Jeff Arrandale Blog – Encouraged

Today is the day that He has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it! I hope you are encouraged and as joyful as I am. I know what life is like and how it can get us down from time-to-time (i.e. what recently happened to the value of my 401k), but remember, our happiness, our joy should not come from things, or people, a time, a season, a place, a feeling, etc. Those things can all be good, but first our joy should come from the Lord and when it does we can be joyful in all situations whether good, bad, pained, shamed, happy, or sad. This joy comes from the peace we take in His refuge. It’s a peace beyond all understanding. It’s truly a blessing. I pray that whatever your situation is right now you have peace and joy that comes from the Lord.

Exciting stuff has been happening since I last spoke with you. First, I was able to take some time off from writing and performing outside the church to enjoy my daughter’s senior year of softball. In Iowa the girls play a summer season – May through July. I needed some time to recharge after a hectic winter, including the time in the studio, and sitting at ball games in the warm Iowa early summer was what the doctor ordered. God blessed us through her play and interaction with the coaches, players and other fans. As the only senior, she really stepped up as a leader for a young team. We were amazed at her maturity, her selflessness, and her encouraging attitude. One thing she really latched on to, and it’s a good reminder for all of us, is the fact that her school activity became her mission field. We couldn’t be prouder of her if she was 1st team all-state, or if the team won a state championship. Note: They finished 20-14, which was quite a turn-around from the prior year. God is so good (all the time!).

The recording project is progressing. There has been a lot of post-production activity like engineering, editing, and some additional recording of backing vocals. The final mix and mastering should be coming soon and I’m looking forward to the release in the coming months. Those of you who subscribe to the newsletter will be first to know of the planned date. I’ll soon be working on details for the release party/event. I couldn’t be more excited and expectant of what God’s going to do through it. Look soon for video from the recording to be posted on the site.

Though I continue to rehearse and perform with Certainty, I recently started rehearsing with a new combo called the Two Matt’s Band. Matt Wetzel is the bass player who has good jazz-type chops, and Matt May is a young, up-and-coming percussionist. Both are, first of all, humble Christ followers, second, good guys, and third solid performers. I like the way this group is able to perform the newly recorded material with a similar feel as what will be coming out on the record. At some point we hope to add a lead-player and/or keyboardist who can augment the foundation this little group lays down.

I have gotten back to performing with a busy August. On Saturday evening, August 6th, I performed with the Two Matts Band at Spirit Midwest (www.spiritmidwest.com), a local Christian music festival where over 50 bands and acts performed. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this being the first time out for the new group, but God is good (all the time!).

Leading up to the date, Matt Wetzel informed me he’d never been able to play scheduled outdoor gigs before because it always rained. Thankfully, not this time. The crowd enjoyed themselves during our time with them and they joined in as we worshipped the Lord. I’ll soon post pictures from the event and also the link to an interview I did with my friends from livefromthepath.org.

We next play on Saturday, August 27th in Granger, IA at an event called Praise Fest. All are looking forward to it (join us in praying that it doesn’t rain again!).

I performed with Certainty at the Iowa State Fair on Friday, August 12th. Performing at the fair was something we’d been looking forward to for some time and was a ton of fun. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, the crowd was big, and they responded well to our brand of rockin’ worship.

Leading up to this event, Ben, Certainty’s lead player, was told of a fan from a rural area North of Des Moines who listed Certainty as one of her favorite bands. We’re not sure where she heard us. Ben heard from a friend that she’s learning to play guitar, but her family isn’t able to afford to purchase one for her. Ben was able to work a deal with a local guitar shop for a beginner. He also gave her an Our Praise CD and Certainty tee-shirt. She couldn’t believe it. We are told she’s already written a song with the guitar and she was at our performance at the fair.

Other than the worship, the highlight of the performance had to be when I did a quick promo of some of our merchandise, which featured a Certainty CD on a stick! Kent, our drummer, had attached a CD to a long stick and he waived it in the air as I talked about it. Hey, it was the fair. Everything seems to be on a stick there.

My next performance with Certainty is on Friday evening, September 2nd for Meals from the Heartland (www.mealsfromtheheartland.org) at HyVee Hall in downtown Des Moines. This is the second year we will have played at this event.

Dear God in heaven, creator of all things, redeemer, and friend, thank you for the many blessings You’ve given. Your goodness and kindness is immeasurable and your faithfulness is like a mountain. Thank You for the peace and joy that comes only from You. Thank You for this foundation on which I have built my life. Let the talents you’ve provided be an encouragement to others and may I point them not to me, but to You alone for You are worthy of all praise and everything good comes from You. In the name of Christ I pray, Amen.

Be joyful in the Lord!

Jeff

Jeff Arrandale Gallery – Iowa State Fair

Photos from the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 12, 2011.

View other Jeff Arrandale photo galleries HERE.

Jeff Arrandale Gallery – Spirit Midwest

Photos from the Spirit Midwest Music Festival on Aug. 06, 2011.

View other Jeff Arrandale photo galleries HERE.

Jeff Arrandale Calendar Update Aug 15, 2011

The following dates have 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
Saturday Aug 27, 2011	Praise Fest Granger, IA	2PM
Friday Sep 02, 2010	Certainty performing at Meals for the Heartland Hy Vee Hall Des Moines, IA	6PM

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

Jeff Arrandale records debut album

Hi all!

As you may be aware, I was in Nashville in the middle of April to record my first solo project. I’ll tell you about that incredible experience in detail including the tentative name for the release in an upcoming blog, but wanted to quickly share what will be happening over the next several weeks.

I went to Nashville and tracked the music and my vocals. We are currently in the process of tracking background vocals and editing. Once that is complete, it’s time for final mix and mastering. I’m looking to release the album later this summer or early fall. You can sign up for my newsletter for updates about the album release and other news.

Once released, it will be available on my website as well as other select distributors. Those of you who have signed up for the newsletter will be sent one of the cuts as my way of saying thank you for your interest in what God is doing through the music He has given me.

Look for more updates in the coming weeks.

Thanks for checking in.

In service of the Cross – JT

Jeff Arrandale Calendar Update Apr 27, 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
Saturday Apr 30, 2011	Crossroads Church performing with Certainty 2601 Border St Norwalk, IA Get Directions in support of Meals From the Heartland	1PM-3PM

Jeff Arrandale Blog – The Letter

Okay, it’s been a while. Thanks for hanging in there with me. In this edition I will give an update on recent performances, talk about the upcoming recording project, and share with you the first letter I received from a fan. The latter is humbling and strange all at the same time. I’m saving it for last.

Okay, I wouldn’t have believed it, but it’s possible to have a blast performing at a senior center. I know, I know, but they are good people, too. I performed that night with Certainty as this gig was lined by one of the guys in the band to keep a promise. At first, I didn’t know what to expect. Here we were hauling all this gear into their hall aware that most would think we were too loud. We started with our usual repertoire and after the first couple of songs at a decibel level that was almost unbearably quiet for me, I stopped to thank the crowd for coming out and then checked to make sure the sound was okay since most hands in the place went right to hearing aids as soon as we started play (to turn them down I assume). I normally try to connect with a crowd by finding out some things about them when performing, so after a few more songs we stopped and I ask for a show of hands for anyone in the crowd who was retired. First every hand in the place went up and then everyone laughed. Of course everyone is retired! After that they really seemed to loosen up and enjoy the music more. What neat people, so kind and appreciative.

Last week I played at a new place with a couple of other local Christian bands. Not only was it a night for lifting God in downtown Des Moines, it also was an opportunity to network with other local musicians who have hearts for the lost and for worshipping and performing to glorify Him. I’ve played on bills with other bands before, but this was different in that there was more mutual encouragement in what each was doing. The venue is an old car dealership building right on one of the main downtown drags just east of the river. It’s situated in a part of town where a lot of the local music scene is located. It was special to get to play in that neighborhood – to bring a spirit of loud praise into what might be considered a decadent place (albeit relatively tame decadence). People in every walk of life, in every station of life need to know about Christ, to experience true worship, and to have some good clean fun. To get to pray for people as they drove by was a privilege.

The dates have been set for getting started on the upcoming recording project in Nashville. I’ll be heading down in mid-April. Originally I was looking at a 5-song EP, but now it looks like it will be an 8-song album. All of the songs will be originals. People have asked me if I’m nervous about it. Actually, as you’d expect, I’m excited, and have a peace about it. I don’t know what God will do with it, but I do know He is capable of doing more than I can ask or imagine. Even if nothing “big” comes of it (at least in the world’s eyes), I know the experience will be used by Him even if it’s to draw me closer or to be a witness to those I come in contact with there. It might even be something that is done just for His pleasure. My prayer is that I will be obedient and humble regardless.

Here is something that is quite humbling:

Dear Jeff,
I think you have the good voice to sing. My life is to be a singer because I like to make my own music now. Jeff I hope your heart is filled of music and let people hear you sing. Because Jeff you have an amazing voice to sing to others around you.
Your friend,
Libbie

Thanks Libbie. I don’t know about the amazing voice part, but you sure made my day. God, as with any praise or accolades I get from others while serving I humbly give this one to You. You are the one who deserves all the honor and glory both now and forever.

Until next time!

Jeff

Next Page »