Top Hollywood Music Supervisor Adds My Cover Songs to His Stash

"Never give up. Never surrender."

After stomaching over two dozen rejections for my song submissions to publishers, music libraries, and music supervisors for placement in film, TV, ads, and more, this week I got some good news. (As Thomas Edison famously said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work.") Two songs were hand picked by an "A-List Hollywood Music Supervisor" for his "stash of covers for HIT Network TV Shows he's working on." From the posting:

A-LIST HOLLYWOOD MUSIC SUPERVISOR NEEDS COVER VERSIONS of ANY and ALL POPULAR SONGS from the last several decades for HIT Network TV Shows he's working on. He wants to hear whatever you've got, but it's got to be GREAT! Whether your COVER SONG is a guitar/vocal or a full production, this Supervisor's bar is VERY HIGH, and he'll need the recording, production, and vocal performances ALL to be TOP NOTCH. Quoting the Music Supervisor: "I want to build my stash of covers to use after we come back from Christmas break and into the New Year. Covers of HITS will get more play than B-sides, so let your folks know that. Cool, contemporary remakes always work well, and make sure to let them know that GREAT, EMOTIONAL VOCALS are most desirable." All submissions will be screened on a YES/NO BASIS by the Music Supervisor HIMSELF. The Supervisor will contact you directly if he is interested. 

Well he picked two recordings of mine - My Generation (The Who) and Here Comes The Sun (The Beatles). Now I just need to see if he decides to use one in a show and contacts me. Send positive vibes. Here are the tunes:

New Song - Here Comes The Sun (cover)

Recently, a fellow parent and musician at my youngest son's preschool asked me if I would work with her to create a children's album for the school. The goal was to create a fun keepsake that could also help raise money for the school. I agreed, and we got together to start arranging and recording nine songs that are staples at the preschool. One of the songs she chose to do was Here Comes The Sun by the Beatles.

(Side note: there was a bit of a "sun" theme to the songs - You Are My Sunshine, Mr. Sun, and Sunshine On My Shoulder all make an appearance - though there are also other traditional ones like The ABC Song and If You're Happy And You Know It. I knew we were creating a hit with the three year old market when my son kept running in a circle and singing to the music as I worked on them, and said, "Play it five more times, Daddy.") 

When it came to recording the Beatles track, she asked if I would take on that one myself which I was happy to do. One night last week we captured all her vocal and guitar tracks for the album, and this weekend I worked out the remaining arrangements, recordings, and mixes, including Here Comes The Sun. I wanted to do a simple arrangement in character with the other songs, and when I finished I knew I had the next song I wanted to release to you.

Here Comes The Sun was on the Beatles album Abbey Road, which was released the year I was born. I'm not entirely sure why I told you that, except that it seems to have a serendipitous tie to me recording it for my child's school many years later. I hope you enjoy it. You can download a free copy for your iPod using the download link.

I Want I Want I Want

Lately, I find myself suffering from GAS, or "Gear Acquisition Syndrome." It's an affliction that most musicians suffer from, and I am not immune myself. I'm obsessing a bit over my latest toy discovery, so much so that I even stepped foot in my current local music store of choice, Sam Ash Music, to see if I could try it out. Alas, the only one in the store was still sealed in the box, and they were hesitant to open it just for me to try. But without further ado, permit me to geek out:

Oooooh. The Voicelive Touch. If you believe the marketing, it's like the ultimate guitar pedal board, but for your voice. And it works with keyboards, too. What does it do, you ask? Why, it automatically adjusts to give your voice the best sound; adds reverb, delay, and other effects; adds realistic sounding harmonies; corrects pitch; and does loops. All that, and it slips onto your mic stand, and has a simple touch interface.

I currently bring a small mixer with reverb with me when I perform live, but this would be just too much fun.

To give you an idea of what this thing can do, just check out this video of the incredibly talented Laura Clapp, demonstrating the Voicelive Touch with a keyboard.




Don't you think I should have one of these? I already hear new, cool live versions of All Fruits Ripe and Little Miss Magic in the works...

New Song - Sing It Out (new version)

This month's new song is actually a new version of one of my most popular tunes called Sing It Out. My good friend Ben Wakeman co-wrote the lyrics, and we recorded this one with Chris Kearney for our band Screen Door's album Greener back in 2003. Well, recently I found this listing from an A&R exec looking for a song:

ADULT CONTEMPORARY SONGS needed for a female British artist a la SUSAN BOYLE. The A&R exec at the Label tells us they're looking for songs with "strong lyrical sentiments of hope, honesty, new beginnings, etc." Lyrics can also be "reflective or nostalgic" and can even go so far as to suggest themes such as "unrequited love" but should also convey a "glimmer of hope." This comes straight from the source, so keep it in mind when submitting. Nothing depressing, cliche or gimmicky! Give this artist's incredible voice something MAGICAL and MEMORABLE to sing, at the level of "I Dreamed a Dream." Remember, she can cover any existing song. Let's give her something new and exciting she CAN'T RESIST! Vocal and instrumental demo presentation must be top-notch!

I decided to submit Sing It Out, but I wanted to present it a little differently than we did back in 2003. So I recorded this new version, and while it was not selected, I got some very nice feedback:

A very pretty song with an emotionally-gripping lyrical sentiment. Very nicely-crafted and professionally-presented in terms of vocal performance and instrumental performances/overall sonic quality. While possessing some traits that address the listing's stylistic requirements, the song also has some Jazz-leaning chordal/melodic elements and arrangement touches which take it slightly off-target for the listing.

Overall comments:
Hi Tom,
Thank you for the chance to hear and review "Sing It Out," I enjoyed listening and it's certainly a high quality work that is, in my opinion, slightly off-the-mark in the ways indicated in my Style comments above. This "Major Label High" bar listing required a great deal of scrutiny on all fronts, but please keep up the good work; you're clearly talented!

I was quite pleased with the critique, and decided to share the new version of this song and the story behind it with you. I hope you enjoy it, and let me know what YOU think!

New Music Video - Rain

Growing up, I heard stories from my parents, both Hungarian immigrants, about living through war. My mother hid in a dirt basement whenever soldiers came, and remembers watching a bomb land in their garden which miraculously did not explode. She saw friends get taken away, never to be seen or heard from again. My dad spent seven years in a refugee camp, most days eating only potatoes. He had been shot at numerous times. Both suffered and lost belongings, friends, and family.

It's not the type of information I read about in history books, nor hear about on the news. Although I did not experience war firsthand, I feel their stories gave me a unique perspective. I've always wanted to create something to pay tribute to the people who have actually felt the true costs of war.

A decade ago, as I watched us go to war in Afghanistan, then Iraq, I thought a lot about the people in the war zone at the time. It moved me enough to write the song "Rain," which is that tribute to both the civilians living in a war and the soldiers sent to fight it. With the war still continuing there ten years later, I was moved again to do even more with the song, this time incorporating the images of actual people involved. I searched for Creative Commons photos on Flickr, and put together this video.

The first verse of the song tells the story of an Afghan girl living through the war. The second verse tells the story of the fiance of a soldier going off to fight. Both of their stories are of loss and hardship. But the bridge is a dream of hope - when the hurt is replaced with love, when fear no longer falls from the sky. I hope this video further helps share my hope for this song and for a world where our children will never have to know what war is truly like.