About two months ago, local recording engineer Chris Moore announced that an anonymous donor had offered to pay the recording costs of 5-song EP for one local band at his East Hall Recording Studio.

“I’ve spent my entire adult life, plus some, in the Fayetteville music scene,” the donor told Moore. “It’s been an important part of my life, and I want to give something back.”

A contest was created to choose a winner, and Moore encouraged local musicians to submit their music for consideration for the project.

About 50 local bands applied, and when he announced the winner of the contest earlier this week, there was a bit of a surprise.

Instead of selecting one group to win the free recording session, the donor selected 12 local bands to receive studio time.

Those selected include The Chads, Matthew Cooper, Fauxnz, A Good Fight, The Inner Party, Shawn James, Keith Nicholson, Derek Shacklett, Sock Party, Swimming, Teenagers, and Jesse Wells.

“There were just so many good bands that applied and we thought, ‘Man, what if we could do twelve,” Moore said. “So we worked out a payment deal that worked for the donor, and now we’re going for it.”

The project will begin in July with locals The Chads, followed by The Inner Party. After that, Moore plans to record two of the winners each month for the next 12 months.

“We’re going to try and knock them out quickly,” he said. “Nobody wants to wait 11 months to record.”

He’s right. We can’t wait to hear the new local tunes, either. Thanks, anonymous person.