A Hard Swath to Mow
we got a new partner + a new song on Bandcamp
Hi team
Well uh it’s been quite an eventful month. I will not be summarizing all of it, but a couple things that have happened/are happening:
Fires in LA right around Mak’s childhood home. So far no indication that the home has sustained damage, but the neighborhood and a lot of the places Mak grew up going to are gone. Praying for her and family and friends. It’s going to be hard for a lot of people for a long while.
My grandfather, Peepaw, my mom’s dad, whose birthday voicemail graces the final minute of “Well,” died on December 20th, 2024. My mom was with him in the room, along with all four of her siblings. He was a pretty incredible person. I don’t know that I’ve ever known someone quite so happy to be alive. Service was held on January 4th in his hometown of Charlottesville, VA, and he was buried next to my grandma in the UVA Cemetery. You can read his obituary here.
In slightly happier news, the parents of Widemouth are on an absolute creative tear. Helen (Mak’s mom) is in a play at the Goodman Theater in Chicago called Betrayal, opening February 17th, tickets here. The Goodman is also literally right next to where I work every day.
And Jamie’s (my) dad Michael is having a solo show for new paintings at HallSpace Gallery in Dorchester MA!! The opening reception is on February 8th at 2pm and Mak and I are flying to Boston for it. That last part was actually supposed to be a surprise, and my mom was going to blindfold my dad and drive him to the airport to pick us up, and even maybe give him some misdirection like “bring your ice skates” so he wouldn’t guess, but my mom boofed it and now he knows. You can see some of his other paintings on his website.
Levi started a weekly poker game that we have been going to and wearing fancy little outfits. There’s a mailing list and everything. After two weeks I’m up 50 cents.
We (Widemouth) opened for Sun Queen at Schuba’s this past Saturday, and it was such a fun show. They packed the room, and their set ripped, and Schuba’s !! Such an important place in the Chicago community. Really honored to get to play there. Also deep gratitude to Jimmy Huang for stepping in on bass. Cutie.
Anyway. The real announcements, the reasons for the stack, are that 1) we are officially partnering up with Early Work Records, and 2) we put a demo of “All I Ever Wanted” up on Bandcamp! Woahh
Early Work Records is a new non-profit label based in Minneapolis, whose mission is to help artists at the outset of their careers. They’re a couple of musicians who have known each other forever and who set out to provide for young bands the things that they wished they’d had as a young band themselves; namely, help! and specifically help from people with no profit motive. They’re doing really great work, and we’re happy we get to be a part of their burgeoning operation. The newsletter they sent out today:
“We’re thrilled to announce Early Work Records will be working with Chicago-based indie folk four-piece Widemouth in support of their debut EP “Well.” In our review we call this group out for their euphoric vocals, delicate instrumentation, and moving melodies. Fans of Boygenius, Big Thief, and Waxahatchee will enjoy the ride on Widemouth’s rising star.”
If you are in a young band or know someone in a young band, definitely investigate their services! Or sign up for the newsletter if you want to hear about new music and such.
And secondly, we put a song onto Bandcamp on Monday - “All I Ever Wanted (demo)” - that Mak and I made in my bedroom a little over a year ago, right before Lily and Levi joined. We really like the song and the recording even though it’s a little quiet, and we wanted everyone to have it. It’s also an important piece of Widemouth history - in the course of writing this song Mak and I found out that we liked each other. By the way if you don’t have or use Bandcamp you can still go listen.
Alllright that’s everything. Wait actually come to our show at Beat Kitchen on February 20th
Ok
that’s everything.
Love you all. Some photographs below for your viewing pleasure.
