An American Songline

Journeys in Vintage Music with Cecelia Otto

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Cece Otto

The American Songline CD is now available – get your copy today!

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Lincoln Highway, Journey, Music

Hello, hello American Songline fans everywhere! I realize I have been quiet for some time, but I have been hard at work in the studio with the CD and book commemorating my 2013 journey in my new home state of Oregon. But that hard work has now all paid off…

The American Songline CD is now available for purchase!!

This amazing cover art was designed by John H. Clark, an artist who specializes in creating vintage artwork for the National Parks in Utah (http://scenichwys.com/). We not only wanted this to look like a piece of vintage sheet music, but it also incorporates historic buildings along the Lincoln Highway as well.

For those of you who are new to this project, here are a few notes about the album:

From the 1880s to the 1930s, when most towns had a theater and live music was a staple of weekly entertainment, people across America gathered to enjoy the sounds of vaudeville: popular favorites, operetta and folk songs that reflect the hopes and dreams of a simpler time. In An American Songline: A Musical Journey Along the Lincoln Highway, vocalist and composer Cecelia “Cece” Otto reaches back to the heyday of vaudeville to recreate the music that entertained Americans from coast to coast, singing songs of love and longing that have lost none of their power to enchant listeners of all ages.

In 2013, she underwent a history-making journey along the Lincoln Highway, America’s first coast-to-coast highway, giving concerts of vintage American songs in every state along the route. An American Songline features many of the songs Cece performed at these concerts, including timeless favorites such as “Second Hand Rose,” “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life,” “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” and “Goin’ Home.” In addition, composer Nolan Stolz (The Lincoln Highway Suite) composed two works especially for this project, which appear exclusively on this album. Lastly, Cece wrote several new songs inspired directly by her travels, including the elegiac and inspirational “Land of Lincoln.”

The Lincoln Highway celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013, and Cece marked this milestone by journeying more than 5,000 miles along the road, starting at the highway’s eastern terminus in Times Square and ending in Lincoln Park, San Francisco. Over the course of nearly six months on the road, she performed more than 30 shows in venues ranging from a nineteenth-century opera house to the grounds of a historic farm. An American Songline is an audio souvenir of this journey, reflecting the songs audiences loved along with insights — and humor — picked up from traveling far from the interstates most Americans rely on to cross the country.

“From the beginning, American Songline was going to be an album, as well as a series of concerts,” says Cece. “I wanted to leave a record of my journey for people who weren’t able to see a concert. I truly believe that history lives in our music, not just our history books, and I hope anyone interested in this era gives this album a try and enjoys it.”

BUT WAIT! There’s more to come  – a book chronicling my journey will be released in May, and I’ll be out on the road touring again this summer! Definitely subscribe to my newsletter below or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube so you don’t miss a thing. Hope to see you on the road!

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New York Wrap Up

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It’s my last night here in New York City, and the time has flown. This experience in New York was an amazing start to this trip, but there’s 13 more states to go and there’s a lot left to see and experience.

For those of you that do not know, the Lincoln Highway is not very long in New York (around a mile). It starts in Times Square and heads West on 42nd street. Because it’s such a narrow strip and there’s much to see  in that short distance, I walked this strip of the road so I could get some better pictures.

Here’s some photo highlights of my walk:

View of one side of Times Square from the 22nd floor.
This is just one part of the Lincoln Highway display that  Jerry Peppers (New York State director) has. Look at the business card-you may recognize it from somewhere! :)
This is me sitting at Jerry’s Desk-you can see Times Square behind me.
Fun with the Naked Cowboy-a famous and long standing performer in Times Square.
New York Director Jerry Peppers poses with the post that will eventually mark the Eastern Terminus of the Lincoln Highway. For those of you who have seen “A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway”, this is the same poster he used for that documentary.
Here’s me with the Eastern Terminus Sign.
This Lamp Post on 42nd Street marks the start of the Lincoln Highway.
Here’s a great photo of Jerry and I. A big thank you to him for all of his support on this tour so far. He’s a great guy, and if you are in the area and want to learn about the Lincoln, definitely reach out to him!
Jerry was nice enough to give me this turn-by-turn guide to drive the Lincoln in both New York and New Jersey. Where GPS fails, paper succeeds.
Right off 42nd Street and along the Lincoln, the New Amsterdam Theatre was an important theatre in this country during the 20’s and 30’s.
Love this old sign for the Lincoln Tunnel (modern detour for the highway, originally ferries shuttled cars back and forth on 42nd Street).
View from Pier 83, the pier that originally shuttled the cars from New York to New Jersey 100 years ago. Today the pier has boats that do sightseeing tours.
Found this place dating back to 1909 within a block of the Lincoln Highway. Empire coffee and Tea has great stuff-go check then out!
Found this building along 42nd Street that looks like it could be from a century ago. It was dwarfed by all of the new high rise buildings surrounding it.
I took dozens of pictures in Times Square, but this one at dusk was one of the best pictures. It was amazing to watch the square change from day to night.

I’ll be heading to Princeton, NJ tomorrow, and plan to take more photos as I go along the way.  Stay tuned for more updates, and keep spreading the word!