Carrie Stephens of Cara Van Thorn

EMAIL 1:

Hey there, gator! We’re so glad you found us. Really. We’re pretty sure we

got lost somewhere in the dryer. But we did find our missing socks (our

shoeless bassman blew his wig for that!)

We’d like to show you how it all started. Back when we were just Adam and

Carrie figuring out how to make cool music we both liked. Back before the

world changed and we had to figure out how to Party in the Living Room.

Back when we were just Caravan (before we got cool).

When this all started, we knew we liked a lot of the same music, but were

still learning how to write our music, and what our music even was. We also

just loved to play and wanted to share the music that inspired us.

Check out our early days here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?

list=PL6z8Qg2vUjXvfULVZm_cs...

We hope you enjoy watching this cat and canary as we “figured things out”.

Can you hear some of our influences in our music now?

CVT

EMAIL 2:

Hey, kitten! Carrie here. Did you jive with Baby Caravan, or were you ready

to get back to our current hip tracks?

More important, which of those songs should we add/keep in our set, but

with the full band of swell misfits?

Speaking of older music, here’s a fun fact: we consider not one, but TWO

songs to be our “first”. One of these brought us together during our Donkey

Island days (more on that later). Yet when we started writing, it was Devil

Inside that we first started working on. The song was already nearly a

decade old but it gave us a good starting point, considering we had no idea

what direction we were heading in.

I first produced this track back in my college days at Evergreen. I needed a

few more credits to graduate, so I took a summer electronic music class

learning how to make music in Pro Tools. I put together 4 songs total, using

only midi instruments, program samples, and vocals, including Devil Inside.

You’re in luck because I still have these tracks on a CD (yep, an honest-to-

gawd CD!) But I’m uploading this one for you to listen to cos I think you’re

pretty keen.

Devil Inside (2004): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h5VtlsbvLX-

Jfg8rPCzSsmDilbNv3Nso/view?usp=drive_link

Of course, since this email is all about comparing the old and new, make

sure to listen to the official release:

https://open.spotify.com/track/5MJy2nVAcqFvxaW2KsFJyr?

si=59579ba2177f4f49

While it was an absolute gas as a young vocalist finding this new way to

express myself, I’m still really glad I have Adam (and now a whole band of

axe-players!) to make tunes with. I can say one thing that hasn’t changed

much is my lyrical inspiration. I’m still into the dark and mysterious. It’s

probably from growing up on X-Files and Stephen King (and now

consuming waaaaay too much horror.)

I’m definitely not stopping any time soon. 😉

Carrie

P.S. I guess I’ll need to tell you about our other “first” song, so stay tuned…

EMAIL 3:

Hey hepcat! I hope you’ve been enjoying our origin story. After all, this has

not been a straightforward path. From meeting in a dirt rock band, to starting and ending without a definitive genre (and stopping at all points in between), to taking breaks for months at a time - but we’re still here and even more excited about what the next ten years will bring.

But I made a promise last email to bump gums about our FIRST “first” song,

the one that started this whole CVT project, the one that Adam and I really

jelled to…

Whatever It Takes!

This was the second and final song I brought to Donkey Island. (The other

one was I’ll Be Waiting, and that was not the train wreck I thought it would

be!) I’d gotten really into rockabilly and wrote this specifically to play with

this band. We’d been playing some decent shows and pretty much had our

other music down, so one practice I brought this one in to work on.

It did not go well.

This song relies heavily on rhythm and space. Not being an instrumentalist

in any way, I had to try to describe it to the rest of the band. Some of them

understood the rhythm, others understood where those intentional stops

needed to be; only Adam fully understood what I was trying to do with that

song.

Not long after, Donkey Island fell apart, but in the meantime Adam and I

decided to try to work on something new, specifically starting with this song

(which we didn’t LOL). But it was the real start of Cara Van Thorn, and even

when we took some side paths with songs like Devil Inside and All of Me, it

was the one that informed how we still sound today. It’s truly the song that

started it all.

I hope you find it as inspiring and timeless as we do. Even if it’s not in time

(we still don’t know how our session drummer did it).

Carrie

P.S. As I mentioned, we’re not going anywhere, and I hope neither do you!

Drop us a line any time - we’d love to hear from you. And we’ll be sure to

keep sharing our zany stories. If there’s one thing that’s certain about CVT,

it’s that we’re always up to something!

EMAIL 4:

Hey gator! Thanks for joining our little community of swing revivalists and

jazz-pop fusionists.

Now that we’re basically family, you should probably get decked out like a

true fan. That’w hy we created the Cara Van Thorn Starter Pack.

It’s got your basics:

*Our vintage record logo tee

*Our debut EP “Coco Can’t Turn Left”

*Our latest album “The Way I Hear It in My Head”CVT Starter Pack

$40

[Shop now]

Everything you need to start bopping like a real Thornie. And because

you’re getting them all together, you’re saving a five spot!

Get yours now and we promise we’ll laugh at your Uncle Ben’s corny jokes

at the next family reunion.

Abyssinia,

CVT

EMAIL 5:

Hey cool cat, don’t miss your chance to get this swingin’ deal!

Not sure if we mentioned, but we screen print all our record tees ourselves.

That means each one will be a little bit unique, just like you.

That also means our arms are gonna get tired, and at this rate, we’ll run out

pretty soon. Make sure to get yours now before we sit the next song out.

CVT Starter Pack

$40

[Shop now]

Can't wait to see you rocking these glad rags before they're gone!

Abyssinia,
CVT