License Plate Guitar - Keep it in the Family

Today I'd like to blog about a new friend of mine. I received this little monster for Christmas two years ago and it's slowly but surely creeped its way into live shows and in the near future will be on my license plate album. This guitar was built by Mr. Jay Patton. Jay is a guitar player, slide guitarist, singer, car enthusiast, electronics whiz and....cousin. He's my go to guy for all things music, plus he has to answer my questions because we're related. For a previous blog about the pedals he built for me, go HERE

Here's a tasty little sample of his slide playing:

Learn how to make a free Electronic Press Kit

Of course I would be dead meat if I didn't mention that this gift was my mom's idea. Thanks mom! On our next episode, I'll dive into some of the dirty details about this guitar (with pics!) 

Writing Better Lyrics to Avoid Satan: Songwriting Books Part 2

Today's post is definitely a book for the Songwriter's Songwriter. I'm sure there are tons of musicians who have read this book already. Pat Pattison dives DEEP into how lyrics work and how to make your lyrics have greater effect.  Metaphors, similes, rhyme schemes and many more things that I had forgot about since I graduated high school are talked about. The exciting thing for me is how you can use all of these tricks in writing songs. With an introduction by the amazing Gillian Welch, you can't really go wrong. With songs like "Time (The Revelator)" and "I Dreamed a Highway" I always thought that Gillian and David Rawlings had sold their souls to the devil. It's good to know that Pat helped them a little too.

This book was especially helpful to me because I almost always start with music, then come up with lyrics. This book taught me how to use your lyrics to guide the rhythm and direction of the song.

Songwriting Books: Part 1

I'm firing up the ol blog engine and I figure the best way to get the sparks flying is by writing about how I write. Firstly and foremostly, it's a mess. I'm specifically talking about my songwriting. It's a jumbled word vomiting mess of ideas. I used to think that I was more inspired when I was a teenager, but when I go back and look at that material it is generally terrible and made no sense at all. I had no idea what I was doing and I was WAY too judgemental of everything that I wrote.
One book that helped me with brainstorming and not judging myself is Lynda Barry's book "What It Is." I recommend this book to any writer, painter, or really anyone else who is looking to get some ideas out. One way her methods are different is that they are all based on images and memories. I swear that some of her exercises have me recalling very specific details that I had no idea I still had in my brain at all. Of all of the books I'll be talking about in my next few blogs, Lynda's is the most fun. It's like a grown up comic book. Every page is jammed packed with drawings and ideas. But you don't have to take my word for it!

On a side note "What It Is" can actually be seen in one my videos. In the first few seconds of my video for "Leave It All Behind" the actors can be seen reading it on the couch. On the video shoot that day they were all talking about how cool it was. Can you say product placement!