New Music

So...

At Thanksgiving last year, I began to sort through the stacks of lyrics on the floor of my room, in boxes, notebooks, etc. I had a couple thousand pages of hand-written material on different sizes of paper, plus miscellaneous napkins and pieces of cardboard. Many pages were duplicates; after sorting and condensing, I was left with approximately two-hundred and fifty songs at various stages of completion and another fifty pages or so of scraps.

Most of it is garbage, but I think that there are probably twenty good songs in the pile and another ten sketches which might eventually develop into good songs with the addition of a little more material.

Once I finished sorting lyrics, I moved on to sorting compositions and fragments of compositions. I have a huge box of cd's with recordings from various times and places, three portable voice recorders containing twenty hours of music, and a pile of manuscripts. I categorized each piece by tempo, key, time signature and style. As with the lyrics, there was some duplication and some junk. However,a piece of musical junk can of real use in the proper setting, whereas a junk lyric is really just junk.

I probably have three albums worth of material altogether. It can be frustrating to have so much to work with, and also to know that it will take a lot of time to complete it all. Also, I expect to write a lot of new material while I record the old material, and thus to perpetuate the backlog.

I have recorded the first tracks of a new album now. Those of you who have seen me play in the last couple months will recognize "Sweet Babysitter" which is the first tong to near completion. The new record will be more straight-forward than 18 Wheels. The focus will be on tight, articulated compositions. Also, there will be a lot of guitar.

I'm still figuring out equipment, but I know a great deal more about recording at this point than when I started 18 Wheels. I figure that I am about two thirds of the way towards building a complete studio for myself. The good news is that I won't have to do much running around until it comes time to record drums.

That's all folks.

Ben