The answer to the question about the direction of any next project is complex. I have three projects in mind. First, Matt wants to remix my two banjo albums, recorded under the moniker, "The Banjo King," and release them in CD format. This is going to take a lot of $$$ and a lot of faith. The $$$ aspect involves first locating the original multitrack master tapes, then renting the machines that will play them (one album is on 32-track 2" tape and the other is on 16-track 1/2" tape), then recutting some of the tracks and finally remixing. Well, FINALLY is actually the duplication and packaging. The faith part is - who's going to buy this? Now we're back to the same marketing issue that I have with the current CD's. The second project would be mostly original material, focusing on my comedy stuff. I've had so many requests for "Folk In A" that I really think that one needs to be recorded. In addition, I have enough material to do a whole CD's worth of pretty funny stuff, and I don't know if Matt would produce this or not. I presented this concept to him initially and he talked me out of it. But when I perform live I get the strongest reaction from my comedy material, so that's the guidepost I'm using. My concept for this project would be to do a live album. The third project probably will never happen, unless we win the lottery. It's always been a fantasy of mine to record my favorite standards. I have a list of them that includes such gems as "Dream", "Home", "Stardust", "It Had To Be Ewe", (OK - that goes on the comedy album), "Pennies From Heaven", etc. These are songs that I grew up with and that are dear to my heart. But again, who's gonna buy this stuff? As an artist you want to create something that, first of all has meaning to one's self. Then you hope that there will be some universal connection to a broad segment of the population, allowing for commercial success, and even more important, allowing for an artistic connection to your audience through a common musical link. It's very complex, and really all you can ever expect is that you please yourself. But it's an expensive and very egocentric pursuit. Did I answer the question?
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