My debut album, Today is a Laughing Day, is available at the Laughter Shoppe at my Web site, www.LaughingLaura.com. In fact, there is an introductory offer going on right now where you can save $4.95 between now and Christmas Eve. The price is just $10. After Christmas, it will retail for $14.95.
Let me tell you more about this album. It all began with the production of Laughter Friends—the workout video of Laughter Yoga I produced last year. For this project, I collaborated with my husband, William Gentry, and jazz pianist, Tom Bourcier. Together, we wrote five fun songs, which we used in the video.
They were live versions, however, and I knew that such fabulous songs deserved studio recordings. It has been almost a year since I said, "Hey, let's make a kids album!" I've learned that being a music producer is seriously hard work, but it is also exciting.
William and I proceeded to write ten more songs and cheers, bringing the album total to fifteen. Here is a listing of the tracks in order:
1. Today is a Laughing Day
2. Laughter Friends
3. Turkey the Turtle
4. Enthusiastic
5. Laughing with Me
6. The Parking Fairy
7. Laughing for Peace
8. We Like to Laugh
9. Smile Millionaire
10. Happy to be Laughin' with You
11. Here Comes the Garbage Lady
12. Amazing
13. Free Laughs
14. Ranger Kathy
15. Today is a Laughing Day Reprise
I worked with sound engineer Brett Huus at Soundstrations Studio in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. There, we recorded the album—from July and until November.
The band consists of Tom Bourcier on piano, Rich MacDonald on percussion and Karyn Quinn on bass. The backup singer is Trish Bruxvoort Colligan of The River's Voice.
The "Gigglers" (pictured above) are the children who added laughter and silly sound effects to the album.
Below is the graphic design of the back cover.
The CD is packaged in a beautiful digipak with full color printing. It is eco-friendly—made of recycled cardboard and the CD tray is made of reused plastic water bottles. In fact, the 1000 CDs saved 400 bottles from the landfill!
You can also order Today is a Laughing Day at Amazon.com or you could download it instantly at DigStation, which is the greenest option.
Of course, I encourage you to order directly from me at the Laughter Shoppe (support indie artists)!
In the coming weeks, I will write more about these songs at this blog. Thanks for visiting! ha ha ha!
