Love can be complicated in this mixed-up world. Production notes: We recorded Leum’s first couple of passes at the vocals and guitar on 2/4. After listening back, he said he wanted someone else to re-record the guitar parts (Robbie, Matt, Nick…

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…

June 17th, Leum brought to the studio a lovely, plaintive reflection on lost love. He recorded a solid first take, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, then invited the rest of us to fill out the production as we saw fit. Margaret added some…

Leum dropped off these lyrics at the April REM Challenge recording session, to see what other folks would do with them. At the first May recording session, we scanned through the lyrics and decided to try to put them to music. Robbie had a couple…

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…

Sweet origin story for the lovely Anders family. Mike had most of the song written prior to February, and he and Margaret fine-tuned the words at the studio while we were setting up to record. Mike invited his bluegrass pickin’ buddies over…

This one started as a busier version of Leum’s song When Do You Show It. I added drums and a bass part to his vocals and acoustic guitar, and Hayden later pitched in with a distorted guitar part. I sent Leum mixes of three different versions…