Moving!

For those who follow, this blog is being moved to http://erikhartley.tumblr.com/
I will be moving some posts as time goes on, but in the next few weeks this blog will no longer be active. Please join me, follow me and enjoy.

-E

FREE NEW EP

Unfortunately, due to a personal emergency I am flying to Detroit and will not be able to attend the North Shore Folk Festival. I know this may anger some, but I hope that you can find the kindness to forgive me and respect my decision to be with my family.

As an apology, I will be offering a FREE, NEW 3-SONG EP. Providing all goes to plan, the site should be up in about a week. All anyone must do is email me their interest, and as soon as the site goes live, I will respond with an individual CDBaby download code to each email received.


Keep Smiling.
-E

Humility T-shirts moving into production!

Erik Hartley's "Humility Series" T-shirts are now in production! Available designs include "Guitarded," "Drumass," & "Basstard," all courtesy of Orangehart Merch.

Please review the images below and register your pre-order interest on the provided form!

Keep smiling.
-E

Poetry 5

Emerald Love Letters:

Your eyes take me back
to the days
of my youth
an existence of calm
purposeful ignorance
but as those times slim
quiet to a small hum
the memories become
lost in the fog of progression
succeeding and fleeting moments
all in the steps of sand
washed by tides of time
as the world grows
expands around me
i lose more of my easy days
when my age was closer
to birth
than death
still i press on
hoping to keep my mind
until he and i slumber in darkness
and i remember that simple winter
when my own
laid first on yours of emerald

New Album Announcement 2

So it's been months since my last posting, and I've been getting emails from everyone asking where the new album is. Unfortunately, the answer is probably not what most would like to hear. Due to personal reasons, the initial venture with Studio Minx has been put on permanent hiatus.

However, it is with great pleasure that I announce a rebirth. I cannot reveal all of the details of the project yet, but I promise this marriage of musical talent will include musicians of old, musicians of new, instruments barrowed and a lot of rockin’ folk blues.

All right, so that was super corny, and I didn’t even have a good line for “silver sixpence in her shoe,” but you get the idea.

All joking aside, what I can tell you is that I will be working with a well-known LA singer-songwriter, who is one of my personal favorites, and recording at MixOne Studio in beautiful, sunny, Mission Viejo, CA.

Keep smiling.

New Album Announcement

The past few weeks have been hectic, but exciting. I have started recording on two new album projects. The first to be released will be With a 'K', a full length project featuring Jeff Link and Justin Sharrow of the Grand Rapids band Brena. It is being recorded at Minx Studios, just outside of Detroit, and produced by Mat Halliday, of The Jacets fame.

The second album Roll Out of Bed will be a solo project, that is a bit more involved than The Boston Sessions. With a release date later in the year, it too will be produced by Mat Halliday at his Detroit studio.

Below you can see the announcement video placed on YouTube, along with a few photos from the first day of drum tracking. As you can see, I was having too much fun with my swivel chair.

Photo: Sherry Kraft

Jeff Link, Photo: Sherry Kraft

Poetry 4

The 12th:

Dreams may come
in waking moments
assigned as
fleeting memories
and disbelieving happenstance
formed into our past
life and imagination
intertwine
and what is real
is no longer
what was a dream
comes true

Nightmares
these are blocked
pushed out of existence
unwelcome and bothersome
but dreams
the times
when we wish the truth
could be bent

not all are roses
fairy-tales and fantasy
some are mere hints of
love songs
and poetic verse
eloquent stories
that can still contain somber endings

you may not get the girl
but that's not always the goal
the moral of the story
it's not always about getting
what you want
it's letting go
realizing what is right
growing as an individual
knowing what is best
for who you feel is best

to have loved and lost
is simply the paradox
it should never become a comparison
of which hurts less
or more
it is the experience
the ability to open yourself
present your being
to gods and humans alike
and put yourself in harms way
be willing to take it
and take chances with your feelings

I have stood
proud
at my chopping block
walked a straight path
without waver
and stared my reflection down
the mirrored blade of my demise
losing my head
my heart
and yet
i still stand
hurt, but strong
honored to have a dream be my reality

and I will do it again
like a moth to the flame
never to wake from
the evening
of three
after my birth