Year in Review
Happy New Year!
Music for me feels like a snowball that started off pretty small about eight years ago, and has slowly been growing as it rolls down the hill. I think 2022 saw the most "snow collected" so far, which I thought I'd share here.
It started off with my family set to move to China for my wife's job, which was eventually squelched by Omicron, resulting in a collapse of the whole situation after six months of working towards it. I released "Two Palm Trees," a single produced by my friend Noel Molenda, which tied into the whole saga in many ways. (You can read more about that story here.)
Later in the year, I released a music video for the single:
Shortly after that, I was contacted by an agent at the Jackson Agency, who was looking for artists for his new branch, the Wright Music Division. This came through a connection of a connection, and was something I had submitted for quite a while before that, sometime during the pandemic. To be honest, before all of this happened, I was considering toning down the whole music career and getting a corporate job to pay the bills and live a nice easy middle-class life (sounds cliche, doesn't it?). But with music, it seems like every time I am discouraged or about to give up, something good happens. It's felt like a calling from the beginning, and I have to say that moments like that always reinforce that foundation.
So I signed on with the Jackson Agency and was swiftly thrown into producing more music than I ever had before, in genres I was uncomfortable in, and all with deadlines! I welcomed the challenge and have had so much fun this year producing an array of songs, from angsty grungy breakup songs to Christmas pop, often alongside good friends and collaborators! Out of this came my next single, "Heavy Rain," which is a big departure from my usual happy folk songs about my family, and explores darker themes and a more rootsy sound.
Also this year, a band I am lucky to be a part of, Channel4, finished our first single, "Better Together." I love the way this song turned out! It's so catchy, but with the resounding and universal theme of friendship found in a lonely place. This is only the first of many to come (we've already tracked drums for two more songs), so keep an eye out for more from Channel4:
Sometime in the middle of 2021, I endeavored to record a covers album, beginning with "Walkin' After Midnight," a Patsy Cline song featuring my sister Nicky on lead vocals. After lots of mixes and remixes, cuts and additions and even some re-recording, Here Are Some Covers was ready to release on my sister's birthday in September of this year. I'm really proud of this one and loved adding my own interpretation to a collection of classic songs. (I also tried out a new distributor for this one, Soundrop, which is an excellent resource for releasing cover songs legally.)
In the midst of all that, my friend Nico (who I got to co-direct a music video for back in 2021) referred me to Songfinch, a company that hires folks like me to produce custom songs for people wishing to gift something unique to their loved ones. This has been a fun exercise in writing really specific songs that still felt genuine to me, and also sounded good with a really tight production time (usually 2-4 days). Out of these have come some really catchy love songs, which I hope to release later this year. (Click that link if you'd like to order your own custom song from me!)
And then finally, I rounded out the year with my first ever Christmas EP! I have been writing Christmas songs since I was in high school, slowly crafting an epic Christmas album that will sweep the airwaves, if only for one month out of the year! Christmas Rain is only a few of those songs, along with some classics and a lighthearted song written for my side project, The Pumpkin & Nog Vlog. Still, I'm proud of this collection that enters me into the Christmas music sphere, which, if I'm being honest, I feel was always part of my destiny.
If you've made it this far, I appreciate your interest and your endurance, and of course your continued support of this musical journey! I often wrestle with the idea of a career in music, but since the beginning I've gotten feedback that these songs mean something to people in ways of encouragement and conviction, and what more could you ask for as a songwriter?
So to wrap things up, I'll post this little insta-video from my only live appearance of 2022 (as you can tell, I spent most of it writing and producing!), which was a fun fund raiser for Epiphany Space, where so much of my musical journey in LA began. Enjoy, and please support this co-working space, which fosters the talent and careers of so many creatives in LA and Georgia, my own included:
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