"Heart to Heart" Music Video on VIDEO NATION

I wanted to share with you some cool news that's come my way this holiday season. Before the band I worked with Man & the Mountain had decided to do other things, we recorded a music video of "Heart to Heart". The guys graciously agreed to let me use the video if opportunity arose. And I'm excited to say that opportunity arose!

An organization called Video Invasion is creating a show dedicated to music videos from Indie musicians, and the "Heart to Heart" video was picked to be a part of it! Video Nation has partnered with hotel companies such as Wyndham, Sheraton, Hilton, Ritz-Carlton, and others to broadcast the show to over 600,000 motel rooms across the US. They're also working with online services such as SmartMed Plus to show streaming videos while people wait to see the doctor. The shows will be available to most smart tv's including Chromecast, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV. So, you can see that it's a great opportunity.

I have to say a really huge thank you to Jeff Swafford who took on this project as director/producer and made all of this possible. I also wanted to give a shout out to the guys from Man & the Mountain. This video is a reminder to me of how much fun we had playing together.

And now if you're wanting to see the video, there's more good news.

Hard at Work

Quick update:

These past couple of weeks have been exciting ones.  Music in general is great, but some moments that are more gratifying than others.  I've been experiencing one of those peaks these past couple of weeks watching these songs that I've written come alive with the arrangement and polished sound design that Dean and I have been laying down.  It's kind of like finally seeing a idea that you've scratched out on a napkin turn into a full fledged painting.  You think..."that's what I really was creating!"  So we've been hard at work in the studio making it happen.  We've only got one more session for mastering, and then the songs are ready to go!  It's hard to believe the moment has finally arrived.

Also, with every project comes artwork.  I'm excited to say that I'm working with Jacob Hansel again for the album artwork.  He was the artist who created the Man & the Mountain artwork for the Songbird EP, and we loved it.  This album is different, but the artwork is shaping up to be equally as awesome.  I'm very excited about this whole project from cover to cover....literally. :)  Here's a preview using a scratch idea that was later fleshed out for what will be the some of the album art.  Keep in mind this is a scratch pencil idea...I can't show you everything and ruin the surprise!

So very soon, you'll see the finished version of everything up and ready for you to experience.  I'm counting down the days!

EP COMING!!!

Big News!!!  I'm so excited to tell you that my solo EP is happening!  I've worked hard writing material, getting the right producer, and everything else that goes into making an EP.  And now it's ready to track.  This is a huge step for this process, and it means that this is going to be ready to roll out very soon.

I'm working with producer and songwriter Dean Payla, Jr.  for the tracking, recording, and mastering of this project.  He's a great songwriter as well as producer, and I really believe he's going to help complete the vision I have for these songs.  Here's a video of Dean doing a cover if you're curious about this guy:




Also, I encourage you to go check out his web page

http://deanpalyajr.com

If you're not following me on FB and/or Twitter, I encourage you to do so to get more updates on day to day activities of this process.

Again, I am super excited that the ball is really rolling.  I can't wait to share it with you.

Two Step Texas Girl

I wanted to drop in and update with this recent bit of cool news.  I co-wrote this song "Two Step Texas Girl" a couple of months ago with songwriter friend Bob Pennington.  We had it demo-ed and I mixed up the tracks here at the home studio.  I've been meaning to post this song to the blog anyways for ya'll to check out for some time now, but I received a call about a week ago that it was picked up for rotation by Hamilton Radio which, of course, is amazing news.  Big thanks to Paul Mac for spinning the song!

Well, I was really excited to let you all know.  Stay tuned for some new really exciting news shortly!  Now without further ado - here's "Two Step Texas Girl".

Last Band Release of "Man and the Mountain"

Sad news.  The band I fronted, Man and the Mountain, has broken up.  It was a smooth band break up as far as band break ups go.  We were just moving in different directions and thought that we would end it before things became difficult.  Which means we're all still friends...so you may yet hear them on future recordings!  That being said, it is sad to no longer be meeting with that great group of guys.  It was really awesome to be able to say that I really liked and am friends with every member that was in the band.  I've been told that doesn't happen often.  We wanted to leave everybody on a high note with one of our favorite songs to play out...and we always opened with this song.  This was actually a co-write with a former-former member of the group Eric Landshaft.  He'll be releasing an EP soon himself so watch my FB page because I'll be spreading the word when its ready.  The song is called "One Day Dreamer":

This does not mean you won't be hearing more for me, however.  I've been writing new material for a solo EP and have been talking to producer's around Nashville to get this project out.  So there will be new material as soon as I can get it to you!

So there's the happy news with the sad.  We really hope you enjoy the band's farewell track.  I know I'll remember the time with the band as a really awesome and formative time of my life.

Wildflower Festival and Spice Radio Interview

Hey there -

These past couple of weeks have been really eventful ones for me.  I know you've seen some of it if you've kept up on facebook, but here's a recap:

Wildflower Festival was awesome!  I got to participate as finalist in their songwriting competition.  There were around 600 song submissions from around the country, and I made it into the top ten.  This got me a spot in the songwriting competition onstage and also an hour set at the Wildflower Festival.  So we packed up and headed to Richardson, TX (a close suburb of Dallas).  I lined up a coffee shop gig for that Friday night, and spent all day Saturday doing music stuff.  Here's some pics.  The first was the awesome auditorium for the competition and the second is the stage out at the festival:

My family lives pretty close to that area, so a cool thing that happened was that my Dad was
able to come out and back me for my set.  He's a drummer who played in a lot of bands during his college years (country, 70's rock, etc...) and had even organized the praise team that I played in during my youth group years.  So it was really cool that he could come out and play some cajon with me.  You can see him in the pic there.

Kansas

It was awesome getting to play, but getting to meet the songwriter's there was just as great an experience.  There was some serious talent there from all around the country.  At the end of the festival, we were all invited out for the after party.  It turned into a song round. There was a lot of inspiration happening in that room.  It was one of those moments where you can sit back and appreciate something you've worked hard to be a part of.

I would be remiss, if I didn't throw in a quick mention of my favorite act of the weekend.  Kansas has always been a favorite band of mine (ever since I stole the Kansas cd we got for my Dad on Father's Day...I stole it that day upon hearing it).  Since then I've tried to see them in concert, but it never panned out.  A ride would cancel, or it would rain.  So finally I got to see Kansas that Saturday night.  It was amazing.  I could sing along with every song. :)

After Party

Oh, also, I did get an interview right up where I was able to talk about my thoughts on songwriting and my personal approach to my art.  It's not often that I get such a forum, so if you're interested, here's a link to it: Every Word Counts.  I have to give a big thanks to Erica Mueller for the interview and the write-up!





Shortly after getting back, I went down to Huntsville, AL for an interview with music blog Spice Radio.  I met with Ben there and recorded a few songs and did an interview about the songs and what I'm up to these days musically.  I had a blast with them and hope to be back there soon to talk about the EP that I'm working on (when it releases! :) ).  Here's the link for that interview:  John Carroll @Spice Radio.

I know, that's so much information!  And there's even more I can tell you about, but write too much in a blog posts and it becomes too hard to fit into peoples busy schedules.  So check back here in about a week or so, and I'll post more.  Talk to you soon!

Heart to Heart Video Shoot!

Really exciting news!...we've been working with a video producer to put together a music video for "Heart to Heart"!  We were contacted by Jeff Swafford about creating a video centered around this song's story line a couple of months ago and have been working with him to put things together.  A little over a week ago, we got together and filmed everything.  It was a blast to record and a really incredible learning experience.  We brought in some actors to play the two main characters of the story.  I took some pics while I was there, and I wanted to share them with you.  Ha, I'm not in any of them because I was the one with the camera.  You'll just have to wait until the video release to see me. :)

The video is currently in post production now.  Stay tuned for more updates!!!

My Evangeline

Yes! More music! and so soon!  It's a folksy tune this time around.  The band liked it, so I'm sure you will hear a Man & the Mountain version of it at some point in the near future.  There might even be a washboard involved if you cross your fingers and wish very hard for it (I know I am!).  For you right now, though, I'm going to give you a stripped down version.  Just a guy and his guitar.

The idea came from a Longfellow poem.  I was going through trying to get some ideas ("A Boy's Will" and such) and came across this tale.  Originally its more from the girl's perspective.  It tells the story of two people who were destined to be together, except upon their engagement they were forced from their land.  The guy sends Evangeline first on a ship (ends up being a pretty big mistake).  They spend a lot of time waiting and looking for each other. I won't ruin the ending.  Go read it! I do like me some Longfellow.  The song switches plot points around a bit, but the names of the innocent were not changed for their protection:



We're talking to some sound engineers now about getting a studio recording of this which we can release soon.  I thought I'd let you hear it first.  A "behind the scenes" look, if you will.

Check out M&tM EP!

Happy New Year's!

I hope you're having a great one.  So far so good for me - though I did just spend the morning writing a song about the sun and how it brings to life and then burns up everything it touches.  It's really dark (figuratively).  But it's just a morning mood thing, it's really rainy and wintry outside right now.  Maybe I was just sun sick.

Anyways, this year is looking like it's going to be a big one for me.  I'm going to be able to step up my music game in a big way, and I'm very excited to share it with you!  We have a few recordings that my band M&tM is getting ready to release very soon.  I'll post links here along with my social media accounts so be watching for it.

Now, however, is a time to catch you up on stuff I've already released.  My band Man & the Mountain recently released our EP entitled "Songbird".  It's available for download now if you haven't been able to get a hold of it yet.  If you like my music - then you will definitely want to check it out.  Click on the cover and it will take you there.