Music

A New World War One Album and a Call to Action

May 2, 2016 by Cece

Hello, hello American Songline followers!

I can’t believe May of 2016 is here. This year has disappeared so fast. After I finished performing last fall (I was on tour for several months last year promoting the American Songline book and CD), I took some time to relax and spend time with my family. During that time, regrouped to figure out what was next. I knew I wanted to do a new program on a theme like my Lincoln Highway program, but I wasn’t sure where to start. And then it came to me.

In 1917 and 1918, our nation changed forever when it entered into the First World War. More than a hundred thousand Americans fought and died in this often-overlooked period of our history, and I knew I had to share their songs and stories. I am proud to announce that I will be going back into the studio this year to record all these songs in their original sheet music as they were intended to be heard, and I plan on performing them live across the country in 2017 and 2018.

I have chosen a wide range of songs for the upcoming shows, including patriotic songs like ‘Keep the Home-Fires Burning’ and ‘It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary.’ Some other songs poked fun at military life, like ‘Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning’ and ‘How Ya Gonna Keep ‘em Down on the Farm.’ But it’s not all marching songs; I will also include sentimental songs on the album like ‘Till We Meet Again’ and ‘The Rose of No Man’s Land’.

And now, this is where you come in.

The grassroots effort for my first project was the backbone of my tour, album, and CD. It was as amazing as it was because of the contributions of the people and communities I came through. Because of you!

Producing an album not only takes time, it also takes money. A typical album by today’s standards is roughly 45-60 minutes with about 10-12 songs. But due to the recording technologies of the time, songs were much shorter than they are now. To make a full-length album, I need around 15-20 songs to get around that 45-minute mark. To help with these production costs, I will be running a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for the month of May.

All funds will go strictly to the producing of the album, which includes the studio production expenses and piano accompanist’s fees. Cover art as well as any fees to publish the album on CD Baby are also included in this funding goal. If I exceed my $3,000 funding goal, I will record an additional WWI tune for every $500 raised.

The perks of this campaign include digital and/or physical copies of the album, as well as autographed copies of my American Songline book and album. International donors are welcome and I’ve got various rewards at all tiers, including the chance for you to sing on the album with me, so check them all out!

Here’s the link to donate: https://igg.me/at/songsofWW1.

To read my press release, click here.

I love sharing America’s history through song, and I hope you’ll join me in having this music brought back to life again. Thank you for all of your support over the years, and I look forward to hearing from you!

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

March 25, 2015 by Cece

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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Getting ready for the 2012 LHA conference!

June 15, 2012 by Cece

I got back from Mongolia on Monday afternoon, and I’m still a little jet lagged still but all in all doing very well. It was a fantastic trip, and I look forward to sharing some of the highlights with you all after I’ve sorted through the 1,500 photos, videos and audio recordings I made while I was there.

No rest for the weary though-I hit the ground running when I came back. I am very honored and pleased to officially say that I will be performing for the opening night dinner of this year’s 2012 Lincoln Highway Conference in Canton, Ohio. I will be singing a few songs to give everyone a small taste of what people can expect when I take the program on the road in 2013. I look forward to seeing everyone that I met in Lake Tahoe last year, as well as making new friends at this year’s conference.

If you can’t make it to the opening dinner or conference this year to hear these tracks, do not fear! I am selling a special advance preview CD with five tracks on it for $5 at the conference (Look for my table in the book room and come and say hi!), and after the conference is over I will have a special link where you can purchase the CD (additional shipping costs will apply).

Like last year, I will be posting photos from the conference as well as giving written updates from the road. We will also try to get video of my performance as well so you all can finally see me sing, so stay tuned for that.

Safe travels to my LHA colleagues, and I look forward to seeing you all next week in Canton!

A Journey of a Different Sort

May 11, 2012 by Cece

Happy May everyone!

While this website is mostly going to be about anything related to the Songline and anything Lincoln Highway related, I do have other journeys that I will be taking soon that are not in the realm of hitting the open road. I feel that every journey we take, we must take it so that we are ready for the next one that lies ahead.

In eleven days, I will be embarking on a trip to a part of the world that has minimal roads, hundreds of miles of arid steppe, and horse is still used as the main form of transport in the countryside. I will be going to Mongolia for 20 days as a belated birthday present to myself (my birthday was last November).

Most people when they hear I’m undertaking a trip here either say “That’s awesome! I would love to go!” or I hear, “Why?” with a interesting tone of confusion in their voice. There’s no middle ground on people’s opinions of me taking this trip, either they love or hate the idea. I have many reasons for going, but for me this trip is all about getting out of my comfort zone and seeing a place that tourists don’t go. Seeing a place where the way of life is not “Westernized”. I will be on a tour with 7 other people, and we will have a guide who will interpret as needed (to see some photos people took on their trips with this company, click here).

I first learned more about the beauty of this place through the book and documentary called “Long Way Round”. In 2004, actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman rode their motorcycles from London to New York across Eurasia and North America and it changed their lives. One of the best quotes from the book came from Ewan while they were staying in Mongolia about seven weeks into their trip:

“Before we left London, I thought I was going to miss knowing what was going on in the world, but I realised that day, as I listened to the wind whistling round my ger (Cece’s note: this is like a yurt in American terms), that being completely out of touch was one of the glories of the trip. We’d travelled a third of the way around the world on the back of three bikes; people’s faces had changed, their homes had changed, the way they led their lives and what they believed in were different. But with everything that was going on in the world at that time, if we hadn’t been so isolated we might have easily have travelled through these countries without becoming aware that ultimately we are all the same: we all love our kids, we all need somewhere to sleep and some food. We all want the same things; the world isn’t that big a place.” –Ewan McGregor

My brain can’t still fully comprehend all of what lies ahead, but I know in my heart that this trip will shape the journey I will take across the US next year.

I leave you with this famous Mongolian saying, “While your father is alive, make as many friends as you can, and while your horse is alive, visit as many lands as you can.”

Bayartai! Sain yavaarai!

Seek and ye shall find

February 29, 2012 by Cece

Happy Leap Day to all!

In the last month, I’ve been contacting historical societies in various states along the Lincoln Highway not only to let them know about the project, but to also see if they had any concert/recital programs from 1913-1935. I’ve had some tremendous results thank to the following agencies:

The Wyoming State Historical Society and The Wyoming State Archives came through with flying colors and I now have close to 50 pages of programs from this era. They also recommended a link I thought I would share with you history buffs, “The Wyoming Newspaper Project”. I spent hours (and could spend more hours) looking at all of the newspapers that were transferred online from microfiche. You not only can search by keyword, but also by pattern and concept. You can print anything from this website as well-all free of charge!

Nebraska’s Historical Society also had a few great finds, including a souvenir program that had music for a song called “Let Me Stray” from the Grand Island Capitol Theatre. I can’t find any modern recordings of this song, so I’m looking forward to debuting it on the road next year.

And last but not least, here’s the fun find for today. The Utah State Archives found a program from 1930 of the operetta “Naughty Marietta”, and noted two songs were performed: “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life” and “My Heart is Back in Napoli” (we know the latter as “Italian Street Song”. At first I didn’t know these songs, but when I played them back, my first memories of these songs from watching old Bugs Bunny cartoons as a kid. Sad but true.

Today’s video is a hilarious interpretation of “Italian Street Song”. She even stays in tune while everything falls in around her. Enjoy!