Concert!

I hope to see you guys out for our May 16th concert at Linworth Baptist Church.  It's a free show, and I've got some of my band put together for it - Brandon Montgomery on lead guitar, Jonathan Prenosil on bass, me doing my thing.  That night I am going to share some new music that I have written in the last few months and play most of the material from the "Faith, Family and Friends" CD as well.

Speaking of CD's, they are all going to $5.  I figure if Subway can do it, then so can I!

Now this is fun - Tim Farrel is going to join me for a few tunes!  We have not played together and in a long time and not sure how long it will be to the next time either.  But we are going to have some of our Farrer & Stevenson CD's there as well, again for $5, and there is a deal: two for $10!

So if you need directions, visit: www.linworthbaptist.org.

Show times will be either 7 or 7:30 that evening.  Hope to see you there!

New Music

So where does it come from? New ideas and new music...they are such gold to me and yet it seems that I do everything I can to prevent them from coming. I got the privilege of debuting a new song this Sunday and it went well. Musically it was new for me and Brandon and Keil did a nice job dressing it up for me. What an honor. But it is interesting that so many of my activities distract me from that still small voice that tells me what to do, where to go and what to say. Perhaps that is why busy is spelled the way it is...burdened under satan's yolk. The Holy Spirit wants to help us communicate and commune with God, but we drown him out with the noise of this life. Well, here is to caring, writing, dreaming, loving more and actually doing less.

My bluegrass roots are showing...

I had a blast playing in church Sunday. I dusted off an old hymn called "Brethren We Have Met to Worship" and did a little acoustic thing with it. I heard a killer arrangement to this song from Bard Millard's "Hymned Again" collection and couldn't resist taking a crack at. So I drug my band's guitartist, Brandon Montgomery in on it to do some rythymn work and we also recruited his wife, Libby for that classic alto harmony that makes bluegrass ring. Well, thank the Lord, we pulled it off and it was a real blessing to us. I grew up on Appalachian music so this stuff kind of falls out of me naturally, but I peppered in "I'll Fly Away" and an original arrangement of "What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Sweet By and By, and Old Rugged Cross" and it was a nice little set for our worship time at Linworth. I think we made some friends with the senior folks in our church who get a little tired of the contemporary stuff, and it was an honor to get to do it!

Mercy Me and Bebo Norman were fantastic!

So, one of my good friends, Coldwell Banker West Shell Realor Greg Tassone, hands me these tickets a few weeks ago. He says, "Jim, I don't know if you know these guys, but they are coming the Underground Zone for a private concert." I about fell over when I saw that it was Mercy Me with Bebo Norman opening!

Fast forward to not knowing if we could even get a baby sitter, and then navigating around the OSU vs Michigan traffic (Go Bucks!), we walked in, and straight to the table to meet the band. What a great bunch of guys. They signed CD's, hung out, left with a copy of "Faith, Family and Friends" and then proceeded to deliver some incredible music.

I could have stood to hear a lot more of Bebo Norman, whose new CD is really, really good. His guitarist was solid and multi-talented, playing acoustic guitar, hammer dulcimer and keyboards. But "Pull Me Out" and his song about empathy for Britney Spears during her meltdown were really stand outs.

And despite having to do some starting and stopping for a presentation by the host ministry, Mercy Me delivered a really full set. Their opener, "Time" from their latest project was just amazing, especially in such a small venue. It was a wall of sound 100 miles thick, that had Tears for Fears, U2 and more all put in a high speed mixer and 10,000 watts!

Bart's voice was absolutely crystal clear and despite the small, reserved corporate crowd, he delivered energy and his passion for worship. Kim and I listened to the CD (autographed of course) all the back. Man, what a great night...makes me want to get out and play...wait a minute...I am playing with First Sunday in the morning and we are doing Mercy Me's "God with Us"!

Watch out for that kickball!

So this was a first for me...Worthington Christian Schools had a meet the teacher night at their Westview campus and the principal Jim Parrish asked me to do some praise and worship music. That was really cool...actually it was bloody hot out on the tarmac, but it is the first time that I have ever had to worry about my gear being hit by a kickball...did Come, Now is the Time to Worship, Open the Eyes of My Heart, Amazing Love and ended with traditional hymn Praise to the Almighty...revised for a solo guitar and singer...great night of meeting other parents, praying for our kids and teachers and music. Life is good.

Congrats Rob and Carol

So I have to tell you that I thought I was done doing weddings a long time ago, but Kim and I made a massive compromise to that when Carol Marie Montgomery (Petke now!) asked us. And man, was it a blast. It was great to get to work with them to create something that felt like them. The prelude included Stephen Curtis Chapman's "Cinderella" and I have to say that I hate to make people cry (like with an out of tune guitar) but this was a good cry! I actually had to hold it together myself since the song hits home. I also got to do Rascall Flatts "Broken Road". Nice song. The service didn't have any music inside of it but we got to rock and roll a bit on their recessional - her singluar request was "How Sweet It Is to be Loved by You" and with Kim on the piano, Brandon hustling over out of the wedding party to play lead guitar (on a killer mid 60's Gibson ES 335!), Jonathan Prenosil on bass and Aaron White on drums, we had a blast playing them out of the sanctuary. So that was probably a first for Linworth Baptist Church having a James Taylor song performed and blues guitar solo! Thanks and congrats again Rob and Carol.

2,300 views?

OK...so I don't know 2,300 people but the "Acadia Drive" video on YouTube from last year's Espresso Yourself concert just blew past that number...so thanks to whomever might be watching! Interesting thing going on in real music world...real artist taking over their real music and actually getting to control it. What a novel idea...so plans for the summer are playing with the First Sunday Band at Linworth, doing some wedding music for a friend, and working on new material. I know that sounds cliche, but I really am! I think the band will be getting back to doing a family and friends show this fall...maybe the new music will be ready by then too. Anyway, thank you!