busy week - unwound yesterday

This past week was our Summer Institute - a yearly conference put on by TETA - http://www.teta.org -  and was hosted at Dyersburg High School. Needless to say it was a busy week. :-) When Friday at 3 PM finally came I had over 600 unread emails...

I did get to play some music with some guys that I don't get to see very often. Spencer Goin and Bill White are two GREAT bluegrass pickers from East Tennessee. We did some "lobby picking" at the hotel late at night as is customary. We have several people come and listen and everyone seems to have a good time.

One night Denton Jordan from Henry County joined us on banjo too. I would have picked a little but I had given my thumb pick to Royce Barnett when one of his broke and I haven't replaced it yet. :-)

On Wednesday night we had an event at Reelfoot Lake. Vanessa and I were waiting to board the pontoon boat and she was telling some guys from out of town about the snakes in the area and they were talking about snakes in general. I had stepped over to talk to someone else when I heard her scream. I thought it was part of the story. Nope - she had been stung by a wasp on the end of her finger.

I bummed a cigarette from someone and wet some tobacco to put on it. Made it better but it was still sore, and I felt bad for her. It was fun seeing the reactions to everyone riding the boats and seeing the lake for the first time.

Back inside we had catfish and country ham from Boyettes across the street. Yum! A guy was running a karaoke machine and I did a song and Vanessa did a song, but mainly I worked. Finally toward the end we had to have "Brick House" for John Simi and the karaoke guy asked me to sing it with him. You know that's NOT my style of music, but I did it - and it was fun. :-)

Thursday night saw us at the Lannom Center in Dyersburg for a county fair themed event. We had a mechanical bull, cotton candy, popcorn, ice cream & games. We also had a stage for live music. A singer songwriter friend from Nashville - Mike Willis - http://www.mikewillismusic.com - was the musical host and emcee. He did a few songs then several of us hit the stage one at a time and did some songs. Bill, Spencer and I did a couple and called ourselves "The Lobby Pickers." Before the night was over we called John Simi up on stage and sang Brick House while he danced.

Everyone really seemed to have a good time and it was good for me because not only did I play for myself and Vanessa, but I also played for Cindy French (one of the caterers) so she could do a song and I played for Paul Wooten so he could sing Simple Man. He wanted to sing it but didn't have the soundtrack. I also played, as I said, with Bill and Spencer and I did the lead vocals on the two bluegrass songs we did. Then Mike and I sang Brick House together. So I got to play along on several different ones and again - it felt good. :-)

I "unwound" by playing in the Magic: The Gathering pre-release at the FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) yesterday. First time playing Magic in OVER A YEAR and I won my first game so I was happy! Lost the second game but won the first match. Felt good!

It was swiss, so it was four rounds. Won my second match. Third match I just couldn't answer what the guy had (we were both undefeated so far). Last match was against one of the best players there from back when I was playing before and I won that match too. I came in third in the tourney! Won three boosters, but didn't open them (that's part of the overall story...).

One of the guys I met is named Donnie and he looks like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. I wasn't going to say that, of course, cause I didn't want to offend him, but then I overheard him talking to someone and he said he gets that all the time and is not bothered by it. He said a woman stopped him in an airport and told him that and said, "I think that guy is cute." So now he REALLY doesn't mind. LOL

Anyway, he and I seemed to really hit it off and had a good time playing each other in both tournaments. I had bought a "playmat" to use since "all the cool kids had one" and he mentioned that his girlfriend likes purple and would have liked that one but he didn't see it in the store. He took a pic and sent it to her and sure enough she liked it so I gave it to him. What's funny is I just wanted my money back but offered to trade for some cards if he'd rather. He said he'd rather do that - not because of the money but because he wanted me to come back and play again. :-)

So the second tournament started and I only won one of the four matches. I had a COUPLE of better cards than the first time, but overall just not as solid of a deck. One of the cards I pulled (sealed deck) the owner of the store saw and said, "that's one of the two most expensive ones to come out of this set." I had SEVERAL people want to trade for it and I probably could have gotten a ton of cards for it, but it's one that I plan to use if I get to go back and play any constructed.

After I was finished with the second tournament I opened my three packs that I won the first time. I pulled the OTHER of the two "most expensive" cards. I literally could sell them on eBay and get back more money than I spent all day. I don't plan to, though, because one is green and the other is white and I already see those as two colors I would probably build a deck with. It's kinda like my Mirari and Reya Dawnbringer from the old days... I could have traded for several cards, but why? I enjoyed using them... :-)

soul searching

Good morning!

I know, I know - first post in way too long. I've had two specific topics I've wanted to write about, but haven't been able to sit down and commit. :-)

First - look for an upcoming post that will be my "feedback" to Episode 13 of the Commercial Suicide Songwriting Podcast. One of my songs is played as the listener submission, but there are also other items there I want to comment on.

Second - It's just over a week till the first Songwriters Open Mic in Dyersburg! Hope you can make plans to attend!

Third - I did a little soul searching over the weekend... Music is such a large part of my life now, and I really wish it could be the "day job," but as I've commented to people before, "I'm addicted to having insurance." :-)

That being said, I have been thinking about the next steps and what needs to be done. I'd ask for your prayers in that regard that I do what's pleasing to Him.

Fourth - some of you may know that I used to publish a podcast on the topic of Car Wars (an old game by Steve Jackson Games). I've missed doing podcasts, but didn't want to spend the time on that when I could be writing or making music, so I've decided to do a podcast on songwriting and songwriters. It is in pre-production now and will be called Musical Minds. I intend to feature other "unknowns" as well.

Lastly - I've rediscovered BBS's. If this is something you have to Google to learn what it is, don't worry. It either means you're not the geek that some of us are or you're just too young. :-)

I downloaded a Telnet client call SyncTerm and have been enjoying reading and posting on some echonets as well as playing Global War (it's a Risk clone that's played on the BBS).

One sysop even encouraged me to upload some original music, so I put Lower Broadway on his board. You can hit it via web browser at http://afterhours-bbs.com

If you drop in, tell the sysop I sent you! :-)

That's it for now - just a little catch up...

new CD project

I promised the what why & how... :-)

What I'm doing - recording a CD.

Why - though my music is available via ReverbNation (note to self - I need to get SoundCloud updated with the newer material...), I have people that ask for a CD. Plus when I play somewhere it's a common question. Not everyone is on the Internet and not everyone downloads music. There are even people that prefer something they can hold, plus people still use CD's in the car, etc.

Then there's the times that I would like to submit songs to a publisher or artist for consideration. Though some will take a download link, there are others that NEED a physical copy so they can play it at a meeting or share it with someone else, etc.

How - I'm recording via GarageBand on a Mac laptop using a Snowball microphone. I am trying to recreate what you'll hear if you come to one of my shows. It's me and an acoustic guitar and not a studio full of musicians. You will hear some minor overdubbing (I'll add some "picking" or acoustic bass - occasionally mandolin to a song, but still very much acoustic) to add some depth, but the intention is for someone to be able to "take home" what they experience live.

Now let me clarify something here... I'm not knocking those that choose to go into a studio and do the full blown "Nashville CD." That's great and I think it has a place, but my primary 'show' is an acoustic one. If you come to a house concert or a songwriter's round or even an open mic, you're going to hear me do an original song with as much feeling as possible put into it. The accompaniment will be my acoustic guitar. If you like the songs and want to hear them again, or to hear other songs of mine, I want you to be able to take a CD and pop it in the car on the drive home and continue the experience. If instead you hear drums and a steel guitar, it's not the same show...

And the converse is true as well... How many times have you heard a song on the radio or the CD over and over and it's hooked into your brain, then you go hear that performer live. It's just not the same thing... First, the studio musicians are NOT the same musicians you see on stage with the performer, so the feel is going to be different. Second, studio tracks are generally poured over and over and processed and tweaked to the point that they are as close to perfect as you can get. We all know live music is far from perfect, but to me that's part of the charm.

So again, I want you to be able to have heard me from a friend's CD and then when you come to a show you're not shocked or disappointed by what you hear. Instead of your first impression being, "this isn't what I heard" I want your first impression to be, "wow - this is so much cooler in person." :-)

I have a couple of tracks already "fleshed out" from when I first recorded them, and I recorded Lower Broadway again last night and added a "picking" acoustic as well as an acoustic bass. I'm going to do at least a 6 song EP and I plan to have it ready when Relay for Life comes around in just over a week. I'm happy to mail one to you - just contact me at any of the methods below. And of course I can take PayPal and I also have a square reader if you want to use a credit card.

One last thing - I'm WAY overdue for a StageIt appearance, but I want to do it at a time that the majority of my friends can attend. Please let me know if you're willing to "attend" and what the best night of the week is for you...

You can comment to this post, as I monitor the comments. You can email me at jimmylogan0916@gmail.com or jimmy@jimmyandersonmusic.com

If we're not friends yet on Facebook, you can find me at http://www.facebook.com/jimmylogan

And of course I can be followed and reached on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/jimmylogan

fear of writing

Had an interesting Twitter post come through this morning, and it started me to thinking... I was thinking WAY more than I could reply in 140 characters, thus this post...

First, the tweet -

@kevinmontgomery RT @undertheneonsky: Its not the fear of writing that blocks people, its fear of not writing well; something quite different. Scott...

My first thought was to say that I agree with this, but only to a certain point, which of coursed caused me to look deeper inside myself and figure out if *I* have a fear of writing. I don't.

Let me take you back to December of 2011. Vanessa and I were headed to Nashville for a few days of relaxation. I had only been songwriting a few months and only had a very few songs under my belt, but felt like I 'had the gift.' Through another Twitter post we found out that Don Schlitz had some seats open for Bluebird that very night. First, I must admit that I didn't know the name, but a quick Google made us say "WOW" and we bought a couple of seats online RIGHT THEN.

In case you don't know, his biggest claim to fame is writing the Grammy winning song The Gambler, made famous by recent Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Kenny Rogers. That's impressive, no doubt, but when I looked at some of the other songs he had written (or at least co-written) we were both VERY excited to be going! Two in particular - On The Other Hand (a staple of mine over the years, which has a specific point in time that that song takes me back to) and When You Say Nothing at All.

So we get to the Bluebird early and we take our seats and this guy takes the stage. The first song he performs? I Heard it All (On My Radio). I don't know that it was a tremendous hit, but it was a song I knew well and could remember listening to at night while lying in bed (very much like the protagonist of the song did). He went on to do a ton of other songs, of course, and he talked about writing and performing at the Bluebird, etc. A top rate show, to be sure!

But to point I'm trying to make is that he did NOT just do "the hits." He did a good cross section of songs he'd written that you have heard on the radio and several songs that were recent compositions. He told humorous stories as he went and when he did I Feel Lucky he really made people laugh. Again, a great show.

So, do I have a fear of writing? Not at all. Do I have a fear of not writing well? I don't think so. I got to meet Don after the show that night and I intentionally made sure I was LAST in line for an autograph so I could hopefully get to talk to him for a couple of minutes. Well we did, and he was VERY open to talking and giving me "tips" and "pointers" on writing and I've not forgotten anything he's said. One particular question I had for him was (paraphrased here) "should I be writing as much as I can or just write what is going to be the best?" And though he didn't give me a "yes or no" answer, he gave me a great answer nonetheless - "write what YOU want to hear - don't try to write for what you think the radio wants or the publishers want - write what YOU would listen to."

So really the only person I MUST please is myself. Sure I'd love for an artist to want to cut my songs, and sure I'd cash the royalty checks if one or more were to become a hit, but my purpose is NOT to "write a hit song," my purpose is to write, then write some more, then write some more. As long as *I* am pleased with the results that's all that matters in the long run.

Now let me clarify something... I'm a singer-songwriter and I carry my own tunes out to the world (and am working on a homemade CD as well) and I want people to enjoy them, but not every song I write is going to be enjoyed by everyone. I love listening to live acoustic music and I'll admit I don't "care for" every song I hear, but I see other audience members having a response and I realize that beauty really is in the eye (ear) of the beholder.

So if you're reading this because YOU have a fear of writing (or writing well), then I say go for it! Put pen to paper (or type words on a screen, like I do) and create something! Satisfy yourself first and it will ALL be worth it!

Here's my autographed Hatch from that night. It hangs just feet from my desk at work. :-)

Writing music first

I was about to post this to twitter, but the thought is too long. :-)

I finished a song yesterday by finally coming up with a chorus, but something interesting happened in the process...

I usually write lyrics first, then either come up with a fitting melody, or at the very least I have a melody in my head BEFORE I start to work it out on guitar. Usually it will change slightly from what I'm hearing, so I'm still composing after the lyrics.

A few weeks ago an aunt passed away and I had a song idea during the funeral (a real Dewey Cox moment). Within days I had the first verse worked out along with the melody. A few days later I had the second verse (shout out to Vanessa for coming up with a key rhyming word!) but no chorus. I had just hit a block, but I did go ahead and come up with the melody for the chorus. Over the next few days it changed slightly, but still no words.

Fast forward to this past Saturday. Vanessa is driving & I have my travel guitar (little Epiphone Expedition). She says "why don't you write a song for Colton's wedding?" I replied that I had tried, but couldn't come up with anything to get started. She said, "I'd like to hear it say..." & gave me some ideas. I started strumming & picking Wildwood Flower & "sang a line" hat she gave me. Boom.

I immediately set the guitar aside & grabbed my laptop, typing ideas as fast as they would come, the way Adam Levy taught me. I hadn't gotten very far when we pulled into Colton's driveway. Knowing I have to have a quiet mind & not chatting while trying to write, I set the laptop aside & grabbed my guitar. While we are talking in the yard, my fingers came up with a chord progression. When we left, I played it for Vanessa and hummed a melody.

"Have you heard that before?" I asked, wanting to make sure I had not just copied something from the past. She had not, so I put it aside for a future song & grabbed my laptop - back to writing.

We were headed to Jackson to shop. While she went in the store I stayed behind. Got a verse & realized I was using the melody I had just come up with. It was slightly different, but unmistakably the same basic progression. Another verse. A chorus. Another verse. Another chorus, building on the first.

I went in the store with red eyes where I had teased up. When we got back to truck I shared it with Vanessa & we both cried.

Then yesterday I'm humming the melody to the chorus of "Betty's Song" (working title). Later, while driving between schools, I hum it again and this time words come to me. I had to keep repeating them over and over until I could get stopped and text them to myself.

So - in less that 48 hours I had TWICE come up with words to fit a melody. While I was fine tuning both songs last night (you songwriters will know what I mean... Working on phrasing & such) I came up with a little melody in Am. I've used minors but haven't written a song in a minor before, but after these other two I knew better than to ignore it... I grabbed my computer and using GarageBand I recorded it while playing and humming. Can't wait to see what my subconscious comes up with for that one...

As always, thanks for reading and comments and shares are ALWAYS welcome!

Validation - Part 3 of 3

Part 3 of 3

In another segment, Marie was talking about the song "Live Like You Were Dying," which was co-written by Craig Wiseman. She points out the "Nashville No-No" in the song when it starts, "he said I was..." and the song never tells you who "he" is. She pointed out that NSAI's eval service would most likely point this out and it goes to show you why you don't ignore your gut to follow the textbook way of doing it. Again, a point of validation to me personally, as I've said this all along.

My song Fireproof - http://www.reverbnation.com/jimmyanderson/song/14528640-fireproof - was one of the ones I sent in to NSAI toward the end. He didn't get it... First he said that I repeated statue and should have used a different word. He also said my line "into the furnace bound" was wrong - it should have been "bound for the furnace." He missed the fact that they were "tied up" and not "headed for." SMH Guess he didn't go to Sunday School. ;-)

I'm actually proud of that song in that I told the same story of the Hebrew guys, but used rhymes that were NOT the standard ones you hear in songs on that topic. I think the song is unique and a good bluegrass song, but he didn't think so. But I'm not changing it for him... :-)

Marie points out later in the episode that's "it's a really good organization." I must stop here and concur. I have "met" via the forums people from other parts of the country and had good conversations with them as well as gained at least one co-writer. I say "at least" one because there's a song we worked on together called Wandering Eyes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mCF82pVz_4 We have others in the works and there is a lady I "met" there that I'm also collaborating with, but we've not finished anything yet due to MY time constraints.

Steve and Marie both mentioned their own - um - lack of enthusiasm with their experience with the song evaluation service. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that feels that way. Wandering Eyes, for example, was sent in for eval by the other co-writer and he was told "ebb and flow" is not conversational English. That's for Americana, not country, and it should be changed. Well I happen to like Americana and I enjoy being "labeled" as such.  --- do third graders know what ebb and flow means? ;-)

I will say that I had one GREAT eval from lucky #13... I sent in Reflections of You - http://www.reverbnation.com/jimmyanderson/song/15988985-reflections-of-you - and he gave me encouragement as well as some GREAT ideas. The link above is actually where I re-wrote it based on some of his suggestions, and I do think it's a much stronger song. His particular eval would probably make a good checklist of great writing tips. The other eval's I got, though not necessarily "bad," were not helpful as they didn't give me anything to help me convey the message, but instead were filled with what I did "wrong."

I've also decided to stop calling myself an aspiring song writer. That makes it sound like I'm "not there" yet. It's true I don't have a cut - or a hold - or otherwise made any money, but that does NOT take away from the fact that I *am* a songwriter. I have written songs. Period. I don't tell people I'm an aspiring musician, but that I *am* a musician, and have been for years.

Steve addressed me in a later part of the show when he mentioned writers like us will "keep on keeping on" and our audience will find us. Six or twelve months ago that would have been harder to believe, but with the recent "Old Farts and Jackasses" movement, I have faith that "my type" of traditionalistic music is actually in demand. Maybe not the high demand that Kountry radio inspires, but demand nonetheless. Again, a point of validation.

(And no, Steve, that's not what I'm into - LOL)

Validation - part 2 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Later in the show, Steve and Marie talk about the song evaluation service offered by NSAI. I joined for one reason and one reason only - to be able to audition at Bluebird and somehow be discovered there. If you live more than 100 miles from Nashville they will not let you audition unless you're a member. They say it's to make sure you are committed to your practice, etc. That may be the case, but it's also a way of getting dues paying members.

One of the "benefits," and I use that term loosely, to being a member is their song evaluation service. I sent in Lower Broadway -  http://www.reverbnation.com/jimmyanderson/song/14373349-lower-broadway  - and the evaluator said it was too long (I know that - it's built in such a way you can cut out the last verse and/or a chorus refrain and it will still "work") for commercial radio and that none on the radio today would sing it because it's too sad. He suggested I put SOMETHING positive in there so it's not so sad. The purpose of the song is to be "real"and I think sad is the way to go. I've performed this song in public and it ALWAYS gets a great response, and I've had other artists come up to me and talk about how "authentic" the song is. That's a better evaluation to me anyway. :)

I was hoping the eval service would lead to what they call "pitch to publisher." They say that if the song is "ready" it will go higher up the food chain, and I had hoped this song would be recommended. I realized that unless it's something THEY like it would never go further, so I decided not to use the service. Once I had auditioned at Bluebird the third and fourth time and nailed it in my opinion, I realized I'm too "traditional" and I'll never be what THEY are looking for. I realized I had some "free" evals left, though, and I was going to lose them anyway so I sent in a few songs. I pretty well got back what I was expecting. One even told me, "this is not country - this is Americana." I took that as a complement. :-)

Back to Craig - one quote I loved - "it's all about the journey." He mentions that you MUST excite yourself with your own songwriting. If you're not excited by it, how is the world going to? He also said , "life is obstacles - are you focused on your goals or on your obstacles?" That's an encouraging reminder.


Come back tomorrow for Part 3...