News of the Day

Seeing as how I’m the world’s most inconsistent blogger, I thought I might oughta post a little update blog. So here are some truly Random Neural Firings that might be of passing interest.

• Thanks to all the sympathetic responses I received to my previous post about the death of my friend and former attorney, Randy Smith.  Randy was great guy and a big part of any success I had in Nashville. He will be missed by many for a long time.
• For the time ever, I’ll be showcasing some of my website’s anthems in choral reading conferences: first in Wilmington (in June), and then at Alleluia (in July).  I’ll be dropping by the Alleluia sessions, so if you’re attending, I hope to visit with you.
• I’ve been busy writing. In the last few months, I’ve finished seven new choral pieces, along with their instrumental accompaniment tracks. But I haven’t yet recorded the choir demos.  (I really do need to schedule a recording session.)
• Two of those seven pieces have already been slated for release with Hal Leonard. One is a benediction, titled “Desiring God.” The lyric comes from a brief but powerful quote attributed to St. Augustine.Lord, grant that I may desire you, and in desiring you that I would seek you.
  And seeking you, Lord may I find you.
  And finding you, may I be satisfied with you forever.
  Amen.

  The other is a co-write with the inimitable Joseph Martin, titled “The Land of Pure Delight,” for which I supplied Joe with a lyric and set him free to do his thing.  And boy, did he ever. It turned out to be quite the fun ride. I’m sure choirs are gonna love it.

• Of the other five new choral anthems soon to come: They are a mix of the traditional, soulful, and jazz. Once they’ve been recorded & mixed, I can complete the editing and make them available here at the website. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.
• I’ve road-tested one of the new anthems with my home choir at FBC Waco and it was a big success – “Holy Lamb of God.” The experience makes me want to repeat the experiment, perhaps with other choirs and orchestras.  Anybody out there game for that? Are you within driving distance of Central Texas maybe?
• You may notice my website has a subtly different look to it.  It’s undergone a recent update, after about six years on the previous platform protocols.  Apparently, six years in computer-time is an eon, and everything that came before has become extinct. (I think I know the feeling.)
• In my down time, I continue to prowl through my old scores and occasionally choose one to “fix” – just for the fun of it. I’ve mostly focused on a set of pop vocal & orchestra arrangements I did in the early 1980s. The original charts were pretty good. (I thought they were great back then.) But with 40 more years of experience (and no deadline to rush my work), I can put my old work under the microscope and improve chord choices, voicings, instrumentations, tempos, and all manner of things. Yes – I realize this is something of a mild OCD sort of thing. But if anybody ever goes through my files after I croak, I want them to see I got better at my job over the years, not worse.

That’s it for now. Have a great summer.