I've finally made my album, Bluebird Days II, available for free streaming on Bandcamp, because why not? It was a long wait, I realize, but some online places to get music list the official release date of June 21st 2022 (my birthday), even though advance listening has been available since late 2019. I thought it was worthy of yet another announcement and explanation, though the astute readers already know I've covered this topic previously. Patience can be a rewarding challenge.
So...
I mean...
First of all, I would like to thank Gah-It, my personal higher power.
It's a blessing, I've been blessed, it's a blessed day...
...and it's a bluebird day!...again.
I'll get to a point eventually, like the beak of a bluebird, and if you're a returning reader you know I'm long-winded and weird, which is why blogging is ideal for someone like me.
I am like the bluebird: It's an American songbird (so am I because I am also an American, and I write songs and sing them), the male of which has a blue head, back and wings (I am also male, and I've been blue in the face before and I've certainly had my share of the blues).
What makes be extremely lucky though, is the fact that I've also had my share of glorious bluebird days.
The Apple dictionary defines it as an adjective:
"denoting or relating to a period of time characterized by sunny, cloudless weather, typically after a night of snowfall: on beautiful bluebird days the girls rode snowmobiles | a week of bluebird skies | it's bluebird, but 50-mile-per-hour winds have closed the gondola."
Speaking of Apple, I got a recent report from Apple Music that my "play" count for their streaming service has dipped to an all-time low - a clear indicator that you are ready for new music from me.
When bluebird became an adjective to describe such a day is unclear, and back when I experienced a lot of them, it wasn't in use.
The reason I chose it for titles of two of my studio albums I released is that I love the idea of experiencing "bluebird days" and I have fond memories of them.
I lived and worked at a ski area in Colorado in the early 90s and I got to experience powder skiing on sunny days after it had snowed a lot the night before many, many times. There's nothing like it, and I really do feel blessed to have had that experience.
I noticed I had a batch of songs that were either about skiing on bluebird days, about birds and/or flying, or about the color blue or having the blues, so the album title made sense.
When I realized I had somewhat of a theme going, it spurred me on to write a few more that fit it, and the next thing I knew was I had enough songs for two albums. Here's where my good fortune ran out.
This occurred in late 2019, and my release schedule called for a new album in June 2020. I learned that my music distribution service offered the ability to upload all the songs and then specify a release date in the future. So, of course I thought I'd take advantage of that, get my two "in the can" albums uploaded and have one go out in June 2020, and the next one go out in June 2022.
I once read in some music magazine that Ozzy Ozbourne recorded his Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman solo albums all in one big session around 1979 after he was kicked out of Black Sabbath. So, he had "two in the can" thing and his record company waited to release them a couple years apart. I'm not sure if I'm remembering it correctly or if that was really true, but I thought it was cool to know your next album is already done.
The service said I could do it, the software let me do it, so all was good. I could take my time and not have to have a new batch of songs ready until June 2024 for the album after these two. (The schedule I'm referring to is that I typically release a new album of a baker's dozen new songs every two years, in even numbered years, on my birthday in June). Life was good, or so I thought.
There was some sort of mistake the service later struggled to explain that resulted in them releasing the second one first, and in late 2019 when I submitted it, and the first one second, on the scheduled June 2020. They aplogized and gave me credit for a free album release, but it bummed me out and made me feel blue.
This meant that after June 2020, there would theoretically be no new album of music from artist Scott Cooley until June 2024 - a long time to wait for those used to the expectation I had created with the release schedule commitment. The official release date, which is still in the "metadata" shows June 2022, even though the Bluebird Days II album has been available since late 2019.
I guess soon, on June 21st, it will be official that it is at least what I consider officially released anyway. All that being said, it still means the fanbase hasn't heard any new material from me for two years. Because of this, and also because the streaming stats are understandably down from such a layoff, I wanted to let you know I'm planning an additional release this year - a bonus album, if you will - even though it violates the already-violated release schedule. You deserve it. Check back within the coming weeks for confirmation and details.
