Thursday, February 13, 2014

A Song for Spring

Here in the Northeastern US, where we live, we're getting hit by yet another snowstorm. At the moment, we can hear the sound of ice crackling against the windows of the barn. Another foot of snow is expected overnight, adding yet another layer to the thick blanket that's accumulated since the start of winter.

So, this seems like the perfect time to share with you our new music video, this one for Before Dawn, one of the songs featured on our debut album, First Flight. The song and the video are a celebration of springtime, an expression of hope for new life and light to come.


The song features Justin Hillman on acoustic guitar, Zack Cross on piano, Melissa Hyman on cello, Robert on vocals, acoustic guitar, bamboo flute and synth and Kate on vocals. It was mixed by Oz Fritz and mastered by Garrett Haines. We shot the video ourselves here at home...last spring.

If you'd like to buy a copy of the Before Dawn, click here. Or you can get the entire album here on iTunes. For more about the project, click here.

We hope you enjoy this meditation, a little bit of green in the deep midwinter.

Love,
Robert + Kate


Monday, December 23, 2013

The Holy Moment

Dear Friends,

We'd like to share with you our new song, The Holy Moment, which we wrote and recorded to celebrate the holiday season. To buy the song, click here.

And here's the video we made to go with it:


We hope you enjoy The Holy Moment, and we wish you much joy and peace this holiday season.

Love,
Robert + Kate

Monday, September 2, 2013

Update On Our Kickstarter-Funded Debut Album Project

Dear Friends,

It's been a long time, we know. And many of you are probably wondering if this project will ever get done. Well, we've seen some unexpected twists and turns along the road to completion, here, but we are so excited to say that we are now very close to home. The songs are in the hands of mixing engineer Oz Fritz and they are sounding amazing!

One big change to announce is that this project is no longer a 5-song EP. We decided to finish work on the 12 songs that we initially started with and release it all as a full-length album. And we have decided to call it First Flight, the name of one of the tunes and a fitting title for the whole collection, we feel.

Kate is at work now on a painting that will be the cover art. Once all the songs are mixed, they will go out for mastering, then we'll do the printing and get it ready for distribution. We don't want to announce an official release date quite yet, but it's safe to say it will be soon...maybe even Robert's birthday, September 30!

Thank you all for sticking with us. This will be a solid debut, and we are so excited to be able to share it with you....soon!

In the meantime, click here to see a video of us performing 'First Flight' this week at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, CT.  That hall has such a beautiful, inspired feeling about it, and it was such a joy to play there.

Love,
Kate and Robert

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Update: September 26, 2011

As fall arrives, we take a moment to look back on what has been quite an eventful summer for us.

We're thrilled to report that we kicked off the recording of our debut full-length album in early July with a two-day session at the Isokon Studio in Woodstock, NY with D. James Goodwin at the helm and good friend Thom Soriano also on hand. We recorded Dan Fabricatore's upright bass and Conor Meehan's drums for 14 songs, along with some of Robert's acoustic guitar tracks. It was an amazing feeling, as we took that plunge and began the process of producing our first album together. That first session was followed up in early August with another two-day session at the Isokon. That time, we captured Zack Cross' piano and Justin Hillman's acoustic guitar for all 14 songs, along with more of Robert's guitar. Eli Walker took the helm during that session and again, Thom was there to lend an ear. Finn M'Cool also provided some backing vocals.

We moved the project then to Justin Hillman's studio in Richmond, MA, where we set down accordion, banjo and mandolin tracks, then reconvened at our barn, where we recorded some synths, dulcimer and flute.

We're about halfway through the process now, with still some tracking left to do–including electric guitar, cello and all of the vocals–as well as editing, mixing and mastering. But great progress has been made, and we're thrilled with the results so far! Have a look here at a clip from one of the recording sessions. This is Robert, Justin and Zack rehearsing 'First Flight' to tracks recorded previously by Conor and Dan.

This summer also saw the release of our 4-song EP, which we, along with Zack on piano, recorded back in May with Tim Peck and his recording class students at Pomfret School in Pomfret, CT. We took those tracks home and mixed and mastered them with Justin Hillman, who also added some guitar. We began selling them at our shows, complete with homespun packaging by Kate. A digital download of the EP is available through bandcamp.com for free.

In July, we were also featured in a Berkshires arts magazine called The Artful Mind. Have a look at the article here.

We have some great shows coming up on our home turf of Western Massachusetts. This Sunday, October 2, we'll be at the legendary Dreamaway Lodge in Becket, MA and on October 22, we'll be back at the historic Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, MA.


We're also excited to announce that we were selected to perform at the opening night gala of the first-ever Made in the Berkshires arts festival, which will be held at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA on Friday, October 14. This is an exciting chance to perform, alongside many other Berkshire artists, in a beautiful venue with great history.

We will certainly keep you updated as things continue to develop here. In the meantime, visit our website

As always, feel free to reach out to us anytime by sending email to this address or by going to our website Facebook.
to listen to our home recordings, see photos and artwork, listen to audio of a radio interview and live shows and also to watch videos. or by friending us on


Thank you for your support!


More soon...

Love,
Robert & Katherine

Update: June 14, 2011

It's been a couple months since we last checked in with you, and quite a lot has been happening in our neck of the woods. In March, we had our first-ever show with a full band. It happened at Banjo Jim's in NYC and featured Conor Meehan on drums, Dan Fabricatore on bass, Justin Hillman on guitar and banjo and Zack Cross on piano. Such a fun night! Though that afternoon's rehearsal was the first time we'd all played together, everyone locked in immediately and things felt great.

We've since played another full-band show - at the Rockwood in NYC - as well as a few other shows with Zack and Justin and percussionist Justin Green. At the Rockwood show, the audience called for an encore, and we were more than happy to oblige!

In May, we went with Zack down to the Pomfret School in Pomfret, CT to help their music class conduct a recording workshop. They recorded us playing several of our songs live, giving the students a chance to learn with actual musicians in the room and giving us a chance to practice recording these tunes together - not to mention some great-sounding tracks to take home.

Kate has produced several more images to accompany our songs, which are now featured on the samples page on our website. Kate made these visual interpretations of the tunes using pencil, ink, paint, colored pencil and computer tablet. Our main focus during the past several weeks has been to prepare to record our full-length album. We've been spending a lot of time finalizing the song list and working out arrangements with Justin, Zack, Conor and Dan. The first recording session has been scheduled for early July at Daniel Goodwin's Isokon Studio in Woodstock, NY, and we couldn't be more thrilled to begin the production of our first album - and to be working with such great people! It's exciting, for sure.

We will certainly keep you updated as things continue to develop here. In the meantime, visit oakesandsmith.net to listen to our home recordings, see photos and artwork, listen to audio of a radio interview and live shows and also to watch videos, several that were shot during our show at Banjo Jim's in March. Thanks to brother John Oakes for shooting the video. Here's a sample, our song When I Woke.

As always, feel free to reach out to us anytime by sending email to this address
or by going to our website at oakesandsmith.net or by friending us
on Facebook.

Thank you for your support!

More soon...

Love,
Robert & Kate

Hello from Robert & Kate!

We're pleased to be issuing our first-ever monthly e-newsletter. We'll use this to keep connected to you and to let you know about our upcoming shows and other happenings in our musical world.

Feel free to reach out to us anytime by sending email to this address or by going to our website at oakesandsmith.net or by finding and friending us on Facebook.

Thank you for your interest and support - it means so much!

More soon...

Robert & Kate