The slow winter months in the crowdfunding landscape provide fewer artists for me to choose who gets featured here. I usually try to theme each month's column, picking three artists who have a similar style, type of perk, etc. that tells a story about the world of crowdfunding. This month, with fewer choices, I threw the idea of a theme out the window and just chose three campaigns that spoke to me most. What I ended up with was three artists who couldn't be more different in styles. We have a traditional bluegrass/roots artist, a clarinet player blending klezmer with Americana, and a veteran of this column who is a tireless advocate of America's independent Celtic music scene.
Rachel Sumner and Traveling Light- Please Do Not Touch (click here to view campaign)
Before Traveling Light, Rachel Sumner was a touring member of Boston-based bluegrass outfit Twisted Pine. And while she found plenty of critical and audience acclaim with that band, she's well on the way to even more with her new act. Since their formation, the band has been invited to contribute songs to the Library of Congress' American Folklife Archive, won the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival Band Contest in 2023, and capped it off by winning the Telluride Bluegrass Band Contest in 2025. Capitalizing on the momentum of that win, the band is headed into the studio to record their newest album Please Do Not Touch. They're planning to release the album in digital format as well as signed CD and vinyl. Other campaign perks to reach their $25,000 Kickstarter funding goal include a collection of behind-the-scenes extras like demos and studio photos, a listening party for the album, a songwriting masterclass, and a selection of handmade gifts from the band.
Seth Kibel- Clarinet, Without a Net (click here to view campaign)
Anyone who is a regular reader of this column knows I have a soft spot for anyone willing to blend different styles of roots music into something previously unheard. So when I saw clarinet player Seth Kibel describe his music as combining the traditional Jewish style of klezmer with “jazz, Americana, and blues,” I had to check it out. From the sample I heard in his campaign video, I walked away impressed. For his $8,000 Kickstarter campaign, Kibel has a number of perks. The album will be available in digital and CD (or, as Kibel calls them, “ice scrapers”) formats and he may press vinyl if he gets 20 pre-orders. You can also get a 30 or 60 minute virtual music lesson with Kibel, an in-person lesson if you live near Baltimore, or a house concert.
Marc Gunn's Irish and Celtic Music Podcast- Emerald Waves album and Podcast Festival
I've featured Marc Gunn in this space before because he's one of the more reliably successful crowdfunders going today and he's also always got something interesting going on. For his current campaign, a $5,000 goal Kickstarter, he is funding two things. First, a compilation album called Emerald Waves, which will feature some of the independent Celtic artists Gunn has played on his Irish and Celtic Music Podcast in 2025. Second, he's funding an Irish and Celtic Music PodFest in GA where fans of his show can come and hear some of the artists Gunn highlights. Gunn has several perks on offer, but many center around one of Gunn's more genius innovations, the “album pin.” Seeing that CD sales were on their way out, Gunn devised the album pin, a lapel pin based on the album's artwork that comes with a digital download code. It provides a physical media to sell at merch booths to replace the mostly dead CD. For this campaign, you can get an album pin for Emerald Waves bundled with merch like shirts, stickers, an album booklet, and a “Celtic heartstring” handmade from the broken strings of Gunn's autoharp.
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