journal

For the past ten days I have been living in the attic of a studio in Nashville, Tennessee, where I've spent my days and nights (mostly nights) toiling away at the new Dangerous Kid album. It was a major goal of mine to record a great full-length album this year, so I am very excited about the whole thing. This was actually my 7th studio project. I recorded a few solo tapes in high school and college, released my first solo CD in 1997, did two CDs with Worry Stones in 2000 and 2003, guested on a friend's album in 2004, and did the Dangerous Kid demo in 2005. Like the kiss at the end of Princess Bride, this one surpasses them all. I was lucky to find the producer, John, through my ex-roommate Troy, who grew up with him in Alabama. After exchanging extensive emails with him since January, I was all ready to record when--BAM--after a long weekend of pre-production with the band (2 days spent practicing, playing, and analyzing all the songs for the album), I got strep throat on Monday and was in bed all week before my trip was planned. Praying for my voice to come back, I consumed massive quantities of vitamins and chicken noodle soup and stayed in my apartment for an astounding 3 days nonstop. Finally, feeling mostly better, I fly down to Nashville. Here's the day-by-day play-by-play:

thursday, march 29th---arrival

here i am in Tennessee. the weather is magnificent. got in safe, went to walmart, and things are cool. the rental car was $400! yikes. i hate walmart. being there at 2am was depressing to say the least. i'd write a song about how it killed our souls but i wouldn't want to listen to it. we went over instrumental tracks with the producer and shot around some ideas for the newest song, which we just put together last weekend during pre-production. so little is complete, i can't really say anything--no title, lyrics partially written, concept under debate...but it's way cool and unlike anything we've ever done. we also played with rock'n'roll fridge poetry and made some verbal sweetness. it's way cool and unlike anything we've ever done. also.

friday, march 30th--drum day

matt flew in this morning. paul played drums all day. i took a nap on the studio couch. matt and i wrote a new song, "save me from myself" with just guitar and vocals. it's sweet. we watched a bunch of radiohead videos. those guys are awesome. i accidentally went to walmart again. it was still not cool. matt played some bass and now paul's playing more drums. that's cuz today is drum day. tomorrow is bass day. when is my day? (hint: it's sunday)

sunday, april 1st--piano day

it was SUPPOSED to be piano day today--april fools! this morning the whole band listened to bass, drums, and guitar to make sure everything was good. then in the afternoon the band flew out and i went to the piano studio (with a really nice baby grand white yamaha piano) but they had a technical delay and after three songs the repair guy got there and we had to leave. the day wasn't a loss; we came back to the studio and recorded vocals for the 3 songs I finished, and they sound awesome. so now those three are almost totally done; of course, two of them have random instruments left to add--harmonica and trumpet. it looks like we'll finish piano over the next two days and also keep working on vocals while we search for a trumpet player and i perfect my harmonica solo. so i might stay down here an extra weekend just to make sure we have time for everything, but luckily i had no plans except rocking out!

monday, april 2nd--sunny day

well, you can't plan for everything. it was predicted to be rainy all week in nashville, but today was beautiful. i spent it out on the deck, reading, writing lyrics, and listening to hit songs in preparation to record the vocals and piano on mine. the weather wasn't the only suprise--sadly, we waited all day for a call from the piano studio, so we weren't able to get time there until tomorrow evening. we did record vocals for a 4th song and my harmonica solo is finally done! we also found a few trumpet players. for the next few days, i'll be doing piano/keyboard/organ tracks in the evenings and then vocals for the tracks as they're completed the following afternoon. good to have a plan!

wednesday, april 4th--long day

yesterday sucked so i didn't write about it. we couldn't get into the piano/keyboard studio again, so i sat around and wrote a bunch of songs and watched season 4 of smallville. we got another piano studio for today but it was early this morning and i slept all day yesterday so i got no sleep and felt pretty bad. we did 3 songs this morning on piano, including two of the hardest, but then we had to leave earlier than expected. we came back to the main studio house and took naps and then did vocals for 2 tracks, including some amazing backing vocals for "moving on" which are a weird combination of bon jovi and "almost paradise". it was a great way to end a long day, and tomorrow we head back (better rested) to cut the rest of the piano. then after that--it's trumpet time!

thursday, april 5th--trumpet day

that's right, it's trumpet day. not only did we finish all seven remaining piano tracks, but i did one track on the wurlitzer and another on a keyboard. and then lyle lovett's trumpet player came and played on one of my songs. yeah, that's right--there's a celebrity on the record besides me. we celebrated with tex-mex and beers and then came back and did vocals on a 7th song. tomorrow i'll do most of the other vocals, and then this weekend--we mix!

friday, april 6th--vocal day

we finished vocals on 5 of the 7 remaining tracks today. one song ("moving on") actually features 9 tracks of my voice, and up to 5 of me at one time! (that's a lotta me!) also got some incredible notes i've never attempted to sing before on the record. i did some keyborad for one other track, and finally slept til noon. i originally was supposed to go home today, but i extended my flight til monday so i can stay for mixing this weekend. also, i watched top one-hit wonders on vh1 and took notes on how to be one--have an accent (preferably british), wear open shirts, and be utterly ridiculous. no problem!

saturday, april 7th--last day

we finished recording EVERYTHING...that's organ, piano, lead vocals, harmonies, trumpet, wurlitzer, harmonica, bass, and drums...with one day to go. tonight we finished "rock star" around midnight and it will seriously blow people's minds. there's SIX of me singing on the hook, not to mention a crazy hammond solo and sweet harmonies all around. we finished the night (and the album sessions) with "love me tonight", which has the line "the bar's been closed since two and it's half past three", right at 3:30am as i sang the last notes of the album, and then we celebrated with southern comfort and bud light. tomorrow we listen to everything and i'll go home monday with rough mixes of all 14 songs!

So, overall, this was one of the best experiences of my life! I got to live and breathe music for 10 days, record in a relaxed situation (mostly) without pressure of time or paying by the hour, bonded with the band, and did some of the best singing and playing I've ever done. The harmonies and random instruments really round out the album with a lot of variety of sounds and emotions. John and I had a blast putting everything together of the past few days and making all of our ideas for the songs a reality. It was hard for us not to grin listening to the final mixes of the tracks--I think the album will be a real pleasure for everyone to listen to. It will be really tough picking the 10-12 best tracks from this group, because (luckily) everything turned out great--way better than I could have dreamed.

I can't wait to finish the record...but I'll have to. John will mix it over the next 1-2 weeks, and then if the band approves that, we'll send that version off for mastering, which will take another week, and if the artwork is done around the same time, it will be ready to send off for duplication! I'm hoping to release the record around Memorial Day Weekend, but I'm really focused on not rushing the process, so we can have the best results--that's why this recording experience was so great in the first place. I'm very thankful for everyone and everything that brought me to this moment in my life, and I can't wait to share it!