mmsb

Misty Mountain String Band

Louisville, KY

Derek Harris is a vocalist and the bassist in this traditional bluegrass quartet and a long time friend of mine. He contacted me in 2013 to create the CD layout for their debut EP “Went to the Well”.

Bluegrass music CD layout story

The group already had chosen a few elements to bring to the table. Therefore, it was up to me to work them into the final composition and make a few minor adjustments. This was similar to later full length CD layout projects I completed for them, entitled “Brownsboro” and “Red Horizon”. The fabulous Louisville based photographer Cherise Mingus provided the posed photograph for the inside jacket. The talented nature artist Abby Diamond also came on board to create the gorgeous Kentucky cardinal illustration. This was the first of a series of album art collaborations I was fortunate enough to have with these talented artists.

I used Adobe Photoshop to retouch and color correct the band’s posed group photograph. I also removed a small tree from the picture by using the rubber stamp cloning tool. Then, I cleaned up the edges of the cardinal illustration for the clean white background.

Finally, the band sent me a very rough sketch of a Greek runes themed “MMSB” logo they had sometimes use in promotional materials. I used Adobe Illustrator to recreate this image as a vector file they could use for any application. Then, I added it to the design. It is featured on both on the inside jacket and on the CD face itself. Check out MMSB’s music online!

CD layout for your band or music project

Are you about to drop a hot new record? I’m ready to complete the project with professional packaging design and CD art. Contact me today to get started.