Eric Maring New CD Releases
Eric Maring, one of College Park’s most beloved performer-educators, is releasing two new albums this fall, one for children and one for adults, and College Park Arts Exchange is hosting release parties at the Old Parish House for both CDs.
The album for adults, entitled “Hero in the Epic,” will be unveiled on October 26 at the Old Parish House with a CD release party at 8 pm. You can check out Eric’s fun video for the title song on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCJzK_j43-g&feature=youtu.be
You can also download the album “Hero in the Epic” album from bandcamp.com.
https://maringmusic.bandcamp.com/album/hero-in-the-epic
Mr. Maring’s CD for children, “You Are My Sunshine,” features favorites like Puff the Magic Dragon, The Rattlin’ Bog and Five Little Ducks.
Q: How long did it take to produce your CDs — were they self produced?
While there were some elements from other sessions, the bulk of the recording was done this summer, both at Asparagus Media Studios in Takoma Park and in my home studio. The band songs – with drums, piano, and bass – we did live at Asparagus and I later tracked some added elements at home. This is the first I’ve recorded at home and I was thrilled to see that it could really fly – made it much easier recording several musicians on lots of different schedules. Our Calvert Hills neighborhood is a hyper-musical place and I feel lucky to have recorded all members of Paint Branch Creek on several of the tracks as well as Theo and Robert Baum who took the title track several notches higher with keys and electric guitar. This is the first I’ve recorded with my sons and they both added so much. My fifteen-year-old, Leo, plays sax, violin, and mandolin on both records and is truly musically mature beyond his years. Julian has a perfect voice to accompany my singing on the “Sunshine” record and he was totally game for it.
Q: Did you run into any fun incidents with the guest musicians?
One of my biggest highlights was having the members of Next Generation sing and play on “Puff the Magic Dragon”. These are high-school students who all were at one time in my toddlers music classes. Now they are all accomplished musicians and singing with me on one of our favorite songs together. They sing a gorgeous siren-style three part harmony while Leo picks delightfully on his mandolin. I don’t think I could ask for much more.
Q: Describe the process of making the video for Hero in the Epic.
Montana Monardes is a brilliant young video director who has filmed several Paint Branch Creek videos. He completely knocked this one out of the park. We shot it in one day at several locations in College Park – the bike path, downtown, and at the Old Parish House. My ten-year-old son Julian was totally game to do the young Dylan from “Subterranean Homesick Blues” tossing cards with words from the second verse on them and he had a thrilling sense of how to deliver it. The electric guitar on the track is from Theo Baum, whom College Park music fans may remember from last year’s Old Parish House tribute to Dark Side of the Moon. We had an amazing moment together filming the video out on the sidewalk in downtown College Park and Montana made it really shine in the video, pulling off an incredible b&w/color split screen moment, conjuring the past and present and swirling them together. There are several hero moments alongside Dylan in the video – the tank man from Tiananmen Square, Rose Lavelle’s goal in the World Cup this summer, Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the ’68 Mexico City Olympics that helped conjure the feeling of the video. We shot these on the corner wall of the Old Parish House for a very interesting effect and also projected Dylan in his iconic moment on to me while I sang “Hero”. Really a thrilling moment and Montana and I really saw eye-to-eye in making of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCJzK_j43-g . I have a second video, “I’m So Sorry”, also shot at the OPH, that is due out any moment now.
Q: Tell about your other albums and how this one differs.
The children’s record, “You Are My Sunshine”, is a reflection of my 10,000 hours of teaching, making music with young children and families. I still love every one of these songs and I couldn’t have made it any sooner than I did. Singing these songs feels like simply taking a breath. I made “Holy Guacamole” with my band Jawbone about thirteen years ago which has been very successful in this area; it seems I had to wait a while to put out another family album that I felt could reach that height. As for “Hero in the Epic”, it’s not that it differs as much as it’s an extension of past records – several musicians I’ve worked with for years – Matt Jones, Greg Heelan, and Allison Hughes, plus some new wonderful players. It is the first solo record I’ve co-written songs on, which has been simply incredible. Eric Olson and I have worked together on Paint Branch Creek songs and there are several on this one that we got our heads and hearts together on the lyrics. Greg Heelan and I crafted a song in Ireland this summer that made its way to the record as well. I think the biggest difference I noticed in myself as an artist is sharpening my ability to “kill my darlings” – that is, let go of songs that I love but that don’t have a place on a particular record: I let go of four songs I was certain would be on “Hero” but then realized they wouldn’t work. Maybe for the next one!
