Update on the new CD

Howdy friends and fans,

I've been negligent at keeping you updated on progress with the new CD. I will endeavor to post more often!

I've been trying out songs with classrooms at Richmond Elementary here in Stillwater, which is where Evalyn goes to Pre-K. I've visited some 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grade classrooms. The songs they've heard include "The Cat Came Back," "I Took My Dragon For a Walk," "It's Hard to Love a Reptile," "A Pet Like That," and "Humming Bird Hum." I use a four step process with the kids to make sure that I get helpful feedback from them, and all the songs are stronger due to their input. (If you've listened to my latest podcast, you know how they saved me from inadvertently singing about children with no pants on!)

I've also finished complete drafts of "Villa Villakula Hula," and "Fred's Frog, Flippy." Other songs that are close include "Super Flea," "Paws Claws Scales and Tales," "Dog Books," and "Pet Parade." There are a couple of other ideas floating around as well, but you can almost guess at the final line-up for the CD based on the titles I've already mentioned.

As far as recording goes, I've been working on "Villa Villakula Hula" this week, recording Ukulele and guitar parts and a vocal. If you're familiar with Pippi Longstocking, then you probably guessed it's about her(and her pet horse and monkey) - she lives in a house called Villa Villakula. I've also made a good start at recording "Humming Bird Hum," which is a song I wrote with my daughter Evalyn's help. And of course "The Cat Came Back" and "I Took My Dragon For a Walk" were recorded in Chicago in October - you can read all about that in a previous post.

I plan to have a website up soon where I will post samples of the songs as I finish them, so watch for that. And now, I must go see if I can't get some recording done today! I'm going to start putting together a rhythmic bed for "Paws Claws Scales and Tales" using my Korg Electribe dance music machine - the same hardware I used to put together tracks for "I Go Bananas."

See you next week!