Lee Gibson Calendar

Be sure to check Lee’s Calendar section often, so you can catch him live at an event near you.

You can also subscribe to Lee’s e-mail Newsletter for all of his latest news, events, and website updates.

Chris West Blog - New projects, new tours

Hello friends!

Things have been a little busy lately, and I have some exciting things coming up!! First, the Dynamites next album, entitled Burn It Down, is finished and is set to be released in mid-September. I have a song on this one (a cowrite with organist Charles Treadway) that I’m very excited about. We just returned from a tour in Colorado that was very successful and we head back to Europe on July 9 for two weeks in France, Spain, and Switzerland.

I’ve also been touring with Columbia recording artist Mike Farris. We played at Bonaroo this past month and will be taking off to California to play the High Sierra Music Fest for July 4th weekend.

I’ve been working on finishing up my new project, the Surprise Trilogy. Most of the recording is finished and the first of the three discs should be released by the end of the year!!! Keep an eye open for that. I also purchased a new horn a couple weeks ago that I’m very excited about; an old King Super 20 made in 1954. This horn gives me a warmer, meatier tone than the one I’ve been playing.

Other than that, I’ve been doing a lot of arranging for different albums coming out soon, a couple that I’m really excited about: strings on an album by Pastor Seon Thompson entitled “I’m Out” and horn arrangements on an album by Sarah Williams entited “Ruby”. Keep an eye open for these projects coming out soon.

Chris West Video - The New Horn

In this video, Chris West talks about his up coming album and other projects, performances, and recordings he has been involved in recently. He also shows off his new horn, a King Super 20.

gschmitt Video - Reconciliation

In this video, gschmitt gives an acoustic performance of his song A Reconciliation of Sorts from his debut album, The Year In Pictures.

A Reconciliation of Sorts - written by gschmitt

I -

If all we’re judged by is what we fare - and what we lost was never there,
then, why is it that I still care?
Though I’m amazed to see your face - The changes that have taken place
Tangled in your own distaste
The subtleties behind these tears - Have kept me from appearing here
And doing what I’ve always feared
Though it seems I’m quick to run - Guess I’m not the only one
Who’s contemplated moving on

II -

all this time I’ve spent fighting you
seems so worthless to bank frustration like I do and
I didn’t come here to tell you that I’m sorry
But after all these years, I am

III -

You look away - and you must find it in your own self
to forgive me soon – or someday
and come what may - we will have covered what we couldn’t handle
and what time has fixed – for me, anyway
and all these things I can’t control, - I offer them to soothe the soul
And write it off as “I don’t know.”
Ascending to this point of view - The more I still have left to do
And the less it has to do with you

IV -

All this time I’ve spent fighting you
seems so worthless to bank frustration like I do and
I didn’t come here to say that I was sorry
But after all these years, I am

V -

Though I had searched, I still can’t find it. I’d circumvent and look behind it.
But it’s in front of me this moment; will not let it slip away. In every idle thought, I’d be reminded
Can’t think about my chance at restoration, ‘cause leaving here right now is preservation.
And a reconciliation, if just for me, is what you see – if only for the sake of my being free
- if only for the sake of my living free.

gschmitt Blog - The SONG, developing the idea

Hey everyone. Thanks for checking in and keeping up with what I’m doing.

I’ve definitely been keeping myself busy producing a project for another songwriter, Gaspar; steady Television and live gigs with the jazz group I play with, Pasado Meridiano; and my own gschmitt songwriting project – the main reason for this site! If you’re following me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/gschmittmusic), you’ll know that I’ve been going out of my mind a bit with everything that’s been going on, but man, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My last blog entry was the first of a few that I decided to write about actual songwriting. If you had the chance to check it out, you know that I think the absolute most important aspect of the craft of songwriting lies in whether or not the original idea is good enough to work. I definitely put more emphasis on it than any of the other steps in the process. What I want to discuss this time is what happens once I have an idea that I deem “worthy.”

I guess we could call this next step the “development” step. This stage is where a little bit of discipline is needed; as opposed to the first stage, where I could only describe what was needed as “magic.” This is the part where you have to work through your first concept and start molding it into something you can build a song around… and this step can often take up to a few YEARS to happen. It’s one of the reasons I keep organized files (pretty organized, anyway) of all of my song ideas. They can get lost and be forgotten immediately, only to be revisited at another time and developed… and sometimes, those are really the best ones; you are a different musician than the one who originally came up with the idea.

This begins the more disciplined side of songcraft, so you have to sit down and START taking your ideas to the next level and actually decide which of the many you’re going to do it with. I named three possible song beginnings (“song zygotes”) in the last blog, but if you cut through the way the song ideas come to me, you begin to see that it’s always in the form of a melodic vocal line/hook. (Be it through random singing, instrument noodling or a lyric concept that “sings” to me.)

Once I decide on the idea to develop, I’ll put the guitar in my lap and a pencil in my hand and identify what the song is going to be about in its lyrics and it’s harmony (read: backing music). Most of the time, the original idea tells me where to go at this point, but sometimes it takes more molding. Assuming I know exactly where I’m going with the tune, I start filling in the blanks as far as vocal melody in the verses, or the verse chords, or maybe the rhythm. I always have the tape recorder with me to capture whatever comes up, since sometimes the best way to make this work is to just jam on it a bit.

One thing I can say about this is that whatever work I do in the beginning of the week can and often does change completely by the end. I made a rule for myself a while back: the original idea can’t be changed, but everything else after it can. (Think about it: if I came up with something to motivate me to WORK [not an easy task], why the hell would I alter it and change that first impression? Doesn’t make sense.)

This “plugging in” verses and lyrics and rhythms, etc. is really all about trial and error, so I can’t stress too much about what I put in there to make it work. There are songs of mine that have 20 verses written for them… and they’re only 3 verse tunes. It’s just how it works. I should be careful about quotes because I always manage to screw them up, but Leonard Cohen once said, “If I get one line out of an entire day of writing, it’s been a good day.” (Caveat: I guarantee I messed that up, but the point still stands: it takes a lot of misses to get a hit.) Now, I don’t know if Leonard’s exaggerating to make a point, but I’m saying that this idea underscores my point: let the “error” part of “trial and error” be an error….and be subsequently thrown away….even if it’s 17 superfluous verses that each took a LOT of consideration and time. (That may be the ultimate songwriter’s maturity test right there.)

Okay, I’m going to shift gears a bit and end this with a note for those who struggle through songwriting dry spells: one of the coolest things about writing is that the more you develop your ideas, the more you get that creative need to come up with new ones. It’s a cycle: writing and working on songs begets more writing and working on songs. I tend to go through song idea waves. I’ll get three or four song ideas that could turn out to be very cool in a matter of a week – a few days, even. And then, I’ll just fall off a cliff and nothing will come for a month or two. As a younger writer, this used to piss me off to no end, but I’ve found it to be just my natural creative cycle telling me to focus more on developing some of my older ideas and I’ve learned to listen to it.

Really, it relates to the last blog’s mention of “understanding the creative environment around you” when you get an idea. This, however, is more about understanding yourself and how you naturally go through the process over a much longer term. You must be in touch with it because it’s easily something that will throw you off track completely if you let it. (Years ago, I’d stop for months and call it writer’s block… well, most writers know that writer’s block is best averted by writing.) I know myself well enough now to recognize the early warning signs of a potential dry spell. Developing older ideas is a fantastic remedy.

So, that’s it for me. I hope I’m helping some of you out here with these blogs. I’d love to hear what you think about it, be you a songwriter, poet, journalist, doctor, housewife, whatever. Just hit the “leave a comment” link under this and follow the steps!

‘til next time,

Greg

PS – songwriter quote I once heard: “Songwriting is the opposite of a crossword puzzle: the more you fill in, the harder it gets.” (or something like that… hehehe)

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