We all think that we can spot talent. I think that is why so many people watch Voice and American Idol. We tell our wives and our kids, "That guy is good. He's gonna win." The crazy thing is sometimes we get it right. Isn't that a great feeling. 

      I have had that feeling when I went to Nashville. I went to see a show at the Bluebird Café. In the writers round was a guy named Jaren Johnson. I loved his songs. I was telling all my family and friends, "He's gonna make it and be a big star." Did he? Yes, He is the lead singer for Cadillac Three. They are a rock/country band. Also he has written hits for other people. Meanwhile Back at Mama's, Drunk on a Plane, Riser, and Raise "Em up. Everyone calls a good one every now and then.

      A few years ago, I listened to a song called Rednecker by Hardy. I really like it. I had that feeling that he had what it took. Fast forward a couple years and I'm playing videos on You Tube. I'm watching a singer songwriter sing his version of the song he wrote for Blake Shelton. The song is God's Country. It was a big hit. It was written by Hardy and two other songwriters. I got another one right. Yee! Haw! I am like a gambler. I will brag about my winning and never say a word about my losing. 

        Here is a video of Rednecker. Tell me what you think. 

     Saturday was moving day. No, I didn't move to a new house. It was music room moving day. My buddy Rick came over and helped me move. We moved all of my music collection from a ten by ten bedroom to a bigger room in the basement. The new room is double the size of the old music room.

     I don't like clutter. It is hard to keep a small room from getting cluttered. Especially when you start recording. What happens is, I decide I want to record a song but I want to use more microphones. I will need to get out a couple more mic stands. I will need to more microphone cords. Maybe, I want a different sounding guitar so I drag one out of the closet. Now I have two more mic stands, an extra guitar and a guitar case. It can snowball real quick. After it gets cluttered I got to clean it. I don't like working in a cluttered workspace. The new music room will be easier to keep from getting cluttered so easily, I hope.

     I am hoping a new music room and a new year will produce new songs for 2020. 

     I like to wear ball caps. I wear them on my day off and I wear one to work. I have quite a selection of caps. I have a gray cap that has a US flag on it, (bought it to wear on stage), KU cap, NY Jets cap, (not a Jets fan but liked green) , NSAI black cap, and many others. My favorite cap is my Bluebird Café cap. It is comfortable and broke in. It has sweat stains around and is looking pretty rough. You can definitely tell it has been worn a lot. I have different caps for different activities. I wear a Dillons cap to work, and NSAI cap to my monthly meetings, and I work outside and mow my yard in my Bluebird Café cap.

    As a songwriter I wear many different hats. Here is a list of some of the hats that I wear. Lyric writer, song idea creator, melody writer, guitar player, bass guitar player, recording engineer, blogger, NSAI coordinator, performer,  and the list goes on and on. It is so easy to get sidetracked and not write songs. I could spend all my time working on my guitar playing or all of my time blogging. 

    I remember when I first bought my Tascam DP-01 digital audio workstation. I went from being a songwriter to being a recording engineer. (and not a good one either.) I had so much to learn that it took up all of my time. I had to learn to record tracks, how to EQ tracks, how to mix tracks, how to master a CD, how to burn a cd, and how to make it sound better. It was a full time job being a recording engineer. 

    It took me a while to realize the error of my ways. Now, I don't try to make a perfect demo. I do my best. I probably spend 30 minutes making a demo. I play my guitar and sing at the same time. If I mess up singing the wrong words I will record it again. Usually I can get it right in three or four tries. Is the singing perfect?No! Is the guitar playing perfect? No! Does the demo give me a permanent copy of my song? Yes. Is my rough demo good enough to allow a pro studio to create a great demo? Yes.

    It is necessary to wear many hats. Maybe you are like me and you are doing too much. Remember to keep the focus on what is important. I am a songwriter, not a recording engineer. 

    I went to the library on Thursday. I never know what I am going to get at the library. I pick books randomly. I have one author that I try to read every book that e has written. His name is John Grisham. You have probably heard of him. Here is a list of some of his books. Many of these have been made into movies. The Rainmaker, A Time to Kill, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Frim, etc.

    I got four books this week. Tap Out- a book of modern day poetry. Cruel Shoes is a comedy book written by Steve Martin. ( I didn't get the jokes.) lol The third  book I picked out was An American Summer. It is a book written by a social worker telling stories about the danger of living in Chicago and stories about living in poverty and bad neighborhoods. The last one I picked was How to Shoot Video that doesn't Suck. 

     Why did I pick out that book? Someday I might want to shoot a music video of one of my songs. This book might have some info that I need to know.  Videos are more entertaining to watch that just listening to a song. I thought I knew enough to make a good video. Wrong! I learned so much. A lot of it is stuff that I know but really don't know. Here is an example- Keep your shots or scenes under ten seconds. 

     The point of watching a movie or a music video is to be entertained. To  be entertained we need variety. A music video would be boring if all we saw was Blake Shelton singing his song with one camera angle.  This is what I see when I go to a concert.  His video God's Country is definitely not boring. The song is 3 minutes and 27 seconds long. I counted the scene changes and it was 146 and I might have missed a few. Lets do the math. The song is 207 seconds long and has 146 scene changes. This average length of a scene was 1.4 seconds. Some scenes were a picture flashed on the screen. The longest on was about ten seconds as Blake sang the chorus. 

      I did a little more research on scenes. I watched part of the movie The Siege. A movie with Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis. The scene were short and changed often. None of them were longer than ten seconds. I noticed that if it was a long scene where two people were talking they would break it up by changing the camera angle. First it was on the guy in the scene. A close up of the girl. Different angles, Focusing on different people, items in the room, etc. I will not be able to watch a movie now without analyzing the scenes. 

       I like it when I learn something new. I learned to  keep my  scenes short and entertain your audience. 

     You never know what you might learn about your family tree at a family reunion. Here is my latest claim to fame. I am related to Tom Dooley. Some of you young folks may not know who Tom Dooley is. Tom Dooley is a character in an old folk song. It goes, Hang down your head Tom Dooley, Hang down your head and cry, Hand down your head Tom Dooley, Poor boy you're gonna die. 

      It is pretty bad that my claim to fame is a song about a horse thief and a murderer. What is even worse than that is I don't even know if it's true. Maybe it was a different Tom Dooley. I have learned that you can't believe everything that you learn at a family reunion. It might make a great story but we got some real good story tellers in my family and I love them all. 

                                                   Damn this Road

Tom Dooley's kin folk of mine

Hung his head and cried

some say, I look and act like him

all the trouble, I get in.

Chorus- Damn this road, crooked road

Dam this road, I'm going down

Wish I could, Know I should

stop and turn myself around.

I'm no better than Tom Dooley was

Can't see Jesus light because

Love those smoking, drinking Southern belles

They're Okie crazy, wild as hell,

Damn this road, this crooked road

Damn this road, I'm going down

Wish I could, know I should

stop and turn myself around.

Momma prays, Jesus save, he hears her, when she says

Damn that road, that crooked road

Damn that road, he's going down

Wish he could,, knows he should

Help him Lord, turn him around

Help him Lord, turn him around. 

    The great thing about being related to old Tom was I was able to get a song out of it.