Bluesy, folksy, raunchy, haunting original songs and arrangements - warm, rich, mellow vocals - red-hot musicians led by guitar virtuoso Paul Mills.

15 MP3 Songs
BLUES: Jazzy Blues, FOLK: Modern Folk



Details:
Intended for digital distribution only. Should be available for download by April 2007. Watch this space for details.

Free & Easy Blues Liner notes

This is a compilation album. The first seven tracks are borrowed from my solo CD, All the Good Times. The other eight belong to the Crabtree&Mills debut CD, Flight of Fancy. Both of those delightful recordings are for sale here at CD Baby. They were lovingly created, six years apart, in the warm cocoon that is the Millstream Studio in Toronto, under the watchful eye of master producer/engineer Paul Mills. Paul is also the band leader and principal guitar player on every track except Cotton Eyed Joe, which I sing a capella, and My Sweetie, which uses only a piano as backup. (It is enough.)

I asked Paul to make this new master in an attempt to simplify my life. I wanted my songs to have digital distribution, and I wanted to be sure I did not infringe on anyoneâs copyright rights in the process of making that happen. For a year, I fussed over the legalities and waded through the labyrinth of conflicting information that is the world of electronic copyright protection. Then voila! The idea came to me, simplicity itself. Create a CD with no copyright issues.

There are several cover songs on All the Good Times and Flight of Fancy, and though I believe that our versions are unusual, distinctive, and creative, all our rented songs had lives before us and will have lives after us. They do not need me to give them a future in cyberspace. Their place in history is already assured.

It is my own songs - the ones I wrote or rewrote or cobbled together â it is they that need my support and guidance, and I choose to guide them to iTunes and its brethren.

Of the songs Iâve written throughout my life so far, these are my favourites. Of the four I did not write in the collection, I like to think the arrangements weâve created would make their long-dead authors proud.

And by âweâ, I mean Paul Mills and myself, for it was through our collaboration during the arranging process that most of the songs here sprang to life.

You can find more information about Paulâs and my individual and joint projects at our cluster of CD Baby locations and at these web sites.

All the Good Times is at www.joannecrabtree.com

Flight of Fancy is at www.joannecrabtree.com/crabtree&mills

Crabtree&Mills' MySpace page is at www.myspace.com/crabtreemills

Paul Millsâ production house is at www.themillstream.com