love morris just released a new take on one of her old songs, just in time for everyone’s favorite/least favorite romantic holiday! Listen, stream, buy it here:
As a band name, rushmore beekeepers kinda started (and continued) as a joke. When I saw the film Rushmore I immediately claimed the name, regardless of a lack of both band members and bees. Off and on over the years rbk has had guest musicians, sometimes improv at live shows and a recorded song here and there, but it’s been some time since this was a band.
(Cue dramatic music)
Meet love morris! If you haven’t heard her electro folk mini-album, have a listen here. You may already know love morris rbk-wise from her singing and bass on “the name of every building.” We’ve performed together in various musical settings over the years and, for the first time in many years, have collaborated on a bunch of songs.
love morris (also know as Amanda Hawkins) is all over the new album, co-producing and contributing vocals and a variety of instrumentation. It’s the first album we’ve recorded as a duo (!), which not only makes the songs sound one million times better but is also seriously overdue; Amanda is an amazingly talented musician and one of my favorite people and we should just always be in bands together.
We recorded semi-Postal Service style, mostly because I live on the road and Amanda’s house doesn’t have wheels. I recorded my parts, sent the files to her digitally, and she recorded at her home studio in Arizona. Every time she sent a finished song to me it was like getting a birthday present, or whatever the better version of a birthday present is. The band, as it were, has never sounded so good, and I’ve never been more excited to share new music.
The new album, a reasonable distance, will be available for preorder soon, so until then here’s our first single, “fighting monsters.”
Amanda Hawkins, my awesome sister-in-law (and the builder/designer of this site) is creating a collage a day on Instagram for #The100DayProject. Here are a few of my favorite pieces of her art, but you really should just follow Amanda on Instagram.
004 – big things are happening. #the100DayProject #100DaysofCollage #collageart
A photo posted by Amanda Hawkins (@oh_amanda) on
Amanda is a web developer and designer who, among other talents, builds websites and custom themes in WordPress, open source web software for websites and blogs. She designed my first website and the newer version you’re currently viewing.
Amanda Hawkins knows how to build a website into a piece of art that’s organic and textured while incorporating impressive, customized development work, like my site’s albums/music section and its smooth mobile and tablet friendly responsive design. (Just adjust the width of this window or view the site on a different device to see how it adapts to different screen sizes.)
Even with very little constructive feedback from me (I’m always like, “This looks great!” and “I love it!” – in my defense, it does look great and I do love it) Amanda created a website that visually represents my personality, story and music more accurately than I could ever imagine.
Amanda also designed the art and layout for most of my albums and even handmade the booklets for throwing mud at your streetlight. You can hear her sing and play bass on “the name of every building (52-33)” from 52 of 28:
You should also listen to this small collection of her music project, Love Morris:
Indie folk/electro folk duo rushmore beekeepers cover all the pivotal themes in life: love, adventure, impermanence, and occasionally the apocalypse.
Be the first to KNOW; tour dates, new music and more!
