Another Monroe-Robinson collaboration. So glad Kenny brought those two together a few years ago! As with a few other tracks this time around, Robbie recorded his parts on his own, then we replaced the canned GarageBand drum loops with actual…

The idea for this one came to Margaret as she was walking to the studio for band practice one night, and we’re glad it did! Margaret, Robbie, and I (Kevin) recorded the main takes together live off the floor during our usual band practice timeslot…

Robbie put together a 5-minute track (“E Rock Jam”) that was meant to feature a bunch of guitar leads from various folks and maybe some vocals, but the timing never quite worked out to get those laid down. We did, however, record some of John…

This one was quite a journey! Robbie recorded the main guitar parts and a couple of vocal takes on his own, then invited the group to come up with additional parts. On 2/17, after we’d finished up recording a bunch of other stuff (including…

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…

MIDI bass, drum loops, and electronic noises layered under an improvised guitar track from another project. Dan Hollands - guitar Kevin Craig - recording, arrangement, mixing

Dan improvised on guitar over some synth and drum MIDI loops Kevin had pulled from a collection he'd bought the previous day. Quick, easy, and fun way to spend a few minutes at the studio. :)

One Saturday afternoon at the studio, Nick played around on the Clavinova, running through some chord shapes and notes to try out the instrument's various piano sounds. Kevin recorded the performance and later chopped up and combined some of those…

One Saturday, Nick and Kevin met at Margaret's Lovely Studio to make some music. Nick played some pretty sounds on the Clavinova, and Kevin pressed Record on the computer in hopes that one day, other people would be able to hear and enjoy the…

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…

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…

Mike's fun rockabilly follow-up to Scammers, Spammers, and Cons from a previous RPM Challenge. We recorded the drums, bass, one rhythm guitar track, and a scratch vocal take live off the floor, then added the other guitar tracks and a clean…

Leum Monroe - Lyrics, songwriting, vocals, acoustic guitar Margaret Bibb - Vocals Kevin Craig - Recording, mixing

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…