Deconstructing Big Texas Sky

 Articles, Big Texas Sky  No Responses »
Mar 042012
 

Big Texas Sky, my new CD, is done and ready to be distributed to listeners. I love getting new music from artists I follow and from new ones I haven’t heard before. I like listening to full albums because I like albums that have an arch to them. CDs that tell a story are so much more than just the individual songs could ever be on their own.

But being a songwriter, I know that more often than not the songs on a CD were not written exclusively to be on a specific CD. At least with me, I write and write and at the end of a given time period I have this collection of songs which I then sift through to see if there is a thread holding some of them together. These will be the songs that go on an album of mine and the others will be used for live performance. I guess that I need to put together and album called ‘Unrelated Singles’ for all those songs tossed overboard at the time of selection.

The other thing I like about albums is knowing the history or story behind each song. Why did it end up o the CD? What’s the story behind the writing and production of the song? I love watching the DVD series Classic Albums where they deconstruct famous albums like ‘Dark Side of the Moon” and “Night at the Opera”, just to name a few. How and why did they do that to get that sound and emotional response? What were the tricks they used in the studio to get that guitar sound or that vocal sound? What is the true meaning behind the lyrics? Now that’s stuff that I want to know and they are not always in the liner notes (do liner notes even exist anymore?).

So starting this week I will deconstruct and fill in the background on each song. I hope you follow along get caught up in the story because that’s what artists are trying to do: tell and engaging story.

Peace

Done & Done – The New CD is on it’s way

 Diary of a New CD  No Responses »
Feb 122012
 

Well in this part of Connecticut we have been stuck in a constant state of March. March the month, not the military exercise. It has been mild weather for the longest time with only a hint of snow. I have a friend who recently bought a new snowblower for this season and said to me – Watch it not snow now…- after he purchased it. Ah the best laid plans. 

Speaking of best laid plans – My third solo CD is done and ready for pre-order. “Big Texas Sky” will be available from me directly starting on March 1st, 2012. It will also be available as a digital download from www.darrylgregory.bandcamp.com on March 1st as well. If you are interested in pre-ordering, the cost for a physical CD will be $10 and the digital download price will be $7. Click here for an order form for the physical CD.

On Saturday, February 25 I will be performing at the Trinity Church Coffeehouse at 7PM. This will be my CD release gig and copies of “Big Texas Sky” will be available for purchase at the show. Click here for more info on Trinity Church Coffeehouse.

So what’s this new CD all about, you ask? 

Good question. In fact I’m planning on a series of blog posts that go into detail about each song. From concept to production, I will give you the story behind the song. 

But for now I can tell you that the album is a collection of 7 songs having to do with family, spirituality, getting older, life & death and of course, love. I had about 20 songs that I was considering and I whittled it down to 12 and then decided to be more concise and focused with the 7 songs that I chose. 

As in the past with my CDs I did the majority of instrumental performance, but there comes a time when you just have to call in other musicians to help. I was very fortunate to get local artist Jim Allyn (a.k.a Mr. Everything) to lay down piano, fiddle and mandolin on several tracks which really enhanced what I had already done (Jim has an amazing ear and musical sense). For the duet ‘What About Love’ I was able to snag the always busy Francine Wheeler to come into the studio and sing along with me. Her voice alone is worth the price of the CD. I also got great vocals from my friend Wayne Johnson, who is an ordained minister, on the track ‘Prayer & Hallelujah’ which breaks into a rollicking gospel celebration. 

 ”Big Texas Sky” is a country album at heart and pulls a lot of emotional strings, but it’s also a love letter to my Texas roots and the down to earth, real life feeling I got when I visited my kin in the Lone Star State.

The title of the CD comes from a line in the second track ‘Anywhere But Here’ when the protagonist asks why she was born under a Big Texas Sky. The image of a big sky overhead makes me think of God: the omnipresence, the spirit that is always there,  watching as we live our lives. We either acknowledge it or not, but the fact remains that it is there. Each of these songs are stories of the everyday life we all lead with the last song wrapping it all up with a prayer and a hallelujah.

Don’t you love the album art? The photo is from my buddy Renato Ghio who is an amazing videographer and photographer and the layout is by my good friend and co-hort David Wheeler. I hope you can purchase a copy and tell your friends where to get one as well!

May we all feel the light of a brilliant love,

 

 

CD Update

 Diary of a New CD  No Responses »
Jan 232012
 

I’ve been remiss in updating this blog – MY blog – the blog that is supposed to connect me with YOU. I last posted about my Christmas song and then I got distracted with recording and mixing my upcoming CD project, “Big Texas Sky”. Well this is just a little tid-bit that I wrote on my Facebook page the other day and after I wrote it I said to myself: Self (I said), you should write this on your BLOG! SO here’s what I wrote – If you’d like to, you can *LIKE* me on Facebook too so you can get a double dose!!!

Anyway… I’ve been working hard on getting these mixes done for the new CD. I just finished round 3 of mixing and listening. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Once” then you’ll recall the scene where they all pile in the car to listen to the results of the sessions. Well that’s where I am right now: listening to mixes in the car, on my iPhone, on my living room stereo, and anywhere else I can. I take notes and then go back to the studio. I am hoping that this is the last round (3 is usually the magic number for me…).

Stay tuned for more updates on “Big Texas Sky” due out in February (I’m stickin’ to it!!!)

“Christmas Time” ~ a new holiday song

 Country Songs, Holiday Songs, New Songs  No Responses »
Dec 172011
 

… as if we need more holiday music.

For some reason I love this niche genre of music and I find it a challenge to write in this genre. That said, there are certain things that go into a good holiday song and I tried to shove them all into this one.

Let’s see if you can identify all the aspects of a typical holiday/Christmas song that I jammed into this nugget:

  1. the sound of sleigh bells – always an indicator that this is a seasonal/winter/holiday song
  2. quoting other well known holiday songs – in this case I quote ‘Jingle Bells’ AND in the guitar solo I quote ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ AND I quote the lyrics to ‘Hark The Herald Angels Sing’
  3. allude to a holiday movie – in the bridge section I make an attempt to conjure the scene from “A Christmas Story” when the parents are sitting on the couch having a glass of wine after Ralphie and his brother have finally gone to bed
  4. any mention of snow, ribbons, mistletoe or other seasonal paraphernalia
  5. finally, a child’s voice over  - I love those ’60s and 70′s country songs that have kids voices in them like Ray Stevens’ ‘Everything is Beautiful’
Thanks for listening ~
If you would like to download this song, you can go to my Bandcamp Page for a FREE download.
Happy Holidays
Darryl

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Christmas Time
[Verse]
At home with the family
Hiding presents underneath the tree
Ain’t no place I’d rather be
At Christmas timeGot a bunch of songs to sing
The old carols, a few new things
Can’t wait to see what Santa brings
At Christmas time
[Chorus]
Hey
It’s Christmas time
Hey
It’s Christmas time
Peace on Earth good to men
Sharing love with family and friends
I hope this feeling never ends
At Christmas time
[Bridge]
The snow is falling gently
On this peaceful silent night
I pour you another glass of wine
Drink a toast to the season
As we sit in the firelight
Nothing could be better
Nothing could be better than Christmas Time
[Verse]
Kids are waiting quiet as mice
Didn’t need to ask them twice
If they’ve been naughty or nice
At Christmas timeUnwrap another box of cheer
Throw the ribbons over here
Mistletoe kisses suddenly appear
At Christmas time
[Chorus]
Hey
It’s Christmas time
Hey
It’s Christmas time
Peace on Earth good to men
Sharing love with family and friends
I hope this feeling never ends
At Christmas time

[Tag]
Hey
It’s Christmas time
Hey
It’s Christmas time

Jingle Bells…

CD Update ~ Writing Music

 Diary of a New CD  No Responses »
Sep 112011
 

Writing Music (on paper)

I thought that I’d write a short post about writing music. Not composing or songwriting, but the act of writing it all down on paper using traditional notation. It’s not something that is talked about in the songwriter symposiums or in a songwriter’s circle, but being able to notate music and hand a lead sheet to a fellow musician can be an integral part of creating a good performance.

I’m thinking about this now because I am in the process of recording my CD and I am about to invite other musicians in to play on some songs. Having legible lead sheets that make sense just makes the whole process go so much more smoothly than having nothing or some cryptic doodling.

I’m a trained musician – meaning, I went to a music conservatory and learned music as a trade so I have no issue with transcribing my songs; I’m fluent. But there are so many singer-songwriters that do not read music and have not gone to conservatory which is quite fine. But, I often wonder how they communicate their intentions to other musicians. Do they stand there in the studio writing letters on a piece of paper? Do they orally walk the performers through it? Do they make the musician sit at home and do the transcribing themselves?

Writing a lead sheet is really no big thing. But, the writer needs to understand a few basics of music notation: time signature, chord symbols, repeat signs, slash or rhythmic notation and perhaps a few other things like drawing a treble clef and the occasional drawing of a whole, half, quarter or eighth note. These are things that I teach to my 6-7-8 grade students in my music classes. So an adult songwriter should know about it presuming they had a proper public school music class… right? (That’s another article all together…)

So here I am. I just finished lead sheet #4 of 7 and will dive into #5 later today. It takes me about 20 minutes to do a lead sheet and I lay it out on my computer using a software program called Finale. I am only going to do 6 lead sheets though. Why not 7? Well, on one of the songs, I am playing all of the instruments and I do not need a lead sheet since I know the song.

It sounds like I’m contradicting myself. Darryl, are you saying that you do not always have to transcribe your songs? Nope! If you’re playing solo and you have the lyrics written and just write the chords over the lyrics to help you remember, that’s cool. Or, what most people do these days: record it on their smart phone.

But, if you’re going to hire me or some other professional musician to come in and play for you, I expect a decent lead sheet. I don’t want to have to sit there trying to figure out your song from a description, your chicken scratchings of chords (assuming they are even the correct chords – did you transpose the key because you use a capo?) or the recording on your smart phone.

I guess a lead sheet is just common professional courtesy. Are you a professional?

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