I finished today’s song last night. I started it a while back. I’m not sure when. I’ve got a pile of half finished, or half started songs and lines and choruses and verses all jumbled up. I was working on something else, but it wasn’t going where I wanted it to go.

It was going nowhere.

So I pulled out the stack and this one was on top.

Here’s what was there already:

(I ain’t trying to get down on you [x2]
I’m just trying Mama to understand
what you need from a loving man)

I’ll be leaving soon on the morning train
I’ll be heading out and I won’t be back around again

When you hear that whistle blowing loud
Means I’ve left and gone

The parentheses around that first verse means I threw it out when I first wrote this. So I didn’t even bother with that last night.

The music kinda fell into place. The other song I was working on was in D with the capo at 3, so I was already there. And it was in 3/4 time. So I stuck with that. Except, I started “The Morning Train” with a minor 6th and changed it into the key of D-sharp. Oh well.

When I first wrote this I bet it was in some sort of blues style. Probably had a real nice lick. I don’t remember, though.

It’s kind of a plodding song, but I think it gets the point across.

I also wrote a second song today that I finished tonight (before this one), but you’ll have to wait until Monday for that. It’s a doozy.

And, remember, I’m playing a the Elbo Room this Saturday, 11/6, as part of the Chicago Root Collective Fall Festival. My set goes from 9pm-9:15pm, or so. I’m playing in the upstairs lounge area. I’ll have plenty of CDs on hand, so come out and get one while I still have copies.

Also, don’t forget to vote for the Barehand Jugband in the Chicago Blues and Bluegrass Festival “Last Banjo Standing” contest.

Just click here to vote. We need some help…we’re currently in 10th place.

Here’s a song that I started writing yesterday afternoon after a long car-trip in the howling, building wind. Then I set it down. Slept through the big midwestern storm to end all storms (was it anything at all?). And early this morning I woke up and finished it off and recorded it. You can kinda hear the pre-dawn in my voice.

As it usually happens, when the weather starts turning my songs start turning. Start getting colder. More blue in the lips. Frigid.

I wrote a bunch of cold-weather songs at the beginning of last winter. “Out in the Cold Cold Wind,” “Unworried Mind,” “Mister Mayor Says (I’m guided by the love of gold),” to name a few. A couple of those made it on my “It’s Chicago!” album, that I’m sure everyone has, but, if not, you can get it at CDBaby or iTunes.

This song, today, is played in standard, 6-string guitar tuning. It’s finger-picked. It uses bar-chords. The music was a mistake really. No capos were used. I picked out the song and then started writing the words. I wasn’t even trying to write a song. It just popped out.

I have a pretty good idea what this is about. What do you think?

Okay. I’m really falling behind now. But I got a good reason. I’m playing in a great music show this Saturday, October 23 at Cafe Mustache in Logan Square with some other great musicians.

So it’s not like I don’t have time to write, or that I’m not writing, it’s just that I’m trying to get down some of the new songs I’ve written so I can sing em at the show.

That’s as good as “my dog ate it” if ya ask me.

Now, this song is kinda in the vein of a talkin’ blues tune. I coulda done a talkin’ blues themed week (didn’t I do that already?). But it ain’t exactly a talkin’ blues, cause I sing this one really good. Give it a nice close listen. Ease back into it. Let it slide on into yer ears.

It’s just a song about opposites and how they stick to each other in every instance until every feels just about comfortable.

So, this music show I’m playing at Cafe Mustache is gonna be real cozy. Jonas Friddle plays some mean old time tunes on fiddle and guitar and a few other weird instruments that he totes around in his white Subaru station wagon. I’ve heard it tell that he just wrote 15 songs in one week and he’s gonna try out all fifteen Saturday night. Woo-Eee.

Then there’s the sultry Jessica Robbins. If she don’t hook ya like heroin then yer up and blind. I met Jessica a few years back out playing open mics around the city and she’s gone from there to way out into the cosmos.

Katie Alvarado I’ve only heard one other time, but I invited her to join the show because of that. She’s kinda got this strange voice and guitar movement going on and I’m not sure what it’s all about, but ya gotta hear it.

So, we’ll all see ya there. There’ll be CDs for sale. The show is absolutely free, though. In the meantime you can look at the show poster that Katie drew up.

Okay, here’s something a little different. This song I wrote on Monday has a lot of chords. A lot of chord changes. A lot of singing. That’s pretty different than most of my songs. And I think I pulled it off fairly well, at least okay enough for having a sore throat all week long.

Writing this one I framed it around a personal experience, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s about that personal experience or that it’s even a personal song. It’s not totally or exactly about me. It’s not all the truth either. And it ain’t all bad. Most of it’s pretty good, I’d say. Turns out really well in the end.

So, anyway. Give it a listen and let me know if you think anything in particular about it. Took me around 10 minutes to write the song and set it to some music, so I’ll give ya about 10 minutes time to think up a response and write it down.

Also, I’ve got a couple solo shows coming up soon. First one is at Cafe Mustache in Logan Square on October 23, which is a Saturday night. The show starts at 7:30pm and will be done by 10pm. Katie Alvarado, Jessica Robbins, and Jonas Friddle (from the Barehand Jugband) are also playing. We’ll all be doing about 35 to 40 minute sets.

Then, on November 6 I’m playing in a festival put on by the Chicago Roots Collective at the Elbo Room. I’ll be one of the “songwriters” performing in the upstairs part of the Elbo Room. Here’s a link to the facebook invite for some more info.

So hopefully I’ll see you at one or both of those.