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Creating the first 14 demos
1) Kick It (vocals: Jon Christopher Davis)
This song has an energizing, rock 'n roll hook and it's also a great dance tune. The premise of the song is based on an interesting play on words. I realized that the term "kick it" has different meanings in country (dancing) and pop/urban (hanging out) culture. This song uses both meanings. Texas rocker Jon Christopher Davis did a great job of nailing a raw honkytonk feel in the vocals. After the original version was mixed, Jon and his talented guitarist Chris Raspante helped me rearrange it with edgier guitars, real drums, and a faster tempo...and now it rocks. Turn it up!
2) Pain of Love (vocals: Perry Danos)
Michael Dukes is a fellow Nashville advertising guy who is also a talented songwriter/musician. He wrote and produced the instrumental track for this song in California several years before we met. The first time he played me the track an idea for the lyrics popped right into my head and I think I wrote the song in about a week. It's a country love song about breaking up...and then realizing you are in love...and that can be painful. Vocalist Perry Danos did a terrific job of adding a raw energy and emotion (and grunts!) to the vocals.
3) Count on Me (vocals: Brandi Taylor)
Michael Dukes also wrote the music for this song. Since the track was recorded several years ago I had to write lyrics that worked for the short length (just over 2 minutes) and key. Vocalist Brandi Taylor did a great job of delivering some powerful vocals - look out Martina McBride! The song is about commitment - it basically says "I'll always be here for you" no matter what happens. Although this song could use two more sections (another verse, a bridge and a solo/interlude) to make it commercially viable, I think it could work extremely well as a jingle for a bank or services company.
4) Don't Leave Me Now (vocals: Jody Nardone)
This song was inspired by my dad. I began writing it the month we found out he had brain cancer and had just a few weeks to live. The original idea for the song was "don't leave me now because daddy I love you" but after dad died it was too difficult to finish it. So I changed it to a country ballad about a broken relationship. The first time most people hear the chorus they seem to connect with the song. Although this song has the same theme as "Pain of Love", it's both slower and more serious.
5) Meant to be Mine (vocals: Tim Waters)
This song is pure country heartbreak. Once again, Michael Dukes wrote the music and I crafted the concept and lyrics around a prerecorded track. I met singer/songwriter Tim Waters in Franklin. He was performing on a small stage at the grand opening of a local Food Lion grocery store. The first time I heard his voice, kinda soft with a real unique North Carolina twang, I knew it was perfect for this song. I walked up to him and introduced myself. I pitched the song to Tim and he liked it...and the results are here for your enjoyment.
6) Just You (vocals: Jon Christopher Davis)
This song is a musical fairytale about finding your perfect soulmate. Finding that one special person who makes you feel special no matter what. You are always their hero.
Michael Dukes wrote and recorded the music track while he was living in California and it has been sitting on a shelf for years awaiting the right lyrics. Honestly, I think I came up with the "hook" for this song the very first time Michael played this music for me. I was excited when Jon Davis agreed to do the vocals. As usual he did a great job - Thanks again Jon.
7) Drive On (vocals: Jody Nardone)
Another break up song delivered with true emotion and soul by Jody Nardone. Michael Dukes gave me this music the same day he gave me the tracks for "Just You" and "Meant to be Mine". Again, I wrote most of this song in about 2 days. It's about a relationship that goes bad right before their wedding day.
8) Kick It - Remix (vocals: Jon Christopher Davis)
After the original version of "Kick It" was completed in the Spring of 2003, I kept thinking that it still lacked something special...more edge, sexier guitars or a faster tempo. Well Jon Christopher Davis and guitarist Chris Raspante agreed and helped me rearrange this version with live drums courtesy of Ryan Hoyle, former drummer for Collective Soul. I think it's tighter, faster, and better, than the original.
9) Little Red Barn (vocals: Chris Raspante)
This song was inspired by a red barn located in a field near my home. I figured if songs about "Red Dirt Roads" and "Red Ragtops" make great music, why not a love story in a cool old barn. The story is about love at first site, or in this case, love on first night. Boy and girl meet on a hayride, fall in love, and slip away to the barn...and return over and over...for the rest of their lives. One magical day they buy the barn at auction. Years later a developer calls and buys it, which makes them very rich...and they retire but keep the barn. I had fun with Chris Raspante, who helped bring all of the music to life and provided an inspired vocal track as well.
10) Ripley (vocals: Britton Cameron)
I wrote this song about an imaginary woman named Ripley. The these is based on the myth of love at first sight. The song uses a twist on the "Believe It or Not!" theme used by the "world famous" Ripley's wax museum. Chris Raspante added a dash of mystery with the spicy guitar riffs. The idea for this song came to me a few years ago when I worked on a marketing plan for a bank in Ripley, TN. Late one night, after a long day of meetings, I was driving back to Nashville and it occured to me "what if" Ripley wasn't a place, but a girl? Ripley's the woman you want to rescue from a mundane and passionless life and love forever unconditionally. And all it took was that first look in her eyes for you to know she was the one for you. I had fun writing this....
11) Love's More (vocals: Britton Cameron)
Face it, every relationship has its ups and downs. Every loving couple has their good and bad days. But with the right mix of open and heart-felt communication, dashed with a sprinkling of love, hope, faith, all relationships can endure the hard times. The bond of love is what holds couples together. We all know that it's not the symbols of love - vows, rings, homes - that provide the ultimate definition of how we can demonstrate love. It's more than that - it's the power of the love within us that gets us past the bumps in the road. Britton did an awesome job on the vocals - tender and powerful.
12) Ignite (vocals: Chris Raspante)
I have always been a big fan of Chris Isaak's music. Sexy guitar, deep vocals and mysterious riffs. The idea for writing this song came from two sources - I imagined it would make a sexy/cool video and the word ignite can be used to describe the volatile chemistry that occurs between two people. Everything between us is cold until the first touch...love ignites the chemistry between us...and then it builds until we lose self-control.
13) White Lightning (vocals: Cory Batten)
I had fun writing this song because of the tongue-in-cheek storyline. My family is from Eastern Kentucky and we've used country words like "holler" and "going up 'er" all of our lives. I had my first taste of Kentucky moonshine at a summer party in 1977...and if I close my eyes today I can still taste it...because it burned all the way down and it really tasted like turpentine and kerosene. Liquid heat!
14) She Struts (vocals: Cory Batten)
I wrote this song a long time ago. I showed it to Chris Parker and Steve Keller at i. v. music back in 2001. It was inspired by an image of a sexy southern woman with big blonde hair dressed in tight black leather pants. (Probably an image from a Tanya Tucker or Lorrie Morgan music video I saw in the 1980's.) This chick's got attitude and she knows what she wants...and she gets it too. That is why she struts.
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