then six...

Our show at Asbury College last night was pretty good. We were still missing Todd, due to their baby due any minute now, but otherwise it was the whole band again, and it was fun. Jeff, our bass player, hasn't done a show with us in over two months, he took the time to be with his new little guy Sammy, and it was great to hang with, and play with, him again.

I drove the Nashvillian contingency home, got to our storage space about 2:30, unloaded a van and a truck, and threw all my gear into the ol' Station Wagon, and got home about 4. It took me a bit to get to sleep, I was so wired from the driving and loading/unloading. I got a few hours in, though, and got to go to church. It was great, and I'll try to write more about it a little later. For now, I'm going to spend the rest of the evening hanging out with Alison and trying not to do anything constructive at all. Thanks to everybody who came to the shows this weekend, who said hello, and who brought home a few cd's. We hope you had as good a time as we did.

and then there were five...

Last night's show here in Columbus, OH, was interesting. Danielle had to stay home at the last minute with a sick baby, and Todd stayed home due to Christie's any-day-now trip to the hospital to have their son. So we played a set as a five-piece, with Garett playing a combination of kit and perc stuff. It was pretty fun, More "succint" arrangements, just because we were a smaller group. I think the show was pretty good, I got to play a couple songs again, and Garett stepped up admirably to being the sole rhythmic guy. All-in-all, it was a nice evening.

I had a pretty bad cold, so I was fast asleep within a few minutes of getting to the hotel. I'm feeling a bit better this morning, though I could have slept a few hours longer. But now I'm in the lobby of the hotel and we're about to drive to Kentucky for tonight's show at Asbury College. Thanks for the folks who came out last night and for those of you coming tonight, feel free to say hello... Today is the first day in a while that actually feels like the Fall, and it's a Saturday, so go out and enjoy it!

iTunes Reviews

A couple weeks ago I asked people to send me the name of a song they thought I should hear, and I took the first ten and got them off of iTunes. After a few listens I have written my thoughts on each tune.


Allison Moorer - Melancholy Polly

I thought the guitars on this song were killer. The vocal sounded kind of bored, though. Still, I liked the song, it rocked more than I thought it would.

Casting Crowns - Stained Glass Masquerade

I'll admit it: I expected to not like this song. We played something with these guys a year or so ago, and I wasn't into it. Their first big hit, something about "if we are the body..." actually kind of offended me. It seemed to me to be all about how Christians don't do anything Jesus commanded them to do, especially regarding the poor and loving each other. Having just got back from spending a month in India, I was very excited about how the Body was serving each other and loving their God.

That aside, this song was actually pretty good. I thought the lyrics were very honest and humble. I didn't care for the guy's voice, but a girl came in and sang the second verse and she sounded great. Does she sing more of their stuff? Really a nice voice. They both sound like country singers, so if that's your thing...

Iron & Wine - Freedom Hangs Like Heaven

This was another surprise. I always thought this band was a lot more slow and mellow. This tune had a great groove, and really had a cool motion to it. Something that always grabs my ear. They worked lots of blue-grass elements in, slide dobro and banjo, but in a total indie/emo way. Really cool, and great melodies.

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Somewhere Over the Rainbow

The first truly great voice in these songs. Holy cow, this guy can sing. Just him and a ukulele, reinterpreting this old showtune. I love how you can hear his breathing when he's not singing, and the reconstruction of the melody was beautiful. Highly re-recommended. I'd love to know where this guy is from. It takes me both to Hawaii and Africa...

Nickel Creek - Doubting Thomas

I've always enjoyed this group, but often their playing has kind of covered up for somewhat average songwriting. This song is great. I love the vibe they create with just a few instruments, and when you know what they can do on their instruments, their restraint is all the more beautiful. Really some bittersweet melodies. You can tell they've been hanging out with Glen Phillips, especially on the bridge. And that's a good thing. I'm going to check out this new record, if more of the songs are of this caliber, I'll be a fan.

Pilotdrift - Bubblecraft

I'm definitely going to check out this band. It starts out with a very Radiohead vibe, which is nice, but has been done, obviously, by the masters themselves. The rhythmic drum stuff that comes in about a minute in, though, is really unique and very, very cool. Then the song sort of shifts into this bizarre "Love Boat"/classical/synthesizer thing. My first thought when that started happening was "Mark Lockett needs to hear this, and now". A total trip, with great use of the studio as an instrument. You've just got to hear it to understand. I really liked this. Probably my favorite of them all.

Mae - Suspension

This is a really strong power-pop song. The guitar parts are great, so are the background vocals. Kind of in that Switchfoot/Jimmy Eat World radio-stuff vein. The singer sounds a lot like Cliff to me, that is, if Cliff sang rock songs. Listen for it, you'll hear it, though. I'm going to talk to him about learning to yell like this guy does in the bridge. That would be rad.

Jamie Cullum - High & Dry (US Version)

Speaking of Radiohead, this is a cover of one of their greatest songs, off of "The Bends" one of my favorite records ever. It's a full-on jazz piano version. The song really stands up with this arrangement. A testament to Thom Yorke. Cullum really delivers vocally, bringing a new and unique delivery to the lyric. The drum and piano work is really tasty. I enjoyed this. The piano solo is just totally icing on the cake.

To me, a good cover pays homage to the original by not doing it the same way. A note for note version always seems lame to me. Why hear somebody else do exactly what you already have in your iPod? This arrangement really honors the fact that it's a great song by changing around the structure, adding a great jazz hook in the turnarounds, and letting the performers be themselves in the tune. This was a great example of the right way to cover a great song.

The Features - Blow It Out

I heard this on the radio a couple weeks ago, and loved it, but had no idea who it was. The singer rocks. Just sounds totally into it. I bet this would be great in concert. Straight up rock song, like a Stones tune. I liked the line "I'm probably found between a pair of huge speakers pushed by vacuum tubes." He rhymes
"huge" and "tubes" and makes it totally sing-along-able. Clever.

Hem - Pacific Street

Beautiful. This girl's voice is absolutely enchanting, and the lyric is hypnotically poetic. A very simple piano/vocal/strings/oboe? arrangement. Without sounding like them, this leaves me with the same feeling a Sixpence record does. And that is a very good thing. The second verse lyric is amazing. "I don't know you except for the way a traveler knows a traveler..." This was my other favorite, and I'm going to look into them as well.

Thanks to everybody who sent me songs. I really enjoyed getting exposed to some new music. I'll have to repeat this a couple times a year. I was honestly surprised by how good most of this stuff was. Pilotdrift and Hem were the standouts to me, but really, every song had something about it that I really enjoyed. It's just amazing to know there is so much good music going on that we can't even be aware of it all. Thanks for your patience with me finding time to digest all of the songs to be able to write about them.

sometimes I just don't have a title

Well, I have a lot to tell you about today. First of all, thanks to everybody who already pre-ordered the new record. I have already received more orders than I thought I would, and we've already sold enough to account for about 15% of the record budget. In a little over a day, that's not bad at all. It's enough to get started with and I'm so thankful. We'll hopefully have the "freebie" site up in around a week or so.

Today I worked on the first of three days tracking for Jill Phillips' new record. It went really well, and the songs were great. Aaron Sands is playing bass, Ken Lewis is on the drums, Andy Gullahorn is handling the acoustics, while Matt Stanfield is playing keys and producing. It's a great band. I did a song with 12-string mando-guitar Rick Felkel built me, and I was really happy with that, as well. I'll try to take a few pictures for you tomorrow.

Cason and I worked on my record some yesterday. We put a few initial pieces on a song tentatively called "Trying to Get This Right." I'm working on the mixes for Jake Randall this week, as well.

I played a show in Iowa with Andy P and Ben on Saturday. Had to pull an all-nighter to get there, and so did Andy and Ben, so we were really wiped out all day. The show was at 3 in the afternoon, though, so that was nice. We were all asleep by 9pm. Unusual to say the least. It was a nice show. A little unique. There was a kid riding a cow in the back of the crowd. That was a first. There were a lot of people really into AP there, though, and that made it nice. It's always great to look at the audience and see a bunch of them mouthing all the words with you.

Sunday I just spent at home with Alison and Ella, and finished cleaning up the studio while they took a nap. I changed my control room area around a bit. Got rid of a big table and an old mixer, and put in the HD stuff. I added a set of monitors, so I can A-B different speakers for the mix. It feels really nice and a little more "professional." Little by little I'm creating the illusion I know what I'm doing... Anyway, it was great to just spend some time with my girls. Ella is sitting up like a champ these days. It's so much fun.

I guess that's about it, thanks again to all the pre-order folks. Not only is it INCREDIBLY helpful financially, but it is really, really encouraging. To know people are getting behind me. It's awesome.

Well, everybody, have a great Tuesday night and I'll write again soon.

Let the Pre-Ordering Begin!!

Just a short announcement to let you know that I am now taking pre-orders for the next record. It's over there <----- on the left, just under the store, on the main menu. Click there and it will tell you all you need to know. Also, because a lot of you asked about it, right below that, there is a place to just plain old donate to the cause. Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement! I'll share more about my weekend and week-beginning later...