Monthly Archives: November 2011

Listen, New Song

New Song: It’s So Dark Outside When It’s Night-time

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And, here’s the new one for this week. Written completely last night in a rush to beat the 12-oh-clock dong dong dong. I really didn’t know how it turned out. Barely listened to it.

When I heard it again this morning, though, I thought…”Not bad.”

A good enough effort, I think. It sounds a little like a song I woulda written a few months back, but that’s okay. I feel I’m at some sort of crossroads right now. Just hanging around til the deal goes down. Or hangin on, maybe.

Anyway, the cool winter air is shiftin in and my bones is beginning to feel that deep down to the core.

Last year I had an intense change in my song writing around this time, but it didn’t totally manifest, I think, until about maybe this past May or June. So I guess I got time to work into whatever I’m working into. Might come quick, might come slow. Who knows.

I do know, though, that you HAVE to come to the big record release show this Sunday, 11/20 at the Whistler. It’s gonna be HOT HOT HOT. Playing as part of Lawrence Peters’ Country Throw-down, but also using the night to start selling the new EP out now. You’ll be able to get your very own copy (for only 5 bucks!!!) with a one-of-a-kind Polaroid picture as cover art! Plus, if you want, you can take your own Polaroid (for a minimal charge) for very personal cover art. Fantastic!

See you there.

Listen, Rewritten Song

Rewritten Song: I’ve heard it told (version 2)

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Okay, well, first, I’ll say this. I love all the songs I write, but, just like anything, some are harder to love than others.

This is one of those.

Listening to the original, which I wrote and recorded this week, last year (and, which, you can listen to here), I just can’t really get behind the song. Or, I just don’t really like it. Or something. It’s maybe a little too sentimental, or a little too over-the-top in it’s statements. Almost saying, “Look at how clever I am.” And that makes it not clever at all.

Or, maybe it’s just not clever at all. I’m okay if it’s not a good song. I tried re-writing it the past couple days and just couldn’t do anything.

First I just put different music to it. That didn’t really work. Then I tried to just take out the lines I thought worked and form those into something new. But I guess none of the lines really work cause that didn’t go well either. Then I tried to just write something completely different, but that went nowhere too.

So, in the end, I just went back to setting it to different music. And I left out some of the fluff of the original. Most of the fluff’s still in there, though.

Oh well. I guess one song that doesn’t really work too well, or just one that’s plain not good out of 52 ain’t bad, right?

There were probably more than one that didn’t work, bu,t remember, I said I love them all, so I’m just a little biased.

Anyway…

Please remind yourself and set your calendars for the big record release show coming up this Sunday, 11/20 at the Whistler. Playing as part of Lawrence Peters’ Country Throw-down, but also using the night to start selling the new EP out now. You’ll be able to get your very own copy (for only 5 bucks!!!) with a one-of-a-kind Polaroid picture as cover art!

The show starts at 10pm, but get there early to secure your copy of our EP. Lawrence spins some hot classic country records after we play. Hope to see you there!

Listen, New Song

New Song: The 5-5-Oh!

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Sometimes a song just materializes in front of you. A complete idea. All the words. All the images. The way it should sound.

I’m not sure this new one was like that, but maybe it was.

I had an idea for something like this song on Tuesday and then got a Million Dollars worth of help to flesh it out. So, by the time I sat down late last night to write it, I really didn’t have to do much. The second I started the whole song appeared.

It’s a fairly straight forward tune, I think. The story’s all there. The notes are all sung and played.

So that’s that for today.

Remember, this Sunday I’m playing a show at Beat Kitchen. Come on out. It’s a quick set and I’ll be doing mostly all new tunes. Maybe even this one.

Listen, Rewritten Song, Talkin' Headline Blues

Rewritten Song: The Talkin’ Headline Blues #6 (version 2)

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Okay, well, this week, last year I started writing the Talkin’ Headline Blues. I didn’t know that I’d still be doing it every week back then, but I just couldn’t stop.

I did one every day during that week last year. You can listen to all of them, plus a combination of all of them here:

Did you listen to them all? Have you listened to all 53 since then?

You can read an exhaustive explanation of why I started doing this song, here. I think, basically, the reasons haven’t changed. The headlines haven’t really changed either.

This re-record, though, isn’t really a re-record. I never recorded Talkin’ Headline #6 for whatever reason. So this is actually version one, but since it’s part of a series and since all the songs are just one song, you could drop the words from any into the music for this one.

That was confusing, right?

Anyway, I did this new version as a straight up blues tune. No talkin’ at all. I think it works okay, but maybe the singing kinda gets in the way of the headlines, which are really the most important part. I don’t want to distract you from them.

Just don’t forget that this recording is full of headlines from November 2010. Do you remember everything that happened?

So that’s that. Look for the new song for this week coming at you tomorrow or Friday. I got one cookin’, I think.

Also, did you know that I have a couple shows coming up? The first one is a last minute addition at Beat Kitchen on Sunday, November 13. Should be a fun show. It’ll be a warm-up for a show on November 20 at the Whistler as part of Lawrence Peters‘ Country Throw-down. That one is a RECORD RELEASE for the new EP out now. You’ll be able to get your very own copy with a one-of-a-kind Polaroid picture as cover art! Plus, if you want, you can take your own Polaroid (for a minimal charge) for very personal cover art. Fantastic!

The Whistler show starts at 10pm. Lawrence spins some hot classic country records after. Hope to see you there!