YOU DID IT!

Bing Futch: THE RV PROJECT Tour 2011 rolls June 3rd for:

Nashville, Tennessee
Black Mountain, North Carolina
Lancaster, Ohio
Voorheesville, New York
Altamont, New York
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Westminster, Maryland
Louisville, Kentucky

more dates to be announced...




Humble thanks to you and blessings, friends, family and fans!

Jae and I are just simply blown away. Our deepest thanks - mahalo nui loa, sho na bish - love. You've given us a blessing and I just hope that you'll enjoy what I now give to you. It was going to be cool enough to travel 3,000 miles and meet with lots of old friends while making new ones. From the music made to the sights seen, with the spark of inspiration to the joy of being around folks that have tapped into this mystical little instrument and claimed it as their own personal totem.

Now, that's all going to happen again - and this time, I'm coming in with the knowledge - the feeling - the sensation of love from so many of you. Simply incredible.

Listen, I'm getting goofy. So, I'm going to capsulize what I'm trying to say with a snapshot from last summer's tour.

It was at Portage Dulcimer Day last summer, weekend of the 4th of July. An old coal mining town from the turn of the century, peering out over the Cambria County valley with all of its greenery, punctuated by the occasional fireworks display. The organizer, JT Taylor, and his family are hanging in the background with friends and neighbors. Kids splashing. Belgian beer. Cigar. Laughing. Talking about the oil spill and JT's work involving it. Red rockets shooting and noisemakers whistling and popping every now and again. A whoop and a holler from across the street. The smell of barbecue. One deep pool. Cool breeze in Portage that night, though it was still very hot.

I remember just kicking back and looking around at the folks around me. Having played music all day long and fellowshipped around the dulcimer, we were enjoying a holiday weekend in one of the gold veins of America. Small-town in the U.S. and it was the dulcimer that brought me there, like some kind of magic carpet. So many places that we never see when traveling on a plane or a train. At least, on a train, you can kinda see some of these places as you go speeding by. How many of them have I passed? How many spots have you blasted past on the way to somewhere?

Whenever someone says something like "middle of nowhere", I'm always reminded of the song by Daniel Amos - "Nowhere Is Someplace."

I know, I'm as corny as Kansas in August, but I'm in love with this country and the people that are the salt of its earth. You know who you are.

I'm glad that this was made possible, this summer, this tour. Thank you, with everything I've got. Let me tell you what I'm working on for the donations.

"Unreleased Music Collection of MP3s from the entire recording history of Bing Futch."

I've got to find a better name for that. Anyway, it's what it says. To give you some idea of what to expect, you'll hear stuff from 1985 through the present that has never been released, some of it for good reason, but it's all part of history. You think I'm weird now? Wait till you hear "Tamagochi Girlfriend."

"E-Book of mountain dulcimer tablature"

Yes, this one needs a better title too. I figure, the material that gets included will inspire the actual title. Some of this is music that I arranged, or wrote, or learned and transcribed, or heard on a YouTube video. Some of it is directly inspired by the events of THE RV PROJECT, so you can probably expect everything from "On The Road Again" to "Cumberland Gap." So far, it's a bizarre little mix - check out some of these (including two crooked tunes.) Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring, The Old Black Cat Couldn't Catch A Rat, Beauty and the Beast, Abdul Abulbul Amir, Ein Prosit, Donnegal Highland, Faerie's Hornpipe, Lincolnshire Rangers, Texas, Alouette, Arirang, El Rey, Fisher's Hornpipe, Lubby's Lullaby and more. Over 100 pages of tablature and each song has a TablEdit file so that you can play the tune at slower and faster speeds and watch as the playhead follows the music to hear and learn them all!

"The RV Project"

That's the name of the CD - some thought went into that one. : ) I'm really looking forward to this. Basically, all of the material will be tunes and songs recorded during the actual tour. I'll be traveling with recording equipment in the RV and I'm expecting to meet up with lots of wonderful musicians. This may be a single or a double, but it could be a triple. These are all going to be sent out in a folder of music and images from the trip.

The other stuff involves signed books and CDs, private lessons, registrations to the Key West Dulcimer Fest and, the big one, a week of washing cars, weeding gardens, painting walls, cooking food and putting on a private concert. I'm delighted and honored to say that I'll be spending two weeks at two different homes where simply amazing people have shown their support and encouragement for The RV Project.

So, if I see you - be aware that you could very well end up on the record. Don't be shy!

Fundraising is officially over, though we welcome any donations if you feel so moved. As a neophyte RVer, I feel way over my head. Pics and video to come of the Winnie's coming home. Blessings to you - thank you!

Donations -

$50+ - Unreleased Music Collection of MP3s from the entire recording history of Bing Futch

$100+ - E-Book of mountain dulcimer tablature covering a variety of different music styles from all around the world + Unreleased Music Collection

$200+ - "The RV Project" MP3 Collection with special guests, featuring music recorded during the first part of summer tour (will only be available to donors and not released to the general public) + E-Book of tablature + Unreleased Music Collection.

$300+ - 8 Hours of Private Lessons on mountain dulcimer and/or Native American flute (in person or via webcam - a $360 value) + "The RV Project" + E-Book of tablature + Unreleased Music Collection of MP3s.

$500+ - Physical CD copies of "70mm", "Clear Blue Trickling", "Dulcimerica: Volume 1", "Dulcimerica: Volume 2", "Dulcimer Rock", "Kokopelli Rising", "Christmas Each Day" plus "All Over The Map" and the entire 6-book "Mountain Dulcimer In The Band" series (all with CDs), each piece signed and personalized (a $280 value) + 8 Hours of Private Lessons on mountain dulcimer and/or Native American flute (in person or via webcam - a $360 value) + "The RV Project" + E-Book of tablature + Unreleased Music Collection of MP3s.

$1000+ - Physical CD copies of "70mm", "Clear Blue Trickling", "Dulcimerica: Volume 1", "Dulcimerica: Volume 2", "Dulcimer Rock", "Kokopelli Rising", "Christmas Each Day" plus "All Over The Map" and the entire 6-book "Mountain Dulcimer In The Band" series (all with CDs), each piece signed and personalized (a $280 value) + 8 Hours of Private Lessons on mountain dulcimer and/or Native American flute (in person or via webcam - a $360 value) + "The RV Project" + E-Book of tablature + Unreleased Music Collection of MP3s AND….I will come to your house, wash your car, mow your lawn, weed your garden, cook meals for FIVE DAYS and play a private concert for you and your invited guests at the end of the week.



Remember last year's tour?