Just Leum and an acoustic guitar. Sometimes, that’s all you need. :) Leum Monroe – lyrics, songwriting, vocals, guitar Kevin Craig – recording, mixing Our Surprise by Leum Monroe Would I stand near the ocean just to hear your cry…

Robbie’s ode to a favorite vacation destination on the Gulf of Mexico. Robbie Robinson – lyrics, songwriting, vocals, guitars, bass, recording, arrangement Kenny Tannehill – background vocals Margaret Bibb – background vocals Kevin Craig…

As February and the RPM Challenge approached, Margaret was surprised to find herself gravitating toward country music this time around, but she rolled with it and finished the lyrics in time for us to lay down some scratch tracks on 2/10. Over…

Early on, after we recorded the first couple of takes of Leum’s song, Silence is Sound, Nick and I chatted about Leum’s request for somebody to replace the guitar part on the song. I thought about maybe using my baritone and/or 12-string hollowbody…

A lovely, sweet sentiment that, to my ear, could be a love note from one hopeful individual to another, or could read as a celebration of this everchanging group that assembles to entertain and support one other each February. Like I told Leum…

Robbie’s lament for the Earth and the state we’re likely to leave it in. (This one’s vibe reminded me of Lady in Black by Uriah Heep, which our band covered several years ago, so I tried to add drums and bass to maintain that vibe…) Robbie…

This one has quite a convoluted path, too! The origin was toward the end of the first RPM recording session on Saturday, 2/4, when Matt said, "Hey, can we jam on G – D – Em – C and see what happens?" We arrayed ourselves around the studio…

Kenny kept this song in his back pocket for a couple of years after an especially sweet revelation/confession from a couple of friends. The origins were specific, but as with lots of good songs, the lyrics could describe any number of situations…

So, the RPM Challenge is to record an album of original music in the month of February, which had 28 days this year. Robbie texted me on the 27th of those 28 days to let me know he had another song almost finished – it just needed final vocals…

When Kenny first sang this one over a Zoom call, I immediately thought of “Singapore” by Tom Waits, and said, “Hell yes!” 😊 I’m not sure I made the chaos part sufficiently chaotic, but it was a lot of fun to put together. Special thanks to Rebecca…