Celtfather Monthy: November 2018 (Patreon)

Greetings Gunn Runner

November. Where does the time go? October was such a daze. Now comes one of my busiest seasons of the year. 

First, Gwen is just two weeks away from finishing up work in Memphis. I can't wait for her to get back home. The girls and I have gotten in a routine. But it's tough nonetheless. And as much fun as I had performing at the Mid-South Renaissance Faire, it made it more difficult for me to keep up with everything that's been happening.

In fact, I felt totally unprepared for Kenzie's 8th birthday. But we pulled it together. She had a great birthday at the park with family and friends. There's a bunch of pictures on Facebook that Gwen shared on my page.

Of course, the biggest thing coming up in November is Kenzie will have open heart surgery near the end of the month.

She was born with a heart defect called Tetralagy of Fallot. They put a valve in her heart when she was a baby. She's finally outgrown it. So they're putting in a new one. Needless to say, I'm a bit terrified. 

Many thank to my newest Patrons in the Gunn Runners Club: Tammy G., Kerrie B., Rich, Randy B., Jeff H., Christopher K., Cora B.. Because of their generosity, I hit two big Milestone in October. 

The first was to record "Molly Malone". I have yet to do that. But it will be coming in the next couple o'weeks.

The second milestone launched a new podcast with Mikey Mason. It's called In the 'Verse: Song Crafting for the Firefly Universe. Mikey and I are watching episodes of Firefly and writing songs inspired by the themes from the show. I shared two new rough recordings with Scenics. And the first episode is online.

The second episode is recorded. I just need to finish mixing it and posting it. But I've been swamped of late. So my apologies. Nevertheless, I have two new Firefly songs. One still needs work. The other I LOVE! And Mikey is killing it with his songwriting.

The other goal that is in the works is a new 10-song album called Heroes. It is a Patreon-Exclusive album featuring some of the songs I enjoy playing most right now. I have it half-recorded. Stay tuned for that.

And Heroic Patrons will get a physical copy of this super limited-edition CD.

Any case, I deeply appreciate the support of all of my patrons. Thank you!

There's a new event page on Facebook for Coffee with The Celtfather. The audience is growing for my weekly Wednesday noon concert on Facebook. So please keep watching and sharing with friends.

The new YouTube show took a twist this month. It's no longer a live show. I'm pre-recording the shows because I want my autoharp not reversed. It annoys me. I'm still having some technical difficulties popping up as well.

In fact, I had one for my Celtic Halloween Music Special. I tried live streaming for my annual Celtic Halloween music special and wouldn't you know it, the video didn't come up with my webcam. So I ended up streaming it on my phone. It worked, but once again, the video is reversed. Oh well. I'm trying to fix it.

That said, it was a helluva show. I hope you get a chance to watch it.

On November 3rd, I'm back at Pepper Place Farmer's Market.

On November 17th, I have a show at Interstellar Ginger Beer & Exploration Co.

And I am not sure if I'll have an evening internet concert. Right now, I feel a bit overwhelmed. So if it happens. It might be a guerrilla-style announcement a few days before the event. If that changes I'll let you know.

Mikey Mason and I have dates booked for the Blue Sun Holiday Spectacular Tour. Please mark your calendar. If you want to enjoy Firefly music and Christmas songs, make sure you follow the page on Facebook. Then check the tourdates at FireflyDrinkingSongs.com.

As for podcasts...

I'm releasing another full-length album this coming week on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. Keep an eye open for more of those but on a different podcast.

I relaunched the Pub Songs Podcast this month. I have a new goal for this show. I'm gonna release every single one of my albums in full on the Pub Songs Podcast, for free. I started it with Happy Songs of Death since Halloween was near.

I confess, I'm a little worried about this project. Yes. I released Happy Songs of Death on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast, but it seems scary to release ALL of your albums in full. I know better. I do. But it worries me nonetheless. Will you buy my CDs still? 

Who knows? But we shall see what happens.

Oh! And you'll also get older albums as well. I'm gonna do as many as I possibly can.

And yes, I changed the name back to Pub Songs Podcast. Can you see indecisive much?

Celtfather Music & Travel has a few new episodes I'm excited about as well. One is a Celtfather primer to replace the old one. And I originally planned to release a series, but then I scripted some great podcast episodes... So we'll see how soon the series takes off.

As if I wasn't doing enough, I also started blogging again for the first time in... wow... who knows.

But I'm doing these blogs differently. I'm publishing them through Instagram. Then I share it with other sites. If you're looking for a non-freaky blog site, I recommend either Facebook or Tumblr. But I'm very happy with how this is going. So far, I've published almost five days a week on various topics. 

And they're short too. That's one of my goals. Short blogs. One simple concept. So far, so good.

Stats

YouTube Subscribers = 3799 is up 54 from 3745 

YouTube Watch Time = 49,113 is up 47,231

YouTube Views = 13,659 is up from 13,040

This was a big month for YouTube. The subscribers really went up. Everything did. And I have the new weekly video, which I'm hoping is attracting traffic. Now all that said, the views for my new show is hovering from 50-150. I'm not sure if that's good or not. Still nothing skyrocketing. But I'm still hopeful.

Facebook Likes = 3550 is up from 3511

Facebook Followers = 3419 is up from 3397

FB Page Views = 819 is up from 343

FB Reach = 30,227 is up from 10,996

FB Video Views = 25270 is up from 3151

Everything is up in October. Though I'm a little shocked my Likes are not. But Page Views, Reach, and Video Views. Wow! 

Then again it's no surprise. One of the things I used my Patreon income for was to reach out to new fans. I have several ads running right now on Facebook. I'm using some techniques I've learned from the Indepreneur podcast. It's been pretty successful, I think. But we'll see if I can make new fans online.

Again, I want to give a BIG thanks to my Gunn Runners Club for making this possible.

Spotify Latest Single Stats: "Why Do You Torture Me": 305 is up 47 from 258 streams

Spotify followers: 1102 is up 22 from 1080

# Number of listens on Spotify: 1953 is up 20 from 1933

Most-popular songs on Spotify: Widow and Devil (666), Doctor of Gallifrey (433), Reavers Malcolm Reavers (329), Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster (206), A Boy and His Frog (190)

This is kind of funny. My Spotify stats sank down mid-month. I'm guessing that was part of the Dragon Con high ending, when people were listening to more music. Then perhaps either because of Mid-South Ren faire or possibly because of the Celtic Christmas music starting to move, it's climbed

Or again, maybe because of advertising. I did a little advertising on Facebook for the Firefly playlist. It was a dismal failure.

My Firefly Drinking Songs playlist now has 82 followers up from 73

Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers has 30 followers

Top Irish & Celtic Music has 217 up from 201

Celtfather Experience has 15 followers

Geek Pub Fun! changed its name and has 4 followers

Geek Sleep is my newest playlist which has only 1 follower. Hi River. But that's okay. this is a playlist of music for me to sleep to. It has some soothing bands I enjoy and then a whole bunch of my music for after I'm asleep.

Fun Christmas Songs for Kids & Families has 971 followers. 

It had over a thousand at the end of last year. Will that trend continue?

The playlist features Christmas music my family and I listen to.

There is a new product this month. However, right now, it is only available to people who buy Celtfather Classics. You'll get that USB with 10 albums. Plus, you'll get a Christmas Heartstring ornament, A Celtic Christmas compilation CD, and a Celtic podcast shirt. All of that for just $60.

Seriously, you won't find a better deal than that. There are only EIGHT of these Celtfather Classic USBs. So order now!

That's all the news for this November edition. Thank you again for generously supporting my music, listening, watching videos, sharing. You're amazing

Remember. You can help me create and release more music. Join the Gunn Runners Club to step behind-the-scenes with bonus podcasts, new music, and live concerts. I'm certain you will love it!