Category: Colin

Faithful readers of this blog (and who isn’t?) will remember that Colin Gordon-Farleigh and I co-wrote a song in 2008 called “If Only I Had Wings.” Last year it was recording by Jennifer Douglas, and now it has been recorded again by Australian Grace Bawden. You can take a listen and download an MP3 at CDBaby Both singers do a beautiful job with the song, and it’s interesting to hear how each has arranged and “owned” the song in their own unique way.

My across-the-pond collaborator, Colin Gordon-Farleigh, has just signed two new singers. One is a young woman named Jennifer Douglas who did such a nice job with If I Had Wings, and the other is a male country singer whom I haven’t yet heard. Naturally, they need new songs, so I just finished up two new settings of Colin’s lyrics.

The first one is a straight up country song called “I’m Just a Country Boy at Heart.” This is me channeling my inner pick-up-drivin’-cowboy. (He’s in there; he just doesn’t come out very often.) Check out the MP3 or PDF.

The second is a smooth pop/jazz number named “Where Did You Go?” I hear it as sort of a Sade or Norah Jones number, and give it my sultry best on vocals. On the demo you’ll also hear my attempt to mimic Wes Montgomery on guitar. It’s easy to take performers for granted until you try to do what they do. Listen to the MP3 or try out your own version with the PDF lead sheet.

A song that I wrote with Colin Gordon-Farleigh in 2008, If Only I Had Wings, has now been recorded by Jennifer Douglas. She has a beautiful voice and does a great job with the song. But wait, there’s more! There’s also a video of the song. Check it out:

I finished a demo for Colin Gordon-Farleigh this afternoon, which was something of a miracle given Easter planning, meetings, and having the boys with me for part of the afternoon. (You don’t realize just how annoying mixing is until you have someone in the room with you.) Because I had some extra instruments at the church in anticipation of Easter, I decided to add timpani, glockenspiel and a cymbal roll just for fun. What I *really* wanted to do was put the song in triple meter and give it my best Roy Orbison, a la “Running Scared.” But time ran out and I couldn’t find my sunglasses. This one’s for you, Roy!

Candle in the Window, mp3

(read the original post about this song)

After a ripe hiatus, I just finished another song with Colin Gordon-Farleigh. Though I was mainly a trombone player in high school, I learned just enough trumpet and tuba to make myself dangerous. You can experience the danger in this rough demo of Dreaming. If you don’t have the guts to experience the raw trumpet power, you can take the easy route and simply look at the music: PDF.

Colin Gordon-Farleigh has his fingers in many musical pies. His latest venture is a country project with my old friend Charlotte Kerce. And what’s a country project without country songs? Nothing! So, my faithful RSS feed friend, Colin wrote a four new lyrics and I set them to music and recorded them. You can download the MP3 demos or PDF leadsheets below:

Pavements of Gold: mp3, pdf

Sometimes Dreams Come True: mp3, pdf

Love Away the Hate: mp3, pdf

You Are My Rock: mp3, pdf

Colin Gordon-Farleigh has been working with a new singer, Lisa Winwood, who needs a new batch of songs that will fit her soulful voice. Here’s the first. I took a little different approach this time. Instead of writing a piano score and having Finale play it back, I wrote a lead sheet and recorded a rough demo of the song.

What could be a more appropriate soundtrack for a quiet Friday in Lent than a rollicking country song about leaving it all behind? Actually, this song has nothing at all to do with Lent, it’s just that the incongruity between the song and the season struck me as humorous. But I digress.

Colin and I are back in business, and “Shake the Dust” is the latest in our catalog. “Shake the Dust” is the kind of song you want playing in the background after you’ve pistol whipped the bad guy, kissed the girl goodbye, tossed back a shot of whiskey and thrown the glass against the wall with a hearty laugh. And haven’t we all had days like that?

Take a gander at the MP3 or PDF.

This thing is a hit waiting to happen. Am I right or am I right? (You know the answer in your heart of hearts.) Check out the PDF or listen to the MP3.