An American Songline

Journeys in Vintage Music with Cecelia Otto

Lincoln Highway

The American Songline Book is Here!

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Cece_Book_CoverAt long last, it’s finally here! I am proud to announce that the American Songline book is now available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions!

Click here to pick up your copy: http://www.amazon.com/American-Songline-Musical-Journey-Lincoln/dp/1514317826/.

I hope all of you out there have also been enjoying the CD too! If you have bought or downloaded the American Songline album and like it, can you leave a quick review at one of the sites below to let other buyers know what you think of the music? If you haven’t bought it yet, you can now buy the music at the following links:

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/american-songline-musical/id979747974

CD Baby (both physical and download versions are available through this link): https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ceceliaotto2

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/American-Songline-Musical-Journey-Lincoln/dp/B00V6BU9H6/

I’ll be making appearances all over the country this year, and am taking bookings for concerts and speaking engagements for 2015 and 2016. If you know of an organization that would want to hear me and my story, please let me know – I’d love to bring American Songline to the world! I’m also happy to speak about crowdfunding to groups as well.

I’m keeping this post short as I’ll be heading to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the Lincoln Highway Conference today, and I’ll be there all week attending the conference and performing. I’ll post a follow up post on the conference next week when it’s all over. Until then, safe travels everyone!

The American Songline Book is Coming! Here’s a Preview…

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Thanks to all of you who have bought the CD so far! I hope you have been enjoying the music. While I was happy and proud of the the album being out, I went full tilt to work on the book and it’s almost done! The American Songline book will not only chronicle the 30 concerts I gave in 2013, I also share some personal parts of the journey as well. I sang songs about love and loss along the Lincoln Highway, and those songs became the inspiration for chapters of the same name.

Up first, I wanted to share an excerpt of the “Loss” chapter. Today marks the 5th anniversary of my father’s passing – I can’t believe he’s been gone for five years. The American Songline project was just a vague idea in my mind when he died, and I had no idea if it would be successful or not. Before I started my tour, I knew my Dad would play a part in his own way, and he did. Read more in this passage from the upcoming book:

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I was a bit worried about staying overnight in Gettysburg. The rumors of the town and hotel being haunted stuck with me, and while I’m not afraid of ghosts, I have had enough encounters with the paranormal that I cannot explain away. I was curious to see if the rumors were true, but I wasn’t actively looking to find out.

There was a plastic candle in my window that lit up when the sun went down. I saw it and wondered if the candle was for the living or for the dead that may walk the streets. When I asked the front desk the following morning why it was there, the hotel clerk said, “It’s a tradition in this area to leave a light on in a window sill for those traveling at night, so they know they have a place to stay.”

I kept a low profile that night, eating dinner and working on my regular jobs. When I finally fell asleep that night, something strange happened.

No Civil War soldiers appeared, but I had a vivid dream that changed my outlook on the rest of the tour. I dreamt I was in an old house that had been converted into a bookshop. I walked into various rooms and combed through the stacks. At some point, I turned the corner into the next room, and there he was.

My father died unexpectedly from a massive heart attack at the age of 61 in 2010, about three months before Dan and I were to be married. While I had some major issues with my father during his life, his death was extremely devastating to my family and me. The one person who you thought would be the last to go was the first. To also lose him so close to my wedding (a supposed happy time) was, and still is, an extremely painful thing for me. After his death, he would appear periodically in my dreams, and tonight in Gettysburg he did just that.

 He was not young this time; he was older with his grey bread, glasses, and wearing his favorite blue and white flannel shirt. We talked as we wandered the stacks, and then when we got the comic book section of the bookstore he stopped.

            “Hey Cec, do you want a comic book? I’ll buy.”

 I remember my jaw dropping, mainly because neither of us really liked comic books. “No Dad, I really don’t like comic books. Why would you want to buy me one?”

            “Oh, I just want you to have some fun, that’s all.”

            What he said sounded so odd to me that I woke up immediately. For a few seconds, I did not know where I was. The candle was still aglow on my windowsill, and there was nothing and no one there. I eventually fell back asleep, but it took a while.  

***

I love and miss him, but what I miss more sometimes are the opportunities I wish I could have had with him – I’d give anything to have one more day with Dad again. If you didn’t do this over Mother’s Day this past weekend, please tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. You never know what can happen, and the secret to living a great life is to live a life with no regrets. Thank you for letting me share this story with you, and if you have any comments, please share them below.

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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One Year Ago Today…

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One year ago, a journey started with a concert in New York City. The cabaret room and crowd were small on this April afternoon, but they knew they were witnessing something that had never happened before – a birth of a historic singing travelogue that would months later finally make its way across the country.

My mind today is still reeling from the fact that I was able to accomplish this. I can tell you that the woman standing on a stage in New York City one year ago was both nervous and excited for what would be coming.  While I sang that first concert in New York, so many thoughts raced through my head, including:

1) “Holy crap, I’m performing this first show, and that show is in New York City!!”

2) “What will everyone think of these songs?” (Answer: They were very well-received. In NYC, “Second Hand Rose” and “Nobody Makes a Pass at Me” were the crowd favorites.)

3) “There’s still no accompanist for my performance in Indiana … there HAS to be someone in South Bend who can play it.” (Answer: There was someone, and he was confirmed less than two weeks before the show.)

4) “I hope this car holds out!” (Answer: It had to make a couple trips to a mechanic for various things along the way, but all in all I made it all the way across the country without getting into any major car wrecks.)

5) “Will I get sick of singing these songs?” (Answer: Nope. Not once.)

There were physical, emotional, spiritual, and literal “bumps in the road” along the way, but I knew I had to keep going. I had to see what was around the next corner, what was in the next town, what was in the next state. But doing this project wasn’t about what I saw, it was something more.

It was what I felt. Sure, there are some easy ways to tell visually if you’re on the various Lincoln Alignments (street names, telephone poles, and architecture always help give clues), but it was how the road felt as you are driving it. Within a few weeks of my tour, I could tell when I wasn’t on the Lincoln anymore by how it felt. It sounds weird, but it’s true.

The Lincoln Highway is a road, but it’s also a state of mind. What is that state of mind? Here’s hoping I can convey to you what that state of mind means to me in my upcoming book.

Thank you all for your support these last 365 days, and I can’t wait to share what lies ahead!

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Gifts and Things Found Along the Lincoln Highway

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Happy Holidays Everyone!

The nomad in me never stops moving, hence my silence on this blog. After I finished the tour this fall, my husband and I took the plunge and moved 2,000 miles from Chicago to Portland, Oregon where we’ve both never lived before! We’ve been here now for a few weeks, and are spending the holidays here on the West Coast. So far my time has been great here, and I look forward to exploring the area more very soon.

But enough about non-Lincoln Highway things! I know many of you out there have been enjoying and celebrating your holiday season amidst the hustle and bustle that comes along with it.  I wanted to stop and take stock of the many gifts blessings I’ve received from people along the road this year, and I wanted to share these roadside finds with you all. Below you’ll find some really neat and unique items that were given to me as well as things I found along the way. You’ll also see a plethora of t-shirts in this collection as well from across the country (when you live on the road and laundry is scarce, new t-shirts are pretty much a necessity).

Without sounding too hokey, the biggest gift of all is nothing pictured in this gallery. It will always be the new friends I made while on my journey; they now have become “old” friends to me in such a short time. They are the true legacy of the Lincoln Highway, and I feel honored to know them. You will hear more about these extraordinary people in future blog posts as well as my book about my travels. So stay tuned-this is only the beginning!

Until then, may the rest of 2013 be merry for you all! –Cece

The Colorado Loop

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Towns don't really exist in this part of Colorado, but ranches and businesses do.
Towns don’t really exist in this part of Colorado, but ranches and businesses do.

Ok, I’m admitting it.

I’m a little biased with today’s post. As most of you know, I lived in Colorado for five years to do my graduate studies in music. This part of my trip was as close to a “homecoming” as I got on this tour, so after my Denver performance I took a mini-break from the road to be in familiar surroundings with dear people who I’ve known for a long time.

That being said, there is plenty about Denver that is no longer familiar to me, even after only being gone several years. Restaurants and radio stations stayed the same, but so much has changed and grown in such a short time. I knew I couldn’t go “home” again when I came back to Colorado, but I still never anticipated how hard it would be to be back there at times.

Anyway, onto the history of the road…

The Colorado Loop only existed as part of the Lincoln Highway from 1913-1915, but since we are celebrating the centennial of the highway, we must celebrate all of the original parts of the road. This loop created great controversy from the get-go for the Lincoln Highway Association. This part of the highway was included due to the persuasions of people in Colorado, but also out of slight guilt from the association. After all, they held their initial meeting in Colorado, and then they originally decide to leave Denver off the route? Colorado wouldn’t have it! The loop was then created, but trouble quickly followed. The town of Greeley decided they wanted in on that action, and then there was an “unsanctioned” route created to include Greeley in that route. The LHA had enough of the state’s shenanigans, so they eventually and quietly changed the route to not include Colorado.

It’s a shame really. The high plains of Colorado have a serenity found nowhere else along the route. After living in Denver and always flocking into the mountains for an adventure, the Northeastern parts of Colorado have an adventure all unto itself. Much of this area still remains unchanged from a century ago, and you really start to feel the isolation a Lincoln Highway traveler would have encountered back then.

My performance in Denver was a good one, and it was wonderful to see so many lovely people again. Dan was able to come out for this show, plus there was an old friend who flew from New York to surprise me for this performance! There’s some great video of this show now on my YouTube Channel for your viewing pleasure.

Below you’ll see photos of the loop as well as pictures of Denver itself and Mt. Evans (while not on the Lincoln Highway, it’s a road that most everyone should visit while in the area). Let me know what you think of the pictures, and thanks for stopping by!

Western Nebraska Highlights, and meet Nebraska Outback!

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I used to be like a lot of you out there in the US who had stereotypes about Nebraska. I always made the joke “Do you want to drive Nebraska by day to see how boring it is, or do you want to drive Nebraska at night to smell how boring it is?”

I can’t say that anymore. I saw stuff in Western Nebraska that was amazing, and all I had to do was leave the interstate and drive the Lincoln Highway. As Kevin Patrick noted at the LHA conference, “Friends don’t let friends drive the Interstate,” and I think I’ll start to embrace that motto after this tour is over.

The main people I have to thank for this part of my journey are Muriel (Nebraska Outback is her blog), her husband Mark, and Rob with N Route Entertainment (Muriel helps with this organization as well). They opened my eyes to seeing the beauty of their area, and they support live music and musicians with a passion I haven’t seen anywhere else so far. I left Western Nebraska with a whole other state of mind, and ready for what lies ahead.

I have to admit that the road caught up with me after my performances on the 4th of July. I was a little under the weather for a few days at this point of the tour with a sore throat and ear/sinus pressure. Luckily, it was all caught in time, and I was able to sing for a group of touring Norwegians, Swedish and Danish folks driving across the country.

There’s around 70 pictures in this post (get comfy), but here’s a few highlights of the area that I want to write about before you see the pictures:

1) While this is not directly on the Lincoln Highway, the Sandhills are truly a magnificent experience that’s close to the route. It is a region of mixed-grass prairie/grass-stabilized sand dunes in north-central Nebraska, covering just over one quarter of the state! You can pretty much Google and see several websites to learn more about it. Muriel has strong family ties to this area, so my driving tour both her and Mark took me on was made that much more magical.

2) If you’re a fan of anything of the Old West, definitely take the time to stop in North Platte. You’ll find plenty of things to do and see there, and you won’t be bored!

3) You’ll cross into Mountain Time Zone west of Sutherland, NE (my favorite time zone). I noticed on some of the original routes as well as some auxiliary roads you’ll see the sign “Minimum Maintenance Road”. Believe what they say! I wanted to go see some old wagon ruts on “California Hill” and my car got stuck in mud right off of the paved main route. Luckily I wasn’t in too deep and could back myself out of the mud by myself, but this warning as well as a few others is a note of caution for anyone driving the Lincoln solo. When in doubt, don’t drive it!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Up next I’ll talk about the infamous “Colorado Loop”. Until then, enjoy your week!

Kearney to North Platte: Exploring more of Central Nebraska

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As I left Kearney, NE on the morning of July 4th, the road changed for me yet again. This time the road had a different buzz then before. The big centennial celebrations were over, but because of the holiday nothing had been taken down yet. Town still kept various things open not only for the holiday, but for Lincoln Highway travelers like myself. In one of my previous posts, I remarked about what the route looked like in advance of the car tours. Would everything go back to the way it was, or would it all stay up for the rest of the summer? Would the Lincoln still be prominent in people’s minds, or would it fade away again? I’d have to drive further down the road to see what happened…

It’s about 100 miles as the crow files from Kearney to North Platte, but in these parts it takes a lot longer to get there than one would think thanks to the famous “Stair Steps” along the route. If you drive US 30 in this part, you are NOT driving on the original highway. When the Lincoln was being plotted 100 years ago, it was tricky in those days to get across the South Platte River. They used the existing roads of the time, which followed section lines around farms. These lines formed a stair step pattern when you looked at a map. You can read more about this part of the route here. It winds and curves, dozens of times, but it a beautiful and historic stretch of road. Thanks to the efforts of Muriel Clark with Nebraska Outback (more about her in my next post), this section of the road now has signage directing you along all of these twists and turns. When I was photographing the road they were in process of getting all of the signs up, so it should now (as of today’s date) be fully marked.

Because I had to be in North Platte at a specific time, I had to drive this section on two different days. I followed the original route until Gothenburg on the 4th, and then I came back and drove the original route from Gothenburg to North Platte a few days later. I really loved driving this part of the route, and I’m glad I took the time to see it.