The Red Accordion Diaries

Kentucky musician who travels, eats, parents, writes, fights cancer, etc.

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Domestic Bliss

 ... and that is Fahrenheit.

I really want to go for a long walk, but two things are stopping me. One: I am sole parent to wee Angus, who is upstairs in the room playing Minecraft with friends from home. A crew member happens to be in the adjoining hotel room, so they are taking over "grab-Angus-in-case-of-fire" duties now, which is allowing me 20 minutes of peace and writing in the coffeeshop on the ground floor.

One thing that living in a hotel for five months has reminded me is that there is so much beauty in living in community. I don't understand the backlash against building taller buildings in Louisville -- buildings that have restaurants and coffeeshops on the ground floor and great living spaces above them. It's a great way to spend a Saturday morning, even if it's kind of like living in a college dorm. If you went to college in Yakutsk, I guess.

Coffee shop in the hotel ... espresso and writing!
Speaking of Yakutsk. Have you heard of it? My friend Danny (from those college dorm days!) first told me about it and how he like sto track the weather there. It's the coldest inhabited city on the planet (or at least it was 20 years ago when I first heard of it). I keep the town on my weather app, so I can always feel a little better about whatever temperatures I'm currently enjoying/hating. Today, for example, it is -33F there. (Weirdly, in the summer, it can reach 100F. Why do people live there? Same reasons they live in the polarizing weather of Louisville, I suppose.)

Anyway: it's cold in Calgary, but not as cold as in Siberia. So there is that.

Angus had an amazing week of filming. This child is so good at...

READ MORE at www.patreon.com/brigidkaelin (there is a FREE tier if you're not able to support for $1/month, which I totally understand. I support multiple artists on Patreon, and as my own members fluctuate, i have to often withdraw financial support to them ... but i always go back when my bank account is doing better! And I ALWAYS remain on the FREE TIER!)



 Happy October! This time of year is always rough for me, despite my love of pumpkin spice lattes and the crunch of leaves under my boots (boots! I get to wear boots!). I try not to get morose about it, but I always think of that John Keats poem "To Autumn." It is beautiful, but in the beauty I think of what will follow. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, brings times of reflection and pause and wonder and love and fresh school supplies and new promises and family gatherings of love and hope. It is also a time filled with anniversaries of grief for me and many others.

I'm missing my mom something...

to read the full post and see more photos, please pop over to my Patreon page where I am sharing much more. There is a free option, so it's not behind a paywall. (Though, as any artist would, I appreciate your dollar-a-month support as well.)

Also, please read my essay published at Kveller.com about this time of the year.

 I've posted more on my Patreon page (which has a free tier, and I'm pausing billing most months these days anyway), but I'm spending the next several months on a TV production. Wee Angus has a big role in a Paramount+ show that's filming in Calgary, Canada. We are living up here, enjoying the clean mountain air, and living out of a hotel. If you know me at all, you know that hotel breakfast buffet is one of my favorite things. This isn't *quite* a buffet in Rome, but it's pretty great to have access to every day.

Here's the link to the Deadline article, if you'd like to know more about what my kiddo is up to.


I'm still getting the lay of the land here. Being a solo parent on a film set is no joke. Sometimes he's away from me with the studio teacher having the mandatory three hours a day of tutoring. Most of the time I have to have eyes and ears on him for his safety. I can't say much about the production, but I have been blown away by how much they are protecting and caring for his well-being. Being on a union set makes all the difference. His physical and mental health are their top priority. He's very, very happy. He's learning so much. He's making so many friends, both adult and child. I'm thrilled for him!

I very much miss my 12-year-old and my amazing partner, though. Thankfully we have lots of experience traveling for our own jobs, so it's not as bad as it could be.

About to go finish some accounting and a house portrait for someone back home ... thanks for being here:) I'll be posting more on Patreon because I feel like my subscribers over there deserve some love. Sign up if you like ... it's free.

Oh! Buy my book here, please.

As I write this from my front porch, sienna leave are floating down to my laptop keys just as I'm trying to soak up the last rays of summer. It's been quite a year.

The last time I wrote, it was about a United Kingdom tour I was doing in January and February. The tour was magical, as always, and it flew by. The shows were magical, all of them house concerts or folk clubs. Those types of shows are my favorites. Intimate. Quiet. Eye contact. Gratitude all round -- me being grateful for an open-minded crowd there to linger onto every lyric; the audience being grateful to professional musicians who went out of their way to play their town/village/hamlet. Those shows remind me of what I love about folk music: human connection. 

In April, my newly-minted-8-year-old whisked us away to an all-expenses paid trip to a swanky film premiere. He had to work -- the work being an hour on the red carpet talking to 15-20 media outlets, sitting front and center while his movie premiered, shaking hands with fans after, and staying at a rooftop after-party until midnight re-connecting with castmates and their families. I tend to smile a lot anyway, but that night was something for the memory books for sure. Wee Angus was so happy to see his film friends, and 

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My spring was focused on final details with my publisher for ... THE BOOK I WROTE.

How do I have this blog here, and I have failed to tell you that I wrote and published my first book??

I have kept it off of Amazon, at least until I recoup the advance and break even. (Updated: it's on Amazon now!) But it's a local bestseller, and I'm honestly shocked how many people have actually read it. I designed it with the intent to make a coffee table book -- one that people can flip through for photos, memories, and fun facts. I even wrote a little summary in the beginning of each chapter so people could skim it. But people have actually been reading! I was prepared for the comment section, which has existed, but hasn't been nearly as horrible as I thought. 

It's a niche market: the book is a history of Lakeside Swim Club, a quirky and mysterious neighborhood swimming pool in the Highlands of Louisville, Kentucky. Its history is fascinating, and I wanted to document it for the future. The history also shows the bigger picture of what kind of magic we can create when we think bigger -- when we think community -- rather than individualism.

You can buy it online here: brigidkaelin.com/author. It's also available at Carmichael's. 

Now that my big writing project is over, I'm thinking I need to get back to blogging. I love the practice and the outlet. I had been over being silly on Tiktok and stuff, but I think I prefer words.

Consider this dipping my toes back in and testing the waters...

As always, ways to support: 

  • FREE ways to support an indie artist: Follow me on all the social media: TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. Follow me on Spotify.
  • Share my posts or music or art.
  • Very cheap ways to support an indie artist: Buy me a coffee, Join my Patreon page, Tip Jars!

Greetings from the Yorkshire Dales! Rehearsing in All Creatures Great and Small country (literally in the town where they film the show) for a few days. 

Friends! We arrived yesterday after a long travel day (10 hour layover in Atlanta, but I bought the plane tickets on credit card points and that's just how it goes). We flew into Manchester this time because our shows ended up being all in the north or in Scotland for this tour. I'm pretty bummed we couldn't make it down to the south to see pals Neil, Lou , Diana, Duncan,  Sid, and wow I could keep going with all the people I am going to miss this time round ... better planning next time, I think! But I'm thrilled with the people we *are* going to get to see.

When I first started touring in 2008, I did every tour with a different performer ... my favorite thing was bringing other Kentucky artists abroad, showing them off to the world. Steve Cooley was supposed to be a one-time thing, but it turned out that people turned out in DROVES to see him because: he's already a big deal over here. It also turned out he's a total delight to tour with, he ...

Read the full blog and see a video at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/greetings-from-97403907?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link It's free to see this post on Patreon, but it would also be wonderful to have you join ... I'll be posting a lot of tour videos over there only.

 Goodness, it's been almost a year! I've been updating folks over on my Patreon page, which is not entirely behind a paywall now that Patreon is offering a FREE tier. Join me there if you don't mind, please:) But that's not why I come to you today ... today I'm just updating because I realized there is a whole crew of you who still get updates when I post here and that may be the only place you receive my updates. So!

I'm going on a music tour in England and Scotland beginning January 31.
Tour dates and ticket info click here
I'm playing a lot of smaller towns this time, so take a look at this map and see if I'll be anywhere near you. 
If you can't be at a show, but you'd like to help out some indie musicians touring Kentucky music abroad, consider being a Tour Sponsor ... any amount buys us tour sustenance.

Steve Cooley, Banjo Legend, will be joining me on this trip, and we're thrilled to bring my quirky tunes and Steve's banjo pickin' to folk clubs and house concerts and even a couple of theatres all around Yorkshire, Merseyside, and Edinburgh.

Other life updates!

I was commissioned by the Governor of Kentucky to create the official artwork for his inauguration. I'm pretty proud of my art here ... strange that it's not music, but I'm beyond honored. Prints are available on my Etsy shop. (Did you know I make art? I've always done it, but I only started doing it professionally during COVID because music was a bust.)

Graham's film, Monica, had a great theatre release and is now making all the awards blogs as the most-snubbed-film of the year it seems ... not exactly the accolades one wants, but Hollywood doesn't seem to be ready for a trans-lead just yet. Shame! He's proud to be part of a film that is opening doors, nonetheless.

Angus's film, Unsung Hero, produced by For King & Country and distributed by Lionsgate, will be out April 26 in theatres everywehre. It's going to be huge ... like, really, really a big deal. He's even got a line in the trailer:

That's me with quick updates and sending lots of love to you!

brigid

  • FREE ways to support an indie artist: Follow me on all the social media: TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. Follow me on Spotify.
  • Share my posts or music or art.
  • Very cheap ways to support an indie artist: Buy me a coffee, Join my Patreon page, Tip Jars!



Last time I wrote here, I blogged from an aperitivo sidewalk cafe in Florence, Italy, while my 9-year-old sipped a Shirley Temple and ate crisps, and I lounged with an Aperol Spritz and visions of moving to Europe (again). I filled a sketchbook with ink and watercolor architectural drawings and rode high-speed trains and savored espresso and pommes frites while my little one recited fun facts about popes of yore and the Path of Illumination. 

He's 10 now, and I've spent the winter hibernating in Louisville, still dreaming of European sidewalk cafes and universal health care.

But to catch you up ... here he is on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival.

And here's my 6-year-old, who WHILE ON VACATION IN VENICE, somehow managed to self-tape an audition, do a Zoom callback at MIDNIGHT Italian time, WITH AN AUSTRALIAN ACCENT, and book a big role in a feature film. He spent the next six weeks filming.


Life has been weird and wonderful, and finally, after months of being a stage mom and homeschooling, I got to get back to my own music career a couple of weeks ago, playing in New York City with someone you might have heard of: Elvis Costello. Here are some photos from other people's cameras - I believe these are by Wilma Wilkie.





Art:

I've got ONE original watercolor of Churchill Downs available. It's large for watercolor - 18x24" - and it's listed on my Etsy shop.



Much love to everyone. I spent an hour at a coffee shop this morning, and I wrote a bit. And it was lovely. I should do that more.


As always, here are ways you can support an indie artist like me: 

  • FREE ways to support an indie artist: Follow me on all the social media: TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. Follow me on Spotify.
  • Share my posts or music or art.
  • Very cheap ways to support an indie artist: Buy me a coffee, Join my Patreon page, Tip Jars!

Before i had kids, before blogging felt a monumental task, back when i slept on couches, rented rooms of my house, worked in Nashville 3-4 days a week … oh, just writing about it makes me wonder what circles I was spinning in … anyway, the BEFORE me would be just oh-so-proud at the current me, and that alone feels like a win. 

I’ve had all kinds of ups and downs, more trials than I care to ever talk about, and more people doubting me than I would ever have imagined. And they mostly doubted the same thing: that my life would become boring after children.

So I think today, having followed my brilliant almost-10-year-old’s path through Florence, Italy, chasing Machiavelli’s shadow and searching for Galileo’s finger, feels like a win.

I’m in Italy this week … it’s a work trip, but more about that later. And it’s also a work trip for GRAHAM, who will be 10 in a few weeks, and who has a film premiering at the Venice Film Festival soon. 

We decided to make a homeschool field trip out of it, given that we’d been studying the Ancient ROman Empire and the Renaissance and art and science.

I’ve always wanted to be one of those obnoxious families (okay, they are only obnoxious because we are all envious!) who travels the world with their children, working remotely, gigging at night, painting during the day, homeschooling and teaching my kids that the world is so much bigger than they could ever imagine.

Today was one of those beautiful days where my dreams were realized, and we did the simplest things. Dinner was some cheese and veggies we picked up from a wee supermarket in the middle of Florence.  We popped into the Galileo Museum after a friend noticed I was in dear Firenze and suggested it. Graham marveled at Archimedean Screws and Astrolabes and stumbled upon the third finger of Galileo’s right hand (for real: it’s in this museum … just … why?!), and told me all about Machiavelli and Cosimo and Lorenzo and Michaelangelo and of course, his favorite: da Vinci.

We didn’t even begin the day with plans. We stumbled out of our apartment in city centre, and popped around the corner to the Piazza Santa Trinita seeking a croissant and espresso … and stumbled upon the Florence Urban Sketchers, plopped down, sketching the column of Justice and the Santa Trinita Church. And of course i had my sketchbook on me, and Graham wanted to draw on Procreate on his iPad … so we joined them, met tons of locals, plenty more travelers who were also artists, and we were still for two hours just sketching and chatting and LOOKING. 

I’m going to finish up some of my sketches, but for now just wanted to write and say hello and ponder the possibility of worldschooling full-time and express my gratitude … for what? My gratitude for gumption. I’m so grateful I’m able to just DO these things and figure out The How later. I’m still working my butt off at a zillion jobs, and do look for a new record to come as soon as my record label gives me the green light … but for now: shall we look for an art show? I’m hoping to find a way to get my sketches and bigger pieces an audience and pave the way for even more exciting future.

It’s cliche to talk about how you do the big things after you almost die … but also, some things are cliche because they are true. Take the trip: you’ve never promised a tomorrow.

Galileo’s Middle Finger



Graham’s drawing of a palazzo


My sketch of St. Trinita

Lots of artists drawing the world around them …
urban sketching in Florence

Thanks for following along here … I Post more often on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Join me there!
Links are all here: www.brigidkaelin.com/links


Sitting at a coffeeshop (masked) in Louisville with my laptop for the first time in literally years, and whoah does it feel good/strange to be here writing. It has frustrated me that people seem to have given up on COVID precautions and just resigned themselves to, "Oh, but my family will probably be fine if we get it." While I understand that on some level, that phrase just feels wildly selfish to me, and it's been devastating to my faith in humanity. I like to think that people are generally good. That we care about each other. That if our neighbor needed help, we could gather all forces and swoop in. The past 2.5 years have shown me otherwise. 

We care about people as long as they are not disabled, immuno-compromised, or old.


And so I sit here, masked, trying to hammer out emails, writing, accounting, thank you notes, blogs, posts, responses, tiktoks, reels, lists, etc ... but I'm nervous to even post this blog, knowing full well the eye rolls I'll get in the comments. (Thank you for refraining - thank you for just letting me whinge into the ether.)

My UK tour was a total success, and I am SHOCKED that I cam back healthy. I masked except when singing, and despite several exposures, I escaped unscathed. It was glorious to sing to people again. 

I recognize that dichotomy between wanting to stick to all COVID precautions and also wanting to perform again in public. 

I also know that I will never perform again as I used to. I've become very picky about what jobs I accept. I need to only accept gigs that are either a) great for my career or b) pay a lot of money. There is no room for in between, especially not in a country where one hospital stay could bankrupt any family.

It's been a while since I blogged, and I miss this space. I miss the wee community I built. I never get more than a few thousand views, but it's nice to know someone is reading. And let's face it: if a few thousand people turned up to hear me sing, that would be INCREDIBLE. So thank you for reading my words.

Releasing new music has been great ... I'm looking to plan another UK tour for 2023, and I'm ready to go ahead and get that on the calendar. If I missed your town this time, please get in touch. No town is too small ... I adore London, but I prefer being the main event in a small town, rather than being one of a thousand events in London. 

I'm also trying to plan an album release, but my record label seems to not be prioritizing me. I get it. I'm no Jack Harlow, but I also can't shake this need to create and release and repeat. 

So look out for an album release and, I hope, an art show to sell some of the paintings and illustrations I've been working on. I'm opening up some house-portrait commissions. If you'd like to order one, please get in touch. Sizing and prices are here.

Here are some of the quick sketches from my UK tour. It was fun to keep a sketchbook rather than a journal this time:

Ways to support an indie artist besides buying merch.
Follow & listen on Spotify.
Or follow me on: Twitter. TikTok. Instagram. Facebook.
Financial support. Patreon, Venmo, Paypal.









 My new single came out at midnight - i didn't set my alarm to wake and midnight and check the iTunes charts, which meant by the time I saw the charts it was at #180. I'll never know how high it started, but I don't care ... because honestly i didn't expect to break onto the charts at all. I pushed the pre-save campaign on this one, but i didn't ask people to buy the iTunes song. Bandcamp is more of a help to artists, but it's still pretty cool that enough of y'all (I assume it was y'all?) bought the song that I squeezed into the charts at all!

Unexpected victories making me feel great - thanks.

If you haven't heard the song, here are all the streaming ways to hear it: https://onerpm.link/211160667299
Here's a BandCamp download if you prefer. https://brigidkaelin.bandcamp.com/track/kentucky-with-you
Here's the official YouTube Music Video: 


I'm busy packing and freaking out ahead of my UK Tour. I leave on Tuesday, and I'm SLAMMED with To Do Lists. But I got my taxes filed, my recording files completed (i do a lot of recording for other musicians and film composers), and am now packing my merch and compiling detailed homeschooling tasks for my children for when I'm gone.

Today I delivered Matzoh Ball Soup to a dear friend with COVID and after that porch drop-off, Graham and I stopped by the secret graveyard where my ancestors are buried. We talked about genealogy and Russian armies and the persecution of Jewish people and all kinds of history. Hands-on schooling is the best schooling. 

Thanks for the love and support! I'm so thrilled to be back to doing what I love. The last time I was on tour, my dad was dying, but he joined me for 3 weeks of shows in Scotland. Since then I've had cancer treatment myself and somehow managed to survive a pandemic (so far), so believe me when I say I take nothing for granted.

Here are my tour dates:


If you'd like to sponsor any leg of our tour, you can venmo me a donation @brigidkaelin or:

  • buy us a gallon of gas!
  • buy us a dram of whisky!
  • buy us a full English Breakfast!
  • buy us a dinner!
  • buy us hotel rooms!

  • FREE ways to support an indie artist: Follow me on all the social media: TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. Follow me on Spotify.
  • Share my posts or music or art.
  • Very cheap ways to support an indie artist: Buy me a coffee, Join my Patreon page, Tip Jars!

 TL;DR I'm off to England on April 26! Buy me a dram or litre of petrol here. New song out on April 22! Please pre-save by clicking here. (it's free).

I am so excited to release a new song just in time for Derby. It's called "Kentucky With You," and it's already been licensed for a statewide advertising campaign that I can't tell you about yet. But I'm releasing the song into the wild on April 22. (Patreon members have access to a sneak peak of the song NOW.) 

PLEASE help by clicking this PRE-SAVE link - it's free!  

If you've got a $0.99 and an iPhone, you can open iTunes on your phone, search "Kentucky With You" and pre-order my song. 



Steve Cooley
 and I are ready to play a 3-week run of shows in the UK. Covid is making this tour extra expensive, so if you'd like to sponsor any leg of our tour, tiers include:

  • buy us a gallon of gas!
  • buy us a dram of whisky!
  • buy us a full English Breakfast!
  • buy us a dinner!
  • buy us hotel rooms!


I'm happy to do shoutouts on social media - or if you buy us a whisky, feel free to name your scotch and we'll post tasting notes.

Also, there are still some prints available of my Churchill Downs watercolor print, both on Etsy and RedBubble.

That's all! Thank you for the love.


  • FREE ways to support an indie artist: Follow me on all the social media: TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. Follow me on Spotify.
  • Share my posts or music or art.
  • Very cheap ways to support an indie artist: Buy me a coffee, Join my Patreon page, Tip Jars!
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ABOUT ME

Brigid Kaelin is a Kentucky musician, speaker, and writer. Her new album is streaming everywhere, and she’s publishing her first memoir in 2023.

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