It's been two months since we released our second album, The Knotted Circle. What has the experience been like? What've we been up to? Read on to find out!
The Knotted Circle Tour
What's better than an album release party? A BUNCH of album release parties! We used this release as an excuse to take a local "tour" of all of our favorite venues in southwest Virginia. Stops included Clam Digger's, Big Lick Brewing Co., Twin Creeks Brewing Co., 3rd Street Coffeehouse, and Olde Salem Brewing Co...along with a long-overdue at-home livestream for fans on Facebook and Instagram.
We had an absolutely amazing time performing for all of the different audiences, often with repeat faces, along the tour. We were frankly humbled by all of the enthusiasm and support we met as we celebrated The Knotted Circle. Thank you to everyone who came out, whether in-person or virtually, to party with us!
Reviews & Radio Spots
We can barely believe we're saying this, but The Knotted Circle release caught the eye of several media outlets in October and November! Television, print, podcast, and radio...both local and international. Here are some of our favorite quotes (click the images to expand):
Irish Music Magazine's review of The Knotted Circle appeared in the print version of their 2023 Annual Edition. You can read our interview with Virginia Living here; the review from The Roanoke Times here; and watch our interview/television spot with WDBJ7 here.
Our music has also seen domestic and international airplay! We mostly know about these when the stations tag us on social media, but "Byker Hill" has appeared on Bob Leslie's "Transatlantic Conversations" on Celtic Music Radio based in Glasgow, and "Byker Hill," "The Barnyards of Delgaty," and "The Transatlantic Set" have made their way onto Marc Gunn's Irish & Celtic Music Podcast.
And speaking of the Irish & Celtic Music podcast, "The Transatlantic Set" was recently added to the show's "Best of 2022" playlist. As long-time fans of the podcast, we're absolutely amazed and humbled!
Pre-Release Shenanigans
I don't know how many of your have ever bulk-ordered CDs, but I'm sure that at least a few of you are familiar with the sensation of placing an online order and hoping, hoping, hoping that the package arrives on time. That was us with The Knotted Circle! With supply chains still shaky following the pandemic, we found ourselves refreshing the UPS tracking page more than we should have...
There was never a doubt that we'd receive the CDs in time for our October 14th release. However, there was a chance that we wouldn't get them in time for the Radford Highlanders Festival on October 9th. And what a shame that would be, given that Celtic festivals are a coming-together of people who love the culture!
Fast-forward to the end of the story, and the packages arrived at the absolute 11th hour. We had a gig at Long Way Brewing in Radford the night before the festival, and we got the notification that our packages had arrived while we were en route to the brewery. We called Josh's uncle Brian to scoop the packages off our doorstep until we could return home.
We were too exhausted to open the package when we finally returned home from Long Way, but we filmed a very enthusiastic unboxing video the next morning:
The Knotted Circle received a warm welcome from audiences at the Radford Highlanders Festival, and we were ecstatic to send out a literal arms-full of preorder packages before the official release day. We really couldn't have asked for anything better!
The Circle Continues...
And finally, we've been hard at work putting together music videos to accompany the tracks on the new album! This will be a project that we'll unfold over the next calendar year, so keep your eye on our YouTube channel. Here's what we've made so far:
"Byker Hill" Official Music Video
You can read behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the "Byker Hill" video here!
"Loch Lomond" (Live at Fret Mill)
"The Transatlantic Set" (Live at Fret Mill)
Thank you all for taking the time to see our shows, hear our stories, and celebrate our successes! This second album release has been everything we could have ever wanted. Here's to the music to come in 2023!
~Julie & Josh
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