Chili, beer and music at the Lanier’s

Chili, beer and music at the Lanier’s
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I spent last Saturday night drinking beer, eating chili and writing music at the home of Nathan and Misti Lanier. Linda and I had been looking forward to a night with adults away from the kids for some time. Unfortunately Linda was inflicted with a sinus infection and ended up staying with her parents along with the kids.

I’m never sure what to expect from a songwriting session. They can go in a lot of different directions. Sometimes you get so caught up playing that you lose the whole day just jamming while never quite finding that perfect hook. Other times you come in with a catchy riff that never seems to fit quite right. There are plenty of potential pitfalls so you learn to appreciate the ones that go off without a hitch.

Everything went off without a hitch Saturday. I had spent the last week recording everything that came to mind. I had riffs, melodies and even songs that inspired me. I knew that Nathan and Misti had been working on lyrics and I was just hoping to make any kind of contribution. To my surprise they liked the first riff I played for them. It ended up being the basis of the song we worked on. We didn’t even bother with anything else.

Misti is an excellent songwriter. She has a notebook full of beautiful lyrics and each has a melody that goes along with it in her head. She tells me that it is always a bit strange to hear her lyrics put to a different tune. Nathan and I pushed that to its limit this time. Misti isn’t the biggest fan of loud guitars and rock music. When I first played the guitar riff to them, it was on an acoustic guitar and had a kind of bluesy feel. By the time Nathan was done with it, we were full on rocking.

Since everyone agreed last week that I get to decide which song we record, there is a good chance it will be this one. This video was taken sometime either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. Watch it and let me know what you think. Does the song have potential?

The next Embanded meeting will be on Thursday at 6pm this week. Our intention is to have it on Tuesdays but neither Erin nor Dad can make it tonight so we’ve postponed it.  Thanks again to Nathan and Misti for putting up with my long winded slurred speeches and outlandish opinions.