It’s Always About The Songs – Part 4 of 4

These days, I’m a lot more open and excited about the thought of my songs changing and evolving. I try to get a song as prepared as I can – I hone it and sit with it and make sure it’s as good as I can make it – and then I open it up to criticism and change. I tend towards certain songwriting habits, and I’m excited by the prospect of letting those habits get turned on their head by Ryan, a producer, fellow musicians.

Lately we’ve been talking about our next record and how we’d like to widen our production palette even more… play more instruments than before. More mandolin, piano… go in directions that make the listening experience different than what we’ve done previously. Up until now we’ve tended to stay pretty close to the 2 guitar, 2 voice format that you see live. And we’d like to broaden that substantially… to be as absolutely creative as we can be.

Yet regardless of how we produce a song – regardless of how many layers of piano or mandolin or the Tucson Boys Chorus we add – it will still be true that moving, well-written songs make the real difference.

So far I haven’t found anything quite like the feeling of satisfaction and creation that come with completing the puzzling, heart-and-mind-requiring process of songwriting. Some have come in the course of one night, while others have taken years to finish writing. But it’s definitely true that the process, the struggle, the work of writing a song is just as important and in many cases, just as fun, as listening to a finished product.

I’ll leave you with a live video of one of our newest songs, “After Night Came Sun.” It’s about struggling through a difficult process, trying to find your voice, and about truly celebrating it once you’ve found it.

Thanks for reading!
Cameron
ryanhood