I began discussing the project with Clifford Williams (Bass). When we discussed Drums he said “you know I play Drums also… and I could play both on this recording”. So I asked, “Do you play the Drums as well as the Bass”? He replied…better!

So, he and I laid down the Guitar and Drums for all of the electric songs. He then recorded the Bass over those tracks.

I then laid down the Acoustic Guitar tracks for the acoustic songs.

Everything after that, were tracks that were added in a way that built the foundations of each song. Cello on Acoustic guitar, followed by more Guitar, followed by Violin, followed by Vocals.

After that we added various things, until we thought we couldn’t improve the song anymore. Take a listen to “Home” on my SoundCloud page.

Originally, the verse was a single vocal (me). I would sing a line… “I am feeling something good” and then wait two measures and sing the next line. This was ok, however I wanted to do something (vocally) to improve the song.

While rehearsing, I asked Abby to repeat after me (echo) each line of the verse… and it sounded pretty good. Then, in the studio, she added a second vocal to her part and it sounded even better!

This song definitely became a better song in the studio. Take a listen to “Home” on my SoundCloud page.

In all I had about twenty songs to select. I was fortunate that the writing was clearly superior on  half of them and the arrangements were superior on a couple more. This made it easy to choose.

Also, It was pointed out to me that a number of the songs were very sad. So although these songs were well written and may have meant a great deal to me on more of a visceral level, I could see that they would be in conflict with the majority of the songs that were more uplifting and inspirational.

The music came first, in the order of appearance in the song. The opening chord progression,followed by the picking you hear during the verse, then the bridge build up through to the resolution.

The verse starts the vocal and I had the opening line right from the start. So I had to think about a songbird… or songbirds. This got me through the first two verses, to the last line of the second verse “They sing out their hearts for you”.

At that point, I recalled a great passage from a great book, To kill a Mockingbird. “It’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird” because Mockingbirds do no harm, “They don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us”. This gave me the bridge, the resolution and the third verse. Where I ask the Songbird(s) to join in and sing loud and clear… which is what being a Songbird is all about!

Not only did the musicians contribute greatly to this album, but everyone ( Engineers, Graphic Artists) did  remarkable work. We all exceeded our former abilities in the making of this music and we are all very proud of its achievement.

Everyone had worked with me in the past except Rachel Schuldt (Cello). However when Rachel and I got together the very first time and played our very first piece of music, It seemed as if we had played together for years.