"By And By" to Be Folk Rock Track of the Day at Garageband.com

On January 22nd, "By And By" will be featured HERE as Folk Rock Track of the Day. It also was chosen as "Best Lyrics in Folk Rock" and "Best Beat in Folk Rock" for the week of Jan 14th.

It has been steadily climbing the Garageband.com Charts and currently sits at #88 of 235 (all-time: #749 of 2,820) in the Folk Rock genre. These awards and chart positions are based reviews by other users/musicians so it's nice to get a small bit of recognition for this song which is one of my personal favorites.

New Recordings, Mixes and Equipment Failures

Well, I have had the a week and a half of nothing but free time. Tomorrow I will start up work and school again. I am glad to say that during this time I was able to get a little bit of recording and mixing done. One of the things that takes the longest about the whole mixing process is that I need to listen to a song for days and weeks before the imperfections become noticeable so that I can fix them. It can take a long time until I am happy enough to declare a song finished.

• "Dear Friend" - Finished recording and came up with a near final mix. It just needs to be tested (listened to on various sound systems) and then any problems fixed in the final mixing process. I think this song turned out pretty well.
• "This Moment" - This song had a final mix (or so I thought), but after weeks of listening to it in the car and on the iPod, something was just not right. So I took the final mix and using waveform editing software I fixed the problems...I hope. This will need to be tested again to see if the new changes will help. It was mostly EQ issues.
• "Stability Crisis" - This song needs a re-write of some of the lyrics and will probably get a new title, but this week I made some other changes to it. I realized that it was in the wrong key. I dropped it down about 2 full steps and I think that made a huge difference. I had to go back and re-program some of the sampled sounds to fit the key change. Then I re-recorded the acoustic guitar to match as well. The song has a different feel to it now but I really like the changes. Oh, I didn't record new vocals for it yet but I did do a pitch shift to the old vocals. Now they are in the right key but sound really funny because they have been digitally altered. I'll have to save a copy of this version just to laugh at later.

I was not able to do all of the recording I would have liked to because my effects processor for the guitar is starting to die. It's a little frustrating because it cost me $90 when I got it 3 years ago. The good news is that if I can't get this one fixed, I can by a much better one for the same price I got this one for. I'm not sure if I want it to be fixed or not.

I'm On iTunes

If you still have not purchased Making It Right Again, it is now available on iTunes (as well as Amazon.com and other online music stores. The link below will open up iTunes and take you to my album.

"Now I Understand" to be on Compilation CD

My song "Now I Understand" has been chosen to be featured on the Carbon Drum compilation CD.

Go check it out HERE. It is track #6 on the "Rock , Indie, Folk" CD.

You can pre-order the CD if you like for $9. Be sure to put my name where it says "Which Band Referred You?" Most of that $9 dollars goes to the artist (me) plus you will help me work towards winning a contest by selling thew most CDs.

Thanks for everyone's continued support. I'm pretty excited to receive this recognition from an unbiased 3rd party. Hopefully this will mean that a lot of new people will be exposed to my music. So if you're a fan, please spread the word!

Thanks,
James

Woke Up This Morning...

...with a song in my head.

Sometimes it just happens like that. You are just given a song as a gift without even trying or asking. Such was the case this morning as I woke up (late for work) and walked to the bathroom. A cheery song about sunshine began playing in my head. It's funny because I was not in a very cheery mood at the time. Inspiration is unpredictable like that.

So, late as I already was, I decided to skip the shower and instead pulled out the acoustic and pounded (quietly, of course) out the chords I was hearing in my head (C, G, Dm, F). I also came up with a chord structure for the verses (C,G, Am, Am).

The words that I heard in my head were these:

So let the sun shine on me
And keep the rain far from me
(Haven't figured this line out yet)
Until the daylight becomes me

So, there you have it boys and girls, the beginning of a song. Someday when you are listening to the finished product you can feel privileged to know the back story of this little gem of a tune called "Sunshine" (or whatever it ends up being called by then).

"Dear Friend"...Where Have You Been?

I started playing a REALLY old song on the guitar this weekend, just for fun. The song, "Dear Friend" is from way back in the days when Travis Biggs and I performed as "Sneath Clay". It's actually a really good song that might be good enough to bring to life with a studio recording. It has never been recorded. It could be a haunting little number if done properly. I may play around with recording it and see how it turns out. It is completely written already so that will save some time.

Dear Friend,
Where have you been?
It's good to see your face again
I see you've traveled for many miles
And so I greet you with a smile
And ask you if you'll stay a while with me

Won't you stay with me
Like it used to be?

Dear Friend.
Where have you gone?
You've been gone or way too long
And which road have you been on?
And did you sing your greatest song?
And will you ever sing that song to me?

Won't you sing to me
Like it used to be?

And you'll never go a season without rain
Never know the good times without pain
So it is with you and I my friend
Things may never be the same again

Dear friend,
Where did you go?
To look for something else I know
So tell me now, what did you find?
I'll tell you what you've left behind
Or have you now become too blind to see?

Have you come to see
That you're missing me?

'Cause you'll never go a season without rain
Never know the good times without pain
So it is with you and I my friend
Things may one day be the same again

"Take Our Chances"...Again

So, I recorded a completely new version of a song called "Take Our Chances". It still has a ways to go before it is done, but I think the new direction is a big improvement.