I received a call today that proved to be … INTRIGUING!
Spring of 2012 I produced a custom solo album for a friend. I planned the music, I ran my gear, I played for it, and I handled all the audio post-production. The project was made under a time-crunch — I recorded and made the CD in about 24 hours, then rush-mailed it across the country to her. This collection of music was brief but with a very specific purpose.
The crazy thing here is that I want NOTHING MORE but to say what this was about, but there’s a reason why I can’t give those details away. Read on, you’ll find out why…
There was only ever one CD made of this album. Today I received a phone call from my friend and she asked if I could make a back-up copy for her. I’m not one to lose data — there have been some mistakes, and I had an only-partially backed-up hard drive crash once, but for the most part I have everything I’ve ever made or gathered. So — YEAH — I still have the audio and everything from the custom album I made.
Back when I produced this work I wrestled with a thought… I considered making a similar album and put it on the market. The mental wrestle came from considering the good and bad reasons for going public with a CD of this nature. I mentioned this to my friend when we spoke today. She thinks it’s a great idea! For me … it’s intriguing! Her suggestion was that I use the same title as I gave her CD, and if I can re-use the same audio even. She thought she might even be able to make the artwork . Hmm … INSTANT ALBUM!
Now I’m playing around with the ‘intriguing’ idea again. While I’d love to talk about it, I can’t say really anything more. When it comes to my album and track ideas, I always play it close to the vest — I want to protect my ideas so they don’t get stolen by someone else. So … consider this blog post what may be the first announcement of a future album. This could be the first of a number of albums I’ve thought to make — or with some of my work, finish — and get on the market along with my recipe book. Cross promotion is a beautiful thing!
The first time I heard Tom Petty – and I mean REALLY heard Tom Petty – was at a ski condo where I spent many winter weekends during high school. If you consider a lot of his songs being in high school could not have been a more fitting time.
One night during the winter of ‘89/90 some folks down the hall at the condo building had a party. They put on 
Every week the concert would pick up where it left off, and over a number of weeks I caught most of the performance. Something about the music and the presence the musicians had caught me. To this day I don’t know what the specific concert was or much reference to make for the footage – and I would love to see it again. All I recall was that there was this HUGE tree prop behind the band on stage, and I think chandeliers hung from the branches. Their performance was engaging, electrifying, authentic, and the roots of rock’n’roll were palpable.
I get the impression that some folks think that because I play bagpipes that I’m not a musician, that I don’t tie in with the rest of musicians the same. While I hold the opinion that there is a vibe every musician experiences that comes with their genre of instrument, there is a vibe that all musicians share. I didn’t start out as a bagpiper, I’m not now only a bagpiper, and with that I’ve always viewed myself as a musician first. When you appreciate the work of another musician both from an audience standpoint and from musician standpoint …. when someone who’s work was incredible and they move on … it hurts in two ways. You lose a star in the night who was a point of great creation, and you lose someone you understand because of the vibe you shared with them.