Visit today's news update to read an article in The Washington Times
about the carnival-themed Liberty Mutual television commercial using
Hem's new song "Better Days" and the overall awesomeness of Hem. As a
bonus, the article is written by Mary Chapin Carpenter, who knows a
thing or two about musical awesomeness having made some lovely music
herself. As a super bonus, the article has a little music player where
you can hear a sample of "Better Days" more clearly than you can hear
it in the ad. I don't think it's the final version of the song,
though, because it still has the da-da-da-da-da-dum bars of the song
"Half Acre" at the end (as has become a constant in the Hem-backed
Liberty Mutual ads). Go, read, listen, enjoy!

-Christina

--
For all your Hem music needs (and more!)
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Hem's holiday song "Peace At Last" will be available in a new way
again this year. "Merry Happy Christmas" is a compilation album that
will be available November 25, 2008. The full song lineup is on the
discography page, and details on where you can get the album will
(hopefully) be here at All About Hem before its release. For those of
you ready to celebrate the holidays now, "Peace At Last" is available
on the Peace At Last EP and via holiday card (links to both on the
news page). Enjoy!

-Christina

--
For all your Hem music needs (and more!)
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Listen for Hem's song "We'll Meet Along The Way" in tomorrow's episode
of the HBO show True Blood. The "Cold Ground" episode first airs
October 12, but it repeats throughout the week.

-Christina

--
For all your Hem music needs (and more!)
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Look for a new album from Hem in early 2009. Hooray! Current details
are on the new album discography page with new information added as it
emerges. Stay tuned!

-Christina

--
For all your Hem music needs (and more!)
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

On July 1, 2007 Hem played a show in Freehold, NJ as part of a series
called Concerts in the Studio. The "studio" would be a photography
studio, and today's news update brings a nice, new picture of the band
from the photo session before their concert. Today's news also links
to more about that concert, including the setlist and pictures,
including one that shows Hem at the photo shoot that resulted in this
nice, new picture. Enjoy!

-Christina

--
For all your Hem music needs (and more!)
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

The lovely song in the new Liberty Mutual TV ad set at a carnival is
called "Better Days." It is not yet available on an album or
elsewhere. Hem is still working on the full, final version of the
song. When more information is available about it and/or the new album
the song might be on, you'll find the news here!

-Christina

--
For all your Hem music needs (and more!)
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Check today's news update to watch a new commercial set to a new Hem song!
It's another Liberty Mutual insurance TV commercial, this time a carnival
themed ad. Once I have more details about the song to share, it'll be
right here. Enjoy!

-Christina

--
For all your Hem music needs (and more!)
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

The last of the new songs Hem is generously posting for free download
at their site this month is available today. Go grab "Gently Down The
Stream" and imagine where Sally should be singing "life is but a
dream" or "merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily" (because that would be
awesome, don't you think?). You can see the recent Liberty Mutual TV
"election" commercial that uses part of the song from the news page.
Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

The third of four new songs Hem is releasing this month is now
available for free download. Flutter off to get "Bird Song!" Then,
come back to All About Hem read about the song meaning (straight from
the songwriter to All About Hem), to see the lyrics, to click over to
the Hem Message Board for chatter about the new tunes, and to check
out the recent Liberty Mutual TV commercial using part of the song.
Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

The second of four new songs Hem is releasing this month is now
available for free download through Hem's website. Go get "The World
Is Outside" now! Then go talk about it in Hem's Forum! You can find
lyrics at All About Hem.

The discography page has a new design that hopefully makes it easier
to navigate. I changed it a few weeks ago and thought I should finally
point out the change. Everything there is the same as before, although
in the redesign I added new entries for a KTBG compilation CD and a
placeholder for Hem's new album that has some information now and will
be updated whenever more details become available.

Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Every Wednesday for the next 4 weeks Hem will be releasing a new song
for free download at their website. They'll be the full versions of
the 4 songs used in the recent Liberty Mutual TV ads you can read
about below in various March news updates. Available today is "Things
Are Not Perfect In Out Yard," used in the wallet commercial. It's a
wonderful song, and you need to go get it right now. You can find the
lyrics and song meaning at All About Hem. The meaning is a drawing
posted at Hem's blog about 2 1/2 years ago and is more inspiration or
songwriting brainstorming than meaning, but the meanings page seemed
the best fit. Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Visit the news page to see a video of Hem playing "An Easy One" at the
Highline Ballroom in New York last November 3. It's by James Collier,
who also shot the footage in the "Not California" video in the
previous news update. You can find a permanent link to this video as
well as concert pictures and the show's setlist at the 2007 tour
archive. Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

There's a new video in today's news for Hem's song "Not California." The
concert footage is from the band's November 3, 2007 New York show. Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All The Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

New today are pictures from Hem's June 3, 2006 show in Atlanta, GA and
their June 5, 2006 show in Charlotte, NC. Take a trip down memory lane
and enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

I made a couple changes to the song titles in yesterday's news post
(my fault - sorry!). The songs for the Liberty Mutual commercials are
now correct with "Bird Song" (the soccer ad), "Gently Down The Stream"
(the election ad), "The World Is Outside" (the snowballs ad), and
"Things Are Not Perfect In Our Yard" (the wallet ad).

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

I now have song names to go along with the new TV commercials for
Liberty Mutual that use Hem's music. They are "Birdsong" (the soccer
ad), "Gently Down The Stream" (the election ad), "I Know You Well"
(the snowballs ad), and "Lost & Found" (the wallet ad). Now we can all
be comforted that at least one of the new songs seemingly continues
Hem's water obsession.

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Today's news update brings you a link where you can download a
recording of Hem's June 5, 2006 show in Charlotte, NC. The 2006 tour
archive also has the setlist and pictures from the show. It's always
nice to hear "new" Hem, particularly when it includes the unreleased
"Don't Fence Me In," the rarely played "Redwing," and my personal live
obsession "Leave Me Here." Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Visit the news page for a link to the new Liberty Mutual TV
commercials with Hem's music. The 4 largely instrumental ads are
titled Election, Snowballs, Soccer, and Wallet. Once I know the names
of the songs that go with each one they'll also be in the news. Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Check out a dozen new pictures at Hem's gallery. The new ones are the
first (leftmost) 12 pictures. I don't know when they're from because
they are tragically unlabeled, but they're from different times since
some are from the studio and some are from the road. Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Check today's news update to read a new Hem article in today's
Billboard magazine including words from the band about their current
and future projects. The biggest pieces of news are a new album this
summer and 4 new songs on the way for a series of new Liberty Mutual
TV commercials (following the first "Half Acre" ad and the second "The
Part Where You Let Go" ad). Those 4 songs will be available for free
download as well as be on the album. Hooray!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Check today's news update to read a new article about Hem in the
current (Winter 2008) edition of the magazine Edible Brooklyn. It's
called "The Brooklyn Fridge: In The Kitchen With A Countrypolitan
Band," and that pretty well sums up this article that's largely a fun,
chatty interview with Sally, with a few assists from Steve and Gary.
You can find a permanent link to this article at the articles archive.
Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

What better way to spread Valentine love than with some music?
Celebrate the day with Hem's version of the Bruce Springsteen song
"Valentine's Day." You can get it online, like at Amazon or eMusic, or
you can stream it for free on Hem's MySpace page. Live versions are
also available for (free) download at archive.org, where Hem kindly
lets fans share concert recordings. You can find "Valentine's Day" as
part of these shows: Sheffield, 27 Feb 2005, Dublin, 3 Mar 2005, and
Brooklyn, 16 Apr 2005.

Also, the links page has a few new additions, new Hem pages at social
networking sites Facebook, imeem, and Bebo.

Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

"Song: The World's Best Songwriters on Creating the Music That Moves
Us" is a big collection of interesting interviews with a lot of
contemporary songwriters. One chapter in the book is Dan talking about
his approach to songwriting and about making "Eveningland." Go get it!
(The book was published about a year ago, but it's new news here.)
Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Two new additions are on the discography page. First is a promotional
CD for the album "No Word From Tom." Second is a cover picture for a
Reel to Reel Christmas compilation including Hem's take on "Have
Yourself A Merry Little Christmas." It's a very bad picture, but bad
is better than nothing. You can find more details about each of the
CDs on the discography page. Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Today is All About Hem's 4th birthday. Thanks to everyone for visting
the site and for sending me emails of news and encouragement, all of
which added up to another great year! As always, the grandest and
warmest thanks go to Dan, Gary, Sally, Steve, and the rest of the Hem
crew for making wonderful music and for being such generous, creative,
supportive, and amusing people. Here's hoping for another super year!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All the Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Check today's news update for information on where to download a
remastered version of Hem's fantastic, orchestra-assisted February 9,
2006 Lincoln Center show. It's one of the best Hem shows ever!

Enjoy!

-Christina

--
All Hem, All The Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Check today's news update for a link to Hem's 2007 holiday card. It
includes a link to a free download of the song "Peace At Last." (If
you like the rabbit road picture and want to see it year-round, you
can get it in wallpaper form at Hem's site.)

FYI, the new "Peace At Last" EP mentioned in the previous news update
(it has a newly released song!) and available through Nettwerk is also
available through iTunes.

Enjoy!

-Christina

All Hem, All The Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

New Hem song alert! There's a new online-only Hem EP including its
namesake song, "Peace At Last," and two other songs. One is Hem's
previously released version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little
Christmas" and the other is "Somewhere," a brand new Hem song (that
was actually recorded a while ago but only now finding a home). You
can purchase the songs individually or together as mp3s or in FLAC
format. Check today's news update for the purchase link, EP cover
image, and new song lyrics.

Also new to the discography page is a "Funnel Cloud" promotional CD
from September 2006. It's the same as the regular CD version except it
has nearly plain white packaging, which you can see by visiting the
disocgraphy page.

Enjoy!

-Christina

All Hem, All The Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

Take a trip back in time, before Hem even had an album (officially)
released in the U.S., to their Feb. 18, 2002 show in Norwich, England.
The 2002 tour archive now includes the setlist from that show, which
I'm pretty sure is the only one I have a setlist for in the entire
tour archive that doesn't include "Half Acre."

I'm not sure, but I think there might be a new musical gift on its way
from Hem this month. Check back soon for more information! For now,
you can see a "Peace At Last" image in today's news update.

Enjoy!

-Christina

All Hem, All The Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com

The new holiday compilation CD "Stockings by the Fire" includes Hem
performing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas." The CD is only
available at Starbucks, so you should be able to find it on almost
every street corner. Go get yourself a copy! The news and discography
pages have the cover picture, and the discography page also lists all
the other albums that include this song, which was first released in
2005.

Surely you already know, but it seems timely to mention that Hem has
another holiday tune. It's a Hem original from last year called "Peace
At Last" and is only available as a free download (link in today's
news).

Enjoy!

-Christina

All Hem, All The Time
http://www.AllAboutHem.com