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…

Another lovely Monroe-Robinson collaboration. This one was originally titled "It's There For Us," but when Robbie's wife really liked the line "it's simple and easy to say the words that keep us alive" in a draft version, Leum was happy to retitle…

A love song from Kenny to his lovely wife Rebecca, about 20 years in the making! Kenny wrote and recorded the vocals and most of the instruments on his own, then kindly brought the tracks to the studio to see what magic our cadre of friends…

Leum Monroe - Lyrics, songwriting, vocals, acoustic guitar Mike Anders - Vocals, acoustic guitar Matt Appleberry - Electric guitar Kenny Tannehill - Bass, background vocals Nick Peshman - Recording Kevin Craig - Drums, recording, mixing

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…

When we assembled at the studio for our first REM Challenge 2023 recording session, Nick offered up a MIDI guitar piece he had been working on. Kevin, being chronically underprepared, did not have any decent sounding guitar VSTs installed on his…

Another lovely song from Leum. He's prolific, that one is! It was fun to collaborate on lyrical tweaks for this one, working together to tighten up a solid draft into a rich, compact song. For recording, we used a couple of condenser mics…