All About Hem

January-February 2010 News Archive (Older news link at bottom of page)

February 23, 2010

Guitar Chords

Rabbit Chords, a site dedicated to providing chords for Hem's songs, has just been updated with guitar chords for a bunch of songs from No Word From Tom and Funnel Cloud, making chords now available for almost every Hem song. Thanks so much, Geoff! You can also find a small number of handwritten chords by the band at Hem's site.

February 14, 2010

Liberty Mutual TV Commercial

Since some people have been asking, NBC has indeed been airing the Liberty Mutual television ad featuring Hem's song "Half Acre" from their first album Rabbit Songs. The commercial is originally from 2006 but is nicely getting reused, no doubt because the music is so awesome that it catches everybody's attention. I've only seen the 30 second version of the ad on TV this week, but you can see the 60 second version here at YouTube.

Valentine's Day

Today is the perfect day to pick up Hem's cover of the Bruce Springsteen song "Valentine's Day." It's available on Hem's cover EP I'm Talking With My Mouth, which you can get on CD or as a download at places like iTunes and Amazon. Go get it!

Random Site News

Recently I've been trying to fix broken links throughout All About Hem to other websites, starting with the ones on the upcoming album pages for Departure And Farewell and You Don't Know About Me Without You. If you ever notice any broken links, or have any other tips, comments, suggestions, or extravagant gifts, I'd like to hear from you!

January 19, 2010

Sweet Heart Rodeo

Sweet Heart Rodeo, the third album from Dawn Landes, is available in the US starting today. Dawn is a sometimes-member of Hem, having providing backing vocals and her glockenspiel talents to Hem's albums Eveningland, Funnel Cloud, and No Word From Tom as well as having toured a lot with the band. There's a bunch of new press about the record, including this American Songwriter interview where Dawn talks about her work with and inspiration from Hem. The new album is folky, quirky, charming, and a wonderful little gem of romance and rodeos. Find it everywhere, like at iTunes (US and UK) and Amazon (US and UK). You can also find more about Hem from American Songwriter in the magazine's neat book Song: The World's Best Songwriters on Creating the Music that Moves Us, which has a long interview with Hem's Dan Messe.

January 11, 2010

All About Me

Today is All About Hem's 6th birthday. I cannot believe my little website idea came to life and has had such a fun six years. Thanks to everyone who's visited the site over the years and especially to everyone who's sent me news, photos, and random emails of encouragement. Extra thanks to the good folks managing Hem at Nettwerk and to Geof, who is definitely my favorite web host. Largest and deepest thanks to Dan, Gary, Sally, Steve, and the rest of Hem for a wealth of beautiful music (and more to come in 2010) and for being so generously kind and supportive, not just to the website but to me as well.

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