Note from Abigail:

The Sparrow Quartet ended our touring in Scotland, CO, DC, NY, and lastly, Louisville. We had an amazing time playing our last few shows together... we could feel the end coming and the music and the shows felt inspired and meaningful in a way that is hard to explain. Thanks to all of you who came out to the shows! And, thanks to all the good people that made the shows happen at the theatres, clubs, opera houses, record shops and colleges. I can’t imagine a better tour to conclude Sparrow Quartet touring on.

Casey, Ben, Béla and I are all working our way into new ventures the most notable of which is the birth of Emmette Kapely Driessen on March 2. Congratz to Molly and Casey and all of us friends and family that get to hang out with the new addition from here on out. Béla’s Throw Down Your Heart: Tales from the Acoustic Planet Volume 3, The Africa Sessions came out on March 3 and the tour is soon to come to your town in March and April. Ben is busy on the road supporting his album Learning to Bend. Scroll down for info and tour dates on everyone’s plans in the near future. Be sure to sign up on everyone’s solo email list at the links below so you can get the most accurate and timely info.

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<font size="1" face="'Trebuchet MS', Verdana">photo by Amanda Kowalski</font>
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I’m back off to China, Sichuan province on Monday March 9 to follow up on the experience of playing in the post-earthquake relocated schools last December during my residency at Sichuan University.

Myself and electronic artist Dave Liang of The Shanghai Restoration Project are setting out on a collaboration to do field recordings of the students and teachers in a school relocated 8 hours south of it’s hometown near the epicenter of the earthquake. Then we will head back to the hometown to get sounds of the reconstruction and family and community members. We will take these recordings and release an EP on the year anniversary of the earthquake, May 12, with music as raw as the field recordings to ambient electronic remixes and dance music for digital and a short run physical release. A portion of all album and track sales will benefit Sichuan Quake Relief, a local organization providing resources to relocated schools all over Sichuan. A long term goal of the project is to use the work of the professional photographer, Amanda Kowalski, and videographer, Luke Mines, accompanying us to create a multi-media exhibit for museum display. A full gallery of pictures, videos and podcast interviews will be available online on May 12. There are many ways to follow us on our journey into Sichuan:

• Sign up to be a follow me on Twitter and receive quick updates to your phone

• Connect with me on Facebook and see regular updates

• Become my friend and check the blog on Myspace

• Pass on the link sign up for this newsletter to a friend so they can know about the project too.

Note from Casey

Hellos to all sparrow friends – past, present, and future. 2008 and early 2009 have been such a wonderful and rewarding experience on and off the road with Abby, Béla and Ben. We played, we traveled, and then we played some more (or was it the other way round?) My only regret is that I never had the shirt made – “From Regina to China,” which is exactly how it happened.

As we all head our separate ways for the time being, I wanted to share with you what I’ll be up to. Immediately, I’m expecting a baby...by the time you read this, it may have already happened. The ultrasound said girl, though you can’t be 100% until the birthday.

After joining Béla for the first tour promoting his upcoming Africa record and documentary, I’ll be officially releasing my second solo record, entitled Oog, on May 12. I think of it as an exploratory, experimental, and progressive fiddle record, stemming from a deep passion for tradition and improvisation, embodied by a rock infused groove based interpretation of genre bending (blending?) original compositions and three (de)’rrangements of others. I’ll be touring the US with my drums/bass/fiddle trio, The Colorfools.

I’d like to invite you out to a show or two. Current musical whereabouts can be found on my GIGS site If you’d like to stay in touch and see a few photographs from time to time,my email list You’ll also be able to preview Oog and receive a free download. Finally, I’m assembling my Streetteam – if you’re interested, please indicate that in the “Message” field of my email sign-up list .

Thanks for all your support of the Sparrow Quartet project.

Safe travels,

casey


www.caseydriessen.com

www.myspace.com/caseydriessen

Individual websites, email lists, tour information:

Abigail Washburn

Béla Fleck
Béla Fleck Africa Project Tour Dates

Ben Sollee
Ben Sollee Tour Dates

Casey Dreissen

Casey Dreissen Tour Dates