Click here to read the Refueled Magazine Interview

Click here to check out “You and Me” on Mothpod episode 199!

Go check it out on iTunes, and leave me the best review you can conjure up!

Go get your free download of “You and Me (Acoustic)!”

If you haven’t heard Miranda yet, you probably will within the next year.  I’m lucky enough to have a copy of her new album, and it’s pretty spectacular.  Be sure to come out to the show so you can get your own copy!

Here are the details:

Friday, June 11th
Miranda Dodson CD Release Party
w/ Aaron Ivey and Jason Poe
Stubb’s BBQ (Map)
9pm
Buy Tickets

Over the last two years, I have given away nearly 13,000 free downloads of my music.  The best way you could pay me back for the free downloads would be to purchase this compilation which will help the children that are in the Austin Children Shelter, and provide help for victims of domestic violence. All the profits from the album will go directly to the Austin Children Shelter and SAFEPLACE.

Please click this link to order your copy of Music for the City Vol.1!

To celebrate the release of this CD, there will be a huge party at La Zona Rosa on May 8th.  All of the artists mentioned above will be performing.  Tickets are $15 and can be purchased on the Music for the City website.  Once again, all the proceeds are going to benefit the two charities above.  Hope you can be there to help us raise money for these great charities that are impacting Austin, TX!

On Monday evening, a number of friends who participated in the experiment (Aaron Ivey, the guys in Courrier, and my best friend Chris) all gathered to share a few of their songs and to talk about the process.  It was really great to see what everyone came up with under the constraints, and it was encouraging to hear everyone’s feedback as you played your song.  There were some great songs written, and more than anything we all share this new bond after having gone through the grueling process together.

The experiment really taught me that I can push myself harder, and can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time.  I will often put things off when they feel too overwhelming, but the 7 in 7 made me stay on task.  It was a self-made pressure cooker.  On top of it all, I also wanted to reveal my songs to all of you. This added another level of pressure, as I had to not only complete something for the sake of completing it, but had to really create something that would be respectable.  It was quite a challenge.

I want to thank you all for following along as I worked through the past week.  It was really encouraging to have you communicate with me during the creative process.  It also energized, and motivated me to not give up, and to create something worth listening to.

I also need to thank my wife for allowing me to participate in such a time consuming project.  Everyday after work, I came home and locked myself in the studio until the middle of the night.  She would often even encourage me to keep at it.  So for all of you looking for a spouse, that’s the example for what a good spouse will be.  They will want you to go after what you love.

I believe I will release the songs for you to download in the next couple days, but they will only be available for a limited time.
So check back!

At this point in the process I was starting to go blank, and was really feeling drained.  The entire process felt like writing an album, and song 7 felt like the closing track.  Nearly all the songs so far had been straight pop songs, so for the last one I just wanted to clear the palate.

I really love the Beach Boys, and I wanted to create a vocal heavy song.  This what I came up with.  Lyrically, I tried to write about a car crash.  I wanted it to sound like a scene in a movie.  In my head, I saw it being the split seconds right after a crash on a summer night with the victim just thinking about the moment.  Sorry, I guess it’s a bit specific and strange. It’s titled 21, because there’s a belief that the human soul weighs 21 grams. Geez, I’m really not this morbid, I promise.

Here are the lyrics:

Stare at the lights from the ground
All the windows now down
I feel the wind blow
As far as I know
There’s no sound

Cause you looked back
There was impact
Now you’re never coming back
There were headlights
There were train tracks
Can’t remember what came last

The flicker of red-lights in between
The movement of body and machine
Are we rolling over?
Out in the clover or the weeds?

Can you feel this?
Can you feel that?
We are never going back
Like a train wreck
Like a plane crash
21 gone on impact

21