Reflections on One Love, One Year

“A bit of advice
Given to a young Native American
At the time of his initiation:
As you go the way of life,
You will see a great chasm. Jump.
It is not as wide as you think.”
― Joseph Campbell

One year ago I was standing at the foothills of a mountain. What was before me looked unscalable but for many reasons I knew I had to start my climb. A song a week was a daunting task indeed. I remember being asked early on if I thought I would make it and to be honest I wasn't quite sure. I often joked that "by around March" there was a chance I would be "licking the walls."

To my surprise, with inspiration around every corner and fueled by my love for writing and producing, after hundreds of hours stuck inside while my friends were out enjoying life, mentally taking the challenge one week at a time, I reached my goal. One love song a week, 52 in total, written and produced - for an entire year.

I learned a lot about love, a lot about myself, a lot about songwriting. I learned that even when you think the well is dry - if you push through - there is often something beautiful just on the other side of your resistance.

Many people have asked "What now?" First, over the next couple of months I am going to be reorganizing this site and while "One Love, One Year" will be a part of it, it will also include new music, in-depth reflections on my songs and songwriting and much more. I hope you'll stay with me for the next leg of this journey. I will be also doing some regional touring in the southeast, producing and writing for other artists and exploring several professional options.

Many thanks to all of you who have made this trek with me. I literally couldn't have done it without your support and feedback. I sincerely hope you've connected emotionally with these songs and maybe even worked through some of your own "stuff" because of them. Or... at the very least you've been entertained.

So now after a long and often difficult climb, here I stand at the top of the mountain. It is not the end of the hike, however. I've not written my final song; this is only the beginning. Here on this cliff I only have two options - retreat and be satisfied with my accomplishments... or jump. I don't know exactly where I'll land - how the future is going to unfold or where this music will lead - but I'll be damned if I've come this far to stop now. It's time to jump.

3... 2... 1...

Hey! Tickle Your OWN Ivories!

This week's song - #51 "La Pelea" - is a modern classical piano composition that flirts with jazz and dabbles in Rachmaninoff-esque large chords and low ocatve stabs. In case there were any pianists among you, I decided to throw up the score for this piece and encourage you to have a go at it. Enjoy!

Click here to download the 3-page PDF (Right-click, "Save As...")

One Love, One Year, One Half

Milestones are those markers on the journey that tell us we're going in the right direction.

This week I posted song #26 - "I'm Ready" - and if you're keeping count at home: 52/2=26. That means I've just surpassed the halfway milestone through this One Love, One Year adventure.

Thank you so much for your continued love and support and being on this challenging but awesome journey with me. Cheers!

One Quarter

Well, sojourners - this marks the 13th week in the One Love, One Year project. Hard to believe, but that means I'm exactly 1/4 of the way through. It's had it's challenging moments for sure - both in terms of time and content - but overall I'm still finding that energetic passion each week. Even when the inspiration is lacking it seems there is always an "aha moment" by Wednesday that allows me ample time to pull a song together.

Thanks again to each of you - the Facebook friends, blog visitors and regular listeners - who tune in and support this regularly. I'm not sure I could do it without your encouragement.

Really looking forward to sharing the next track - the hardest rocking of the bunch so far. See you Sunday.

So it begins...

Week one, song one. I actually get a bit of a pass this week as I'm re-mixing and cleaning up a song I wrote and recorded a few weeks ago. In fact, this track was actually one of the impetus...es (impetii?) for me to start this whole new project.

Even still I'm starting to learn the dynamics of how much time this is going to take, how much sleep I'm willing to sacrifice as well as getting the new studio space all set up. And I know what you're wondering --- yes, that's a painting of The Dude and Walter behind me.

Step into my chambers...

Studio Room

MacBook Pro workstation