Just wanted to let everyone know that my new album, All I Can Give You, is now available online at Noisetrade.com.  If you've never heard of NoiseTrade, you have to check it out. Here's how it works, click on the the image below and either share it with 3 friends or make a donation of $1 or more and you can download my entire album. Whatever you want to do, pretty cool. Be sure to come back here and let me know what you think of the new CD. Thanks.

So, Casey and I just returned from an amazing mission trip to Costa Rica. We accompanied the Highland Park UMC Youth Group (from Dallas) to Puerta Viejo, where we did construction work for three Methodist churches and led Vacation Bible School at six other churches. It my second year in a row on the trip, and Casey's first. It was so nice that the wife could join me this time around. She so often gets left behind in Memphis while I travel. 

I don't even know where to begin, so I'm going to let Casey, the real writer of the family, pick up where I leave off. But just as a teaser, her post might include: worship at Agape Methodist Church, rain forest tours, Costa Rican children, concrete, and Javier, our rockstar bus driver.

Stay tuned for more, amigos.

(PS: "Pura Vida" or "Pure Life/Full of Life" is a popular saying in Costa Rica. Usually said with much enthusiasm, Pura Vida is an acknowledgment of the Costa Rican attitude towards life.)

We're Done (ish). After nearly 7 months of work, we finally finished the recording process. Well kinda. Technically we still have to lay down 1 more background vocal (BGV) and a choir no big deal. But we are officially passing the hard drive over to Mr. Brett Teegarden to mix the project as we speak. The for-mentioned choir and BGV recordings will be cut in the coming week and we'll start wrapping this thing up. Bryan Rumfola (a.k.a. - the drummer) is working hard on the packaging design and if all goes according to plan, we'll have the CD in our hands by August. So, stay tuned to find out more about an official release party. 

The sweet smell of burnt dust roasting on the hot tubes of a amplifier that looks like a mid 50's hot rod, rusty guitar strings, wood chips from the drum sticks, picks everywhere, and though they have no legs, all kinds of cords are running in every direction imaginable. A typical picture of a recording session at NashVin Studios, only this time it is different. We're almost done. And by almost, I mean we should finish the recording process within the next week. Next, it will be off to be mixed, mastered, and finally printed and packaged for your enjoyment. This album is now 6+ months in the making, and when it finally releases, it will have been almost an entire year from start to finish. Though the original release date (this past April) has come and gone, I can now say that the wait was worth it. I have been frustrated at the slow progression, but many great things have happened along the way to really turn this album into something great. I hope everyone will be sure to come out to the release in August/September. 

In all my life as a songwriter, I have never conquered the co-writing experience other than with my wife Casey. But on my newest release, I have the pleasure of introducing a young song writer who has been sharing some of his great piano lics wth me. Travis Hamm helped Casey and I co-write 2 songs, including the title track, "The Middle Year." Anyway, I'm sure you will be hearing more from this guy as he progresses as a song writer. I just hope I can hang on to him. He really knows how to carve a great piano hook.  

The wonderful world of Midi has been opened up to me recently and I am beginning to discover it's joys. For those of you who don't know what Midi is, it is a way for keyboard (electronic pianos) to record music through computers, but it is so much more. Last night, I, along with the help of my friend Shane, recorded pianos for "The Middle Year." We sampled pianos from all over: Steinways, Yamahas, uprights, the piano sound Cold Play used to record "Clocks," one of the piano sounds Death Cab for Cutie uses regularly, and on and on and on. It was amazing. Anyway, I had a lot of fun. Here is a sample of the home style upright piano we used for the track "The Middle Year":

It seems that lately I've hardly had time to breathe. But, all in all, that's not such a bad thing. I've been playing at lots of different places over the past few months, all the way to Texas and back. Plus, as most of you know, we have been working on our latest CD "The Middle Year." We originally had hoped to be releasing it this April, but due to several different complications, we have had to push the release back into the summer. No doubt it will be more than worth the wait. I am very excited about it. 

The new album will include Dove Award winning and Grammy nominated bass player Grant Norsworthy. And if that's not enough, we've also brought the ever popular Ben Shive. You may not know his music, but trust me, you have heard him play. He records with just about everybody, and on occasion he hooks up the little people like me. Anyway, here is a small taste of what to expect. This is an unmixed, unmastered, still-working-on-the-recording-process song titled "Again." Hope you like it. 

Just thougt you might want to see what we've been up to. I'll try to put a few samples of the music up soon. 

In the Studio