July 2016 – Across the Stateline

“Middle Class Anthem” is the last song I wrote, but I think it has become my favorite on the album. The inspiration and feel of the song is just frustration/anger/angst with how politics have been handled. There are so many times I’ll watch the news, or worst yet Facebook posts, and just want to yell “WAKE UP” at someone. It just baffles me at how complacent Americans have become and it makes me nervous that the complacency actually comes from a place of ignorance…

I really wanted to write songs that folks could sing in a bar, but yet still have some political activism in them… so that is where “Middle Class Anthem” came from. Also, I needed a Bernie Sanders themed song on the album. I think this song really embodies the feel of Bernie Sander’s campaign, has a good bar sing-along vibe, and still has political/historical significance to it. I absolutely love the Civil War part of the song… to me… that is what makes this song. Since “Middle Class Anthem” was the last song I wrote for the album, I do think I was able to get all cylinders to his on this one.

The songwriting process for “Divided We Fall” started with the song “Campfire Song”… but really it started with the year preceding making the first note. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve never played Country music before… or even really listened to it much on the radio. However, I’ve been working as an A1 at country music venues on a weekly basis for a little over a year leading up to this album. It is during this time that I really started to fall in love with the Country crowd, musicians, and musicianship.

This is really where the songwriting process started… mixing great Country bands, from all over America, and paying attention to how the instruments work together. There are some things that I can’t do; like play Steel Guitar or Fiddle, that I would have liked to incorporate… but overall these songs incorporate a lot of what I noticed would go over well in venues, with the bands I’ve been working with.

The album also, of course, was inspired by the current political events that have been going on. I would consider this to be part of the songwriting process. Just watching how ridiculous the presidential primaries have been. Eventually I went from writing an ultra critical album to a more satirical album (slight, but significant difference). This was just the result of my process where I try to slow down the songwriting process in order to let inspiration evolve.

Divided We Fall

Month: July 2016

Inspiration for “Middle Class Anthem”

The Songwriting process for “Divided We Fall”