My work raising money and awareness for HAAM (the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians) is going well and we are on the way to producing a 2nd holiday album and concert for HAAM this winter.

I have added some recordings to Patronism that we did with the band I tour with in Belgium, The Lazybones. That tour last fall was so inspiring that I realized so many possibilities were available in terms of growing, touring and experiencing the music with different bands across the world.  I  will be traveling to experiment more with this next month in August. A friend and fellow musician in Jackson Hole Wyoming has invited me to play a few shows up there and his band, Ghost Rider has offered to learn the songs and back me up for some shows. If things go well, we may travel to Mendoza, Argentina in November to do a few shows and spend a week in a house with a recording studio in it.  I also hope that it empowers me to have the flexibility and affordability to do more Rocky Mountain touring in the future.    I am experimenting similarly in New Mexico. On my last trip there, my friend Elaine introduced me to several wonderful musicians who are also inspired to back me up when I go back in September.  It has been such a struggle for me to envision routing and touring again – the expense is immense, it’s costly to pay bands in new markets when you don’t have a fully developed fan-base and the booking and routing and promo take a huge time commitment and frankly- after I was sick for so long and went completely broke from touring nonstop, I was really nervous about ever trying to again. . . I’ve learned so much from these experiences and  I’m feeling good, inspired and ready to get bak out there in a different way. . .

While I am in Jackson Hole, I intend to take a week after our gigs to write a hand-full of new songs.  As much as I try, writing is one of the hardest things for me to schedule in my life between gigs, rehearsals, travel and running the business. My process is one that requires practice, space and lots of room to just play with concepts, try them out, discard them, play with others. . . It’s really time consuming and my writing process produces best results when i am not thinking about an administrative checklist,  survival or social/business calendar for a couple of days. . . So, I’m going to isolate a little out there and see what comes . . . I only wrote 2 songs last year and I really hope that this one yields at least 10 times that much!

Your patron support will help me to afford to stay out there the extra week to write. I’m so grateful.

Love to all of you and THANK YOU for believing in me and my work.

Wendy Lorraine