Kris and Dee still here, and with their album!

Doesn't seem like so long ago we were talking about Kris and Dee working on their first album, and now we have a cover, release date and party! Still Here Inside will drop independently May 5, available at Zap Records in Kingston Ontario and online at Kris and Dee's own new site.

A release show/party happens at the Grad Club in Kingston on Friday May 13th with special guest Sticky Henderson. The fun starts at 9pm with just 5 bucks for admission. But for now, you can get a preview of the album with a new track each day on their Facebook page and myspace page. So take a listen and post your best wishes for Abbott and McNeil!

Kris and Dee Raising the Roof, etc.

And now to catch up with Kris and Dee, who have had a pretty amazing summer so far. After being part of the Save Our Prison Farms rally with none other than Margaret Atwood and doing a lot of writing on a vacation in Newfoundland, their gig schedule just keeps rolling on.

Tonight (yes, sorry for the late notice), they'll be playing at the Music Market Cafe in Napanee at around 9:20pm (only a $5 cover and two great acts preceding). Then next weekend, they're at the Raise the Roof Women's Music Festival in the Kingston area on Sunday afternoon at 1:30.

Since the new embed function on YouTube is being annoying right now, head over there to check out Kris and Dee performing three original songs at the recent Homegrown Music Festival: "Mars", "Presence of Me" and "Polar Bears".

Kris and Dee video, and a big show to come

Here's a snippet of Kris and Dee at that show at The Mansion Thursday, by all accounts a wonderful set with great friends. (Just a reminder: Kris is on the left, Dee on the right.) But it doesn't end here.

"Canadian Musicians Support Prison Farms" will be happening March 20 at the Sydenham Street United Church in Kingston. On the bill with Kris and Dee will be Sarah Harmer, Luther Wright, the inimitable Fred Penner, Open Heart Society and Maya Thau-Eleff. Admission is $15 ($5 for those unemployed or under-employed) available at various Kingston locations. Check the Facebook event for details.

Kris and Dee: onstage...and on the farm?

They've been dipping their toes in the live show pool for a little while, but Kris and Dee Abbott McNeil are jumping in with a gig Thursday at The Mansion in their home base of Kingston, Ontario. They're pretty excited to have Anna Rees on drums and playing a proper set on a bill of some great Kingston musicians. It also bodes well for more live shows in the area coming this summer. For more info, check out their Facebook Event page and share your well-wishes for them - or even better, if you're in the area, let them know you'll be at the show!

Meanwhile, Kris has become active in the cause to help save six Canadian "prison farms": farms run by inmates for rehabilitation, to develop skills and provide food not just for the prisons themselves, but surrounding organizations like food banks and shelters. Introduced to the issue at a local town meeting (the Frontenac farm is in her area), she became fascinated by the achievements of the prison farms program and disgusted by the Federal Government's decision to scrap it. On Facebook, she wrote: "The decision of the Fed Government is nothing more than another American style adaptation of a WALMxxx business plan and a very dehumanizing approach to the future of Corrections in Canada."

She recently wrote a letter to her local MP, which was passed on to the Minister for Public Safety, and took part in a recent picketing event (getting up very early to hang out with a cow in the cold outside the CORCAN offices). To find out more, take a look at Kris' Facebook Notes or her Myspace blog post.

Kris and Dee Lose My Mind

The latest song posted by Kris Abbott and her wife Dee Abbott-McNeil was actually born of Dee's day job as a physiotherapist and educator in elder care in Kingston, Ontario. According to Kris' blog post on their myspace page, Dee was preparing a conference presentation about Dementia, and when she sought stories to give a more human perspective on the condition, she found a woman in the UK who has been keeping a photo journal of her experiences with her mother, who lives with Dementia. A collaboration began for which music was needed. Kris describes her role in the project as "co writer and musical interpretor of the photo journal collaboration. ie.. producing I suppose and getting the music to match their evolution between technical and emotional."

Read the blog post for more details about creating the song, but more importantly, check out the song itself, "Lose My Mind", on the main Kris and Dee myspace page or their ReverbNation page on Facebook.