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Banjo has officially made it’s appearance on the new record in a wonderful song. It’s a cover, and you can hear the original song below.

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In my search for more variety in my instrumentation, I am being blessed by friends and acquaintances who step forward to contribute. Sharon, a friend of Shelby’s, has agreed to record some flute parts for the record. I just finished writing parts for one song, with more to come.

I’m looking forward to this weekend where I’ll get to work on some tracks with Jon. Trumpet and maybe some other instruments.

I’m still hoping to find a violin/viola player for some string layers. I have fun ideas. Do you know anyone?

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Once upon a time I was a sophomore in high school, living in Nairobi, Kenya. Television in Kenya was, to this American boy, an irrational mix with no rhyme or reason. Sunset Beach, WWF, failed tv shows (Meego?), strange commercials, and obscure movies. It was surreal to see captial-a American television in a foreign context, like eating McDonalds on Mars or something.

One movie that I encountered on Kenyan television was the film The Last Butterfly. The film is about a french stage mime, Antoine Moreau, who is compelled by the Gestapo to put on a show for the children of Terezin, a “model” concentration camp set up to trick Red Cross observers about the true nature of the camps. Antoine gradually becomes wise to the truth of the situation and where the “transports” were really taking the Jews. He then sets out to stage a show to end all shows, in (suicidal/martyring) protest.

It is not as intense of a movie as, say, Schindler’s List or The Pianist, but it is very good. I bring it up because in the movie there is a bittersweet song that caught my ears at the time and I wanted to post the lyrics here. It’s called Signs of Spring.

Come and I’ll teach you to smile up at cloudy skies
Just listen to me and I’ll help you see
Life with lovers’ eyes

Rain just means that sunshine must be on its way
Lovers know the darkest hour comes before the day
Lovers have no fears of what the year ahead will bring
They know the cold of winter is another sign of spring

Even in the dead of winter I hear some bird sing
For cold and snow, as lovers know, are only signs of spring

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I played the second show of four that I am playing this month. I thought I’d share some thoughts I am having right now about it all.

I’d love to hear others who are musically inclined weigh in with their own experience. (Or if there are parallels to other hobbies/disciplines, I’d love to hear that too). Keep in mind that these shows are small-time deals. 10-20 people there.

On how well my music works as a one man band

This obviously subjective topic is obviously up to the listener to decide. But I’ll just note a few things:

• Pre-recorded backup material is dangerous ground to tread on. It can be boring. It can lead to awkward mistakes live. To try to counteract this boredom, I am trying to stick to drumbeats and bass lines, and to leave any lead instrument to myself. I’m also trying to stick with digital sounds, and not anything that’s supposed to sound realistic. The reasoning being the same reason why MIDI versions of real instruments are usually disappointing. (I once saw a band use midi Trumpets and it was really, really cheesy.)
• I am wary of looping-pedal-fests. I have seen this stuff done really well sometimes (Andrew Bird is a notable example) but I usually do not enjoy one-man-bands in the form of looping parts. It’s kind of like “hang on a minute while I get my song going, dude.”
• It’s hard to translate my full-band songs into interesting one-man versions. I write songs that use drums, electric guitars, multiple keyboard instruments, and multi-vocal lines and harmonies. Shrinking it down can sometimes destroy the soul of the song.
• I tend to default to simple, finger-picking acoustic songs. These are nice, but I think it will be rare that this is all that enrapturing for a listener.

On friends at shows

I’m going to say something that I hate but it’s also something I do and have done. You have my full admission of hypocrisy up front. I hate it when people don’t pay attention and are clearly having full discussions or are incessantly texting during a show. It feels even worse when I watch the video of the show and I can barely hear my performance over the loud chatters of half my friends.

But let me be clear about this reflection:

1. I am thankful for the support of my friends, even if they aren’t interested in my music. Friend-rock, as Sufjan Stevens describes it, is the phenomenon that happens when your friends come to your show and support you, but don’t really care for your music. It happens. I’ve been in that spot. I’ve gone to a friend’s show even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of their music. There’s no reason to feel guilty about this. People like what they like.
2. It is (to some degree) up to me to be interesting enough to be worth giving attention to. It’s not as though I think I can sit on stage and play a dreadfully slow, repetitive, and flat song for 15 minutes and then expect full, enraptured attention by everyone there. This point applies especially to strangers. If I want their attention I have to earn it.
3. I am not a live show nazi. Aside from enjoying the chance to share my work with others, I want shows to be fun. I can’t imagine myself ever saying something on stage to kill the mood or complain to the crowd.
4. For some, a show is nice background music to the real business of enjoying a drink with a friend. Part of going to a bar and seeing a performance is often the fun of taking it in with a friend. Have a beer. Catch up.
5. In any case, this is something that isn’t going to change.

But, none of these facts eliminate the reality that it hurts to perform and to see people not really give it any attention, respect, or much of a chance.

Before anyone grabs their pitchforks to announce my self-righteousness, hypocrisy, or naivete about this, remember that I admit up front that I am guilty of this, that I am aware this will always happen no matter what, and that I realize it’s not worth worrying about.

On singing in a live performance

I don’t have the best voice in the world. No, that’s dressing things up too much. My live singing voice is spotty, depending on the context. Sometimes it’s downright bad. I may hit the pitches most of the time but what is needed is the extra oomph, the gut, the emotion that slides along with whatever song style is happening. I feel like I’m typically just giving a functional performance, but rarely taking it to that magical level.

Recording, though, I can accommodate my mediocre voice with the increased ability to focus on nailing a singing part. I mention this not as some kind of boring (false?) modesty, but because something occurred to me. When recording, I can relax and focus. Live, I am typically “winging it” by having to pick a guitar, play a keyboard, or something else. It’s multitasking.

I think my difficulties with live singing have more to do with my comfort level playing these other instruments, and not so much with my voice itself. The (limited) potential of my vocal talent aside, I think I can sing better than I usually do live. The problem is I need to learn how to be relaxed, smoothly playing everything. The kind of relaxed where you know what you’re doing so well that it’s instinctual and muscle memory — NOT intellectual processing.

Ok, let’s just cut to the chase: I just need to practice. But not just running through songs. I need to practice being in the moment, sunken into the fabric of the song. Ok, enough mumbo jumbo.

On not having a full band to peform my music

It sucks. Anyone want to play music with me?

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What you should know

• Working on some songs with Lee Bozeman still. (I really owe this more focus ASAP).
• Stop Don’t Stop EP still in the works. Drums, Bass, Guitars are finished. Vocals and Aux Percussion still needed, plus any extra “spices” we will add.
• I have also been tracking the new Michael Edwards LP for a couple of weeks.

New Michael Edwards LP you say?

Yes. Not news if you read this site. I am harvesting a couple of years of songs and also much new material into a good, juicy package. Hopefully it can be heard to be adding a few instruments to my repertoire as well as perhaps new kinds of songs. You’ll never find me recording 10 same-sounding-songs and boringly releasing it.

(more…)

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“From now on, it’s not going to be about how pretty the voice is. It’s going to be about believing that the voice is telling the truth.” - Sam Cooke explaining Bob Dylan’s voice to Bobby Womack, who had confessed he did not understand the style.

“The great advantage about telling the truth is that nobody ever believes it.” – Dorothy L. Sayers

Starting with the understanding that not all music is created, performed, or heard for that reason, who are the artists that make you believe they’re telling the truth? Not just that they might have a good voice, but that what they are telling is the truth, that you believe them? (Or, at least, that they themselves believe what they are telling). (more…)

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There are many projects on the horizon this year that I’m working on. All Things Bright & Beautiful has some upcoming songs, Dunvint’s debut LP is on the way, Stop Don’t Stop EP (“Some Kind Of Change”), and my forthcoming LP which has lots of post-apocalyptic scenarios and involves lakes and orchards and militias and orphans and more (but no, this won’t be like the Decemberists. I refuse to have barrow boys and chimbley sweeps and scurvy in my music). It might get tough to finish all of these projects in a timely fashion, because there are a ton of weddings this year, not to mention my own!

This is also the year where I shall cross the quarter-century mark. Perhaps I can raise a guinness glass in the air with some of my friends who I don’t get to see very often anymore. I would like that.

Godspeed to my brother who will be interviewed for a chance to be admitted to Columbia University in New York for a masters program in (correct me if I’m wrong) Fine Arts!

Well, I wanted to sit here and write something more but it’s almost 1AM and the words aren’t coming. I shall invite the muse to come along next time.

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Lately, I’ve been diving into deeper waters of musical tradition. I’ve been digging into the discography of the prominent figures of influence in much of the music we hear today. Beginning more modernly with Bruce Springsteen but sliding backwards through Dylan to Seeger, Orbison, Guthrie, and onward and outward. While these names are obvious and will be Music 101 to many, I am coming to them on my own terms and, in many ways, with fresh eyes. Fresh for myself (not necessarily speaking for others). While these guys blazed many of their own trails, they are also rooted, in different ways, to various musical traditions. In my own musical compositions, I’m starting to search out some ground to stand on, some arena to inhabit. Of course this isn’t something you rationally decide ahead of time, so much as something you find yourself sliding towards as you create.

Barring Orbison/Guthrie, all of those I just named are still alive! Believe me, to find out that a 90 year old Seeger is still out and about was pretty amazing a realization to have. (more…)

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I have updated my Flickr with a set of photos taken at various times this year while Stop Don’t Stop was recording their full length debut album, Sweating Through The Night (available soon on iTunes & Amazon MP3). Enjoy!

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