Final Song Selection

Here, in no particular order, are the songs that made the final cut… da da!

1. Everyday With You (co-written with Jill Parr)
2. Send Angels
3. Tired
4. Legacy
5. Linger
6. Champion (co-written with Bob Halligan Jr.)
7. Love to Chance
8. Last Word
9. For You (by John Denver)
10. Pictures of Us (co-written with Alyson Bleistine)
11. Worth Fighting For (co-written with Alyson Bleistine)
12. It’s About You and Me (co-written with Alyson Bleistine)
13. All Again (co-written with Kath Anderson)

Soaking it In… or Soaking In It?

Back from Nashville… man, 10 days was a long trip! It was all good though. Every spare moment was crammed with some aspect or another of what had to be done to finish the CD. Recording, listening, driving to one studio or another, evaluating results, re figuring what had to happen, hitting Target for a pair of jeans, photo shoot in those same jeans, talking about marketing plans, packaging plans, promotion plans, and how to start preparing for the next record down the road… oh yes, and finding moments to talk to my family and God… a great trip, a fantastic trip, a long strange trip (couldn’t resist)… Now I need to immerse myself in a few days of nothing but normal home stuff, you know, pay some bills, wrestle with my kids, do some laundry, spend time with my wife, shovel snow… things that have nothing to do with music… and then come back and really let this whole amazing experience settle in. For now, I will leave you with pictures of the week and let you see what we did…

Thanks Aly and Bill… as always, you went over and above!

Stick a Fork In Me…

…because I am done! Now, all I have to do is wait for the final mixes… full wrap up and pictures to follow shortly!

Tambourine Chops

Spent a couple of hours yesterday in Tony Morra’s studio. Great guy, some quotable quotes and tambourine chops! I never knew there were tambourine chops… Tony is a monster drummer as well, but what we went there for was very specific And again, he delivered in one or two passes on every song we threw at him! That part never ceases to amaze me – I could watch these folks sprinkle on the magic for hours.

Photo Shoot

Yesterday was the photo shoot for the CD cover… enough said.

It’s Sort of Like Making a Fancy Dinner

OK, I am no cook… making my kid’s mac-n-cheese can be an adventure… and that Christmas fruit salad? The one where all I do is slap 6 cans together? It’s a risk… But the few times I have tried to cook a real meal, a bit of a fancy meal, I come up against the same thing… the trick of having all the different parts of the meal be ready at the same time. If they’re not, then the hot stuff gets cold, the cold stuff gets warm, things congeal… not good!

I am finding that this CD is like a fancy meal! So many intricate parts that all have to age, cook, come to fruition and be ready as one at the point of release. If any one of them is off, it delays all the others, or gets completely left behind.

Of course, there are the obvious items… the recording needs to be done, all the parts played. You want to make sure that you have planned and budgeted enough time to get in all the bits you want to. A long time ago, in a place called the 1980’s, I was recording an album in a small basement studio in Kansas, first ‘real studio’ experience, and I had grand ideas for the final song to culminate the record in style with a choir doing BGV’s. I wasn’t a very good cook then… we ran out of time, money, and I had no idea where to find a choir or how to record them. So the big final song ended with my vocals double tracked… sort of like ordering a juicy steak and getting a gummy burger instead.

But there are other, less obvious (to me, at least) ingredients of this whole meal that need to be orchestrated as well. There is the whole issue of packaging. The CD cover, the inside liner notes, the back cover… that’s alot of text and several photographs. So, I’ve got to remember to schedule that photo shoot… What about any other corresponding items to go along with the CD release? T-shirts? Related merchandise? Got to design them, get quotes on production and then have the items ordered, made and delivered in time to be released when the CD is.

Speaking of all that, I have to get back in the kitchen…

Exhausted!

Who knew that singing could wipe you out? The last two days I have laid vocals for 5 tracks. These are the moments I was waiting for… the time the rubber hits the road. Great instrumental tracks really move the songs forward, but without the ‘perfect’ vocal they go nowhere. I have never had such fun or worked so hard to get three minutes of singing on tape. I’ve got to say that Joe Hand is a master at pulling out performances from people… and those greasy potato chips don’t hurt either!

Layers and Expertise

Man, what a day! Finished guitars and lead vocals for “Worth Fighting For”… so exciting to hear all the layers come together, hear how all the textures come together to weave in and out with each other. Most amazing phenomenon was that the drum and bass tracks, recorded a month ago, seem to have new urgency and energy… how do they do that?

But, the most amazing thing about today was going to the Vibe Studios and having Mike Rojas, legendary session player, add B3 to 6 songs. It was a treat to see this guy come in, listen to the track once while making a chart and then nailing the song in one or two takes! And playing each song like he owned it! Gotta love seeing people use their God given gifts…

Winter Storm Warnings, Guitars, and Perspective

OK… what is normally a 13 hour drive from NY to Nashville became an 18 hour drive through 4 different winter storms… ahhh, winter! Arrived in Nashville and went straight to Joe Hand’s studio without passing Go. With no big fuss we dived right into electric guitar tracks. over the next couple of hours we added power chords, ‘Pete Townsend’ licks and wah guitar to ‘Last Word’ and ‘Pictures of Us.’

It is really a good thing that we are doing this recording in two separate chunks with a few weeks between, it gives me some much needed perspective. The first trip down, I was a bit in awe of the process. I’ve done albums before and I have recorded in studios before but this was the first time doing both at this higher level of professionalism. Coupled with the fact that the emphasis of the first trip was bass and drums, and I have to admit I felt a bit like a 5th wheel on my own project. But getting away from those feeling for a bit, sitting down and starting to hear the foundation that’s been laid for the the next layer of tracks, realizing that even seasoned studio musicians have to tune and retune and retune again… yep, distance gives some needed perspective and I am ready for more guitars!!

Off Again…

OK… tomorrow (or more like later today) I leave for Nashville and the second half of this adventure to finish the CD. Eight days of nothing but Guitars and Vocals!! OK, one day of B3 and Celtic Fiddle… and then ALL Guitars and Vocals! So, come join me on this round of the fun – more musings, updates, Chuck Norris jokes, and pictures!

First task though… avoid the big winter storm hitting the Northeast… guess I will be taking the longer southern route, but you know what that means… SHEETZ!!