Every time I sit down to write a blog I start thinking to myself that I need to do it more often. As much as I hate to say it, it has become an annual event where I come on here and say that I'm going to start blogging more about my music and then the following year I write another blog saying "oops." Truth is that I'm not very good at social media even though I know that much of the business I'm trying to work in thrives on it. I'm usually the guy at the table looking for eye contact during conversations while everyone else has their face down looking at their phones. I don't get on Facebook much nor do I view it as an authority on the quality of my social life. I prefer talking over texting. I rarely "tweet" anything. When I do get on Facebook I spend 10 minutes reading meme after meme and then lose interest. I do feel bad though that I have not done a better job in keeping my websites more updated. I guess I need to continue to strive towards staying connected online. I know I do enjoy sharing my thoughts by blogging so perhaps that's a good place to start. Here we go... To sum up what's happening in my life in a nutshell... Life is VERY busy! Personally speaking, I'm preparing to become a father for the first time to a daughter. My wife and I found out that we're pregnant a few months ago and we are due in June. In that process of preparing I'm also looking for a new place to live as our family is expanding and we need the space. Remember... I'm a recording artist and work from home. Yep, need the space! Professionally, things are happening after a long time of waiting and growing. I've been working with a Nashville producer named Roger Ryan. Roger is a Grammy nominated and Dove Award winning producer with a lot of talent and many credentials in the music industry. Besides being a producer, he has also recently become the head of a new record label called AfterTouch Entertainment. Roger has been producing a song that I wrote last year called God of the Storm. I've recently heard the final mix and am so happy with it's sound and feel. It's currently on it's way to the "mastering" stage and then will hopefully be downloaded to your iPod soon. In the meantime, I've felt moved to start creating a recording studio of my own. Don't get me wrong. I have no delusions about being at the level of AfterTouch but I do have an interest in developing my own production muscles. As I've been accumulating gear and software I have also been recording my own material while utilizing some fine local Chattanooga musicians. Some may wonder why I've decided to record my own music when over the last year I've been given the opportunity to build relationships in Nashville with people who specialize in commercial quality recording. It's simple. I want to. Commercial recording is extremely expensive and yes, when you're in the big studio, you see that the quality is worth every penny that you're spending. I just don't carry that kind of money all the time, but I STILL want to do something with my music. But it's not just about the money. I'm an artist. I make art. My art is representative of who I am. It's an outer reflection of my inner condition which, for me, is defined by my salvation found in Jesus. Even if money wasn't an obstacle I may choose to do what I'm doing because I simply want to express myself through the artwork I love so much. Music is a funny kind of art because so often we have this money making machine of the music industry telling us what it's supposed to sound like. I worked in Christian radio for 13 years while at the same time playing indie music in New England and so often I heard people who "matter" in the business say that a song wasn't any good because it wasn't professionally recorded or it wasn't a certain boxed in style. I fell into that mentality for a long time. I've had professional Christian radio promoters tell me that they loved my music but even if it was recorded commercially they couldn't promote it to Christian radio because it didn't fall into the small box that market lives in. I guess as I get older I get more tired of this concept that questions whether a person should even try to do music if they can't sound like the industry's 1%. I would joyfully continue learning and recording in Nashville but I would also like to do some "out of the box" things too! So the new song is kind of a remake from my old New Mercy Morning days. I re-wrote a song that we did called More Than Conquerors. It's been a blast to work on it and I hope that the fans of my music and people who have supported me and believe in what I do will generously spend $1.29 to download the new song. It's currently available on CDBABY and will be up on iTunes and Amazon and everywhere else shortly. Here's the shameless plug... BUY IT HERE!'Til next time,SL
