Day 3 of the recording. It has been a whirlwind. Wrote a song called “Goosebumps” with Shawn, Chuck, and Todd……a fun tune……and then on Thursday finished the lyrics on “Starin” My Demons Down” with Danny Tate…….we recorded it that night. Ken Coomer (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, etc) played drums……first time i’ve played with him. You can hear the unmixed version of “Starin’ My Demons Down” below prior to the live stream of tonight’s session.
Mike Esser working on "Starin' My Demons Down".....
Yesterday, Mike Esser and I were pretty wrecked after working from 12pm to 5am…….so, we just mixed and recorded Scotty Huff on high harmonies on “Starin’ My Demons Down”…….he killed it.
At 6pm tonight I’ll start live streaming………John Hobbs is coming in to play piano on “Some Comfort” and “Treacherous Words”……John plays piano with Vince Gill, and has produced his last couple of records…….also played on most of the Martina McBride records. Wonderful dude, and amazing player.
“Some Comfort” is an important song to me. Yesterday, I played it for him and we discussed how to record it……he plinked around on the piano, and it was stunning. I can’t wait.
So, join us tonight in the studio….see details below. Please think about pre-ordering the cd…..this stuff is expensive. Most nights about 800 folks tune into a “live stream”……..if everyone tipped $10……..that would go a long way toward paying for this record. If you pre-order your cd that is even better, but tipping is great! Tonight, you will literally be taken into a pretty private session, and will hear everything that we are discussing over the talkback. If you went to a bar and saw a band that you liked…..you might tip them? So, think of it in that context, and join us tonight…….you don’t HAVE to tip, but it would help! Ok, enough of that……….directions on how to tune in below.
Scotty Huff mapping out his high harmony part on "Starin' My Demons Down"......
You can always watch, but if you want to “chat” via the chatroom, then I think you will need to create a profile with Ustream.tv……which takes about 5 minutes. Some of the most fun is had in the chat room while the broadcast is going on………you can find me show at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kevin-montgomery-s-50-states-in-50-days If you’d like to tip (all monies applied to recording the new record and anything $25 will be seen as a pre-order)….you can do Attend This Event, or right here on this website via paypal….here.
Or here is the embedded link…….but if you want to chat, or see the chat…….I would follow the other link. What you will view right now is the show from last week…….it will go away the moment we go live at 9:oopm London time: Streaming .TV shows by Ustream
Join the chat here………
In 16 Ton studios while recording "True"..........
Two days ago I launched a campaign to reach out to my friends/fans to raise $25,000 in pre-orders to fund the new record. I’ve raised $4,580 so far as of this morning. I gave the campaign 7 days to work.
Why did I leave it so late? The logical side of me says that 7 days is enough………people will see the post and if they dig what I do……they will pick one of the options I laid out in the original post………a simple $25 pre-order, a house concert for $1,200, or even the band for a village hall show at $3,500……..they will see it and act. That may be true, but in reality……..fear motivated me more than anything.
When you do nothing……you cannot be judged.
The voices that say…….”don’t ask for $25,000, because if you fail you will look like an idiot,” or, “or you need to reach out to a platform like Kickstarter.com…..but what if they refuse your proposal,”………so, I don’t do anything until the last minute……when I HAVE to. The judgement.
Now that i’ve reached my forties……I can look back on my creative life and see pretty clearly that alot of my creativity has been stifled by fear of failure. I wait until the last moment to deliver…….putting off judgement day until the very last.
I can even look back on my school days…….I always felt stupid in school. Algebra, geometry…….I didn’t get it. All the other kids seemed to get it. I never did homework one single time from elementary to high school. I coped by trying to be funny. Left to my own devices…..once again, I put off the judgement.
If I look at my songwriting……. definitely controlled by fear. My most important songs have had that 3rd verse that was “allusive”, or a bridge that I just couldn’t write. “Nothing” is the most important song that i’ve ever written…….because I had to write it, and I wanted it to be the most beautiful song i’d ever written…….I waited until I was literally tracking it with Matt Rollings to write the lyric to that last verse, writing it on the mic as the tape was rolling. What you hear on that recording is me writing the lyric as it was going down to tape. I might add it was on the very last day of the recording, and the strings were written by Chris Carmichael at 10pm that night…….he came into the studio at 9am to put them on the song. Again, I put the judgement off. Fear.
The bridge to “Let’s All Go to California” was written five minutes before we tracked it in a side room at the studio……….
The roadblocks that I put up in my mind to keep me from being creative are ridiculous. Creativity is about freedom, but you can’t have freedom if you are wracked with fear.
I’m facing the fear head on. I’m going to work through it.
Think of all the beautiful things that never got written, or invented, because of fear. I’m working on it. Fear nothing.
UPDATE to this blog: I went to Nashville and recorded 8 songs…….all but one were written in the studio during the day, and then at night I called in the band to record the songs. Here is “Motion Picture”……I finished most of it an hour before John Hobbs was showing up to play the piano…….except for the elusive third verse…..I finished it on the mike later that night. I think I finally broke through the barrier:
On August 24th I hit 16ton Studios in Nashville to record the new cd. One hitch. I need help paying for the cd! YOU can help fund this cd by pre-ordering your copy. I’m trying to raise $25,000 for the studio time, musicians, hard drives, airfare, mastering, and pressing of the record. We have 7 days.
I need you to crowd around this campaign to raise the funds. Please take a look at the various options below and see if you can help out wtih any. This is an important cd for me, and I want it to be the best record i’ve done. Please help by pre-ordering your copy. I need 1,000 people to back this record by pre-ordering……..
Ok, here are the different options for you helping me reach my goal:
$25-A signed copy of the new cd, a personalized thank you note, plus mp3’s emailed to you once we have the final mixes.
$100-A signed copy of the new cd, a personalized thank you note, mp3’s of the final mixes, plus 10 previously unreleased acoustic tracks in mp3 form.
$250-All of the above, plus I’ll upload a video to youtube naming you, and thanking you for your help, and sing the song of your choice within the youtube video.
$500-All of the above, plus I’ll videoskype with you everyday from the studio……..let you know how the recording is going, play you some rough mixes, and/or call you on the phone each day and update you…..whichever you prefer. Or not, if you just want to help!!! ha!
$1,200-All of the above, plus I come to your home anywhere in the world……including Japan, Australia……and perform an acoustic house concert for you and your friends. This could be an excellent option if you have hosted a house concert for me before, and would like a repeat performance, or you are hosting a house concert for this year’s 50 States in 50 Days tour. Your friends could even chip in and crowd fund it. A special note-if you choose this option during this year’s 50 States in 50 Days tour, then I will still honor my commitment of 25% of the funds going to the Orange Duffel Bag Foundation. HOUSE CONCERT HOSTS grab this one!!!!
$3,500-All of the above, and I will come to your home, village hall, or a venue of your choosing and do a house cconcert with the full band……..anywhere in the world! Plus, you can come sit in during the recording of the record.
$5,000-All of the above, plus you will gain the exalted status of “Executive Producer”, and again……come join me in the studio.
Order your copy now by clicking here
Click here to pre-order/donate!
A little video I made with a snippet of “Some Comfort” from the forthcoming cd………..
Pre-order your copy of “Some Comfort” here
7 days until the recording starts! So, please pre-order your copy today. Here some ways you can help spread the word:
Share this post to your facebook wall.
If you have a twitter account, please tweet about it.
Pinpoint 5 of your friends, and send them an email asking them to pre-order the cd.
I have the grass to mow, people I haven’t called back, emails I haven’t returned……..but, i’m going to do another webstream tomorrow night! Last week was truly a blast for me. I was initially broadcasting for 2 hours, but I ended up on for 4 hours and 25 minutes……I just couldn’t quite…….the chat was amazing…..friends were made. Thank you. Let’s do it again!
Please join me. You can always watch, but if you want to “chat” via the chatroom, then I think you will need to create a profile with Ustream.tv……which takes about 5 minutes. Some of the most fun is had in the chat room while the broadcast is going on………you can find me show at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kevin-montgomery-s-50-states-in-50-days If you’d like to tip (all monies applied to recording the new record and anything $25 will be seen as a pre-order)….you can do Attend This Event, or right here on this website via paypal….here.
Or here is the embedded link…….but if you want to chat, or see the chat…….I would follow the other link. What you will view right now is the show from last week…….it will go away the moment we go live at 9:oopm London time: Streaming .TV shows by Ustream
Join the chat here………
79 Days until this year’s 50 States in 50 Days tour begins. I need help with finding a few more house concerts. Please check the Roadmap and see if you have any ideas? The official press release is now ready! Do you know any journalists, or bloggers who might cover this tour? Thoughts? Email me and let me know? Here is the official press release………..we have some pretty cool stuff going on with the Orange Duffel Bag Foundation………
