Mastering the new CD...

Well, I started on March 25 and nearly a year later the CD is in the mastering process. I plan on a January 2011 release.

BLUE SKY SLIDING is my first release since Blind Dog Barking 18 years ago. A lot of life has passed in that time. T-Bone Burnett stated in an interview that one can write songs about the Light or write songs about what one sees in the Light. This project will feature both.

Here is the list of songs I plan to be on the CD:

Cross the River (for childhood friend Tim Hunt)
A Distant Friend (for George Harrison)
Tomorrow on Her Mind (featuring The Silverados)
Elvis on a Greyhound
I Remember the Night (8:46 P.M. on 9/11)
When You’re Not Here
This Love I Have for You
Watch the Lions Play (Sunday Morning, Lyon, 177 A.D.)
A Mighty Fortress (instrumental arrangement)
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Gotta Serve Somebody** (the one by Bob Dylan)
Every Good Gift (A song I used do do with the band in Portland)
Anyone But Jesus
Look at All the Children
Keep Your Eyes on the Sky
Daffodils at the Resurrection (guitar instrumental)
Ode to the Penguin Café (piano & string quartet)
The Joker Isn’t Laughing (I wrote it when I was 19.)

The best part about an independent project is no one tells you what to put on it. The worst part about an independent project... finally saying it's done!

1000 Awesome Things

I happened across a book called The Book of Awesome at B&N this month. Have you seen this book? The author (the name slips me...) has a Website: www.1000AwesomeThings.com

My favorite awesome thing at the moment... yellow swallow-tailed butterflies. They are making their migration to Mexico where they will breed and die. So beautiful.

New CD well on its way!

The new CD will probably be finished at the end of September. The working title is BLUE SKY SLIDING. Originally, I had set July for the release but chronic laryngitis made that a little difficult... not to mention being unable to sing adequately for the Silverados gigs we had this summer!

I have my ISRC codes for iTunes and with Oasis Duplicating I get free CD Baby access as well as iTunes.

Four songs are fully completed:
Tomorrow on Her Mind featuring background vocals by the female Silverados, Julie Wuertz and Julie Stewart, and a searing guitar solo by Steve Sanchez.
I covered Gotta Serve Somebody by Bob Dylan with a background chorus comprised of Wendy Hinkle, Dianne Jackson, Teri Goodwin, and Dean Christensen. Dean's vocals were FTP'd to me from Oregon and imported in my Logic Pro Studio. New technology is so cool!
I've also completed A Distant Friend- a tribute to George Harrison and The Joker Isn't Laughing- a song I wrote when I was 19.

Right now I have 18 tracks being considered... most are just missing the vocals and should be completed in August. The list:

Tomorrow on Her Mind (with The Silverados)
A Distant Friend
Elvis on a Greyhound
The Joker Isn’t Laughing
I Remember the Night (8:46 P.M. on 9/11)
When You’re Not Here
Warm Wind
Gravestones
ii
A Mighty Fortress • Mighty Fortress Is Our God
Gotta Serve Somebody*
Anyone But Jesus
Every Good Gift
Take Me Down (A Man Like You)
Look at All the Children
A Woman in Prayer
Keep Your Eyes on the Sky
iii
Ode to the Penguin Café

My brother Phil is designing the cover and we're going with a Magritteish look to it... very surreal and weird.

The CD cover itself will probably be no more than a single sleeve and I will post the CD notes on this blog.

All for now... I'm recording vocals today until the voice gets scratchy!

A new CD in the near future...

I'm compiling the songs and recording for a real-release (not the ones I give to friends at Christmas) of my first CD since 'Blind Dog Barking.'

Some old songs that I never recorded (Every Good Gift), some songs from the past decade (Eyes on the Sky, A Distant Friend), a couple of instrumentals (Ode to the Penguin Cafe), and some new stuff that no one has heard.

After hearing David Wilcox, Andy Gullahorn, and Peter Bradley Adams, I'm leaning toward an acoustic sound more than full pop productions. I want to feature the cool guitars I've recently acquired, too-- a Taylor 810 which was used on the first MercyMe recordings and a 1953 Gibson LG-1 which I restored.

Now, for a good title...