MP3 Livengood - FOLK: Modern Folk

Livengood is a 2-disc Folk/Rock album by Alaska born singer/songwriter Caleb Aronson, and is full of vivid landscapes and people.

29 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Modern Folk, ROCK: Grunge



Details:
In 2005, Caleb Aronson wrote and recorded his debut record, Livengood. Named after an old gold mining town 90 miles north of Aronsonâs hometown, Livengood (pronounced Lyeâ vnâ good) is a collection of original songs, of which most are based on Alaska history.

Aronson felt his first record should be about origins. And since Alaska is where he calls home, he felt most of his songs should be Alaska-based as well.

Self-released in March 2006, Livengood is a 2-disc, 29 song record fully composed, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Aronson. Insistant on making his debut record reflect an Alaskan âdo it yourselfâ integrity, Aronson recorded the entire record on protable digital recorders in a vacant cabin in the woods, a basement, a garage, and in a friendâs kitchen among other places.

In an April '06 interview with the Anchorage Daily News, Caleb summed up the process of producing the 29 song Livengood by saying:

"A lot of people have come up and told me how ambitious, crazy and stupid that is," Aronson said last week. And what does Aronson think now that heâs completed the year-long crafting of his double-CD âLivengood"?

âDefinitely ambitious and crazy," he replied.

Like Alaska itself, Livengood is full of extremes - from its ambitious, indifferent and even aloof characters, to its unforgiving, yet resourceful landscapes. Even the album itself reflects this duality of extremes:



"The first CD [of Livengood] is acoustic, with a soft, folky feel; most of the tracks are mellow as could be, even when they also contain overtones of fear, delight or resignation. The second is all electric, more energetic and wild and elaborate."

"...the loose, gritty, self-recorded sound lends something to the storytelling... The first CD is acoustic, with a soft, folky feel; most of the tracks are mellow as could be, even when they also contain overtones of fear, delight or resignation. The second is all electric, more energetic and wild and elaborate."

"Aronson's songs tell tales; they're all about something concrete, usually something true. And if that's not enough, many of them also have explanatory notes included in the CD booklet."

"The best part of "Livengood" -- an entirely self-made, self-released project -- is that it is straight-up Alaska. Every song is inspired by the events and people of this state. Aronson's got such an acute sense of place, listening to the CD is like flipping through a photography book. And it contains a bunch of history lessons."

"...but it is far from Alaskana."

Anchorage Daily News April 2006



"The next time someone from Outside asks me to describe those end-of-the-road types who seem irresistibly drawn to Alaska, Iâll hand them a copy of âLivengood,â the new double CD from North Pole native Caleb Aronson, because itâs these people who populate Aronsonâs songs; the drunkards, the drifters, the drivers somewhere out on the road; those dwelling just beyond the reach of salvation."

"Among these twenty-nine tracks are none of the misty-eyed odes to nature one commonly associates with Alaskan singer-songwriters. These are the stories of desperate people (and often real people: Joe Vogler, Johnny Waterman and Chris McCandless are among the locally legendary figures that drift through these songs. Itâs an Alaska rarely acknowledged by earnest young kids with guitars...as a songwriter, and particularly as a lyricist, heâs on to something... Heâs a distinctively Alaskan artist."

Fairbanks Square March 2006



"Aronson's unique style of storytelling, [for instance,] shines throughout in the album..."

Alaska This Month February 2006