Season of the Fireflies

I don't talk about my band on here much.  I know some guys talk about nothing but their bands, and it gets kind of old.  I want to avoid that, so I will keep it somewhat short.

Back in 2014 I released an album called, "This Divided Highway" by way of my band, "Possum Apple."  I think I have only sold ten copies so far, but hey, you have to start somewhere.  I quickly made two videos for the songs, "Buffalo" and "The Road."  I had always thought about making another video for a song off the album, but never got around to it.

I was inspired to write "Season of the Fireflies" when I was in West Virginia surrounded by fireflies.  So when I was back there this summer I took some film footage for a video.  So here it is.  I hope you enjoy it. 

Unwind

You may want to read this to understand this post a little better.

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-worst-ripoff-my-musical-failure.html

I've been thinking about this song I wrote this past week called, "Unwind." It's not my usual kind of song, but maybe I'm mad because it's a bit "too true" to what's been going on in my life.

Maybe I'm also mad because it actually seems to be a well crafted, and above average song to listen to. I'm just not sure I should play it out. Of course, what's the worst that could happen? People ignore it or gently clap?

I mean, I'm glad I finally wrote a song after not writing one for a long time, but this is not the song I expected to write. Maybe I just need someone to play it for. That's what was so great about Josh. He could see what was good and bad in a song. He could pick up on a song, and know where to go with it.

John C. was also like that. He was a bit more finicky, but he was kind of like my creative writing teacher, in that, he wanted to do repeated drafts, which is what you are supposed to do.

I remember reading that Professor Dumbledore once said, "People can be madder at you for being right than being wrong." Well, I think I'm madder at myself for the fact that I wrote a song calling me on all my bullshit. Which makes me think....

Lady Gaga once told Howard Stern that it was completely nerve-wracking for her to make a song public. She said (her words) that, "It was like showing my vagina to everyone." And I get that. I don't have a problem showing my giant scar on my stomach to everyone. However, showing my soul? Well, that's another story. That's a bit difficult.

Since I have been sick for the pass two months, I have basically dropped all human contact outside of the house, and that's not good for me. I don't have a realistic measuring stick of reality.
Now that I am checking this post over, I probably should have added it to my blog instead of posting here. But, oh well. It's not going to hurt anything.

Maybe I need to write a new song. The problem is I haven't been getting out, and I get my best ideas from weird things that happen to me. Maybe I need to join a support group for weird people, and ask them about things that have happened to them for song inspiration?

(Side note:  This post is kind of split into two parts.  Kind of a before and after.  What I wrote above is the "before."  And the next part is the after.)

So, I finally got to play my song "Unwind" for a person/victim. I got to play it for my friend Danielle. 

She gave me some really great feedback. Namely, people know that I do silly, "out there," songs, as well as some serious songs.

Since this is a serious song, I was not sure how it would go over. However, Danielle felt this was a personal and honest song, and she liked it better than my silly stuff.

Maybe it comes off as a more "professional" song? Maybe it "speaks" to people? Or maybe it's just honest? Either way, I'm going to have to play it out to get more feedback.

This Divided Highway

The original post:  http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2011/02/divided-highway.html

The second post:  http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2011/02/divided-highway-part-2.html

Well the time has come for me to record my album with my band "Possum Apple."  After much thought I am going to name it, "This Divided Highway."  Today I recorded the guitar tracks for five of the songs with my friend Josh.  I look back at my post from over a year and a half ago, and see how my vision has progressed.  Some songs are still on my list, and others are going to be saved for another day.

Here's the songs that I have planned for the album (this time around.)

Part 1.

1.  Buffalo
2.  The Road
3.  Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
4.  Who's Knocking?
5.  The Bride Wore Sneakers

Part 2.

6.  Good Cocaine
7.  The Midnight Special

Part 3.

8.  Crevasses and Glaciers
9.  Dark Horizons
10.  Season of the Fireflys
11.  Secret Path
12.  Everyday People

The first part is going to be Southern Rock/ Americana/ Alt. Country.  The second part is going to be old timey songs with a modern day twist.  Seriously, those two are pre-ASCAP.  And the third part is going to be more Coffeehouse style music.

I know exactly how I want the cover art to look for this album.  I want it to be a picture of me leaning against a divided highway sign.  I'll have my back to the camera, and you will be seeing me in my traveling coat and hat.  I want the picture to be in sepia or a faded type color.  I have a friend James,who loves to take pictures.  He's really, really good at it.  He offered to take the pictures for me, and I honestly feel great about that.  He was showing me what his camera could do, and I'll admit, it blew my mind.

The way I envisioned "Possum Apple" was that it was a roaming band of whoever decided to stop by.  Maybe someone would be a member for that night's performance, or maybe they would hang around for a while.  Here's an example, I have a relatively new friend in Chris.  She is a pretty good bass player, and I asked her to lay down the bass tracks.  She said she was more than happy to.

Josh has a friend who plays great leads, and thought about bringing him in to work on the tracks.  I'm all for it.  I need someone to take a different sort of look at my songs, and put down some lead tracks on it.

So the good news is a lot of what's in the planning stages is now being put into action.  I'm feeling really good about this.  I will update my blog as things progress.