Singer Records Debut Of Sea Shanties, But Not In The Shower

MARLBOROUGH, MA—Turns out, even though showers are the best place to sing acoustically speaking, it doesn't work out so well for recording.

A sea shanty sounds amazing in the shower, too, so Marlborough native Chris Maden tried to record his demo there, and it was hard to get a good recording. Friends and fans have been pressuring Maden for years to record a collection of these oceanographic work songs, so he took his dream to Kickstarter, where he's raised more than the $2,000 needed to properly record an album.

"I got hooked [on singing shanties] while living in San Francisco, and kept going when I moved back to New England," Maden told Patch.

Maden has performed these tunes at song sessions in San Francisco, Portsmouth, Boston, Mystic, Gainesville, Urbana (Ill.), Chicago, Worcester, Pawtucket, Sturbridge, Westborough and as a paid performer at festivals or concerts in Portsmouth, Chicago, San Francisco, Urbana.

Maden met the goal of $2,000 and the Kickstarter campaign is closed, with support coming from as far away as Ireland, Luxembourg and Russia. He is working with experienced Nashville veteran Jim Prendergast at Mill Pond Music Studio, has a few tracks down and is headed back to the studio soon.

So, does Maden expect that in a time where electronics and autotune vocals rule that his collection of sea shanties will take the world by, er, storm?

"That would be nice," said Maden, "but I'll settle for a few dozen sales."

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Here's where you can order the album when it's ready to go.

Photo Credit: Chris Maden

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