Darren Watson is a bit of a Pledgend.
(That’s a PledgeMe legend, for the uninitiated.) This Wellington rhythm and blues musician has run three successful PledgeMe campaigns already, funding both an album and a music video. Now he’s back with something a little more daring.
Darren has been invited to record an album with guitarist and producer Kid Andersen, over in the US of A. Kid’s Greaseland studio has turned out some amazing work by renowned blues and soul artists, and now DW can join their ranks! His album will be a retrospective of his best songs from solo LPs, re-imagined with a killer new backing band and a great producer’s influence.
To get over there and pay for the studio and musicians, DW is looking to raise $20,000 via his awesome PledgeMe crowd. And Darren knows how to cultivate a crowd – not only does he have a special Facebook page for his supporters, but he’s also offering his Tanglewood Mahogany Parlour guitar to the “most sharingest” member of his crowd. We wanted to hear more about this cool campaign move, so we checked in with Dalia, DW’s partner and manager, to find out how they’re getting on.
How are you finding the campaign so far?
The campaign has been good so far. We have had really nice uptake from social media like facebook and twitter. Also DW’s mailing list is slowly starting to respond. DW did a nice live chat with David Slack about the campaign on Radio Live a few days ago. Followed by a $1000 surge in pledges it seems? 🙂
What do you have planned for the rest of your campaign – anything for us to look forward to?
As well as a live interview on one of the US west coasts most popular blues radio shows tomorrow afternoon, DW is playing a show in Auckland this Friday night (15 Jan) organised by former Auckland Blues Club President Sean McCarthy who is pledging all the proceeds to the campaign. DW is then playing a free outdoor concert at Wellington’s Botanical Gardens on Friday 22 January where we hope to convince the expected large crowd via flyers and live from stage promo to get involved in our last minute push to get this over the line.
Anything you want to shout out to your crowd?
I’d like to thank everyone who has got on board so far. DW and I really appreciate how big a deal this is and we’re overwhelmed by the support to date.
