"Castaway of Love" is a song by Brian, one of our guitar players who until now has been shy about sharing his talent. When he told me the title of this song I was expecting a 1920's style megaphone crooner melody, but was happily surprised by…

I have never written a song about the RPM Challenge itself, until now. Have we really been here for 15 years? It needed to be fun, it needed to be a great dance number. I had the gtr riff, and realized it would be even better as a horn line. The…

With JS Tolar, as band Visions Of Nell. My tribute to Anne Boleyn, the first queen to be publicly executed in England. I used some of the poetry she wrote during her imprisonment in the chorus. An innocent, incomparable woman.

This one came solely as the chorus melody and the basic hook "So I'll sing my song for Carolina" It's all I had for months, but I thought it was a good chorus line so I kept humming it to see if it would sprout further ideas. The mid section is…

This is a stripped down cover of the excellent Gary Fox song Carolina.

Ukulele and vocals performed by Jazz, 12. She's starting to write her own stuff (proud!) but just to get her in the studio for the first time, here is a cover of a song by Vance Joy.

I have no memory of writing or recording this song. I have no idea what it's about. CONNIE'S SONG Em D C B... (Em) Before I knew anything (D) about you, I (C) loved you (Em) Whenever you would show, I stared in (D) wonder I heard you…

Now for something completely different from me .......

Well the virus has my friend and music partner in Krakow Poland sheltering in place but we are using the time to write and record..here is our latest...we tried to write in the style of Motown...check it out ... all music and production by Art…

The closing number, the thoughtful number. It says more than goodbye.

I have had this riff for a while. It needed a song. It needed cowbell. It got both, and it's a great song to drive to.

This one came to me as I was sleeping on a plane, delayed on a tarmac. I dreamt that McCartney was singing this, sort of. I came out of the dream abruptly when the pilot said we were finally cleared to take off. I racked my brain to figure out…

This one started as the verse chords and some rambling vox melody. My demo of just gtr and me mumbling resulted in something vaguely Lennon-esque in delivery, so I kept that aspect and took it further for the mid section. The harmonies in the…

The word agony and the basic melody for the first line came first. I sat on it for a while, then one evening tried to figure out the chords for it. The verse chords followed very quickly, effectively falling out of the gtr after I had discovered…

I love Wilsun's 2020 RPM album "Departure", so I decided to cover it (yes, the whole album), but with a twist. I found some bits to be repetitive, so I removed them. I wrote down the lyrics and chords, and promptly ignored the originals, making…

Here is a cover of Matt Ferrara's song "Obey" - Had this song stuck in my head for a good chunk of February, so I figured I would put it to tape. A little slower than the original with a similar feel. I really wanted to see if I could record…

Through a Skylight (for Anne Frank) When the night closes down, and sorrow comes around And memories walk the floor, and fear stands by the door Keep your dreams in sight. Follow them shining bright Through a skylight, through a skylight…

This is a cover of fellow RPMer Ienne Lynn's song "Holes" She easily is one of the best performance on RPM 2020 - with a raw sound and perfect lyrics that are so easy to relate to. This was recorded with the bare minimum of equipment. The…

Ok, so I'm just a percussionist, and if your only tool is a hammer, the entire world looks like a nail. I get it. And I also get that our songs are our children, so we should be very careful about whom we let them play with. When I first heard…

My post-RPM Challenge plan is to just keep going. Here's my first March 2020 Challenge song. I am trying to go much more raw and low-fi than usual. One guitar straight into one amp. No doubling, not extensive overdubs. Same with the vocals…

The second song for my ridiculous post-RPM Challenge album in a month yet again thing. I was working on a guitar part for another song when I played the riff for this by accident. I dropped everything and made sure I had it recorded. I was…

With Soundsmith Kamachi. Lyrics heavily based on a poem by Sir Henry Wotton, "Queen of Bohemia".

With the electrorgasmic Aged Machine, written and recorded for the RPM Challenge 2012. Sabotaged by the coffin card girl Rode out of the cartomancy world I'm soaking and sick of this Of being a bee sting because he doesn't know a good…

With music written and performed by Soundsmith Kamachi. It was the last day of RPM and he asked me to write a lullaby for a track called Cornucopia. Very much enjoyed how easily this one flowed. That's my mum, Bee Mathis, adding class to the…

From a series of pieces done a few days ago working with my latest Pure Data patch for interactive live performance. Baritone Uke and PD.

An angry little tune about the pres(id)ent situation. EOB strat>russian big muff pi>guitar disruptor>ibanez DE7 delay Isolation Quarantine But people all around The sickness of not caring No empathy to be found Bail out banks…