The Album Has Been Written + MP3 Tour (10 Songs)

Give me four weeks and I'll finish an album.

I'd never had a dedicated writing break and, after passing through the pit of despair, I discovered how I work, hit a stride, and finished writing my first collection of ten songs. They are currently wobbly-legged and stumbling around with their eyes half closed but you can check them all out here. I'll even give you a tour.

Note: The purpose of these scratch recordings is for use in recruiting a band. The performance and recording quality are low. That's what rehearsal (with a band) is for.

Seeking: a guitar/mandolin/banjo doubler, an upright bassist, a fiddler, a clarinetist, and a drummer. Qualifications: Must dig my tunes, be down to rehearse, and be able to improvise/create a killer part from nothing but a set of chords and some artistic direction.

1. A Texas two-step with mariachi trombones (courtesy Victoria Langford and Brian Herrick).


 2. A ballad.


3. A rigorous bluegrass showdown. Everybody takes a solo.



 4. Rockabilly meets Malagueña, maybe with a hint of surfer rock. Needs trumpet!


5. My answer to Springsteen's "I'm On Fire."


6. Americana band, drum cadence, banjo, lots of harmony. Stick around for the waltz lullaby at the end.


7. Ukulele, cicadas, late summer at night.


8. For the full band, kind of a slow polka.


9. The Blues.


10. A bluegrass ballad/prayer. Engineering courtesy of Alex G. Knight. Mix courtesy of Mark Corbin of CorbinSound. Guitar/mandolin/fiddle courtesty of Matt Gelfer. Harmonies courtesy of Rachel Zylstra and Gretchen Poole.


Once the band is together, we'll work out a marching-band-meets-bluegrass arrangement of "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy."

Then we'll record revised editions of each song with full band.

ET VOICI ALBUM.