Sunday, October 16, 2005

Donnie Vondra



Long time readers of this blog will remember that I was working with Donnie about a year and a half ago,... doing songwriting and pre production for a CD. Our work together wasn't yielding the results I thought it should, so I kicked Donnie loose to regroup.

Donnie came back to me a month ago, and showed me 7 cuts he had done with an incredible outfit up in central Arkansas. The songs were very good, the tracks were extremely well done. We decided to try two songs together and started vocal pre production.

Yesterday, we cut master vocals for two songs, and I had such a good time! Donnie has really done his homework. His voice, his pitch, his timing, and his vibe all came together to bring a whole new experience in our work. Donnie brought it, and delivered like a total pro. (Funny thing: The Houston Astros won game 3 in the NL championship playoffs while we worked, making them the 2-1 leaders after game 3!--Great synchronicity!).

I cut backing vocals with one Christy Suggett (with whom I will be working on two songs around the first of the year), next week, and mix with Steve Christensen the week after that.

Life is good.


Thursday, October 13, 2005

Jennifer Grassman/Southern Backtones/Jacque Jones/Iris McAlpine/Maggie Walters/Sarah Sharp




After an incredible two weeks of tracking/overdubbing the Southern Backtones, I took on the rare double header: after a full 8 hours of overdubs with the Backtones', I walked right down the hall to SugarHill's Studio A, where I met engineer, Tyson Sheth, and Jennifer Grassman. Jennifer and I are starting her 2006 Christmas CD which is going to be an ultra-hip adaptation of some traditional and some little known Christmas Carols. Woot and Jingle!

The big news here is that Jennifer laid down tracks for 11 songs in a short amount of time. Tyson and I were very impressed with her ability to 'bring it'. I think that I must have leaked some the Backtone's vibe/success rate right into our session, but I'm sure that the truth is that Jenn is just a stone-cold pro who can turn on the good stuff at will.

Check out some more of our session.



Speaking of the Backtones, John Griffin and Hank Schyma have been blowing Steve Christensen and I away with their non-stop, high quality song ideas and execution. This project is feeding my soul in a way that few rock bands have ever done (including the international bands I have worked with). A HUGE thank you to my Backtone Brothers for continuing to honor me with a seat at their abundant table.

I'm ALMOST finished writing with Jacque Jones. We are in the final revision stages of getting our song together. More to come on this, especially since I am using Eric Jarvis to help out on the arrangement and playing of the tracks.

Iris McAlpine and I finally met with Kevin Ryan to get started on her two songs. Kevin and Iris hit it off (as if there were any doubt). Iris went over to Kevin's studio yesterday to lay down rough versions of her song as midi files for Kevin to work with. I got an enthusiastic review from Iris, who called on her way home, to say that she was pumped!

Maggie Walters' songs continue to percolate,... the ideas are fermenting,... quickening in my head, because my hands have not had the time to make the moves to bring them to fruition. Damn! Fun 'working' on them in my head though....

Rumor Mill: I have it on very good authority that Sarah Sharp is attracting the attention of those at the very top of the food chain in the Record Industry. I'm not at liberty to ruin the suspense; but let's just say that I am blown away at the level of attention that she is getting. (Beyonce', look out!!!!!)

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

NEW COUCH IN STUDIO A



We've got the coolest retro/70's/boat-sized couch in Studio A. It is extremely 'chill-worthy'. I've already hung out on it in two sessions. Fact is, I'd like to take a huge nap on it to really test it out.

Come see the couch!