So, as it turns out, I am an extremely lazy vocalist...and I'm not sure what I think about that. Huh. Me. Lazy vocalist. My choir teachers are all crying in a corner somewhere.

During week three of the project, we're taking a hiatus from regular rehearsal and recording scheduling for some overdubs. Guitar sounds are melting my face currently, and Ben is rocking some sweetness with his new Les Paul pickups in tandem with all-tube goodness. Sitting behind the recording desk, I can calmly listen to the tones and riffs without having to concentrate on nailing the chord changes...I like the change of pace! It also gives me some time to reflect on the crazy journey that God has brought me on to get to this point in history. Allow me to expound: Almost ten years ago, I bumped into a colorful character by the name of Clay Jacobs . At the time, he had just relocated to the tiny blip of a town known as Gunnison, CO . He had just gone through a life-altering theological shift and was extremely zealous for ministry of a personal nature. He randomly showed up at a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting that I was attending and nonchalantly announced that he was uns...

It's now on to week two and things are humming along nicely. After the snags of the first session, some bugs have been worked out and everyone is playing well together. Better than before, actually. It's hard to believe that this group has spent a whopping 6-8 hours together...it sounds like it's been ages. This week, I am very excited for the sonic possibilities with guitar overdubs and some light fx. Ben Higgins ( formerly with The Hot Finks ) is a more than capable guitarist with many creative melodic and rhythmic ideas. One of the highlights of working with him is that he is very positive and keeps a good attitude during frustrating circumstances. He's not allergic to multiple takes to iron out a passage, and it's just nice to work with someone like that. One of the arrangements we're working on has presented some great electronic possibilities. A little digital voice tweaking and some other synthetic elements will most definitely make Jesus Lover of My Sou...

First night of recording...musicians showed up on time ( that never happens ), session was drama-free ( that never happens ), and equipment was a royal pain ( that always happens ). All in all, the session went very well...once we were actually able to get started. Technical difficulties stressed me to the max as I scrambled to figure out MIDI time code conflicts and synchro errors with my soundcard. Thanks to Google and some other frustrated folks, I was able to dig through the approximately fifty thousand Cubase SX3 submenus and find the information I needed. It sounds concise enough when written, but it didn't seem that way over the course of the two-and-a-half hours it took me to diagnose and treat the problem. It is not hard to understand after this experience why engineers get paid decent dollars to do their job because problem solving while six musicians are trying to wait patiently is not high on my list of favs. Thankfully, creativity was not ultimately hindered by the...