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Still Here

by Daryl Shawn

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    This album was recorded entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic, which began for me on March 13, 2020. I played a local gig on March 12, 2020, and was scheduled to play again the next day, but the show was canceled, soon to be followed by every other local date on my calendar. Instead of taking the bus to downtown Pittsburgh that night to perform, I sat down in my practice room, turned on my smartphone and broadcast a live show to Facebook.

    For the next 99 days, I continued to broadcast every afternoon at 5 pm. Many people came every day, and a warm, supportive family began to grow. We called it the Quarantour, the only kind of tour I could do under quarantine. We had memes, t-shirts, and mugs. I soon began broadcasting to YouTube as well, then Instagram, and Twitch, with four old smartphones set up on a music stand.

    After those first 100 days, I changed the name to the Acoustic Music Service and began taking weekends off. I upgraded to a proper camera and microphones, added two more cameras and a foot-operated controller, and found software that allowed me to broadcast to nine channels at once from a computer without needing an army of phones.

    The community continued to grow, with people joining in from India to Australia to Nova Scotia and California, and friendships forming that grew outside of the daily shows.

    In the fall of 2020, a local music store loaned me a Maton EBG808TE steel-string guitar. Up to that point, the only guitar I’d ever played on my shows was a nylon-string, a Takamine nylon-string EC-132SC I’ve owned for 20 years. The store wanted me to get comfortable on the Maton guitar so I could record some demo videos for them.

    I liked the guitar so much that I started featuring it on the shows, as a contrast to the mellower nylon-string sound. People really enjoyed the bright, clear sound, and the different way it made me play. I really fell in love with it, and started to think about finding a way to buy it, even though it was definitely far outside of my budget.

    My listeners began to offer to help me get the guitar, so I put up a page offering rewards like special requests for those who wanted to chip in.

    In less than a week, my listeners had chipped in enough for me to buy the Maton! It was humbling, overwhelming, and inspiring. I immediately began writing songs on it, and on many shows I played it exclusively.

    One day I sat down with my old Takamine, and a new song popped out with hardly a thought. I felt like the instrument was reminding me of our good times together. I titled the song Still Here, and carried the title to this entire album, my sixth collection of original solo guitar music, as a tribute to my listeners who continue to persevere through these times of worry, loss, and conflict. I am so grateful to them all, and to you.

    As of today, I have played over 400 AMS shows, following those first 100 Quarantour shows, and have no plans to stop streaming every weekday at 5 pm.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Still Here via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 3 days

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 8 Daryl Shawn releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Still Here, Safe in Sound, Holly Days Vol. 2, Holly Days Vol. 1, On Time, In Place, Body of a Poet, and As Promised. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $42 USD or more (30% OFF)

     

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about

This album was recorded entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic, which began for me on March 13, 2020. I played a local gig on March 12, 2020, and was scheduled to play again the next day, but the show was canceled, soon to be followed by every other local date on my calendar. Instead of taking the bus to downtown Pittsburgh that night to perform, I sat down in my practice room, turned on my smartphone and broadcast a live show to Facebook.

For the next 99 days, I continued to broadcast every afternoon at 5 pm. Many people came every day, and a warm, supportive family began to grow. We called it the Quarantour, the only kind of tour I could do under quarantine. We had memes, t-shirts, and mugs. I soon began broadcasting to YouTube as well, then Instagram, and Twitch, with four old smartphones set up on a music stand.

After those first 100 days, I changed the name to the Acoustic Music Service and began taking weekends off. I upgraded to a proper camera and microphones, added two more cameras and a foot-operated controller, and found software that allowed me to broadcast to nine channels at once from a computer without needing an army of phones.

The community continued to grow, with people joining in from India to Australia to Nova Scotia and California, and friendships forming that grew outside of the daily shows.

In the fall of 2020, a local music store loaned me a Maton EBG808TE steel-string guitar. Up to that point, the only guitar I’d ever played on my shows was a nylon-string, a Takamine nylon-string EC-132SC I’ve owned for 20 years. The store wanted me to get comfortable on the Maton guitar so I could record some demo videos for them.

I liked the guitar so much that I started featuring it on the shows, as a contrast to the mellower nylon-string sound. People really enjoyed the bright, clear sound, and the different way it made me play. I really fell in love with it, and started to think about finding a way to buy it, even though it was definitely far outside of my budget.

My listeners began to offer to help me get the guitar, so I put up a page offering rewards like special requests for those who wanted to chip in.

In less than a week, my listeners had chipped in enough for me to buy the Maton! It was humbling, overwhelming, and inspiring. I immediately began writing songs on it, and on many shows I played it exclusively.

One day I sat down with my old Takamine, and a new song popped out with hardly a thought. I felt like the instrument was reminding me of our good times together. I titled the song Still Here, and carried the title to this entire album, my sixth collection of original solo guitar music, as a tribute to my listeners who continue to persevere through these times of worry, loss, and conflict. I am so grateful to them all, and to you.

As of today, I have played over 400 AMS shows, following those first 100 Quarantour shows, and have no plans to stop streaming every weekday at 5 pm.

credits

released June 17, 2022

Engineering, mixing, mastering: Hollis Greathouse at Audible Images, Pittsburgh PA
Photography: Daryl Shawn
Package design and graphics: Linda McGuire

My deepest thanks to all who made this possible: Kevin Ainsworth, William Allen, Anthony Stacy, Hugh Astley-Jones, Helen Avakian, Janet Blackwood, Steven Brown, Jeannette Byrne, Robert Colwell, Adam Conner-Sax, Chuck & Natalie Durney, Heather Freeling, JK and Riza, Annabelle Ladao, Lorraine MacGowan, Tracey Sheppard, Bill Sherm, Barbara Steinberg, David Stott, Garry Wharrier, Dan Zehr...plus the amazing work of Hollis and Linda, and everyone else who contributed so generously to this project!

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Daryl Shawn Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Daryl Shawn blends the guitar chops of flamenco and classical with a modern songwriter’s sensibility and the energy of rock. He writes songs both with and without words, and is as comfortable onstage at a punk club as in a recital hall.

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