Rose Alaimo has released her first single from the album we made together (which is FANTASTIC). I mentored her through making this record … here’s what she had to say about that in a recent interview, which I just love:

“I do write, perform and record all of my own music in my home, but this album was created with production mentorship from producer Jamie Hill at Department of Energy Management, Tacoma WA. We worked on these songs throughout the last year- I would send him a demo and record all the parts on my end, and then he would help me with the sound engineering aspects and we would bounce it back and forth until it was how we wanted it, and once all the songs were done he mastered them in his studio. Working with Jamie was an amazing experience. While COVID-19 was raging around the world, I spent every spare hour I had locked up in my studio working with him remotely on these songs. Not only did I make an amazing new friend and learn a TON about production from him, but working on this with Jamie during this insane year saved my soul. It gave me a place to go where I could safely explore and throw around all of the feelings I was experiencing during this crazy time, and with his help I think we were able to harness a lot of that energy and direct it into the music in a really meaningful way.”

I’m very excited to announce that the new Zachman record is out in the world. Produced / mixed /mastered by yours truly. I hope you love it.

Here’s a lovely little writeup on “All Wired Up,” the first single from our new Zachman EP. Produced / mixed / mastered by yours truly. Exactly one minute long.

2020101 song 3. A palate cleanser.

I wanted  to share a first song with you off a record I worked on. It’s called “Sideways,” it’s by Granger Lofton, and of all the songs that I worked on in 2020, it’s probably the one that I’m the proudest of: https://grangerlofton.hearnow.com/

I worked with Granger for the better part of 2020 on his upcoming album. It was an unusual collaboration (although becoming more common in my world) – Granger did the recording and mixing, with me advising remotely and contributing production ideas here and there as needed. It’s a deeply rewarding way to work – the artist ends up with an awesome record, that they made themselves, and they become a much better engineer along the way.

The album Granger made is called Revolution, and he wrote it as a direct reflection on race in America, inspired by the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police last May.

This song is so moving to me. It holds lessons that I as a white person need to be listening to. You know how we’re being told a lot lately that we need to listen to Black people’s experiences and points of view more, if we’re going to heal our society? Well, Granger was vulnerable enough to give us an album-length roadmap to his lived experience as a Black man in America. The entirety of “Revolution” is this. 

Working on this record – immersing myself in these ideas and feelings, and co-conspiring to aid in their communication – improved me as a human being. I hope that listening to it inspires you in the same way.
This is just a first song – but, wow, what a stunning first song. I hope you love it. If you do, please join Granger’s community and support his work, because that’s what we do – we support artists.

I should point out that me being able to work on this (very important!) album with Granger was entirely made possible by Misfit Stars (the community of people who support our work on an ongoing basis). I didn’t take a single dollar from Granger for this record. My time was paid for by our community’s monthly support of what we do. Because this is a huge part these days of what we do. If you’re one of those people, and you’re reading this: thank you. ??