Dana Perry

First time hosting my new songwriter's retreat. Took hundreds of photos, can only post a mere 20 here. Tried not to think about it too much, cuz they're all awesome and it's impossible to decide, so go to facebook.com/folkuproductions to see the bulk of them.

The whole thing was pretty surreal, the sheer potency of the energy was almost too much to handle at times. Lotta laughs, lotta tears, deep soul connections, stellar music, yummy noms, reflective fire jams, healed wounds, a dozen synchronicities, space held, minds melded...thank you doesn't cover it. Can't fu***ng wait to do it again next year.

Upcoming things:

9/11 - songwriter thing at Cargo 6:30pm
with Kelly Hepper and Whitney Rose, gonna each play a short solo set and then do some songs together.

9/20- 3rd EyeSight Festival 1pm
This the newest event through Folk U Productions (now officially an LLC!), it's at Common Gardens in Dane WI, and it features an absolutely dreamy lineup of Artists for which I have tremendous Love and respect. I'll have some special guests playing my set with me, can't wait to share the hearty stew we've been cooking up! The festival serves as the culmination of the KTRS retreat (below).

9/16-9/20 - Kill the Rock Star:The Retreat
A dream several years in the making, around a dozen of us who are playing the 3rd EyeSight Festival will gather for a 5-day retreat first. It's a chance to unplug and tune into ourselves as musicians, because a musician in tune is a whole environment in tune. 

10/3 - Breese Stevens Field 4pm
Yup, read that correctly! I'll be playing for their annual "Seltzer and C***r Fest", which serves as their 100th anniversary.

10/23 - Mad Mojo at Cargo 6:30pm
Oh hey, I'm also in a fun new band called Mad Mojo! Cuz when Dan Fu**in' Kennedy asks if you wanna play electric guitar and sing with him in a bluesysouthernrockysoul band, it's a firm yes. Our first gig is at Cargo alongside our good friends The Prairie Fire.

After that I'm gonna try and wind down for a bit, gonna be focused on building a bigger sound with a few new players, experimenting with instrumentation, writing new stuff, alla that. The work also continues with GRC, MAMA, Cargo, Lullaby Project, and who knows what else may come my way.

Thanks for tuning in 💪❤️

The f**k does in mean to "make it" anyway? 🤣

I've been exploring this concept for most of my musical life...

How does a musician know if they've "made it"? Is it touring and playing big stages? Is it making lotsa money? Lotta spotify streams? Having a big "draw"? High "follower" count on the socials? Your name in press? Expensive clothes and gear? Being technically "good" or "talented"? Having the "best" production for recordings? Ah, these tired old base concepts that are fed to us of what being a "successful" musician means...

Plenty of musicians tour big stages yet don't feel like they've "made it", often because they feel they don't make enough money...and at the same time plenty of musicians may make decent money but don't play many big stages, so they don't feel they've "made it" either...there are musicians that have a big draw but almost no social media following, and others that have a big social media following but little-to-no stage experience...plenty of musicians can actually pay for the wardrobe and a top-tier studio album and a tour bus and big video production, but the actual music leaves something to be desired...even what we call "good" music is up for interpretation because we're human and have opinions, we've all experienced some s**t music that has a big audience while absolute masterpieces go seemingly unnoticed...so many contradictions with this "making it" thing musicians are supposed to be shooting for and yet never finding, this pinhole view that's ever shifting and consistently contradicts itself...

Maybe none of it actually matters...maybe it's not the gigs you play, the clothes and gear you have...maybe it's not your album sales, or your social media following, or the amount of people you can "draw", as if Listeners of your music are tokens to be collected...maybe it's not the money you make, or the people you know...maybe alla that s**t is actually cutting us off from what we truly could be...

Which brings us to the ultimate lingering question: if I strip all of that away, then what's left? What remains when I dissolve all the things that are simply not true?

Just taking a word s**t, thanks for tuning in ✨

Getting ready for the KTRS retreat and 3rd EyeSight Festival on Sept 20th, took a walk through the space. The land here has a beautiful cozy farm vibe, and I'm in Love with the trees and greenscapes. I'm also in Love with this barn, and how there are going to be 16 of my favorite Artists and bands filling it with songs. I'm also in love with these amazing women, fierce and beautiful creatures that joined me in leaving songs of Intention and Gratitude there before our departure. And I'm in Love with my partner, for capturing that one time we sang in the barn 7 weeks before the retreat.

Show up and get in tune 🤌✨



Whitney
Kelly Hepper
Cassidy Jean Lund

One more session next week and I'll be wrapping up my 14th summer with Girls Rock Camp - Madison and it's been an exhausting-yet-beautiful energy drain, as always. Shifting gears soon to focus on end-of-summer/into-the-fall things, here be a few shows:

7/19 "12:34 Concert Series" in Oshkosh
8/8 Sojourner House Concert in Monona
9/20 "3rd EyeSight Festival" in Dane

The festival in September is a brand new thing by Folk U Productions, German and I are SO looking forward to getting this thing off the drawing table and into the physical. For almost a week leading up to the festival, over half of the lineup will be immersed in my other new thing "Kill the Rock Star: The Retreat", where we spend 5 days connecting with ourselves as musicians, a reminder for ourselves of what we are and why we make such noises.

If you've tuned in today you have my Gratitude ✨

A mere 8 days until the EP release! There will be multiple ways to listen to the new album: I'll have it up on select streaming services, on a CD, loaded on a flash drive, on a tiny mp3 player, or it can be downloaded from my Bandcamp. I've also been replenishing the merch, which I'll set out at the release party at on 3/20.

I'm a DIY kid, there's magick in the things we make. I made the bracelets, hand-painted the shirts and coffee mugs, and I personally loaded the flash drives and mp3 players with 4 of my albums. The logo art are my own designs, 7 out of 8 album art designs are my own; and German used the designs to create etched glass, stickers, and buttons.

Whoever goes home with anything from my table hopefully leaves with something one-of-a-kind ✨

Trying to raise $1,000 to help fund my new EP release and to take it on tour in April...I'm not doing a gofundme...INSTEAD, I'm directing potential donors to my bandcamp page...aaaand it happens to be Bandcamp Friday! is waiving their already modest fee so Artists get 100% of any sales today.....

Step 1) go to musicbydana.bandcamp.com

Step 2) select album download of choice to purchase, even if you already have it

Step 3) when it comes time to pay, bandcamp will give you a "pay more" option, cuz they're awesome n s**t. Select that option and drop your donation there!

Anyone who drops $50 or more will get a seriously cool gift from me, that will likely include something involving this awesome custom wax seal kit that German gifted me 💪♥️

I cannot wait to share this EP. Get ready for an Ignition.
It is time ✨