We're posting this week's song a day early because tomorrow is our live online show - streaming straight into your living room. Need tickets? You can pick them up here.
As a proud subscriber to Netflix, I managed to spend a good portion of this year binge watching "Leverage". I'd seen part of an episode on TV a few years ago, but it wasn't until I hunkered down for a marathon that I got into it.
Among the cast was this badass, Christian Kane, who just happened to be a singer, too. Of course, I was curious, and later became hooked.
I managed to pick up a copy of his album when he re-released it to his fans early this year. There are a couple of tunes on the disc that really deserved wider airplay, and this one - "The House Rules" - managed to get some traction on country radio.
I knew that if we ever did a concert at my place (like, this Sunday's livestream, for example), I'd want it for my opening number. I made a small lyric change so the tune would fit my show, and Des, of course, gave me a rockin' blues arrangement. Here's our first run-through after Des got the thing transcribed to a sticky note.
I love that we were able to take a country tune and bring it to a wider audience. I hope you guys love it as much as I do.
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One of the things I really enjoy about the 300 songs project is taking requests. Several people suggested I give a listen to Joss Stone - an artist I'd never heard of. Yes. I live under a rock in a teeny tiny town in Midwest America. Don't judge.
I found a copy of her CD at the local thrift shop, which reminded me to check out her music. One song that really stuck out was "Less is More" - a reggae-funk tune that had a soulful groove. But all I could hear, the more I listened, was this ragtime back beat. So naturally, I went to Des and said "can you do this in a ragtime style?"
Yes. He most assuredly can, as today's video illustrates.
So for all you Joss Stone requesters out there, here's a ragtime jazzed up version to enjoy. I dare you to not be trying to Charleston before the end of the tune. The groove is that infectious.
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This week's tune is officially the toughest tune we've managed to swing to date. According to Des, taking 80's pop and jazzing it out is about one of the most difficult departures you can do. I was kind of bummed when he said that, because I always thought of Huey Lewis and the News as a band that took some of the best elements of blues and pop-ified them so that more people would be able to enjoy it.
Lucky for us Des is on the case, because he managed to do a bang-up job. Huey Lewis and the News are one of my all-time favorite bands. Growing up I bought every one of their albums (on cassette, remember those?). I still have them, along with several of their tour books. Alas, no autographs yet.
I remember begging my mom to take me to their shows as a kid, but that was not something a welfare family had on their weekly shopping list. Somehow, I managed to win free tickets one year. Mom carted me and a friend 50 miles out of town to see them - grumping the whole way about the cost of gas. This week, they're coming to my hometown for the first time EVER, and all the good seats have been gone for weeks!
*poutyface*
So, as a tribute to my favorite band in the history of the world, and in honor of their visit to my hometown this coming weekend, here's our rendition of "I Want A New Drug". Stay tuned 'til the end and catch the new dance Des made up!
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Brace yourself. You're getting a couple of "firsts" this week.
I've been working on a musical mash-up for several weeks featuring Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" and "A Whole New World" from Disney's "Aladdin" - but it was missing something. It wasn't as easy to tie the tunes together as I had hoped.
Turns out, all I needed was a little Richard Marx. His tune "Right Here Waiting" gave me a nice piece to thread through the lyrics of the other two tunes.
This is the first musical mashup I've done with 3 songs. It's also the first musical mashup I've done with another artist. Des is fast becoming a staple in my studio, and I'm so happy to have him tickling the plastic ivories for me.
It's also the first "sight reading" clip I've shared. I've posted clips from early rehearsals before, but this clip is actually the very first time Des saw my notes for the song layout - he's the only person other than me to ever see them - and you can watch him take my notes and turn it into a real song - on the first pass. I've been plunking the piano for weeks, and he gets it this good in just one try. Granted, it's a rehearsal, and it's not perfect - there's a whole extra passage he added before we roll into the Richard Marx tune (watch him cringe!), but he's so good, even his mistakes sound decent! 🙂
This is why I beat my chest so fervently about focusing on your genius work. I could spend another 6 weeks working on this piece, and it still wouldn't sound as good as it did when Des just sat down and started playing. I get to sing and see my vision come to pass, and he gets to take the heavy lifting off my shoulders - or fingers as the case my be.
I edited the video a little differently, so you could see the whole run through - no cutting away - so you could be sure it was all played in a single pass.
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About 18 months ago, I met this kid, Des. He's got an amazing gift for playing piano. Watching him perform is like watching God sit at the piano... It's almost like Des isn't even there... just music direct from the Divine.
I was looking for an arranger. For this song, in particular. For a few years - ever since I'd heard Michael Buble's version of "Feelin' Good" - I'd wanted to take "Dream On" and do it in a similar style. The song is so timeless. It speaks generation after generation, and has always been a powerful song - one of Aerosmith's classics.
But not everyone likes the screaming guitars of rock music, so there are a lot of people that have never heard the depth of these lyrics. To me, that's one of the powerful pieces of popular music - the story of the lyrics. This was actually the first song that got me thinking about a style of music that is no seeing a larger audience and a broader range of artists - like Buble', Postmodern Jukebox, and more.
We worked back and forth for several months before we got an arrangement that worked. It's been about a year since we finished it, and it remained unperformed. Written for a full instrumental ensemble, we simply didn't have an ensemble to perform it.
I couldn't stand not letting the world hear it. So I asked Des back into the studio, and he condensed the entire song to a single sticky note, and played the entire piece in two takes.
Yes. Two. He's that good.
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Des looks at a piece of sheet music for about 20 minutes and says "Okay, I'm good." Then he hands me the sheet music and creates his own equally compelling arrangement. Listen to the solo section for a glimpse into this kid's creative improvisational genius. Just amazing.
Oh, and this is song #75 in the 300 Songs project... I'm a quarter of the way home!
This is the second song written by Mike Reid I've had the joy of singing for this project. He's such a great songwriter. I wish more people would sing his music. Soulful, meaningful, and deep. Yummy!
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When Des came to visit, I was lucky enough to get two tracks for the new album done.
Yes you heard that - the new album is finally becoming a reality! YAY!
One of the things I've always wanted to tackle was Tobymac's "Made To Love". I've heard it covered and mixed in a couple of different ways, but none of them spoke to me quite like doing a jazzy love song version. After all, there is no greater love, right? Here's our last take:
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In the long journey of recording 300 songs, I do a lot of it alone. That's fine, but sometimes I like to do multi-part harmony, and that's not something that comes across very well in my rehearsal videos. It's so much more "awesomer" when you can ask for help. I'm very lucky to be part of a local vocal group called "The Sweet Browns" who sometimes rehearse at my place. This week was one of those times.
Jen and Jackie had independently had the idea of singing "Foil" at some point in the future, and since we had a quorum (one on a part), we decided to try it and see if we could figure out all the parts. Mind you, there's no sheet music for Weird Al's tunes, so we did what any good teenager would do when they're trying to learn their favorite songs: we listened to the CD repeatedly for about 30 minutes until we were pretty sure that we knew all the bits and pieces. Jackie had a head start, because she's a life-long Weird Al fan and walking encyclopedia of all things Weird Al, so it was her CD and she was already fairly familiar with the words. The rest of us were listening to the song for maybe the third or forth time since his multi-video release a few weeks ago.
Then, Jen, Steve, Jackie and I progressively turned the volume down on the stereo until it was just us singing.
And in less than an hour, it didn't even sound like crap! We're holding lyric sheets, because this was the first time we'd worked on the piece, but you're seeing us raw, behind-the-scenes style. If you come to our show in November, it'll be a much cleaner experience - and probably a lot more fun, too!
It's more "awesomer" when you ask for help. (Click to tweet)
This video is take 3 from the rehearsal.
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Never before, and probably never again am I
gonna do something like this.
Give a look at this week's video. If
You have ever had projects that you felt like giving
up on, I challenge you to think differently. You'll
never experience success if you keep saying you're
gonna get to it "someday."
Let yourself off the hook!
You deserve a little bit of time to clear your head - maybe some
down time, sure - but if you keep quitting before you start, you'll
never get where you want to go. I'm
gonna share with you a little secret... When you
run through this video, you'll see what I mean. Somewhere
around the 1:13 mark, you'll find out my "third approach"
and how it can help you get through task overwhelm. If you feel lost in the
desert on the number of projects you've got on your plate,
you are not alone. Just remember that quitting is
never the answer. It's gonna take stamina, it's
gonna take determination, it's gonna take sweat equity to
make your dreams come true.
You deserve to stand tall and own your dreams. Don't
cry about missed opportunities. Keep pressing on!
Never give up on what really matters. I'm
gonna say that again. Never give up on what really matters!
Say to yourself that you're worth it! Say
"goodbye" to negative thinking. You're
never going to entertain those thoughts again. You're
gonna take the world by storm!
Tell everyone about your awesome new plan...
a plan that will give you power over overwhelm. Don't
lie around waiting for "someday" to sneak up
and leave you high and dry. Get over your
hurt and let the world know how lucky we are to have
you in it!
(Or just watch the video and it will all become clear)
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It took Bart Howard well over 20 years.
Bart was a piano player in the Blue Angel cabaret, working on his own music, in the hopes of one day working with his idol, Cole Porter.
Most musicians know the name Cole Porter. Very few know the name Bart Howard. But this one song is his legacy.
Bart wrote dozens of tunes, but none were as popular as "Fly Me To The Moon".
Bart was asked by a publisher for something simple, and in 20 minutes he cranked out this cabaret waltz. The publisher asked him to change the lyrics, but Bart refused - a move that could have jeopardized his opportunity to have this song produced. But Bart held his ground on his song. Since then, "Fly Me To The Moon" has been covered, re-arranged, and even had the time signature changed when Quincy Jones arranged a version for Frank Sinatra.
Originally titled "In Other Words," Peggy Lee recorded and later performed the song on national television. As it grew in popularity, Peggy convinced Bart to change the name to it's well known opening line.
For Bart, it was this song. The success of "Fly Me To The Moon" was such that he continued to live off the residuals of that one song for the rest of his life. It's considered a "Towering Song" in the history of contemporary popular music. In 2004, 50 years from when he wrote that tune, Bart died.
This week's song is a request from @PattyKogutek on Twitter. Thanks, Patty! It was a joy to learn this story and be able to share it with everyone.
Just one step. Just one song. Just one moment. That's all it takes to make history. What will you do?
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