Sneak preview the new CD online

Free streaming audio! You can download too, of course. Official release party is 6pm March 3 at the Ten Spoon in Missoula. View the full schedule here. (Including April 6 at the College Coffeehouse in Fairbanks!)

The Painting

We recorded this video on September 15, 2011 in Missoula, Montana. I’m finally all settled into my new home and ready to start work in earnest on the new record I am making at AnimalTown Studios.

Still frame from the music video for The Painting

The mandolin player from the video, Dave Smith, says this is my best song yet. So I asked him to record it with me on YouTube. (Thanks, Dave!) I met Dave at the National Oldtime Fiddle Contest and Festival in Weiser, Idaho this summer. He’s fun to play with, and we’re doing a show together in his neck of the woods with Bruce Cannavaro on bass at the Undertown in Port Townsend, WA on Saturday, October 15.

Thanks for listening! Please be sure to post and share on Facebook if you use that tool. It makes a big difference in helping me spread the word about my music. Thanks for your support.

Download audio at http://907britt.bandcamp.com/track/the-painting.

THE PAINTING
words and music by Britt K. Arnesen

He traced all of our plans upon a canvas
An ordered mingling of lines
Tender like the first brush between us
Feathered, a sunset goodbye
And a finely painted face
Of some other lady
Whose picture don’t look like mine

Postcards and letters from their daydreams
Her young love and beauty made him blind
He traded our promises for her maybes
The mailbox a witness to his crime
And a neatly written name
Of some other lady
Whose song doesn’t sound like mine

Sorrow in the shadow of his freedom
He’d see heartache if he ever looked behind
Betrayal has a way of getting even
Hiding snakes in green grass on the other side
Where the painting hangs
In the home of some other lady
Whose colors don’t bleed like mine

A finely painted face
Of some other lady
Whose colors don’t fade like mine

Starry Night in HD

Thanks to Jerry LaVine of Connections Film and Video and Van Horn Ely of Anchorage, Alaska for their help in making such a beautiful video. I never would have thought of a waltzing guitar kaleidoscope!

Words and music by Britt K. Arnesen. Recorded live in Spenard, Alaska.

Download audio with Richie Reinholdt on bass and mandolin, and read lyrics at http://907britt.bandcamp.com/track/ciel-toil-lamour-myst-re.

Thanks for listening! Please be sure to post and share on Facebook if you use that tool.

Mama Never Took Me to Yellowstone

Mama never took me to Yellowstone
Papa never drove us to Rushmore
Nobody showed me the Redwood Forest
Guess I gotta get there on my own

I was listening to a bunch of John Prine before this came out of me during February Album Writing Month. It’s kind of an Alaska girl anthem. If the audio player above doesn’t show up or work, here is a link to Mama Never Took Me to Yellowstone. Read on to see the video and rest of the lyrics.

Starry Night

Just when I think I’m nearing the end of an intense creativity binge, along saunters the enchanting Johnny-come-lately. Even after February Album Writing Month led me through 16 new songs, I still apparently had something left to say, though not in my native language.

Photo by James Krall of 907Britt performing at Pike's Waterfront Lodge for the Fairbanks Community Coop benefit brunch, February 2011

Writing en français was super-fun. I felt like I could be more…expressive. And the recording I made to demo the song, accentuated by emotive mandolin courtesy of Missoula’s own Richie Reinholdt, is my favorite of the new year. Richie also played bass on what you hear. I played both guitars and sang both parts. If the player above doesn’t work, you can listen to and download audio on 907Britt at Bandcamp, where I have also posted the lyrics.

It’s really fun to play Ciel Étoilé at my shows, a real crowd-pleaser. And the story is kind of interesting too…

No Kind of Angel

In No Kind of Angel, the first of my February Album Writing Month Songs, it’s a wistful goodbye for Lil and her darling at the railway station. The song opens with an intentional melodic and lyrical nod to the timeless Tennessee Waltz. A dream from the Livingston Depot, where a train will soon be boarding…download for free from the player above, watch the video and read on for lyrics and the story of why this song is special to me.

A Bench Outside the Theater

Fairbanks Winter Folk Festival

It was 30 degrees Fahrenheit below zero outside when I performed February 12, 2011 at the Fairbanks Winter Folk Festival at Pioneer Park. That’s Hjelle on harmonica and Two Rivers elementary students dancing as “The Mushers” (a name they selected two minutes before going on stage in an impromptu performance). I love substitute teaching and substitute singing, and what a joy to inspire those girls. They found the true heart of music appreciation…Don’t forget to attend and support your own community folk festivals! Bring a kid! These are both new songs from my February Album Writing Month project.

And on a side note, here is Canyon and I this afternoon. Quotable:

“All my mom ever wants to do is play music…and sometimes I get bored of it, sometimes I like it a lot, and sometimes I even walk downstairs to turn off the music in the middle of the night when she’s still listening to it…that’s how it is.”

Talk to Me

907 + 406 = 1313
Richie Reinholdt’s awesome new song + 907Britt & Van Wolf dancing = music video time!!!

Song and recording: Richie Reinholdt
Video cast and crew: Van Wolf, 907Britt, Nate Merryman, Adam Chisholm
Filmed at the Octagon in Fairbanks, Alaska on January 29, 2011

907Britt back in the 406

907Britt on the cover of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on New Year's Eve. The other lovely lady pictured is teen singer-songwriter Mariah Ver Hoef, who reminds me a little of myself about 11 years ago, though she's certainly more polished than I was. Sure wish we'd had GarageBand back then.

Thanks to my hometown paper, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner for reviewing Continental Divide and including my debut album in their list of “hot” local music from 2010. I especially appreciate Glenn BurnSilver’s encouraging words: “…’Continental Divide’ features 12 original tracks examining — with humor, sadness or wry insight — life, love, family and travel. Arnesen effortlessly mixes elements of folk, country and bluegrass for a solid album of well-constructed catchy numbers…” It was a year ago this month I finished recording the last song and sent it off to Brian Hazard for mixing and mastering. It sure didn’t feel “effortless” then, but a year of touring has boosted my confidence and abilities. If you haven’t heard me play since 1999, time to check it out!

Gearing up for my 3rd Montana tour has left me very little time to blog about it! I’ve been rehearsing like mad to live up to the honor of meeting—and playing with—one of my favorite songwriters, Richie Reinholdt.