This just in: In the 2008 Pitch Music Awards released today, Howard Iceberg won as Best Songwriter!

I’ve been extolling Howard’s songwriting forever, to anyone who would listen, and it is really great that he is getting some recognition now. Maybe the most amazing thing is that he has not released an album in years, and even the ones he has “released” have been mostly given away free to friends.

To some extent, that is going to change now. As part of the Apocalypse Meow benefit for Abigail Henderson of The Gaslights, Howard is going to release a 13-song CD by November 8. Mastering is almost finished, and artwork is in progress.

Full disclosure here: I have worked with Howard for nearly 20 years. I have engineered most of the songs he has recorded (with apologies that I haven’t been better at my job, but at least it has been a learning process). I play drums in his live band, Howard Iceberg and the Titanics, and we do two to three recording sessions a week at my home studio.

We’ve been fortunate to work with some really great musicians, and lately several bands have covered Howard’s songs, including The Wilders, Pendergast, and Hidden Pictures. But the core group for the last four years has included Chad Rex (a fine songwriter in his own right), Gary Paredes and Doug Osburn (who also play in Rockhill), and Mike Ireland and Dan Mesh (of Mike Ireland and Holler, the first and maybe only foray into country music by Subpop Records). In addition, there has been a really long list of other musicians, playing everything from guitars and drums to dumbek and musical saw. The Titanic is a large ship.

I don’t want this to sound like the fricking Academy Awards, but it is so cool to see Howard (and by extension, a group of people whose company I really enjoy) get some recognition. Thank you, Pitch!