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I have never been a very patient person. I like to tell myself that it's a side effect of having grand ambitions, but truthfully I think it's just a good old fashioned character flaw. Impatience rears its ugly head significantly when I'm especially excited about something. For example: this project. Although things have been quiet on the blog front, I've been working to get a band together, book solo and full band shows, rehearse and refine songs, carefully choose other songs to cover, plan some recording, etc. The main thing I'm thinking through all of this is "man, everything takes a really long time."

But it's the long, hard slogs of life that generally result in the most benefit-- both directly and indirectly. So, I'm trying to remember that as I slowly formulate my plans for world dominance. (You chosen few shall be mostly spared any torture or injustice.)

I was teaching a Live Q & A session today on JamPlay and the students/ members and I got into an interesting discussion (there are inevitable and often enjoyable non-music tangents in these sessions) about what we would do if we won the lottery. While I concede that I'd probably get a new vehicle (although I love my Golden Dragon, she's getting a bit long in the tooth) and a slightly nicer place to live-- generally I'd be doing the same thing as I am right now. And I doubt it would be going all that much faster with deeper pockets either.

So, all that said... there are some really exciting things coming down the pipeline, so I'm just going to keep at it. How does that sound?

Hello friends!

My roommate Damon is a brilliant cartoonist, so we decided to start a little comic strip about the life and times of... well... us. I intend for this to be a regular feature, so make sure to get ready for some good times with cartoon me. Because it's more fun to draw, I will have a cartoon beard for the foreseeable cartoon future.

I took a couple of days off from invading your cyberspace (don't say cyberspace, it's so 20th century) so that I could get some neglected tasks done, sleep and, most importantly, reflect on the project.

Overall, I feel pretty good about the process. It definitely helped me become more comfortable with recording demos, which was a huge feat for me. I was also happier with a greater number of the songs than I thought I would be. There is certainly still vast room for improvement with those songs, but I thought there would be a larger number of "throw-away" songs just to get something posted.

Those of you who have been reading and listening along, I really appreciate it. Having you out there cheering, jeering, commenting and keeping me accountable was helpful to an indescribable degree.

If you really enjoyed some of the songs and would like to download them, they are now all available for sale at my Bandcamp page. You can buy them individually or in a whole package deal. I would make the package a little cheaper if the money were going into my pocket, but all proceeds will go to the Nashville Red Cross flood recovery efforts. If you decide to download the whole "album", there's a little bonus track thrown in there for your troubles.

Just for fun, I've compiled some statistics about the posted songs:

Songs about girls: 44%
Songs about my mother: 3%
Songs under 3 minutes: 23%
Songs with "This" in the title: 13%
Songs I plan to keep in one form or another: 77%
Songs that may be broken down and used for spare parts: 13%

Keys of the posted songs:

C: 17%
F: 0% (!)
Bb: 17%
Eb: 3%
Ab: 3%
Db: 7%
Gb: 3%
B: 3%
E: 7%
A: 10%
D: 17%
G: 13%

As you can see, C, Bb and D are currently my money keys. Feel free to play this statistical game at home and let me know the results.

Lots of fun things are on the way, troops, so stay tuned!

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

When It's Good, It's Good

Woohoo!! I'm done. I was putting way too much pressure on making this song some epic suite, but it just didn't work out. I ended up finishing a song idea I've had for a really long time. Let's just say... I actually hadn't been to California or Colorado when I originally came up with the verses. I wanted to have a country-ish song with a cheesy love song chorus and this is what came out.

This project has been a blast and I thank you all for reading and listening along. I'll be doing a "now what have we learned" post very soon and I'll be posting all 30 tracks for download so that we can hopefully raise some dough for the Nashville Red Cross! You can download this track individually now at my Bandcamp page.

We'll talk more soon. For now... a celebration and a nap.

When It's Good, It's Good

I've never been to California
Never been out way out west
Where the ocean meets the sand
I've never been to California
But I lie here every night just holding on to your hand

When it's good, it's good
Though it's often misunderstood
It's hard to tell it's magic
When you're healing from your wounds
But it's good it's good
If we all do what we should
Just keep it there no matter what you do
When it's good

I've never been to Colorado
Never been way up there
Where the mountains touch the sky
I've never been to Colorado
But I wake up every morning looking into your eyes

When it's good, it's good
Though it's often misunderstood
It's hard to tell it's magic
When you're healing from your wounds
But it's good it's good
If we all do what we should
Just keep it there no matter what you do
When it's good

When it's good, it's good
Though it's often misunderstood
It's hard to tell it's magic
When you're healing from your wounds
But it's good it's good
If we all do what we should
Just keep it there no matter what you do
When it's good

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Love You Something Good

Woo! One more left after this! I have to tell you I have really enjoyed this whole process and I'm excited about going back and revisiting (some of) these songs and tweaking them. Next step is getting a band together, rehearsing and bringing these nuggets to life.

I first created the drum loop for "Love You Something Good" and then I realized that it fit nicely with this semi chicken-pickin' lick that I've had for a while but I have never done anything with. I could never find a satisfactory chorus. I really like the one I finally came up with actually.

The lyrical phrasing is a little weird but I was thinking along the lines of "that sure stings something fierce" when I sang the phrase "love you something good". I'm not sure if it actually makes sense but I like the ring of it.

The idea behind it is that desire to be the knight in shining armor for someone who's had crappy romantic experiences in the past. It's simplistic and probably naive but I would wager that there are many of you out there who can relate.

Download the song at Bandcamp and help the Nashville Red Cross flood recovery efforts which are still very much going on. There is a long road ahead before things are back to "normal" but with your help we can get there!

I'll have all 30 demos available for purchase and download probably this weekend. Woot.

Love You Something Good

Was it something I said
Or maybe something I did
I just don't know anymore anyway

Was it something you read
That made you take the lowest bid
I just don't care anymore anyway

How about I just love you something good
I'll just love you like I know I should
I'll just love you something good
I'll just love you like you want to be loved

You've been pushed all around
You've been told to quiet down
Well, it's time you met a real man real soon

I'll help you up off the ground
And keep you safe and sound
Yeah, I can be a real man to you

How about I just love you something good
I'll just love you like I know I should
I'll just love you something good
I'll just love you like you want to be loved

How about I just love you something good
I'll just love you like I know I should
I'll just love you something good
I'll just love you like you want to

I'll just love you something good
I'll just love you like I know I should
I'll just love you something good
I'll just love you like you want to be loved

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Get Out of This

Hello people! Welcome back to the marathon.

This is a little song idea I've had for a couple of months. I'm really glad this project made me finish it. There's not anything too complicated about it-- just a straight pop song. I had pretty much the whole thing figured out when I came up with it originally (including rehearsing the main guitar riff to get it smoother) I just had to write some verses and a bridge. And so... write some verses and a bridge I did.

I wish I had a better story for you on this song. But it's basically the same concept behind "The Way She Looked at Me" (Song #18) in that it's about going headfirst into a romantic situation you know is going to end badly. Whereas that song was about a pining regretful point of view, this one is from the state of mind where the narrator knows he must extricate himself from the situation. Posthaste.

Buy the download at Bandcamp and help my lovely adopted city of Nashville recover from the floods of last week. As always, all proceeds will go to the Nashville Red Cross recovery efforts!

Get Out of This

Would you believe me if I told you
That this is exactly what I thought would happen
Would you believe me if I told you
That you can never be more than what could have been

I gotta get out of this before it kills me
I gotta get out of this before it goes too far
I gotta get out of this before it kills me
But I know it just won't happen that way

Is this all just a game to you
Don't you know you're messing with my heart
Am I just another name to you
Or am I just the makings of another scar

I gotta get out of this before it kills me
I gotta get out of this before it goes too far
I gotta get out of this before it kills me
But I know it just won't happen that way

You know you've got to stop
You know you've got to stop
You know you've got to stop
You know you've got to stop

I gotta get out of this before it kills me
I gotta get out of this before it goes too far
I gotta get out of this before it kills me
But I know it just won't happen
I know it just won't happen
I know it just won't happen that way

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Everything

This one feels incomplete. But I'm not sure where else to go with it at this point. I've been messing with this tapping lick for a while and I've had several different visions for what would go around it. This is just the best one that came out at the present time. It's possible that this song is completely missing a chorus that could go after each time the "we see everything, we hear everything" part comes around. I should also tell you that typing "everything" is really difficult today for some reason. I keep trying to put an extra "r" in there. Double You Tee Eff, man?

Regardless, this one is also up for sale at Bandcamp with all proceeds going to the Nashville Red Cross flood recovery efforts. On that note, I'll be uploading the pre-flood songs for sale as well, but not until I've finished all 30. That way the collectors among you can have the whole package at once and give a big chunk to the cause.
Only 3 days away now! I can't believe I'm almost done. I got a little sad when I started thinking about being done with the project, but then I remembered that I can write and post songs whenever I feel like it!

Anyway...

Lyrically, the song is just about how we're constantly bombarded with information from TV, cell phones, the internet, everywhere. I don't even necessarily believe it's always a bad (or new) thing. But some times it's overwhelming and you just have to shut down and walk away.

I took a 3-day writing retreat a couple of years ago in Wisconsin. I just got a hotel room, some food from the grocery store across the street and shut myself in to write for 3 days. No phone. No TV. I did allow myself to check the email and upload videos in the evening when I didn't think it was appropriate to be making a racket anymore. (See?! I couldn't even cut myself completely off for three days!) It was really one of the best things I've ever done.

Last year's month long road trip was the closest thing I've had to it since, and I'm not sure that counts. Isn't that something? It was an amazing experience. One of the best things ever. It was less than a week. It didn't cost very much. It was only three days of being (nearly) disconnected. And yet, I haven't done it since. Interesting how things like that go, isn't it?

What do you guys do to unplug?

Everything

Some time away would surely do you good
And I'd talk about it just because I could

Because we see everything
And we hear everything

They lock us out, we feel as if we're shunned
We shout it out until it's no longer fun

Because we see everything
And we hear everything

Just walk away
Just walk away
Just walk away
Just walk away

Because we see everything
And we hear everything

We turned it on but can we shut it off?
I just want to yell and make it stop

Because we see everything
And we hear everything

Just walk away

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Really Something

Enough sentimentality, let's rock.

I should probably explain myself before you get too far into the lyrics... this is not real. I have had this really sinister odd time riff for a long time (probably about seven years-- I remember messing around with it in a MIDI class in college) and I didn't finally finish it until last year when I was putting some songs together with my friend Shea.

The reasons why it took me so long to finish were two-fold:

1. I couldn't find a good chorus to go with the main riff.

2. Nothing I came up with lyrically was evil enough for the riff.

So, last year I solved both of those problems with a sweet love song from the perspective of a sick kidnapper. Weird? Yes. But I thought it fit the music. And I thought the chorus was pretty dang catchy. How interesting is it that I might be able to get some people to sing along with such an idea?

Did I get you?

I really wanted to rock today after a pretty sappy run, so I thought now would be a good time to bust this one out. It's a blast to play.

So, maybe I'm twisted, but the good news is that the instrumental section towards the end is sort of supposed to sound like the girls escaping and then the guy is singing all sad at the end. At least they get away, right?

This one is also for sale at my Bandcamp page to benefit the Nashville Red Cross flood recovery efforts. I came back last night from a brief trip up to Ohio to see my family and there is still a lot to be done here. Every little bit helps!

Really Something

Spending her life living in my basement
I wonder where that pretty little face went

You're wasting your breath, no one can hear you
You're wasting your tears, I'm only here to help you

You're really something
You're the only thing I'll ever need
You're really something
You are all I need

Something is missing, I can't hardly place it
So I found you a friend and I put her through the paces

You're wasting your breath, no one can hear you
You're wasting your tears, I'm only here to help you

You're really something
You're the only thing I'll ever need
You're really something
You are all I need

You're really something
You're the only thing I'll ever need
You're really something
You are all I need

In an effort to celebrate the official launch of djphillips.com, challenge my songwriting/ recording abilities and to take my own swipe at a 30 Day Project I will now post a new song idea every day for the next 30 days. These are not necessarily finished products. They are not necessarily fantastic pop nuggets. But they will be new ideas (written at least within the last few weeks). They will be (pretty much) on time. And they will be original.

I’m putting these out there-- warts and all-- so let me know what you think! The songs that get a good response will be the most likely to be included on a future release.

Mama Dear

Well, it's Mother's Day. So, this is a song for my awesome Mom. It's about how she's been there for me over the years as a child and as an adult. But it's also a little bit about the realization as you grow older that your parents are real flesh and blood human beings and you have to be there for them too. So.... yeah.

Purchase it at my Bandcamp page and give it to your mom as a gift. Tell her you wrote it. I can keep a secret. The money will go to the Nashville Red Cross flood recovery efforts. Your mom will give you a bleary-eyed thank you and so will Nashville.

Finger-picking is not my forte, so this was actually the most difficult song I've done yet guitar-wise. Pretty sad really.

Mama Dear

Long ago when my sisters would make fun
And my only defense was sticking out my tongue

My mama said
“I’ve got your back, baby, Mama is here
I’ve got your back, Donny dear”

And last year when I thought it was my time
And the last thing I’d hear was my mama on the line

Saying
“I’ve got your back, baby, Mama is here
I’ve got your back, Donny dear
I’ve got your back, baby, Mama is here
I’ve got your back, Donny dear”

She said if I could handle this
I could handle anything
If I could handle this
I could handle anything

Now loan sharks are nipping at her in the pool
And I know it’s hard when they’re making all the rules

But
I’ve got your back, Mama, I am here
I’ve got your back, Mama dear
I’ve got your back, Mama, I am here
I’ve got your back, Mama dear