House Of Cards

I lived this song. I started writing this a few months ago. Before Wormtown. The first verse came to me in the shower. I started writing the song but I thought it was too similar to "Contact"[Jan. '10] and stopped working on it.  Next day hop in the shower and verse two comes. I started working on it again but the song again stalled. I moved on, but I wasn't happy about it.
Secret Sage decided to do the Wizard of Oz for Halloween. We dressed like the characters, learned some of the music, and slipped references into our usual repertoire. The second verse of "House Of Cards" references Oz and the gears began to turn again. We didn't end up using it for the Halloween Bash but I knew I had an October tune.
I still didn't know where to take the song. With a hurricane headed right for the east coast it began to take shape. A good man I know took his own life. When we lost Jaime a few years back I wrote a song that opened with "I'm blown away..." It's that sentiment. I'm still blowing away. Ripped away from where I stood. Caught completely off balance.
The first two verses are about my own struggle to hold my ground. Then this terrible news came. What was written after that the narrative changed. In the song I've lost my footing. I'm tumbling in the wind. In my life my feet are still planted. I have healthy children. I have a strong marriage. Music in my everyday. The effort of maintaining these blessing presents me with quality problems.
He lived right up the hill across the street from the barber shop. He would open up to me about his life. He told me how much he loved playing his guitar. How much it helped. I told him all the time if he ever needed to step away for a minute to come down the hill with his guitar. He never did. I wish he had. Music saves my life all the time.

For Luke Lacaire

House Of Cards

White Knuckle Kisses

Secret Sage got to play the Wormtown Music Festival this month. It was an awesome experience. Playing for a big audience. Sharing our songs with so many music lovers. I am so happy that music is taking me to new places. It's giving me new experiences and giving me new friendships. The more  life I put into music, the more music life puts into me.
The band has been so good for me creatively. The Calendar Project has already shown me the value of collaboration. Being able to collaborate with players completely dedicated to music forces me to up my game.
Tom sent us an email with an mp3 of a song he was writing. It wasn't long after that that Dani sent an email with her own mp3 of a song she had been working on.  Never wanting to be outdone I started putting my thoughts towards a song. Before I ever began crafting a tune I was searching for a topic. When I picked up the guitar I hoped for inspirado. Eventually, it hit.
I started writing the song the day before Wormtown and "finished" it the day after Wormtown.That was the marinating period where it was swimming in my head. I started trying to write about the notion of  being a young soul, and it turned into a love song. I guess that's never a bad thing. It's a personal song about love over time. I haven't put pen to paper with the lyrics until after it was "completed." I wrote the lyrics by singing it over and over till every mumble was filled in. The Ronnie Van Zant approach.
I was really happy with this one. I have been writing pretty steady since I got this one out. Happy to have friends to play it with. Happy to have a wife to sing it too. Happy to be happy.

White Knuckle Kisses

Peloquin Wedding Theme

I had the honor of playing the music for my sister-in-law's wedding. I was allowed the opportunity to compose original music for the ceremony. Each part of the wedding ceremony needed music tailored for it specifically. I used Wedding Bells(I Do) [July '08], for the Welcome Prelude. I came up with new music for the Procession and the Bridal March. I made sure the music changed for the entrance of the bride. Kristin asked that I use a 12 string for part of it. I did that on the Wedding March sample and for the recessional. I feel lucky to be able to play role in the union of great couple that is already a fantastic family. Here is wishing Phil and Kristin all the best.

Peloquin Wedding Theme:

1. Welcome Prelude- Wedding Bells (I Do)
2. Wedding Party Procession
3. The Bridal March
4. Wedding March Sample- Mendelssohn
5. Recessional- Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Peloquin

 Peloquin Wedding Theme

Sitting Round The Campfire

The first year of the Calendar Project almost didn't go twelve months. In July of 2007 it came right down to the wire. I had to write a song and post it on the last day of the month. The song "Campfire Jam" was hastily recorded. Bluesman Jay has always given me a hard time about that tune. He never felt it was up to par. I know the song was rushed but five years later I still play it. I think it's a nice little ditty that captures the spirit of the Calendar Project.
This months song is a call back to that first July tune. It's another campfire song. I wrote it at the end of the month and it was recorded on my brother's iphone. It was the same vibe that created the first Campfire Jam. We were staying with Kate's folks when I recorded the 2007 song. This time we are staying with mine.
We are having a crisis with our house so we are staying with my folks for a couple of days. My mother is loving having all of her children and grandchildren under one roof. I'm glad my crisis has been enjoyable for her. Knowing I have band practice tomorrow I knew I needed to get the project done tonight. I wrote the song on the porch, used my brothers iphone to record it then posted it with my parents PC. I had another song ready but I wanted to take my time with it. I also knew that a rushed July isn't unprecedented. I've been camping twice this month and start camping at home tomorrow. The time was right for a new campfire song. I see myself playing this one five years down the road aswell.

Sitting Round The Campfire

Laryngitis

I wrote this guitar part last month. I was unable to put words to it before the end of the month. Luckily for me Mama Kate had a song and last month was saved. The writing I've done lately has been for Secret Sage. Most of my efforts however have been  in learning songs. Now that the band is rolling our main objective has been to fill time. The obvious answer to that is covers. When I do pick up the guitar to write I have a few ideas kicking around but I haven't been able to move past this song. It felt like an incomplete sentence. Words for it just weren't coming to me. Tom has a ton of lyrics to offer but nothing had felt right for this tune. It had become quite a puzzle.
I woke up the last few days with a sore throat. I've been talking a lot all day and I've exhausted my voice.  Today's the day I need to record something for the Calendar Project. It seems serendipitous that I have no voice at the end of the month and a song with no words ready to record. I added the limited vocals on the second take and loved it.
Songs are their own  entities. It still amazes me how they reveal themselves to us. I had no idea what this song was going to be. I thought I had  an uptempo rocker with an undiscovered poem lying in the mystic. What it became was virtually an instrumental that my spent voice (in my opinion) lends an old jazz quality to. I can picture the band doing a fun version of this with lots of solos and Tom sitting deep in the pocket. The "lyrics" are few but tell the whole story.
Here's a secret. I spent most of the month regretting that I continued the Calendar Project. It had a nice ending and this year has been dominated by Secret Sage. I was frustrated that I assigned  myself another writing project when the band is so much work. Gigs, rehearsals, recording, websites and homework take up enough time. There is a lot more to focus on now then just writing. Then I lost my voice. My life completed this song. That's why I couldn't finish it last month. I hadn't lived this song yet. Turns out the Calendar Project still has more to show me.

Laryngitis

Traveling Man

I had nothing for this month's Calendar Project. Luckily my wife did. She's been diligently working on this tune while all of my attention went to Secret Sage.  I might have appeared condescending when I didn't have time to hear her song with all of the "important band homework" on my plate. Here we are at the end of the month and it's the old story of the grasshopper and the ant. Only one song really matters now with 24 hours left in the month. I was panicking. Why did I keep this project going? Didn't I end this last year? Is there anything I haven't used already? Is this where the Calendar Project ends?
I have a song I'm working on but I didn't want to force that in between band practices. I didn't want to post crap just to keep it going.Then there's Kate, well crafted song in hand, ready to record. She wrote a solid folk song. A good story. Great imagery. Five verses with only a handful of chords. The kind of song that is so hard to write when you want to write one just like it.
We had a ball recording it. We did about 5 takes. Each one got more polished but lost steam. We kept the first one because we liked the vibe of the run through. It's nice hearing Kate laugh on this take.
I'm so grateful to Kate for coming up with a song. For putting in the work. It's far better than anything I would have come up with. I'm a huge fan.
She says there is no hidden message in the song intended for me. A song she wrote while I was  at band practice. A song about a guitar  playing hobo who's life was saved by finding a woman who loves him. No hidden message at all.

Traveling Man

Whitman's

This is a very old song. I wrote it over a decade ago. I wrote it in a closet with myself and 5 other people smoking out of a hookah on 4/20 circa 2001. I named the song after the Whitman's Sampler box I kept my stash in at that time. In the early Route 9 days we refined it with the "breathe" outro circa 2008.  With the Secrets and Lies theme of this year's Calendar Project I thought April 20th this year would be a good time to put out "Whitman's." Adding to the nostalgic feeling of this holiday anthem  Erik and I recorded it on an old 4track. You can hear the dirt on this dirty little secret. Secret Sage recorded this song just a day earlier. I love both versions we got. I used the Route 9 version because we where more "inspired" when we recorded it. On the actual holiday non the less.
Here's who knows about the project as of today.
Kate, Jay, the kids, Erik, Tom and Dani.
Secrets getting out.

Whitman's