Saturday Song Stories - "Enough For Me"

Well here we are...this is the last song story. I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I have. If you are anything like me, a song means so much more to you when you know the history behind its creation. I will still blog regularly, so keep checking back.


"Enough For Me" seemed like a natural fit for the end of the record. I had trouble with the song order on the album, but that one screamed to be placed at the end.

It was actually written on-the-spot at a youth pastor's seminar. I was leading worship at this seminar, and the speaker gave a talk on God being all that we need. Before his presentation, he asked if I knew "Your Grace is Enough" because he wanted it played at the end. At the time, I didn't know the song, so I said, "No but I'll figure something out." During his presentation, I didn't listen to a word he said, but ended up writing some simple lyrics in my head. When his talk was done, I picked up my guitar and improvised a chord progression and melody line.

That might explain the simplicity of the song. That doesn't happen to me often. Some guys I know are great at coming up with spontaneous worship songs. Me...not so much. I love improvising songs that are meant to be funny and working off of the crowd, but the serious stuff doesn't come easily.

Some time later, I picked up a dobro that I had borrowed and thought, "Hmmm...I wonder." And sure enough, this song laid better on the dobro than it did on my regular acoustic. I don't play this song live often, simply because I don't own a dobro. Which reminds me...

If you would like to donate money to the "Buy Dan a Dobro" fund, please contact me. Please...

Saturday Song Stories - "California"

The concept behind this song is pretty straight-forward. Boy has desk job. Boy comes to dislike desk job. Boy quits desk job. Boy packs car full of people that make his life worth living. Boy drives 20 hours to California.

Michelle and I used to live in Kelowna BC. The aforementioned scenario was a very real temptation because Los Angeles was 20 hours of driving away from our door step. We didn't actually make the journey to California. Although, when I did quit my job, I put my family in a plane and went to Newfoundland. It's not exactly California, but most of the people that we love live there, so that counts for something.

Although I did lead a youth missions trip to Tijuana. We drove straight from K-Town to L.A. and then on to Tijuana. As we drove up through Oregon and California, I was simply amazed at how close the landscape was to what I had seen on the Road Runner cartoons. But in a 15 passenger van with ten people for such a large amount of time, there were times when I wished Wile-E-Coyote would come and eat me. I would have gladly surrendered to his "Acme" bombs.

I really like the line, "Everything in moderation, except love." That was sort of a reaction to the way people indulge in everything but the things that they should indulge in. It's just a roundabout way of quoting the great James Taylor, who wrote, "Shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel."

You can check out California on my Myspace Page.

Saturday Song Stories - "Everybody Hurtin'"

Everybody Hurtin' is a song that I think most people can relate to. The song is written in C6 tuning, which is actually a Led Zeppelin tuning...they used it in Bron Yr Aur (I think that's how it's spelled) and when I tried it, it seemed to work very well for blues and slide.

The version of Everybody Hurtin' that is on the album is not the original. That is the second version that is floating around...the first being a full on rock-blues tune with a bit of a Colin James feel to it, that was recorded for "One of a Kind", a songwriting competition and compilation album that I was a part of last year. This version that is on "Hope" has more of a delta blues sort of feel to it.

After I had come up with what I thought was a pretty cool lick, I began to think about lyrics. My origianl idea was to write something that was so stereotypically blues that it would almost be satire. But what came out was a song that dealt with the idea that there is a spot in each of us that is empty, hence the fact that on some level we all are hurting. I think that most of the vices in which we find ourselves snagged have such a hold because of the fact that we are trying to fill a void.

This one was recorded without a click track. Here's a secret...the tempo changes slightly throughout, but that doesn't bother me because I like it when songs have that human quality. And besides, you can make a game of it...see if you can count how many times the tempo fluctuates! It will be sure to add some life to your next party!

The Bob Baker Experiment...

On a recent post, Bob Baker, independent music marketing guru, and author of the Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook and a thousand other titles, including thebuzzfactor.com , talked about how he is now using Google Alert to track who is talking about him on the internet. On a monthly basis, Bob will post links to blogs that have linked to him. Here's the post: http://www.bob-baker.com/musicpromotionblog/2008/11/music-promotion-link-love-train.html#comments

So I want to shamelessly do my best to see if I can get "Hope Will Blog" on that list.

Here's how I see it...I am an independant musician, writing a blog with a pretty good fan base. I am the poster child for who Bob Baker is trying to help. Please Bob...put me on the list.

I love Bob Baker.

I even bought the Guerilla Music Marketing handbook.

Thanks in advance Bob.

MusicNL Conference and Awards...

I didn't get to post a song story this week. Here's why: I was attending the MusicNL awards and conference in Gander this past weekend.

First of all, I was nominated for Gospel Artist of the Year. I didn't take home the award, but it was an honor to just be nominated. Janet Cull and Kelly-Ann Evans won the category and deserved it to the fullest.

I also had a chance to perform at the CBC Song-Writers Circle on Sunday afternoon. During my first song, which was "Like Your Love", I pushed against the microphone with my mouth and the mic-stand started to swing away from me. So I stopped, and fixed it. So...There is a pause in my first song that I'm hoping the merciful people at CBC will edit out before they play it nation-wide (Yes...nation-wide. It is slated for broadcast on CBC Radio 2 some time in the new year, as well as Province-wide on CBC Radio's performance hour on Saturday November 22nd.) The second song that I did was "Hope Will Rise". No micrphone incidents with that one.

Later that night, I had a chance to perform at the awards gala at the Arts and Culture Centre. I used the Loop Pedal on "Create in Me". It was a very good show all-around. MusicNL needs to be commended for their professionalism and hard work.

Anyway, that's the scoop. I'll be back with a Song Story on Saturday.

If Music Was Sport

Hey everyone...

I read this and thought it was very cool. So I want to pass it along to you. It's from a blog called "Music Think Tank" and was written by Andrew Dubber. Hope you enjoy...



"Just for fun, here's a thought experiment. It illustrates that things in the world of music (and the business of music) need not necessarily be configured the way they are...

If music was treated like sport:

-Schools would have plenty of equipment and kids would have places to play and practice
-People who didn't do any music at all would be considered a bit lazy by their peers
-Professional musicians wouldn't get asked by their parents when they were going to get a real job
-Most people would play music and almost none of them would expect money for it
-Every weekend, you'd get a televised battle of the bands
-Players in top acts would change bands for millions of dollars
-Every four years, the best amateur acts would come together for the largest music festival on earth
-There'd be significant funding for community music programmes
-Most bands would have coaches as well as managers (and a physiotherapist?)
-Schools, pubs, churches, villages, and even workplaces would have their own bands
-If you went to a gig with a videocamera, you wouldn't be considered a thief
-Big acts would sell season tickets at their own venues
-Government-funded television campaigns would encourage non-musicians to take up an instrument and practice for just 30 minutes a day...
-Children from the age of 6 would know all the stats on their favourite bands
-There'd be movies where people escaped from POW camps by playing the guitar
-TV channels would get into bidding wars for the rights to show concerts
-All the top bands would regularly hold auditions for new members
-You'd join your first band at the age of five
-The more musically inclined would routinely play in different bands in different genres
-Audiences would bet on the outcome of concerts
-University scholarships would be awarded on musical aptitude
-Kids would dream of one day representing their country in Hip Hop
-You'd play another genre of music in Summer - jazz is a Winter music
-Band members would switch instruments from time to time (she's been on drums all season - let's give her a turn on vocals)
-Bands would have reserves
-You could swap out every member of a group and it'd still be the same band
-In American teen films, trombonists would beat up the kid who got picked last for the orchestra

And so on... Of course music is not sport. It's not even like sport. But it's interesting to think through the things that we do in a different field of human endeavour, and realise that the way that we approach music and the business of music is not a logical necessity - it's just how we've chosen to put it together.

And since that's true, we can choose to do it a different way.

Personally, I like the idea of some of these outcomes. Especially the first one. I'm sure you can add some of your own too.

If music was sport... what else would be different?"

Saturday Song Stories - "Main Street"

Wow...I can't believe that we are almost through the song stories. This is week 11 and there are only three more after this.

Main Street was written in one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring parts of our great country...Tim Horton's. I find that I concentrate best in busy coffee shops and for some reason much of my best reading and writing is done there.

It's hard to say if there was a specific situation that inspired Main Street. I don't remember one, but it was written as I began to think through some of the ways that us humans exist. I was probably watching my fellow coffee addicts interact with each other. Anyway, Main Street is a metaphor for the way that we all live according to the patterns of this world without really thinking about them. For instance, the first verse talks about how we dare not show weakness ("in our dresses and suits we try to hide the bruised truth") and how we work to build wealth without asking why we need so much ("fanning the flame of ritual gain"). The bridge sums it up well..."The tragedy of all this is that we're convinced that this is all there is. This is where everybody lives, and after all what option does life give?"

When we renew our minds and do not conform to the patterns of this world, it is almost as though we are singing a song, barely heard among the clamoring bustle, as verse two mentions. But when others see an alternate way of existence to the way of the masses, they sing along as well.

I know that that sort of talk rings a bit hollow these days, partly because everyone talks about making a change and doing things differently. The only way that I can see these ideals having meat on their bones is if one imitates Jesus. Anything else is just walking up the same street on a different sidewalk.