These tracks were recorded between 2021-2024, and many of the songs were written well before that. I’ve been feeling the itch to get back into writing lately, and it felt like I needed to clear some of these songs out of my hard drive (both literally and metaphorically), before starting fresh.
But in a way I am sort of proud to have written and recorded an album on my own. I still have a lot to learn, and this record is definitely rough around the edges, but I kind of love the weird little creature I created.
Any writing and recording I’ve done since then has been very sporadic and isolated, and I think there are a handful of songs on the record I have never played live. Putting these songs into the world almost feels wrong, like they are supposed to live in my brain and nowhere else.
This is the first new record I’ve released since 2020, which feels crazy, but true. Since Covid, I haven't been nearly as connected to the local music scene as I used to be, and I think this lead to kind of a strained relationship between me and songwriting.
Continuing my quest to listen to every album ever, here are my top albums from 1956.
open.substack.com/pub/dotsandf...
One of my students had a sniffle so now I’m like Doctor Robbie every time I walk by a bottle of hand sanitizer.
That’s fair! The white boys were white boy-ing in 2001 for sure.
Vespertine though!
I’m releasing an album! The first two songs are already out and I’ll be releasing two more per month until it’s fully out. More on that here:
open.substack.com/pub/jackbyrn...
Oof I’ve been strumming with a pick at GB gigs for too long and now I need to get my fingerpicking calluses back 😩
I’m obsessed.
Well one guy is saying (probably correctly) that you absolutely cannot ever put a quarter rest on the second eighth note of a bar in 6/8. Another guy is basically saying all rules are made to be broken, which is apparently sacrilege. I’m just enjoying the show.
A fight broke out in the comment section of a post in the music notation Facebook group I am in, and wow this is the nerdiest beef I have ever witnessed.
I don’t often feel hopeful about the future of our society, but I did just have a 12-year-old guitar student request to learn “Boys Don’t Cry” by the Cure, so maybe we’ll be all right.
Who am I kidding I’ve always been this person.
I just took a sip of coffee and said, out loud, to an empty house, “Ooh, that’s a nice cup o’ joe!” in case you’re wondering what kind of person I’m becoming.
2016 was an awful year, for me personally, as well as globally, but thankfully there was a lot of great music that year! In February I dove into a bunch of music that turns 10 this year and here’s my monthly roundup of what I listened to. open.substack.com/pub/dotsandf...
It happens! It was definitely a departure for them so it makes sense that it wouldn’t necessarily land. I’ve been sort of getting to know REM’s discography more recently so it’s interesting seeing how they evolved throughout the 90s at least.
I’ve only listened to this one all the way through once. I do like it, but it’s not my favorite REM record by a long shot.
There are also upcoming live show dates listed at the top of the post (that part is not paywalled. I don’t want my live shows to be a secret, obviously).
This month we’re focusing on “A Pane of Glass,” which is a track from my 2020 EP, “New Beginnings and Resolutions.” The post includes video, lyrics, and sheet music/TABs as well.
In my latest newsletter, I am starting a new paywalled section with sort of a “Behind the Music,” series where I write some reflections on where my songs came from. open.substack.com/pub/jackbyrn...
This was my intro to them, so I’m curious to dig into their stuff now.
This was a fun lip sync!
This past month I listened to as many albums from 1996 as I could. A lot of musical gems are turning 30 this year.
open.substack.com/pub/dotsandf...
I think I’m the only person who doesn’t get the hype around Geese (the band, not the bird).
