The idea of putting together a demo was, at first, something I didn’t really give much thought to until maybe earlier this year. I had previously thrown a few tracks together for a friend to hear, but nothing I would put the name “demo” onto… and I’ve come a long way since then, as we all do.
I’ve been corrected by other musicians when I ask how their demo is coming along and they quickly say “It’s a cd, not a demo”… Which I can understand- A demo sounds a little less professional than saying you’re working on a cd. I know I’m working on a demo and I make no excuses for it. The songs recorded so far sound how I would like them to sound with the resources I have available. They represent what I hear in my head right now- rootsy, acoustic-based songs with minimal overdubs.
The actual tracklisting for this demo has been revised so many times, along with the proposed title, but now I have that one clear vision of what I want it to be and what it will be called- “Woodlands”. 6 songs with various moods and colors. At this point, I have one song to re-record and another to add some slide guitar into the mix. I’ve listened to it a few times and it feels right to my ears.
Once it’s done, what’s next? I have some smaller labels in mind that I would like to send it off to, but I don’t have dreams of getting signed and leaving my day job. If I could hand out a few copies, play more shows supporting other musicians, do some festivals… That would be cool by me. There’s a guy I have lined up to do the artwork (http://gsolsen-atinypostermakingconcern.blogspot.com/) and that has me excited.
Two years ago I had pretty much stopped playing, wasn’t doing any of my own writing, and wouldn’t even think about singing. Now, I’ve done more and learned more about myself through song writing than I knew was possible. In the next blog post, I think I’ll go more into detail regarding the track listing and back story of the songs for “Woodlands”. Thank you for checking this out!
-Kevin
