Sharing a small Christmas gift with y'all this wonderful day!

Tonight and Forever

Posted a new demo called "Texas Toast!" on the Tunes page.  Just the thing for Tax Day!  Click the Tunes link and enjoy.

I'm winding down the week as it began -- flying between Nashville and Dallas.  It is the second Nashville trip this summer. About 68 hours ago I was circling and circling Nashville -- weather preventing a safe landing.  It gave me time to finish listening to the pre-release copy of Pallbearer's "Foundations of Burden" one more time, just as I'm doing now.

It is interesting times for me as a Rock n Roll Dad and songwriter.  My son, Joe -- founder of Pallbearer -- has been eagerly waiting for the release date for this new recording.  As August 19 approaches, the anticipation in the press, NPR and other outlets, has ramped up.  Almost every day, there has been a spate of articles about the release of the first single and the coming release of the full length.  This week there have been several interviews, many album reviews, and the "Best New Music" mantle given by Pitchfork -- as it did the 2012 predecessor "Sorrow and Extinction".  As a capper, they have been streaming it all week, with many outlets linking to the stream URL.  It's been fun to interact with Joe over these things as the release and the incipient touring approach and vicariously share the joys of this creative opportunity in his life.  Joe is not getting rich but he is able to express his creative soul in a way that many of us only wish for.

Ahhh.  That's what I love about Nashville -- the unceasing buzz of creative people in an environment which encourages and promotes it.  Two night ago, I sat front and center at the Listening Room Cafe.  Jeff Cohen was debuting a new song (he says starting with a new song is his Modus Operandi).  Also on the round was Alan Bennett and Lindsey Lee, both fantastic writers with numerous cuts to show for it.  It was two hours of pure enjoyment!  And this sort of things is commonplace in this town.  I love Texas, but I sure love visiting Nashville!

I'm listening to the unmastered tracks of the just-recorded, yet-to-be-released Pallbearer sophomore album which my son Joseph emailed me several days ago. As I listen, I'm carried back to the early 70s, watching Leslie West and Mountain, Black Sabbath and many other bands which I appreciated as a musician growing up in those times.

Nowadays, there are lots of soccer (baseball, football) Dads out there. I see them when I go to my grandkids' games. Every one of these Dads is doing his best to coach his son or daughter in the nuances of the sport.

In our home, when Joe was growing up, rather than the nuances of this or that sport, it was the nuances of Beethoven, or Zawinul, or Steely Dan, or Omartian. I tried to give Joe a very broad sweep of music. Though his genre is metal, I hear elements of all that we listened to and talked about in these roaring songs!

As a Dad -- and I'm sure as many "soccer Dads" -- it is refreshing to listen to the fruit of those labors and to know that it "took".

It's not that I didn't have any "laurels" of my own, but maybe it is more like Archie Manning, who can see the nuances of leading a football team to championships. It is great to see that those things are being lived out in my son, to a greater degree than I experienced in my own day.

"Teach your children well..." as CSNY sang. Enjoy the times when that is carried on in your children!

I just got a song demo'd that I co-wrote with Gary Clute back in 2011 with new re-writes this year.  It was inspired by attending a Merle Haggard concert back in 2011.  It's a fun little song.  Hope you enjoy.  Just click on the link to the Tunes page above...

Carol Ann and I had the pleasure of attending a private house concert featuring Texas native Gary Nicholson in the main room of Rosewood Studio in Tyler last night. During his 40+ years as a songwriter, he has written with and for many country luminaries. His very interesting and well-crafted songs were all the more enjoyable in the hands and voice of a very skilled guitarist and singer. Acoustic music doesn't get much better than this.

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on a demo with Lee Johnson from Boulder CO.  Well, we received the finished demo today and I wanted to share it with y'all.  Hope you like it... it rocks!

You can here the new demo on the "Tunes" page.

It's been a very busy summer.  I've had lots of project activities to manage at my day job. Carol Ann and I split ten days between Paris and London, then went to beach in North Carolina.  Whew!  In the midst of it, I did a co-write with Lee Johnson from Boulder which is a demo in the works and this week, found my name on the Nashville Songwriters' Association "Ones To Watch" list.  Truly gratifying.

I did a complete re-write of "Forever My Man" (female singing to male) -- changed it to a male singing to female and had it re-sung by Dusty Drake.  I am so glad to be writing again after a long and very busy layoff.  It makes me grin : )

Guys, I hope this song makes you want to grab your wife and slow dance with her.  You never know what might happen!

You can here the new demo on the "Tunes" page.

Joe and Pallbearer are in the Netherlands this week playing the Roadburn Festival.  Here is a crowd-sourced video that was posted.