đźš‚ second prints & giving back...
Hello there!
Happy Black Friday from Train Songz Corporation, where unlike every other business in your inbox this weekend vying for your hard-earned money, we proudly offer “NO DEALS!”
đź“š Zine back issues on sale
Second prints of zines 1–3 are on sale here!
They are each $10 + $1 shipping
We’re working with a mail house now to speed mailing up + provide basic delivery, which costs me about $1 per zine
You can give above $10 if you want to contribute more to Train Songz, but I don’t expect that at all
These second prints are pre-orders and will be available through next Sunday, December 8th, and then the store will close for us to print. They should ship by the end of the year.
A pretty nifty zine designed in-house by Team Train Songz is on sale here
Together with a mystery “Train Songz 2024” sticker, it’s $15 and shipping is $5 because it’s bigger than a zine and needs a box. $20 total.
About 75 (of 3,502!) fist prints of zine 4 are still available.
These are still “pay what you want, even $0 works” because they are the current issue of the zine :)
đź’Ś Giving back
Yesterday, we donated $1,000 to the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Trust Fund in the name of the Train Songz Community. The IBMA Trust Fund “provides real support for bluegrass professionals in times of emergency need,” and we know our money is in good hands with them.
Yesterday’s contribution is in addition to the $2k we were able to donate earlier this year for Helene relief, $1k to the Salvage Station Crew Fund and $1k to the Salamander Fund.
This is the community’s money, raised zine by zine and merchandise order by merchandise order. I take your support very seriously, and I think it’s important that we give back to the bluegrass music and community that we wouldn’t exist without. I’m proud that the zine has grown to the point to where we’re able to both fund the zine and give back to the scene, and I hope to continue giving in the future.
I want to hear from you: If you have a suggestion of a bluegrass organization or independent venue to give to, please reply and let me know! We will definitely make another contribution before the end of the year. Train Songz has given $3k so far, and my goal is $5k. It’s genuinely important to me to hear from you, so if you have a good idea on organizations or venues where $500+ would make a real difference, please send me more information by replying to this email.
That’s all for today. Thanks, y’all!
I will send more email reminder about this next Friday or Saturday. I’m working on either a video or some writing reflecting on the year of running the zine and kind of “telling that story,” which doesn’t quite seem to me like it deserves to be in the next issue of the zine, but I would like to share it with you.
I’ll whip something up by late next week and mail it here, as a last reminder of this back issue & case sale.
—The Conductor
P.S. Did you catch Billy and the band on The Tonight Show performing “Seven Weeks In County”?