Alsup music on Tidal streaming music service

Over the last year or so we've had some inquiries about the availability of my songs on several European streaming audio sites. We weren't as familiar with these music distribution channels, but after a little research we connected with our music distributor and discussed how we could do a better job at making April Alsup songs and music available to as many people as we could. Here's a link to the Tidal network, the company is based in Norway and their streaming audio services are prominent in Scandinavia and Europe.

April Alsup Artist Page on Tidal

TIDAL is a global music streaming platform that tries to bring fans closer to artists through unique experiences and the highest sound quality. You might have to register, but there's a free app version and they do claim to give artists and songwriters (aka me 👩) better royalty percentages. Select the link or image above to access the Alsup artist page on Tidal.

"Hey Alexa play music by April Alsup"

I was having a manicure the other day when the nail specialist told me her Alexa device was taking requests. I had never tried using an Amazon device before since I've been using Google for that sort of thing at home. Now, bear in mind I do have some Apple devices and use Amazon a lot too. I guess I wondered if Siri and Alexa ever get together to share playlists with Google? 😏

Alexa taking requests for April Alsup music 😀

Anyway, just for chagrins, I asked her to ask Alexa to play music by April Alsup and sure enough for the next 45 minutes Alexa shuffled Alsup songs on Amazon music from the official soundtrack of the musical theatre show WYSIWYG. It was really neat and made the whole experience pretty painless, she liked my songs a lot and the time really flew by.

"The Sweet Bell That Tolls" released

Here's a master track of "The Sweet Bell That Tolls". After Ron's quarrel with Denise he heads down to Frank's Tavern to perform at the weekly open mic contest. He really lights the place up and the crowd goes wild! It's sung by Joseph d. Castro with backup vocals from Jody Haught.

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I'm going to the moon!

NASA's Artemis I will be the first uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. The flight paves the way toward landing the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon! Here's your opportunity to join me on this historical flight. Just follow the link below to get your boarding pass and add your name on a flash drive that will fly aboard Artemis.

https://www.nasa.gov/send-your-name-with-artemis/

Mothers Day song release

Here's a link to a song I wrote for my mother. She passed away nearly ten years ago, but I still think about her all the time. She always encouraged me and would often say that "my someday will come". I added "if only in my mind" recently. It seemed only appropriate to distribute it to the streaming music services on Mothers Day. It's sung by Blake Nawa'a and David Traugh provided the orchestration. We finished it up in April 2022.

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Canvas Rebel Interview

Here's a link to a short interview with me and the folks at Canvas Rebel Magazine. My shows are picking up some momentum now that theaters are opening up again, but this article is really more about the inspiration that happens behind the scenes with music theater projects. I'm glad they used material from my early life in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Canvas Rebel Interview

It's always interesting to see which parts of these interviews the publisher decides to use. I think Canvas Rebel tries to focus on the things that creative people undertake that might be beneficial for others who are dealing with similar issues and/or circumstances; in any case, it's nice that they draw attention to the human moments too.

Playing Scottish Cèilidh music on accordion

Last Saturday was a milestone! I played my first Cèilidh, well sort of. Here's what happened; some local theater friends volunteered to learn how to dance at a Cèilidh while I played the accordion. Back in 2019, after a short visit to the Isle of Eigg, a small island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, I decided to incorporate Scottish Cèilidh music into a music theatre show about the island. I worked with several professional accordionists on Skype during the Pandemic. Mike Aman owns Monarch Accordions and we worked on my repertoire and technique. His accordion orchestras are legendary and his daughter is a national accordion champion. Sandy Brechin is in Edinburgh and he's one of Scotland's best known Cèilidh accordionists.

Cèilidh Dance Training

In any case, earlier this year it felt like it was time to come out of the woodwork so I reached out to several local organizations specializing in Scottish dance and one of them connected me with a Scottish couple living in Colorado who were involved with Cèilidh dancing in Scotland. We had a Skype call to discuss the specifics and penciled in a date to get together. Everyone was eager to participate and learn more about the dances and the culture behind them too. Playing the music was the easy part and everything seemed to flow naturally. We played tune sets for a Gay Gordon, a Reel and a Jig and it was so much fun! 🎭