Hey, everyone!
I wanted to take some time to share some cool details from my Nashville trip that a lot of people have been asking about!
I’m so excited to release this music to you in November. There are 5 tracks coming, and each of them captures who I am in a different way. You’ll hear a gritty industrial sound in a couple tracks, a pop rock single, a solid rock tune, and a heartfelt ballad. Thank you all so much for cheering alongside me and for the constant support and excitement. It makes me even more excited to release these songs into the world!
Day one out in Nashville was right to work. I got to work again with Jeff Quimby on drums and loops, Jeremy Redmon on guitar and some keys, Matt Melton on bass and some keys, and it was the first time I got to work with Jeremy Mayfield (that guy was a beast on keys). One of the things I love most about working with this group is that they take my demos and bring a whole new life into them. “On My Way” was one of those songs, and their experience making hit albums became immediately apparent. We also got to track “Mystery,” the new single off the EP, and “Are You,” which continued into the next day. It was a 12 hour day, and holy cow the headache from creating for that long set in.
One of the things that always blows me away is the speed at which this team can learn a brand new song and play it perfectly. I tell them the key, they listen to the demo once, and they take notes. That’s it. After that, they have a chart to work with and we’re ready to get the entire song tracking. Unbelievable.
Jeremy Mayfield and I got together on my second day there to record “Years Gone By,” the song I wrote for my wife. He watched me on acoustic, then jumped in right away to track. I’ve envisioned this song with piano before, but this was the first time I’d actually heard it, and it was something very special.
The next days were all spent at Studio Q tracking vocals. If you caught my live session, you got to hear the vocals for “Are You,” which was so fun to record because we specifically focused on NOT being perfect on the technical stuff in order to capture that slippery feel that the song has. It was about 10 hours each day recording vocals and tweaking songs. You know that feeling when you’ve used your voice a bit too much in a day? That was one of the struggles I came across out there, because even with plenty of rest between songs, it was a LOT of singing parts over and over and over. Although, I have to say, one of the things I realized while I was there was that the artist and producer get comfortable with each other really quickly, because it’s a very exposed time. All of my mistakes got played back to me, and I had to be okay with him hearing them and working through them with me. Plus, it helped that Jeff is just a really great guy.
I’m so proud of this EP, and I cannot wait for you all the hear it. Make sure you’re following along with me on social media, because in a few weeks I’m going to release previews of the songs before the EP officially releases. Thanks again for all your support and for cheering me on!
Evan
