A new demo!

It's very late, but we've had a great day. Leo came over tonight for a time of wine and music. We introduced him to Eva Cassidy. What a gift she was to all of us! I remember when Gerald first played her music for me. Everytime I was upset after that, all I wanted was to hear Fields of Gold. How can a voice be so pretty and so raw, all at the same time?

Today was a great music day for me. Brent Setterington and I finally recorded the demo for I Am Waiting Here For You. That's the song I wrote at Stamps-Baxter. Brent is an awesome producer who mostly does pop, but he's also a Christian with a great interest in gospel music. He was also the producer for my first cd. ("first" implies, of course, that there will be a second!)Daryl Williams and I did a rough demo when I was at school, but I wanted something solid I can put on my site and send to other artists. I definitely want to sing it myself, but I'd love for someone else to record it. I think I have my dream list of artists I'd like to record it - Allison Durham Speer, Gaither Vocal Band, Josh Groban, Karen Peck, to name a few.

I wanted to wait for Brent to come back from England, and it was worth the wait. When I thought about who I wanted to play piano and record the demo, Brent was my first choice, and I was right. His playing is a perfect marriage with the song. We spent several hours working on the arrangement. I wanted to keep the simplicity of the arrangement Daryl played, but I also wanted Brent to add his own creativity. He really likes the song, which is so thrilling! Very few people have heard this one yet, but the reaction has been really good. I really feel that this song was a gift from God, so I hope I can get it out to lots of people. I feel like that's my responsibility with it.

After working out the arrangement, we did three takes. We recorded together, but on separate tracks to allow for some edits. I was really happy with the third take, so we used that one, with just a few little edits. Brent had some great things to say about my voice and how it's growing. I'm also feeling much more confident in the studio, and that's showing too. So good to know that my work is showing results!

The demo is now done and I'm really pleased with it. It really is a songwriter's demo - very simple, just voice and piano, no fancy effects - It's a good performance, and it shows the song really well. So exciting!

Now, the next challenge: To get it out there...