Lee Gibson date added May 26, 2011

The following new dates have been added to the Lee Gibson Calendar.

For additional dates and details, visit the Lee Gibson Calendar section.

Subscribe to Lee’s E-mail Newsletter to be notified of his latest news, events, and website updates.

Date	Venue	Details
Friday June 10, 2011	2011 CMA Music Festival Acoustic Set Chevy Power Zone stage Nashville, TN	12noon

Jeff Arrandale Gallery – In the Studio

Various photos of Jeff Arrandale’s Nashville, TN recording session for his debut album.

View other Jeff Arrandale photo galleries HERE.

Jeff Arrandale Blog – The Studio Experience

Jeremiah 29:11 “… For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

I share the above verse as an encouragement to you. God loves you, and he knows the plans He has for you. As was the case for the Jews in the Old Testament, He has plans to prosper you, and to not harm you, and plans to give you a hope and a future. As much as you may want to know what those plans are, you will not, nor can you, but you can grasp on to that promise even in the darkest most challenging times for He is with you. Be encouraged! He gives His children no more than they can bear, with an eye on developing you, growing you, and, most of all, drawing you closer to Him. We all go through tough times. I’ve sure been near the bottom before and wondered how it could ever get better, or be different. I praise Him for how He brought me through those times and prospered me, and not harmed me, given me hope and a future. He has made me better through it all.

In this edition I’ll focus mainly on the recent recording session, and I’ll also share my return engagement to the Ryman in Nashville. At the bottom, look for the planned name for the album. Also, there are some photos from the session HERE.

Here we go. I arrived in Nashville in the late afternoon on Friday, checked into the Brentwood Hotel where my buddy and I were staying, then headed out to get something to eat. It was raining in sheets that night with bow echoes on the radar all over the place. That didn’t keep us from checking out a late movie, which helped pass the time in anticipation of the next two days of activities. I was wiped out after the long day, so I slept well.

The next morning the drive to Tombstone Studios was pleasant. We arrived at the studio around 9:30 a.m. and immediately started meeting the musicians who would put their mark on the songs we were about to record. I was impressed with the down-to-earth, no-prima-donna attitudes. These were all great guys with families. Kent and I helped the drummer, Billy, get his gear inside (yep, Vince Gill’s – he had a lot of stories). The keyboardist, Dennis, had been in Nashville for over 20 years and is originally from the East coast of Wisconsin. Not only has he played on the Grand Ole Opry, just as important, he’s a baseball fan like me, so plenty to talk about as he was getting set up. The acoustic player, Pat, is one of the top players at his instrument in town. He’s also a baseball fan and looked more like an accountant or high school shop teacher. I was interested in his instruments and he shared with me some of his techniques and ways of doing things. Good guy to talk with. The lead-player, Dug (that’s right, no “o”) is originally from MO (yay!) and has been in Nashville since the mid-70’s. He was always careful to make sure he was giving me what I wanted.

Once everyone was set up and dialed in by the engineer, we met with Art, the producer, to discuss the plan for the first song. Art (an amazing bass player as well), had converted my chord charts to the Nashville number system. He passed those and lyrics out to the guys. We then listened to the one-guitar-and-vocal demos I’d made earlier in the year. Rather than share the earlier full recordings of the songs with the instrumentalists, the plan was to not “fill in the blanks for them” and to give them room to create as well, and boy did they. I was especially amazed at how quickly they learned the songs. It was “easy-peazy-lemon-squeazy” for these guys. They listened once, made some notes, talked about tempo and arrangement, and then headed for their instruments. They noodled a bit picking out a part, then Billy clicked off and they started “Purify Me.” I was in the studio as well providing a guide vocal and as soon as the intro started I got on my knees and thanked God! Look what He did! Look at what I was doing! It sounded soooo good. It was amazing.

We’d started the process for the first song around 10:15 a.m. and had the instrument corrections and overdubs done by 11:05 – 50 minutes – and they’d not heard the song until that morning. The next 7 and a half hours were spent this way recording the instruments for the other seven songs minus a 45 minute lunch break (great little Mexican restaurant right around the corner). One of the songs took only 35 minutes to perfect. The whole thing went by so fast and it was hard to believe it was over so quickly. I was grateful for what each had done and thanked them. They appeared excited about the project and their work on it, and asked how I was going to use it. They also had kind words about the songs and some of the runs. The producer was quick to point out that they aren’t paid for compliments, so it was a blessing to get their feedback.

After they all got their gear broken down and loaded up, I started making and drinking hot tea for the pipes like 90. We were going to track lead vocals for two of the songs before calling it a night. Again we started with “Purify Me.” Talk about nerve racking, but I was able to relax once I started singing. Art was very good at coaching me through the song: “That was good, now do it again”….”okay, another time” … “again”….”that was good, but let’s do it again” … “again”…”again”….”we’ll keep part of that, let’s do it again”…. “again”… “again” … “again” … Argh! I swear by the end of the night I felt like a lab monkey waiting for the treat when it does something right in a conditioned response experiment. We did all the verses together, then all the pre-choruses, then the choruses, then the ending, which was a little unusual for me, but made sense. It helped with consistency throughout the song in those sections and allowed for focus on each. We finished up at 10:30 or so. I was exhausted, but happy. We grabbed a quick supper, then headed for the hotel. It was very easy to crash that night. I slept like a log.

The next day we arrived at the studio around 10 a.m. I started brewing the hot tea and warming up my voice. The plan was to do the remaining six songs that day and it started out as a struggle. I know many friends were praying and that really helped pull me through the first couple of songs. Singing live in front of a crowd is much easier because of the energy and you don’t have to be as perfect. The studio can be sterile and microscopic. It took about six hours to do three songs with some long breaks in there to help preserve my voice. Man was I hungry. Kent and I went to a steakhouse across the road and I inhaled my meal. We got back about an hour later and something changed. After a brief prayer time, we really felt the Holy Spirit in there. The producer even asked after one song if something was different, was there something going on? The last three songs breezed by and I even inserted a little prayer at the end of one of the songs.

As we finished up we sat and talked about what comes next. There will be some additional backing vocals added, then final mixing and mastering. I’m hopeful it will be ready for release late this Summer or early Fall. It will be available in CD form as well as on my website and possibly other on-line music services. The rough mixes sounded great. I can’t wait for you to hear the final mixes!

Overall the time in the studio was very cool and productive. Prayers were answered and God was glorified. Again, I’m not sure what He has in store for the project, but this was like a dream come true. It was kind of like a fantasy baseball camp where you go and play baseball with Hall of Famers. Other than when I was getting my undergraduate degree in Art Education, it was the only time I’ve been called “the artist.”

The next day it was time to head back home, but Kent wanted to do some site seeing first. I suggested the Ryman, one of my favorite places in Nashville. We took the tour (love the history). Kent wanted to get his picture taken on stage so we did that. There’s an employee that stands there and takes your picture with a WSM microphone and a guitar. You can sing if you want. I’d done it a few years back so wasn’t planning on doing it again until the girl said no one had sung yet today. Hot dang, I jumped up there and did a verse and chorus of one of my tunes. I’m told the acoustics in that place rival Carnegie Hall and they are amazing. I can see why they didn’t need or allow electrified instruments for the Grand Ole Opry back in the day. When I finished I actually got a standing ovation. There were about 40 or so tourists and employees in the auditorium. They were already standing, but they were clapping and cheering, so technically, by definition, since they were standing and clapping, it was a standing ovation. Ha!

Now to reveal the planned title for the project.

We will run, with perseverance
We will run, the race laid out before us
We will run, with our eyes upon Jesus
Seeking Jesus’ face, we will finish the race.

That is the chorus from one of the songs recorded. From that someone picked up on the second and third words of the last line, “Jesus Face.” That’s what I’m going to call it, at least as of right now.

Thanks for checking in!

In His service.

JT

Jeff Arrandale Calendar Update May 25, 2011

The following date has been added to the Jeff Arrandale Calendar.

For additional dates and details, visit the Jeff Arrandale Calendar section.

Subscribe to Jeff’s e-mail Newsletter to be notified of his latest news, events, and website updates.

Date	Venue	Details
Friday Aug 12, 2011	2011 Iowa State Fair performing with Certainty Susan Knapp Amphitheatre Iowastatefair.org	1PM

Chris West Calendar Update May 16, 2011

The following new dates have been added to the Chris West Calendar.

For additional dates and details, visit the Chris West Calendar section.

You can also subscribe to Chris’ e-mail Newsletter to be notified of his latest news, events, and website updates.

Date	Event	Details
Wednesday May 18, 2011	Music City Roots performing with Highwater Loveless Barn Nashville, TN	8PM
Saturday May 21, 2011	Charlie Daniels State Park performing with Cedar Creek Community Band Mt. Juliet, TN	11AM
Wednesday Jun 01, 2011	The Basement performing with Halfbrass Nashville, TN	7PM-9PM $7 cover
Monday Jun 06, 2011	Douglas Corner Jam Chris West Nashville, TN	9:30PM
Friday Jul 08, 2011	The Basement Chris West and the Junk Yard Horns Opening for Coolin System Nashville, TN	TBA
Friday Oct 14, 2011	Concerts on the Green Chris West and the Junk Yard Horns Opening for Here Come The Mummies	TBA