Today I had my pre-production meeting for The Album, and it was absolutely fantastic. Let me go ahead and say, I'm fairly good at tooting my own horn (and I know a thing or two about complimenting myself as well), but listening to myself play acoustic guitar and sing, while my producer and band leader are listening as well - not one of my favorite moments in life. However, they were both extremely receptive to what I'd done. I mean, ok, these guys are Nashville Pros, so they've heard country music a few times...but they way they truly seemed to get me, and my music - fantastic!
We listened to the tracks in Alphabetical order, and each one was a surprise to me, as I'd never grouped them that way. I gave them my notes, they gave me theirs, and we hashed out what appears to be a great plan for attack this recording session. I was a little apprehensive at first. I mean, I hurried to download skype at 11:55am so that I'd be ready for the meeting at 12. I was worried that I might hear something like "what were you going for on this" or "do you really think this break belongs here?" But I didn't.
No, both Chip Hardy (prod) and Rod Lewis chimed in with their suggestions, but each time it was directly in line with what I'd been thinking anyway. It's amazing when there's no music in the air, but we're hearing the same tune in our heads. Seriously. Amazing. There's not another word. "I'm thinking fiddle on this track....what if there's banjo here, would that scare you? I'm thinking lap steel would really give it an edgier sound here..." these are the kinds of phrases I had thrown at me.
Now don't get me wrong. We had the occasional disagreement, and I would defer to their knowledge of music, or they would defer to my feelings on the song, but we never really butted heads. No quibbling, no debating - just collaborating and coming up with the best solution to deliver each song in the best way possible. At this moment, I could not be any happier with what we came up with. The issues I had with some songs were cleared up. The feel of each song was clearly defined. The album has truly begun to take shape.
I now lie in anticipation of the first studio day. The day when I will hear my songs take flight. I am looking forward to the path we travel together.
Yeahcomeon.
Thoughts of a Country Artist
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Quite an amazing feeling
For the past month, I have been involved in a Kickstarter project. I first had the idea to "Kickstart" a music project about two years ago, when I wanted to cut my first EP. I didn't do it - I didn't feel the timing was right, and I didn't feel that I should ask others to pitch in and help pay for something that was going to really serve only me. I don't know, it just didn't sit right with me. I was still interested in the format, though. So, I researched it. I looked into artists who had completed successful projects, and tried to establish common threads between them - how had they done it, and how could I also do that in the future?
One thing I noticed was that the successful projects seemed to come from folks who had some kind of established fanbase. They weren't just asking friends and family to pitch in, but fans who appreciated their work as well. I felt this was key. Also, most of the successful projects had an element of humor to them. People who took their art and their work seriously, but didn't take themselves TOO seriously - that was what worked. Successful projects had cool, creative rewards. It wasn't just an incremental scale-up of a product, like 1CD for $10, 4 CDs for $60, etc but rather a collection of unique rewards that would spark interests at different levels. Lastly, successful music projects were seemingly always built on what they should be - good music. The artists had honed their craft, proven themselves, they had put in the work. This is paramount.
Armed with that information, I set out to "make something of myself" so that when the right time came, people would actually be willing to invest in something I'm doing. I wrote songs. I played acoustic nights. I played band gigs. I worked with different band members and different venues, and different instrument lineups. I worked on my storytelling and on my presence. I worked on my music. And, eventually, I met with some incredible luck. I was able to put my work on the national stage - and picked up some fans as a result. I spent money I saved on an EP, which was digitally distributed, and I picked up some fans as a result. I worked on my webpage and my facebook page and my twitter presence...and picked up some fans as a result. Slowly and surely, I began to feel more confident in my ability to connect with people through music.
And then, late last year, I received the information that I'd been accepted into SXSW. This was no small feat, and it would require some serious output by me in order to fully realize the potential of this opportunity. So, I began saving to cut an album. I thought to myself...maybe I could kickstart the album. Maybe now was the time. But no, I felt that I should fund the album alone. It's my work, and if people want to buy it, they will show me their support of it in that way.
Another idea followed, though. If I was already going to be spending money to pack up a band and go to Austin Texas, shouldn't I see if I could play other dates? Artists tour to support their albums, right? Since I'm doing a new album, shouldn't I tour as well? THAT would be the kickstarter, I thought. It would show me if there are people out there who would support a tour. It would be focused on much more than simply cutting an album to sell at shows or to attempt to be put on a label. No, the kickstarter would be focused on truly KickStarting my music career - on getting the music out to the people on the road. If I was going to ask people for their hard-earned money, I was going to do something with it that would benefit many others, not just myself. And so it began.
The response has been absolutely incredible. I couldn't have predicted it. I set the KickStarter goal at $5,000 - something I thought was relatively attainable, but all the while I had a desire to hit $10,000. I'll be honest, this is the one part of it in which I was timid. I had initially set the goal at $10,000...but dropped it to five on the night of the launch. I just didn't know if I could inspire $10,000 worth of pledges, and since KickStarter is an All-Or-Nothing fundraiser, I didn't want to risk coming up short. I wanted the people to dictate how far I could tour - but I definitely didn't want to risk not being able to tour at all.
Now, here I sit, 31 days after launching the kickstarter. It ended at midnight last night, and when all was said and done, not only had my backers obliterated the $5,000 goal, but they had crashed through the $10,000 ceiling as well. The final tally, $10,277 was far more than I could have ever expected. I am very humbled by the support of over 150 people who showed their excitement for my project. The artistic life can often be a lonely one, as you feel you are solitary in your pursuits. But, I now know that as I travel the highways and byways of this country, taking my music into dive bars and such, I will be doing so with a small army behind me. I will not travel this road alone, as I now have a large family of backers who believe in what I'm doing. I no longer am responsible only for myself, but for those people as well. They are my fans, and they are with me in my heart always.
That is quite an amazing feeling.
Yeahcomeon!
One thing I noticed was that the successful projects seemed to come from folks who had some kind of established fanbase. They weren't just asking friends and family to pitch in, but fans who appreciated their work as well. I felt this was key. Also, most of the successful projects had an element of humor to them. People who took their art and their work seriously, but didn't take themselves TOO seriously - that was what worked. Successful projects had cool, creative rewards. It wasn't just an incremental scale-up of a product, like 1CD for $10, 4 CDs for $60, etc but rather a collection of unique rewards that would spark interests at different levels. Lastly, successful music projects were seemingly always built on what they should be - good music. The artists had honed their craft, proven themselves, they had put in the work. This is paramount.
Armed with that information, I set out to "make something of myself" so that when the right time came, people would actually be willing to invest in something I'm doing. I wrote songs. I played acoustic nights. I played band gigs. I worked with different band members and different venues, and different instrument lineups. I worked on my storytelling and on my presence. I worked on my music. And, eventually, I met with some incredible luck. I was able to put my work on the national stage - and picked up some fans as a result. I spent money I saved on an EP, which was digitally distributed, and I picked up some fans as a result. I worked on my webpage and my facebook page and my twitter presence...and picked up some fans as a result. Slowly and surely, I began to feel more confident in my ability to connect with people through music.
And then, late last year, I received the information that I'd been accepted into SXSW. This was no small feat, and it would require some serious output by me in order to fully realize the potential of this opportunity. So, I began saving to cut an album. I thought to myself...maybe I could kickstart the album. Maybe now was the time. But no, I felt that I should fund the album alone. It's my work, and if people want to buy it, they will show me their support of it in that way.
Another idea followed, though. If I was already going to be spending money to pack up a band and go to Austin Texas, shouldn't I see if I could play other dates? Artists tour to support their albums, right? Since I'm doing a new album, shouldn't I tour as well? THAT would be the kickstarter, I thought. It would show me if there are people out there who would support a tour. It would be focused on much more than simply cutting an album to sell at shows or to attempt to be put on a label. No, the kickstarter would be focused on truly KickStarting my music career - on getting the music out to the people on the road. If I was going to ask people for their hard-earned money, I was going to do something with it that would benefit many others, not just myself. And so it began.
The response has been absolutely incredible. I couldn't have predicted it. I set the KickStarter goal at $5,000 - something I thought was relatively attainable, but all the while I had a desire to hit $10,000. I'll be honest, this is the one part of it in which I was timid. I had initially set the goal at $10,000...but dropped it to five on the night of the launch. I just didn't know if I could inspire $10,000 worth of pledges, and since KickStarter is an All-Or-Nothing fundraiser, I didn't want to risk coming up short. I wanted the people to dictate how far I could tour - but I definitely didn't want to risk not being able to tour at all.
Now, here I sit, 31 days after launching the kickstarter. It ended at midnight last night, and when all was said and done, not only had my backers obliterated the $5,000 goal, but they had crashed through the $10,000 ceiling as well. The final tally, $10,277 was far more than I could have ever expected. I am very humbled by the support of over 150 people who showed their excitement for my project. The artistic life can often be a lonely one, as you feel you are solitary in your pursuits. But, I now know that as I travel the highways and byways of this country, taking my music into dive bars and such, I will be doing so with a small army behind me. I will not travel this road alone, as I now have a large family of backers who believe in what I'm doing. I no longer am responsible only for myself, but for those people as well. They are my fans, and they are with me in my heart always.
That is quite an amazing feeling.
Yeahcomeon!
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