**Update 1/1/14. Happy New Year!
Thanks to everyone who helped out with our Indiegogo Fundraiser! It was
a huge success! If you contributed, we will be contacting you in the
next couple of days about your Patron Rewards. Thank you so much for
helping us out in our quest to spread Molasses Creek music around the
world!
**
WHO IS . . .
![]()
***PROJECT UPDATE! AS OF 12/20/13 THE NEW ALBUM, SOMETHING WORTH HAVING WENT TO PRESS. HERE IS A PICTURE OF THE COVER! HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US IN FUNDING THE NEW NATIONAL PROMOTION. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE MOLASSES CREEK HOME PAGE FOR A LISTENING SAMPLE!![]()
**
We are Molasses Creek band out of Ocracoke Island, NC. The band began in 1993 when Gary
Mitchell and his wife lured Fiddler Dave to the remote island of Ocracoke (23
miles off the coast of North Carolina) with the promise of beautiful bikini
clad women and all the fig preserves he could eat. Over the last 20 years, Molasses Creek has created
wonderfully original contemporary folk music, holding court on Ocracoke Island
during the summers at our very own Deepwater Theater, and touring all around
the United States.
Our accolades are plentiful, including awards on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, #4
Album on the National Folk Radio DJ Stations (the last album, "An Island Out of Time"), and top band on the
European Country Music Charts. Molasses Creek’s roster includes Gary Mitchell
(guitar/vocals), Fiddler Dave Tweedie (fiddle/vocals), Lou Castro
(dobro/bass/vocals), Marcy Brenner (mandolin/banjolin/bass/vocals), and Gerald
Hampton (mandolin/upright bass).
Feel free to email us at info@molassescreek.com if you have any questions about this Campaign or the Patron Rewards. Thanks!
WHAT
ARE WE UP TO NOW?![]()
In
the spring of 2013 Molasses Creek worked feverishly on an album of new material
for local release at the Ocrafolk Festival in June. We were very excited about
new songs such as Marcy's "Joe Bell Flowers" and "Five Minutes",
Fiddler Dave's "Death My Friend", new instrumentals "Tico
Creeko" and Gerald's "Ehringhaus Blues", Louie's take on
"Galway Girl" and "My Window Faces the South", Phil Kelly's
great new song "Something Worth Having", and a fresh remake of Gary's
classic "The Waterman".
Working with Nashville producer Kari Estrin on the international release of this album,
we were motivated to revisit all of the songs and tweak, fine tune, remix and
re-record tracks as needed until we were all thrilled with the result! We even
added a new-old song that we've been having a lot of fun with which we call
"The Yazoo Choo Choo".
The resulting recording, "Something Worth Having", was just mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Charlie Pilzer at Airshow Mastering
and is now off to the duplicators! Our international promotion of the new CD
will launch in February of 2014. Working with Kari Estrin, we will be sending the album
to over 500 radio stations across the US, Canada, and Europe, hoping to beat
our last record of #4 on the Folk Radio DJ Charts.
WHY
ARE WE DOING SUCH A SILLY THING?
![]()
(Fiddler Dave sensed that being a street musician didn't earn what it used to . . .)
Our fans might have noticed that we have
significantly stepped up our touring over the past 3 years. With a new band van and even more
get-up-n-go we want to take our performances to larger concert halls and more
places. The first thing the owners
of the venues ask when we contact them is . . . “Do you have an audience around here who has heard of you
and will beat down the doors?”
National promotion of our latest recording is a critical part of the
puzzle.
In
addition to this radio push, we are planning to attend the Folk
Alliance International Conference in Kansas City, MO in February to spread the word about the
band and hobnob with presenters from all across the continent. It is going to take a lot of fig
preserves and Joe Bell seeds to get their attention!
WHAT WE NEED
![]()
All
of these dreams cost a good deal of money. After spending $10-15,000 just to make a recording it will
take another $10-15,000 to do the promotional plan. While we certainly wouldn’t ask our fans to foot the whole
enchilada, we are hoping that everyone pulling together can raise about $10,000
for this campaign. If you are
interested in the details of what each part of the project costs here is more
info. We ought to know what we are
doing by now since this is album #13!
- Album recording & mastering ~ $9400
-
Album layout & design ~ $800
-
Album mechanical licenses (2000 CDs) ~ $1640
- Physical duplication ~ (2000 CDs) ~ $3000
- Radio Promotion Fees ~ $4800
- Radio Promotion Materials Design and Printing ~ $800
- Radio Promotion Mailing Costs ~ $850
- Folk Alliance International (FAI) Conference Registration ~
$1600
- FAI Advertising ~ $900
- FAI Room & Board~ $1800
- FAI Travel ~ $514
- TOTALLING OVER $26,000!
WHAT YOU GET . . .
FABULOUS PLEDGE PRIZES ABOUND!
![]()
No nutrias were harmed in the making of these pledge prizes, or this picture.We know our fans love Molasses Creek & Ocracoke Island,
and we love you! So we have found
some really cool ways that you can get fabulous prizes this holiday
season. Some of the best ones (like
a week’s stay on Ocracoke Island + Molasses Creek makes you dinner) are
limited offers, so snap em up quick!
There should be something affordable for everybody on your fan list.
THE IMPACT OF OUR CAMPAIGN
![]()
In 2012, Molasses Creek embarked
upon a similar campaign working with Kari Estrin Management to promote our
release "An Island Out of Time." Our #4 chart success during the first
campaign resulted in Molasses Creek exposure across the folk music world,
invitations to major venues like the LEAF festival (Lake Eden Arts
Festival), Floydfest, the legendary Caffé Lena concert hall in Saratoga Springs,
NY, an official showcase at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference, and an
appearance on the nationally syndicated Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour out of
Lexington, KY.
We
need to remind the Folk Music World that we are still here and much more than a flash in the pan. We eagerly anticipate that this next national promotion will result in Molasses
Creek’s music spreading even further, more concerts in more places to a greater
number of fans!
WHAT HAPPENS IF WE DON’T REACH OUR GOAL?
Molasses Creek chose Indiegogo crowd fundraising for two
main reasons. (1) Unlike
Kickstarter, Indiegogo takes credit cards even if you don’t have a PayPal
account, and (2) Indiegogo offers campaigns with flexible funding which means
that we keep the funds we raise even if we don’t reach our goal (and YOU GET TO KEEP YOUR HOLIDAY PLEDGE PRIZES FROM THE MOMENT YOU CONTRIBUTE!). If we make
our goal Indiegogo charges 4% fee, if we don’t then they charge 9% fee. Big incentive to go out and shake the trees! If we don’t raise our
complete goal we may have to tailor our plans for the Folk Alliance
International conference, so we will keep our fingers crossed. If we raise more than our goal than it
means that we can spend more time making great music and less time running
fundraisers!
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
![]()
We have tried to make sure
that everyone can have the opportunity to jump in and join the fun.
EVEN A SMALL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM FOLKS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE. HELP SPREAD THE WORD AMONGST YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, ON FACEBOOK, THE WEB, AND BY TALKING IT UP.
LET’S TAKE FLIGHT!
