Funded: £8,379
Campaign: Alien Water: Six Decades Paddling In Unpopular Music: a book by Ian A Anderson
“It may be easier to tell you what this book isn’t. It’s not an academic work with footnotes about traditional folk music, blues, or what got called ‘world music’ and it’s not going to help you with any definitions of such creatures. Nor is it an attempt at complete histories of those movements. Rather, it’s a long and winding tale with tangents, spinning off from one person’s life spent ‘doing stuff’, deeply embedded in many aspects of those often below-the-radar ‘scenes’ where those musics were played, developed, promoted and enjoyed over the past six decades. Stories, observations and overviews from that tall bloke wading in the shallows.”
Ian used Kickstarter, a platform with a substantial and growing base of folk/world/roots-related projects, and a strong focus on independent creatives, and I supported him with strategic guidance to get the best from the campaign.
Since funding:
The project reached its initial target in less than 24 hours. Since completion, Ian has published and released the book, now available for sale via Bandcamp.
“Ian A. Anderson’s Alien Water: Six Decades Paddling In Unpopular Music isn’t just a memoir – it’s a roadmap for anyone navigating the uncharted, often turbulent pond waters of a life in niche art. Equal parts handbook and cautionary tale, Anderson chronicles six decades of musical obsession with an enthusiasm that’s both infectious and grounding. For those of us who believe that a life without the thrill of a new sonic discovery is no life at all, it’s essential reading.” – Jon Wilks, Tradfolk
“For the folk music veteran much of Alien Water will be nostalgia and for the newcomer, if such a creature still exists, it will be an invaluable historical text. Inevitably, I’ve been obliged to concentrate on the high points but Ian is brutally honest about the personal and professional troughs he endured. If you are at all involved in folk music, you really should read this book.” – Dai Jeffries, Folking