Taxi Music Forward - Cover Version of "Hallelujah"

Gave this a shot, and "scored":

MUSIC LIBRARY U-R-G-E-N-T-L-Y needs COVER VERSIONS of "Over The Rainbow" (often referred to as “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”) from The Wizard of Oz, and “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. They’re anxiously waiting to hear super creative, original interpretations of these Songs to pitch for a particular TV show. Please check out the links below to hear a few different versions of the Songs: “Over The Rainbow” by Judy Garland: http://bit.ly/1hMnDUR “Over The Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: http://bit.ly/1kj0yIx “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen: http://bit.ly/1dPV0ag “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley: http://bit.ly/1eBwreY Your Cover can literally be in ANY GENRE and ANY TEMPO! This is your chance to get creative and give us your twist on these classic Songs. You can submit stripped-down acoustic versions, OR over the top productions with lots of bells and whistles. Broadcast Quality is needed (great sounding home recordings are fine). Covers with male, female, duet, group, A cappella, etc., vocals will all be considered. Your vocal performance should be Top-Notch, and do a great job of conveying the emotional essence of the Song.

Taxi Music Forward - Cover Version of "Hallelujah"

My Christmas Single - Available Now!

This past year I recorded a Christmas song for an music industry pitch that was eventually passed on.  So I though, "Hey there, songboy!  Why don't you put this track out there as a single to like, sell and stuff?!

So that what's I (and the other personage in my head that I was talking to) did!

I present:

"Away In A Manger" can also be found at:

Googleplay   iTunes   Amazon   Bandcamp

Hope you enjoy it!  And please share if you do. Thanks!

My Christmas Single - Available Now!

"Time Is (Was) On My Side" - New Track

...Take deadlines, for instance.  Nothing like a time limit to get something finished and move on to the next project!
Took a detour from the tunes I had planned to work on yesterday and spent the day working up a short cover of this song for an ad agency pitch. Started by 10am out by 4pm! Another excuse to use my ukulele.
It's a little strange not letting a mix sit overnight for a final next-day listen, but so be it!

"Time Is (Was) On My Side" - New Track

Welcome to Re-Writing!

Okay, so this is a little about how things work sometimes.

I gave myself an hour to come with something new in a song lyric already well on it's way, then I would move on to some other musical task.  In exactly an hour and a half the last missing word-piece of the songwriting puzzle fell into place!

The song title is "Farmer's Tan".  I was working on what I call "Part A" of Verse 1.  The electronic scribblings and non-sensical notes look like this:

And this is the outcome so far:

Now hopefully, in the final draft,  the verse sets up the chorus in a strongly comprehensive way.

Welcome to Re-Writing!

Vlog #6 - Song Preview: A Girl and Her Dog

Harking back to a previous post about some song titles being working on, well - we're making progress!  Here's an example of one of them that I'm laying the tracks down to now; like right now - over to my left!
Imagine, if you will...a warm Summer scene in a breezy New Jersey park. An idea for a song.  A lone songwriter's need for expression.  The outcome is hopefully listenable.  See you in the studio!  By all means leave a comment!!  Let your voice be heard.

Vlog #6 - Song Preview: A Girl and Her Dog

Track Preview - "Mama Gonna Whoop You!"

Okay, as promised, here's a song preview of "Mama Gonna Whoop You" only available to those of you on my email list. (I figure you hopefully like me enough already to accept this piece of work in it's unfinished state and won't flee at the click of a mouse if you don't like it!)

It's a rough mix.  There's still things to add to it like background vocals, but I think it's still fun to hear and I wanted to share.  Once you click "play" it should ask you to confirm that you're on the email list before you're allowed to hear more than 30 seconds of it.  (Now, if 30 seconds is enough for you, then maybe I haven't done my job in hooking your ear into hearing more!!)  Hope that's not the case!

Track Preview - "Mama Gonna Whoop You!"

Update: "I'm Going To Disneyland"

You may remember my past post about a new song, "I'm Going To Disneyland".


Well, I went ahead and pitched it to a country listing, knowing there may be possible challenges with the song.  I recently got some excellent industry feedback that confirmed my misgivings.


Yes, as I suspected, it would definitely have the potential to be a "legal nightmare" for a publisher using a Disney Trademark.


Here's a quote from screener:  "You have two choices, you can recycle the music and write new lyrics or just keep it the same and use it locally and regionally. One way to recycle the music is to pitch the tracks in the instrumental listings (retro pop) for tv, movies, documentaries. Blessings on all you do!"


One reason I made it a free download was for the "locally and regionally" part.  Just leave as it is,  put it out there for others to enjoy, and keep writing other tunes.


Another clarification for me is, well, to this screener's ears, it's not country.  It's retro-pop.  I have to admit, I think my Kenny Loggins roots may have shown through on this one.


It's only one person's (educated) opinion, I know, on this song, but I think I can take some very good things away from it.

Update: "I'm Going To Disneyland"