Welcome to the "County Fair"

Welcome-- friends, family, and fans. We are so grateful that you are here and we can't wait to share what we have been cooking up.

Max and I met on a writer's retreat in the fall of 2023. The first song we wrote together was a song called "Julian" with our dear friend and another music partner of mine, Leah Colon.

Listen to our demo of "Julian" here as you read!

Julian_demo11

4:26

We soon discovered a truly magical connection in our songwriting, and we reconnected at the start of 2024. By summer, we had written, quite literally, dozens of songs together.

In this beautifully vulnerable space, I found myself falling for this kind-hearted man.

Fast forward a bit, we move in together and all the while keep fueling the fire of what could now be 100+ songs (I truthfully haven't counted them all). A few stand out to us as not only being what we think are the best songs we have yet to write, but that fit right in between his and my genres. We are calling this collection of songs Americana/Indie-Rock. With a focus on storytelling and imagery, we created something that we deeply want to see come to life.

This is where you come in.

We've been through a lot with music. We understand how it can exhaust our creative energy, and we're coming to you, our village to ask for your help.

Recently, I spoke with my producer, Josh Frigo, who will also be producing County Fair. I asked him, "As a successful musician and producer, does the need to ask for money ever go away?" His response was reassuring. He said, "Sav, I hope it brings you a strange peace to hear me say, no." He then encouraged me, praising my talent in songwriting, vocals, and musicianship and added, "As people who want to make music for a living–we never get to stop choreographing the unhappy dance partners of art and commerce. No matter how long you’ve successfully done it you’ll never have it “figured out.” The moment you think you do, someone changes the music and suddenly your foxtrot must now be a tango or a waltz and both partners want to lead and neither wants to follow."

I was so encouraged after this conversation because it turned the request from a paralyzing ask- to an invitation.

We have 12 songs (and we never stop writing) that are in our minds, the best of the best. These songs don't necessarily fit into the "Savs" or the "Max Gall" categories so we decided to label them as "County Fair," and we don't want them to just sit around forever; we want to share them with you and beyond.

For the first time, I truly feel like we've defined the artist, have the songs, and have the plan—all before entering the studio. This is absolutely incredible and places us in a level of preparation I haven't experienced before, but I'd like to discuss with you what that actually means financially.

The Investment

As musicians, we do have the option to release a live demo of a song to the public. Some have done this successfully, like Oliver Anthony. However, Max and I have the internal ability to hear theses songs in their full glory. What it would sound like with the capable hands of strings, drums, horns, maybe some steel string guitar here and there.. and without the resources to produce, mix, and master the songs, we will never experience them in their full potential. Our art will always be only be partially complete.

As Dolly Parton expressed, "every song of mine is like a child" and she "labors over it, then it's born, and I watch it grow." I think Max would concur that this mirrors our sentiments as songwriters, and how lucky we are to have the voices to narrate the story. Our songs are our babies, and from the onset of writing, the song remains unfinished until we can bring together all the layers of harmonies, drums, violins, etc. to complete the chapter.

Now, I am proud to say that over the years, I have received enough praise and encouragement that I don't think I will, or even can, ever give up on this career. However, it's not lost on me that it's a costly pursuit until it becomes sustainable.

Let's breakdown the cost.

When recording one song from pre-production to it's release, this is what we as artists have to consider:

Production costs:

Producer: $2,500- $5,000

Instrumentation: the cost above typically varies to account for drums, bass, and

guitars- if you want anything extra like strings, horns, etc, you are looking at $250-

400/instrument.

Mixing: $750+

Atmos Mixing: $1,000+

Mastering: $250+ for regular mix, 400+ for Atmos Mix

Marketing costs:

$500–$1,500 → grassroots level, focused on organic traction and testing.

$2,000–$5,000 → semi-pro level, with consistent ad campaigns, PR, and

playlisting.

$5,000–$10,000+ → pro-level independent push with team involvement (PR firm,

influencer campaigns, etc.).

Bringing the rough total (on the low end- no extra instruments, no atmos mixing, no extra push marketing) to $4,400/ song.

As you can imagine, this begins to feel like a whirlpool of overwhelm when we can't afford to pay $5,000 let alone $54,000.

But imagine if we did.

Imagine if we did have the funds for multi level marketing campaigns.

Imagine if we could afford the pushing of our music after its recorded.

I believe in County Fair.

We are inviting you to believe in it too.

If it's not money you can give, we are still grateful that you want to join us in this journey. Repost, share, come to shows, host us when we need a place to crash while we are on tour, with whatever you have to give. No gift is too small when it comes to the creation of County Fair because this is going to take a village.

We are just excited to invite you.

Welcome to the County Fair.

-Savs