Category: Songs for Beginners

  • Why I use a chamois

    Why I use a chamois

    So a lot have been going on. Usually I rush over here breathless with excitement about my latest recording session but now I’m in catch-up mode again. Back in October I took off a long weekend for my birthday, and on that Friday went to Megasonic to record “Sham Song” (also known as “Chanson”). After…

  • Embiggening the fun

    Embiggening the fun

    Recording in the studio has been just an amazing experience so far, but this most recent session took it all up to the next level for me, personally! This time, we recorded live in the studio, as a quartet: Javier Navarette on percussion, Robert Wade on bass, David Gans on guitar, and myself on uke…

  • A fresh look at Moses

    A fresh look at Moses

    This song started off with one couplet and developed into something of its own. Having gotten the basic tracks down In the studio now, it has taken further shape, as hinted at in this rough mix (produced by David Gans and engineered by Jeremy Goody at Megasonic Sound, with David on guitar and Dan Brodnitz…

  • Never been to Narnia

    Never been to Narnia

    One sign of how busy I’ve been lately is it’s taken me weeks to share the latest rough mix from my “Pleasant Valley sessions,” something called “Finn’s Song” informally and “Stand Up, Mixer!” inexplicably:

  • Seeing the hindsights

    Seeing the hindsights

    Got back to Megasonic Sound for my monthly recording session last weekend and laid down the basic tracks for a fifth song for my album, “Memory Lane,” with Bill Cassel on bass; myself on vocals, electric ukulele, and acoustic ukulele; David Gans producing and Jeremy Goody engineering.

  • I don’t want majestic splendor

    I don’t want majestic splendor

    Back into the studio again to lay down basic tracks for a fourth song for my album. This one is “Down to the Mountain,” which started off kind of in the mode of a string-band or folk-rock tune in my mind but seems to be heading for a more ethereal church-y feel so far.

  • Some other version

    Some other version

    OK, got a new version of this new song ready to share:

  • Some of the time…

    Some of the time…

    I’ve got two recording sessions coming up by the end of the month on the album project, and another at the end of July, so that’s moving as fast as it can, but “can’t stop won’t stop” when it comes to the wooosh of songwriting, so after Ghost Door has come an interesting melody that…

  • Trust the wooosh

    Trust the wooosh

    Not sure why but I still seem to have beginner’s mind when it comes to writing songs and even having a set of ten that I feel are ready for my first album has not shut down the ongoing process of discovering and writing songs, with this newest work in progress coming over the weekend:

  • Second one in the can

    Second one in the can

    Went back to Megasonic Sound yesterday to record basic tracks for a second song for my album and came out with another rough mix that’s making me smile.

  • Long Haired Kings (rough mix)

    Long Haired Kings (rough mix)

    Rough mix of new song, The Long Haired Kings

  • …and into the studio we go

    …and into the studio we go

    Got a rough demo in the can already!

  • Wish Y’all Were Here

    Wish Y’all Were Here

    So, so you think you can tell…

  • Down to the Mountain (Please Set Me Free)

    Down to the Mountain (Please Set Me Free)

    Seems like the chorus has a mind of its own and has settled out into something like: Let me beSet me freeLet me be me, oh please, pleasePlease, set me free though we’ll see what happens once the Kincaid get their greasy mitts on it.

  • Down to the Mountain

    Down to the Mountain

    Set me free

  • Giving Zoo Wolves Lessons in Music (again)

    “Three notes in a scale…”

  • Giving Zoo Wolves Lessons in Music (dance mix demo)

    For odd reasons. was tuned to about A 415 when I recorded this. This tune was inspired by a New York Times article from the 1910s:

  • Memory Lane (demo)

    Out on a jaunt Seeing the hindsights

  • Memory Lane

    Here is the first song in a five-song mini-concert recorded last month and initially posted on ye old booke of faces. This one has lyrics by Peter K. Hirsch: Next up, a bit of early 20th century science history, “Giving Zoo Wolves Lessons in Music.”

  • Giving Zoo Wolves Lessons in Music

    A scientist’s dream… Three notes in a scale

  • Standup, Mixer!

    Don’t forget that out here Someone loves you every day