written by Adam GallantA strong sense of community is fundamental to me when it comes to arts development. When artists bring their work together, along with a pile of brilliance, competitiveness and critical comparison surface. This is one of the many reasons I was, and will continue doing, compilation albums of some nature. The project I currently have on my brain is an all-locals covers album. The concept is for a handful of bands/artists to draw each other’s name from a hat and record a cover of one song from that group or artist’s catalog. I feel the participants should have creative freedom to shape the piece in anyway they see fit and to have a pile of fun in the process.
The great sense of community we share in Charlottetown is reinforced by these types of projects. Last year I had the benefit of putting together a ramshackle Christmas album with some of our favorite locals. A few dozen emails and a dozen quick and dirty recording sessions brought to life the 13 Days of Xmas. This year, I’ve decided to release it online – http://adamgallant.ca/. I hope this distribution method will lend itself to more of a listening experience rather than a gift giving one.
this town is small 
I love this compilation album, right down to the artwork courtesy of Mazie MacDougall. Everyone did a great job but my favourites are the original tunes that were written just for this project. I guess it’s great that you sold out of the initial run, but I was disappointed this year to learn that I couldn’t snag a couple more for gifts. The whole thing was in regular rotation in my player throughout two seasons and will be for many more to come. The new concept of cover songs sounds intriguing – is it happening? underway? finished?
Ahoy, the covers album is still in the planning phase, it’ll be happening over the course of the next six months!!! Thanks!