Back to the Drawing Board
I know, I know, “but didn’t you say…?”
Yes.
But it’s not or, it’s and.
Travis is currently working on an EP that will be the last thing I release for a while. These are four of the first songs I wrote after inheriting the Gibson from my grandpa (which was originally my Uncle Lester’s). Call it a teaser, style-wise at least.
As I write this, I’m in the process of writing a full-length record that owes to influences such as Big Star, Ryan Adams, Lucero and other more acoustic guitar driven artists. I’m writing these songs without the aid (of much) technology. I’m mostly just playing and singing into either Voice Memo on my phone or into one microphone and into Logic. I’m playing them over and over and feeling them out.
I’ve asked my good friend Mark to produce. So far, he’s agreed to work on one song and see how things go before committing to more. That was step one as producer because the number one thing I need in a producer is for someone to tell me to slow down. And, so far so good.
The first song is actually a co-write, also a new thing for me. I sent him a song, he was inspired to do his own version of that song and sent that back to me. I took his basic idea lyrically and fleshed it out the way I saw it. We took the chords and arrangement and left them as is, though definitely making them my own. We’ve been working on this song for two weeks and we just now have the basic vocal melody down. Now, I need to get this committed to memory like I know my own name. Then, we can start to lay down some scratch tracks and build an arrangement in Logic.
I already have eleven other songs I need to do like this and I’m still writing.
What I told Mark the other day is that this process is really working for me because he’s making me uncomfortable as an artist. This is because he is pushing out of my comfort zone, but I feel okay about this because we have a decade long friendship that is the underlying foundation. If I don’t say something just right or I struggle with something, I have no fear he’s going to walk away from the project. There is no great art without conflict, but it’s constructive conflict.
I’m really excited about these tunes. I’m excited for you to hear them.
Once we get through this process, I still will need to travel to Tennessee to record at least the drums, if not possibly a few other things I don’t play, or don’t play well (looking at a spot in Memphis and at least one outside Nashville) and then finish the bulk of it here in Colorado with Mark and Travis.
The point of all of this isn’t just to tell you what I’m up to, but to say to my fellow artists, don’t be afraid to throw yourself a curveball. I’ve gotten comfortable working alone, but am I reaching my potential as an artist being comfortable and alone? I don’t think so (obviously).
I can’t answer this question for you, but are you doing everything you can do to make your art as great as you can? If not, why not? If you have obstacles you don’t know how to overcome, hit me up, I’d love to talk it through with you.