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October 30, 2010

Studio update: "Rockin' Around the Town Square" 2010

About an hour ago, I finished recording the instrumentation for the new songs for this year's "Rockin' Around the Town Square" concerts in early December (in an effort to maximize time and efficiency, I record demo versions of my arrangements to distribute to each of the performing musicians along with chord and lyric sheets so they can learn and practice with the recordings prior to the rehearsals). In about 10 hours, I'll be recording Greg and Natalie Sprouse's vocal tracks for the new songs - and I am PUMPED to see how they will bring the songs to life! The new recordings are sounding awesome to these ears, and have made me even more excited for the upcoming concerts. At this point, I'm most excited about the recordings and arrangements for "Ode to Jam (The Classics)," "Joy to the World," and "Little Drummer Boy," and I can't wait to see how well they translate to the live performances.

Hope to see you at the shows on December 3-5! Stay tuned for more info...

October 27, 2010

Studio update and "Rockin' Around the Town Square" 2010

The past several months have been more hectic than usual, but in a good way. I've managed to compose and record a LOT of new music for that still-unreleased-first-album-that-has-been-ten-plus-years-in-the-making, which has been a very rewarding and refreshing experience. I cannot remember the last time I had such a creative streak. At this point I'm approximately 65-70% complete with recording the instrumentation, and I'll eventually get around to working on writing vocal melodies and lyrics. Of course, some of the material will remain instrumental, but it will be interesting to see how everything else develops.

Recently, however, the work on the "Destination Unknown" CD mentioned above has been temporarily postponed in order to focus on this year's "Rockin' Around the Town Square" holiday concerts, which are scheduled to take place on December 3, 4, and 5 at Main Street Theater in Columbiana, Ohio. I've had a blast working on the new material and arrangements for the show, and I have also been recording music for it (so the other band members can learn their parts and have something to practice along with while I'm not around). This year's shows will feature some of the same arrangements I've used in previous years, along with a considerable amount of brand new material - including an original instrumental I composed and recorded for my solo CD. Tickets will be made available soon (check www.baydamusic.com for all the official details), and we'll be gearing up for rehearsals within the next couple weeks.

It's an exciting time right now, with a lot going on, so stay tuned!