I’m pleased to report that we surpassed our fundraising goal of $5,000. I’m so grateful to everyone who donated, and I promise, we’ll make a great album for you!

Mike and I went into Ryan Freeland’s Stampede Origin Studio today with Aaron Sterling and Timothy Young to start laying down some tracks. It went really well, and I’ll be writing more about it over the next couple days, and sharing some photos, etc. Stay tuned for more!

Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed to the fundraising campaign - we’re up to $3,200 and that much closer to making a rockin’ album with some promotional muscle behind it! We’ll be accepting donations up through tomorrow night. Click here to donate!

We’ll also be playing a show at Cafe Muse tomorrow night with a full band. The set will include nearly all the songs from the new album, so you can get a sneak preview before we go into the studio! Come one down.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who’s donated and/or helped me spread the word about the fundraising campaign so far. We’ve raised nearly $1,000 so far, which just expands what we’re able to put toward recording and promotion of this next album (called…I don’t know yet! You have to help me name it!).

It’s been brought to our attention that some prefer to give “off-line.” No problem! Just send a check to:

Kristy Hanson - the Next Album, P.O. Box 292487, Los Angeles, CA 90029

I also know that some of you aren’t able to give at all right now, but would still like to participate. Here are some things you can do to help me spread the word about the campaign and the album, and each only cost a minute or two of your time:

Visit my Facebook fan page. Become a fan,then re-post updates that I send out.

Follow me on Twitter, and “re-tweet” any postings about the campaign.

Subscribe to my blog and share updates with friends as they come.

As some of you may already know, I’m currently in the middle of a fundraising campaign to support my new album. It runs until June 19, and new donors are jumping on board every day! I’m definitely looking forward to the part where my fans help choose the name for my album - yes, that’s one of the perks (for everyone who donates!). If you want to be a part of my growing circle of producers, click here to find out how, or click on “Fundraiser” above. Updates on the campaign coming soon, and then regularly, over the next couple weeks!

I could never do justice to Haviland Stillwell’s show by merely describing it, but I will say that she was off the charts amazing, and the crowd was eating out of her hand. I had a fantastic time playing/singing back-up, and I must say, the crowd really seemed to dig “Manage,” the song I wrote for her to sing. I’ll post a video for that as soon as it becomes available, but first off, check out our version of “Crazy on You”:

Tim Young on electric, Aaron Sterling on drums, Mike Chiaburu on bass, and little ol’ me strumming my butt off. Hell yeah! Grrrrl power.

So, housekeeping first: I’m in the process of moving my mailing list over to ReverbNation. If you’d like to sign up, just click here.

Second, I’m in a little section of the most recent episode of the AfterEllen.com show, “Cat on the Prowl.” The show features Haviland Stillwell, and I’m currently working with her a lot (this is easy, because we are kind of like new west coast bffs). For one thing, I wrote a song that she’ll be performing at her show on April 23 at the Upright Cabaret . So we gave a little preview of the song - I show up midway through the episode, then again at the end, but you should REALLY make sure that you see the part where Haviland plays basketball in heels. Priceless. Check it out here.

Last night’s show at Cafe Muse was so much fun, and PACKED! A seriously standing-room only situation, which was great. Peter Adams, The Youngs/Tim Young and Haviland Stillwell all sounded great, and Mike and I had a blast. The new songs were really, really well-received (yay)!

My friend Lacey (shall I call her @LaceyH?) did the whole “live Tweet” thing from the show, and you can see a photo here. And if you want to follow me on Twitter - please do! http://twitter.com/kristyhanson I mostly keep my updates musical, but every now and again I will tell you what I had for breakfast, you know, just because.

I personally celebrate Easter next weekend, but for many of you, I know that this week is Passover/Easter week and weekend, so I hope that you are all having lovely holiday celebrations.

The show tonight at Cafe Muse is going to be killer - Peter Adams starts off, will join us for a few songs, Haviland Stillwell sings a song I wrote for her, Tim and Eryn Young join Mike and me for an Emmylou Harris cover, and then The Youngs rock it out to finish. Whew! I don’t know what your idea of fun is…but tonight is mine… Info about the show is here.

The other day, when we were finished rehearsing at Tim Young’s and Eryn Young and John Schuller were headed into the studio to rehearse, Tim laughed at the way we had accidentally coordinated our black shirts, and took this “band photo” of us. Sadly, Mitchell the dog will not be appearing tonight. But he will be there in spirit.

black shirt band

Last week I was approached by a guitar-centered site, jemsite.com, to do a little interview. This morning I woke up to find it had been posted, as a part of their “Guitar Hero” series! Hee hee.
Read the full interview here!