Every song is an original, and I am playing all the instruments and singing on each track.

Click your favorite streaming platform (Youtube and Bandcamp are free):

Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Bandcamp, Youtube

3 ways to support my music addiction

Since streaming services don't really pay me enough to break even—about $200+ a year to keep it on itunes and spotify—I’m throwing out a few ways you can help me keep the tunes alive and the lights on:

• Donate large or small. These gifts help me replace music gear and keep the songs on streaming platforms. They also keep me from raiding the family bank account, which is good for my marriage.

• Review a song or the album and post it on your socials (be sure to tag me).

• Signup to my email list so we can stay connected.

Needing more Rigel?

Warning : This next section may not be for you. But if you like listening to people who are long-winded and a little bit enamored with the sound of their own voice, proceed with caution.

Track 3 - Eden: breakdown and analysis

Track 2 - Montuno: breakdown and analysis

Track 1 - My Baby Gave me the Blues for Christmas: breakdown and analysis

Pre-launch 'taste and see'

About the artwork

This is a scan of the original linocut print of the artwork for my new Christmas album, "It's Bigger on the Inside." This design has a special history—it started as a handmade Christmas card about eight years ago. Back then, I personally hand-printed each card, giving every single one its own unique patina. I sent them out to about 250 friends and family—gave Santa's little helpers a run for their money! Lots of warm memories attached to this art.

Walt Whitman said, "I contain multitudes." Jesus reminds that, "The Kingdom of God is within you." And St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote, "Concepts create idols, only wonder grasps anything." These are some of my favorite quotes that keep me rooted in an enchanted view of reality.

For me, "It's bigger on the inside" points to the ever-present mystery of God—surrounding us, dwelling in us, even in the midst of chaos. God is here, always tapping gently on my heart, inviting me to give birth to Christ once again in this moment.

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling down death by death
And upon those in the tombs
Bestowing life

Let no one weep when you fall
For Hell is fettered in chain and ball
Thou pardon shines forth from the grave
When death meets Jesus face to face

The table’s laden and wineskins full
Rich and poor together ye hold
You sober and heedless honor this day
Let none who hunger be turned away

Oh hungry death where is your sting
Where’s the sorrow that you bring
The tomb where life was laid is bare
Your victory was stolen there

Download the chord sheet here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/n9kkioojxxgzgo7hound7/Christ-is-Risen-2024.rtf?rlkey=ymxz9apn5xpvpfnyz68ieem7x&st=5hwjgr09&dl=0

Stream here: Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Bandcamp, Youtube

Fun fact: my goal was to have this ready for Thanksgiving day as an offering to the gods of turkey and overeating, but when Thanksgiving rolled around, and I still hadn’t recorded the song, I decided I was being too literal with my deadline. I mean, what is time, anyways? When does giving thanks really begin and end? Why lock myself into the cage of rigid manufactured concepts designed to excavate the topsoil of riparian emergence, to be replaced with railways of commerce and predictability, when I can offer a flower of thanks at any point in the eternal present? A flower that heeds no paved contour of modernity. This flower will find a crack in the concrete and grow willy-nilly.

See what I did there? I can rationalize anything and use modernity as a scapegoat, and you can too. But please don’t take away my cell phone, my electricity, or my bidet.

On with the show:

May the spirit of interpretive dance come upon you, your friends, and your family this holiday season!

Love,

Rigel