So I’ve done a lot of online collaborations in the past. I always have a great time doing it even though it’s a fair amount of work. I’ve always been just the singer which is what I’m basically best at. This time there was an opportunity for me to be a producer and I though, “yeah, I’ve always produced my own stuff it’ll be a blast and I’ll hopefully end up with a song that I’m really proud of”. Turns out I’m an idiot. You know how you always look at someone doing a job and you think, “that’s bullshit, they get paid how much? I could do that job 10 times better than them”? That was kind of my line of thinking although a little more along the lines of: I can probably do this and i hope it works out…

Cut to 6 weeks later. Everything’s coming a long fairly well, but MAN am I a fish out of water. The people that I’m working with are all really professional and very cool and that’s awesome. I picked a country song to record and got a few curve balls thrown my way which has made me re-think a fair amount of how the song will end up going. I’m sure that we’re going to end up with a song that I’m proud to say that I’ve worked on, but let me tell you about the organizational skills and the ear for music that it takes to do a lot of this. There are guys on my team that picked stuff out 2 weeks ago that I’m just realizing now. Granted I’m doing this as a learning experience, but no one likes to feel stupid. Thankfully the other people on this team are gracious enough to not call me an A-hole…

So if you’re wondering where I’ve been. I’ve been working on this tune. Not to mention being in North Carolina for a couple of days meeting all of the very cool people that we work with down there. And working on new music w/ Sweetwood groove (got 3.5 new songs put together over the last 2 weeks and I’m REALLY psyched about them). Of course there’s always work/holiday/other crap that always goes along with… Anyway, I just had to put this out there. The next time you’re maligning producers as gasbag knowitalls whodon’tknowshit. Give it a second thought. They might not be making music you like, but it’s likely that they know their shit…

On another note. I’ve got some great photos from Thanksgiving, should be posting them in the next couple of days, i think i’ve explained why I might be a little late…

Well, i was going to post these yesterday, but never got around to it with work and everything else.  So here’s some tunes for you to listen to.  Hope you enjoy.

• Waiting
• Desperation
• The Boneyard
• It’s Not Unusual (that’s right a little Tom Jones for you)

And if anyone’s interested, i set up www.cafepress.com/sweetwoodgroove so you can go and git you some duds.

Well, i’ve got a new band that I’m pretty excited about. Sweetwood Groove is going to be making our debut this friday @ the Summit in Hereford PA. You can get a sample of some of the music here. (I know, I know, it’s myspace, but what can i say… It’s free!) I’ve been playing with these guys for a little over 3 months at this point, in that time we’ve written 8 or so new songs together and tweaked ones that they had as well as some of the ones that I’ve had over the years as well. Style wise, it’s fairly similar to stuff that I’ve written in the past, but a little more complicated. Tim, the other guitar player has a great jazz sensibility so there’s a lot of that thrown in there. We’re going to be looking at doing some recording for a demo here in the next couple of months. I’ll keep you posted on what’s up there. In the meantime, i’ll be recording the show this friday so you can enjoy what you heard, or you can hear what you missed.

Sheesh, I just can’t believe it’s November. We’ve been working on all sorts of ideas for fun stuff to do w/ standingstone, but just haven’t been able to find the time. Keep an eye out for http://www.melonchoice.com though, it’s gonna be a hell of a lot of fun. The new band that I’m working with finally settled on a name. Sweetwood Groove will be playing our first gig Nov 16. I set up a MySpace page, (i know, i know, it’s cliched at this point, but F it, it’s free) http://www.myspace.com/sweetwoodgroove I got the new Bruce Springsteen CD, Magic. Damn. Damn. Damn. Is that guy good. I’m enthralled with the disc. Check it out. If you’ve got somethign that you want to recommend to me. Let me know. I’ve got a gift certificate for iTunes that I want to use, but I just can’t seem to find anything that is grabbing me. Things that have been on constant rotation of late, Springsteen’s new one, The Hold Steady’s Boys and Girls in America, Soulive’s There’s No Place Like Soul and a couple of others.