Happy Spring And Apparent Annual Blog!

Hello friends! It has been one year to the day since my last blog. Let me just admit right now i’m the worst at keeping my blog up-to-date, but here I am writing to you, whoever/wherever you are.

So what’s been going on with me personally/musically? The biggest news personally is my wife and I had a baby in late May, which has been the single most joyful experience of my life. Parenting is as exhaustive as everyone warned me, but it is such a small inconvenience compared to the love I experience everyday. It seems to compound exponentially every day. I love it! That being said, he is one of the reasons I really fell off the blog front lol!

Musically, the first thing I’m excited about is I have renovated a room in my house into a new studio. I did some more recordings down in the boathouse this past summer and when the weather was too cold/wet, I made the move up here. I filled it with some AMAZING gear including a couple Distressors, UAD 6176, UAD LA610, Eventide H3000B, Neuman U87, some new keyboards, and a bunch of other stuff I’ll be listing in the gear portion of my site. The room has been acoustically treated and sounds fantastic! Lots of good music is coming outta here for sure…keep an ear peeled!

The Keyna Hall EP was put on hold after the pandemic really hit. Likewise with some other projects, which is understandable. Some things to look forward to are Joshua Eden’s full length album, which I mixed, Modern Clarion full length and the Joel Thetford LP, both of which I played bass on, Mike Schools full length which I played on, produced, mixed, and will mostly likely do a mastering job on, Dan Boyden’s Mix Tape, which I will be mastering, and some other secrets I have yet to reveal because they are so dope I have to wait for the ok from the management…:)

I put my creative work off to the side for a minute while I navigate/manage being a new dad and getting my studio in a working place. That being said I am excited and eager to explore my own material now that I have this studio and things with kiddo are settling into a more manageable place. I’ll be playing out A TON this summer. My calendar is nearly full already and that excites me to no end. I think people are really hungry for live performances as well. I played a fair amount last summer at outside venues, which was super fun, but exhaustive because I would end up wearing my mask like 8-10 hours a day in the summer. Sweat-face…eew. Hopefully everyone will be vaccinated this summer and we can do away with the masks.

Well that about sums up a year. I could go further in to the details, but I’ll save you from that. Thanks so much for checking in to see what i’m up to. Super stoked and positive on this end. Contact me if you have questions, concerns, would like lessons, or would just like to say hi. Stay safe, healthy and smart out there!

Happy Holidays!

Hey there! I hope you had an excellent holiday. I did. I spent a lot of time with family, caught up on a little rest, and generally enjoyed the merriment of the season. Here’s what’s up music-wise.

The digital versions of ‘City Of My Mind’ have been released on youtube. You can find them in my videos section here on the website, find me on youtube, or type in the name of the song with ‘North Blood’ (the project name) and it will come up. The songs will be released on all streaming platforms in the next few days, so I’m just waiting for the ok before I publicize that.

The 45s should be done at the end of January/early February. There was a SNAFU in the art department, so the pressings got held back a little bit. No worries though, they sound FANTASTIC! I am really excited to have them in your hands and ears.

The Kenya Hall album is underway. We have about 30 demos circulating with more to come. We will be going through all of the demos to lock down the best 10-12 and record the basics down. Super stoked!

The Sam Whitman Trio album is underway! Sam and drummer Ryan Benoit have been coming up to the studio for writing sessions regularly and we have a nice amount of material building up for his album, which we are hoping to release in the fall. Stay tuned for updates there.

More of my own stuff! I have also been writing/recording more of my own material. Once I got ‘City Of My Mind’ out and running, I got stoked to release more of my own music. I’m not sure if I’ll continue down the singles/ep route or do a full length. Maybe both. Regardless, more Stu music is coming at ya soon.

Thanks so much for reading this and keeping up. You’ll see more shows being posted, so please come to one and say hello. It’s always nice to meet new people or familiar faces at shows. Lots of love to y’all!

Long time!

I really got be better about blogging on the reg. My last blog was in July and so much has happened between then and now. I’ll do my best to recap.

The summertime saw lots of inspiring moments, shows, hangs with friends, books read, guests came and went, songs written, and music recorded. I took a fair amount of time to work on my house while weather and time was on my side. My Tuesday Night Hangs with The Nightshades (the New Orleans band) have been gaining great momentum and it’s been fun being a part of the growth of a regular Tuesday night hang. I’ve met some really nice people and have enjoyed seeing many familiar faces.

I took on three production endeavors this fall. Zesty!, a band from my hometown asked me to produce 2 of their singles. The fellas are young and hungry and write great music. It’s nice to see some great talent come out of that little town! In addition to Zesty!, The Gainers asked me to produce their full length record, who are also from the midcoast Maine area. We are currently in the middle of tracking that record. They came super prepared and we tracked 8 of their songs in one day, which was fantastic. Finally, my friend Tristan Clark brought his band The Tristones up from NYC and we recorded his full length at the Rustic Overtones space with my good friend Jon Roods engineering. So much talent and great music coming out soon and I am humbled to be helping sculpt the sound of these bands and bring them to the public. Keep an ear out!

This was the first year Jenny and I hosted a Thanksgiving. We enjoyed the company of our roommates, so friends from town, and the Marcus King Band and crew. It was fun bringing those fellas up to our home and cooking food for everyone. We had a 25lb bird!!! After the mega feast, I made a turkey soup that reached 4 gallons…needless to say we’ll be eating that all winter. (I froze most of it:)

I played at the Blue Note with my friend Maurice Brown in early November. It was one of the best shows I’ve played all year. I play really well the Maurice and his usual band; Joe Blaxx on drums, Marcus Machado on guitar, Chelsea Baratz on tenor, and this fella I had never played with, Taka (sp?) rounded out the group on keys. The music was so free flowing, intense, delicate at times, and GROOVY AF! We played the same day that Maurice’s mentor and trumpet phenom Roy Hargrove passed away. The show was dedicated to Roy and Maurice brought his brother in brass, Keyon Harold, on stage to pay respects and play with us. It was a beautiful albeit mournful night.

That pretty much generalizes my last 5 months or so. Lots of music, working on the house, and other life stuff. I appreciate anyone who reads this blog post and as always, if you have an questions or want to drop me a line, please do. Take care of yourselves out there!