Category: News

This past weekend was totally busy for me! My mom had her 50th birthday party, and I went to two concerts! Two friends of mine are singer-songwriters, and, as a friend does, he checks up on them every once in a while.

Saturday night, Megan and I went to see Lilia Griffin play with her band in a warehouse in Schaumburg. It was for a live album recording. I was totally impressed. She has a natural feel on the guitar (which is hard to come by) and her voice (though she said she was sick) was full, clear, and, on the highs, very crisp. Overall, some of the best female singing I’ve ever heard live.

The second concert was Sunday night at the Beat Kitchen. Julia Klee and her band, Clockwork, played a 45 min. set. Klee’s band rocked out on a few super-solid numbers at the beginning of the set, and closed with a few intimate, no-drums tunes. Guitarist, Andrew, really fed off of Klee. Julia, who plays piano and sings, has written and arranged some really cool vocal lines and harmonies, and reminds me of a catchier Fiona Apple.

I just want to give a quick thanks to everyone who checked out my show at Fat Bean a few weeks ago, with Peter Frederiksen, Daniel Hautamaki, and Matt Schweinberg! We had an awesome time playing, and we even made a few new friends! Thanks to Billy of Dashney for running sound for us, and thanks to Tom of Screaming Beaver for promoting the show.

I’ve just finished pre-production on the few new songs, which means I’m ready to record a few in the studio. It looks like I’ll be doing work on my next album in sections. I feel like my songs, musically speaking, really stretch into different genres, which makes them difficult to record with the same producer, etc. (unless, of course, it’s me).

I’m also really excited about the prospect of working with a songwriter/producer in Nashville. His name is Jeremy Casella, and we’ve been communicating a bit by phone and email, talking about the possibility of recording some of my more “David Gray-esque” songs. Very exciting.

As for some of the other songs, I’m trying to hook up with an old buddy of mine who works out of Villa Park, running a studio, producing, and engineering.