The Nields Newsletter 
   PledgeMusic      XVII XVII XVII!!!


Photos by Kris McCue

Dear friends,
As you know, we have a new album. We've named it XVII because it's our 17th album, and because we recorded 17 tracks for it, and because it's being released in 2.15, and because XVII is fun to type. (Please pronounce it "seventeen" and not "ex vee eye eye." Thank you.) 

We are head over heels with the way this record turned out. Those of you who have been following us know that we were incredibly sad when Dave Chalfant wasn't able to produce us the way he has for the past 18 years. And you know how happily surprised and overjoyed we became this summer as we saw new life being breathed into our hearts and lungs by the synergy of the amazing group we worked with, led by Kit Karlson (and including Dave!), to create this album. We both think these songs are Nerissa's best batch ever. They run the gamut from Nieldsian envelope-pushing pop ("Princess," "Wasn't That a Time,") to Sister-Hollerish folk ("River"--with Tracy Grammer! and "Victory"--with Dave Hower and Steve Yarbro) to some kick ass feminist anthems: "Delilah" and "You Don't Have that Kind of Time" (with a panoply of our sister singer-songwriters as backup chorus) to the revisit of "Joe Hill," a Jayhawks-influenced Pete Seeger memorial. There's "Normandies," our "Hey Jude." Then there's "Love Love Love," our first single which you will get as soon as you pledge for anything on our campaign. Katryna thinks it's our sequel to "Easy People."

What is a Pledge Page?  Excellent question. We like to think of PledgeMusic as a musician's Community Supported Agriculture. Today's farmers have wised up; rather than hoping and praying for good harvests, they are enlisting the support of their local eaters, who buy in to the farm in the spring, paying early for their groceries, then reaping the benefits in the autumn. One lovely byproduct of this model is that the eaters see a lot more of each other throughout the summer and fall, getting to know each other along the way. We're asking you to do the same for us: buy our album now, support us now, so we can deliver the record to you in the deep midwinter! We're also asking you to spread the word about us by sharing this newsletter, and/or our PledgeMusic Page to any of your friends, old Nields buddies from the 90s who might have fallen off our list, new folks you think would like us. In the age of streaming, Spotify, Pandora (which we as consumers LOVE! But which pay musicians like us $0.000001 per play) we are counting on you guys to make the story of independent bands and the Internet end Happily Ever After! It's easy: go to the PledgeMusic page and share it via social media or email - share it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Ello, Google+ or any other place you like to hang out online that only cool people like you know about. Sow those seeds far and wide! Who knows? You might make some new friends.

When you buy the download of our new album, you will get the single "Love Love Love" right away, and before Feb.2 you will get the full album. But you will also get an access pass to the site, where we will be posting every week: videos from the making of XVII, videos of our ongoing antics, videos of the songs, a chance to get to know each other. You will get the news--whatever it might be--before anyone else. This is a chance to be part of a community for a discrete period of time, and we are hereby inviting you. We need you. And we think you will really enjoy taking this journey with us.

We like PledgeMusic a lot. Like all crowdfunding websites, they allow us to have fun exclusive offerings in addition to the new record. But Pledge is different from some in that it also facilitates getting a single to you right away; getting special content to you as the campaign progresses. Most important to us, they are allowing us to pay it forward. We are planning 4 fundraising concerts to support amazing organizations (see below). And Pledge also gives us an online space for you to see the progress on our campaign as it proceeds (from Oct. 27 to Feb. 2, our release date!). Read on to see what some of the Exclusive Offerings are, where the Fundraisers will be happening and how to support these amazing organizations. And thank you and thank you and thank you for spreading the word about The Nields! If you could forward this email to a few people you think might like us, or who you KNOW like us but who might not be on our mailing list, please do! (We once had 15,000 people on our snail mail list before sending it out bankrupted us. We'd love to reach all of them again!) 

Thanks so so much for your help, dear friends and fans!
Love, Nerissa & Katryna 

Click here to join our campaign, get some new Nields music, see the video, c'mon, get happy!
Click here to preorder the new album!
Our Exclusive Offerings

 You can pre order our album as a download or CD, or get one of the many crafty packages we've put together! We are offering everything from the physical CD, to the Outtakes EP, special Nields Tote Bag, special Family Packages, to VIP treatment at one of our Iron Horse shows, recording a song for someone you love and us videoing ourselves singing it for their birthday, to songwriting consultations, guitar lessons, a five course meal cooked by Patty (where Katryna and Nerissa will be guests--Patty is a great cook!), to us creating a HooteNanny birthday party for your child, to us giving you a house concert, to us officiating AND singing at your wedding! Nerissa is even offering up her Hate Free Zone guitar, the guitar that wrote everything for Love & China and has been her go-to travel guitar for the past thirteen years. To see all the exclusive packages, go here. Please note that all orders will be fulfilled once the campaign has reached its goal, but you will get the download of the single "Love Love Love" as soon as you pledge!

Our Fundraisers
We are proud to announce the organizations we have chose to target for fundraisers during the course of our campaign. For certain weeks of the campaign, we will set challenges for each of these organizations. If we meet certain financial goals during the course of the week, we will do an exclusive performance in which all proceeds go to benefit that organization. Stay tuned!


Better Future Project accelerates the growth of a powerful grassroots movement to address the climate crisis and make stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities by advancing a rapid and responsible transition beyond fossil fuels. 

Crittenton Women's Union transforms low-income women's lives through innovative social service programs, applied research, and effective advocacy so they and their families can attain economic independence.

Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Life Changing Folk Festival located in the Berkshires at the juncture of New York State, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Great things happen here. And there is sometimes weather.

MotherWoman supports and empowers mothers to create personal and social change by building community safety nets, impacting family policy and promoting the leadership and resilience of mothers.
What Will We Do with Your Money?
Pay the producer, pay for mastering, pay for artists to make the cover, pay for videographers to make videos for us, pay for duplication, pay for distribution, pay our publicity team, pay our band to play shows with us (possibly in Boston, NYC, Northampton, DC area and at certain festivals...who knows where we will go!), pay for us to fly to far flung places we used to frequent, like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA, Colorado, Chicago, Madison, Ann Arbor, North Carolina, Florida. Put money in a silo for our next CD.
XVII
Release date 2.2.15
Production by Kit Karlson
17 new songs by Nerissa & Katryna Nields
New album--XVII--out Feb 2! 
In This Issue
Our Exclusive Offerings
Our Fundraisers
What Will We Do With Your Money?
Tour Schedule
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
2014

  

Nov. 8 
Passim

Cambridge

Two shows! 3:30 family show

7pm show, Kalliope Jones (formerly Belle Amie) opens!

 

Nov. 13-15

NERFA

North East Regional Folk Alliance Conference

(presenting Friday morning)

 

Dec. 6

Jammin Java 

Vienna VA

with the Kennedys! 

(Kit and Chip will be here to play with us!)


 

Dec. 21

Paul & Elizabeth's 

Annual Holiday 

Eat, Sing & Be Merry!

More info & tix coming soon!


 

Dec. 31

First Night Northampton afternoon kids shows, evening concert


 

Click here for complete tour schedule.
 
Photo by Sarah Prall




New Web site is here!
photo by Sarah Prall


 

""The Nields make clever folk pop full of sweet harmonizing." -The New Yorker

 

photo by Sarah Prall

The Nields offer small moments of joy and sorrow that linger in one's memory as a kind of quiet paean to the mystery of who we are and what it is we are about. Consumable.com
photo by Kris McCue
There's a profound state of aesthetic arrest that some singers can put an audience into, and singers like that are worth their weight in gold. Not many bands manage to have two of them. Pop Matters
photo by Kris McCue

 

"The marvelously expressive Katryna and Nerissa Nields provide vocals sounding at various times very much like the Bangles, the Roches and ...Alanis Morrissette...a delightful discovery."-Chicago Tribune