A Bit Too Late (Harold Camping's Letter to the Non Believers) the Bearded Songs Continued

Well, here is what I imagine to be Harold Camping's response to the "non-believers"
As you probably know, Harold predicted that the world would end on May 21st. It did not as you know and so, he said his math was off, and that May 21 was actually the judgement day and God is finished with that and world ending will actually commence on Oct 21st 2011.

I was wondering what he must think about the non-believers. He claims that it is simply too late for them to be saved.

You can hear my song initial song called "The Never Ending End" (My Letter to Harold Camping) here.

Let's continue talking songwriting tricks here. As I mentioned from our last blog, sometimes I like to try and sing and play a song that I don't really know, but have heard many times. This time around, it was Bob Dylan's "Every Grain Of Sand". A beautifully touching spiritual number. I know it has biblical implications, but, even if you strip those notions away, I mean, if you're not into that sort of thing, it is still a touching song. Couldn't find the Dylan version anywhere online, but here is Emmylou Harris doing it.



Nice.

Anyway, I took the memory of that tune, and moaned through it without listening to it or searching for lyrics or chords, and it became the base for this new tune posted today. I like the irony of taking a lovely spiritual number like Dylan's and creating a dark and judgmental song such as this new one.

For those who care, my guitar is still dropped down.. It is tuned in standard fashion, but the low E has been dropped down to D and every other string is tuned down in relation to that, so the strings have lose vibe to them. And again, nobody would accuse me of ripping off the Dylan tune. Try this yourself.



A Bit Too Late (Harold Camping's Letter to the Non Believers)
May 26-2011

I simply missed the day
When my Jesus came
I didn’t hear him call my name
But it was that day, last may
And I know I claimed
It would all end right then
But that was bad math
As that was just the final
Judgment day

This fall will fall on you
Before you know it
And if you finally believe me
It’s a bit too late
For you to show it

When God made me
He made an imperfect man
Smart enough to figure
Flawed enough to miss
A number or two I guess
And if you are lost
I’ve closed the book on you
It’s too late for me to
Figure out the way to
Your salvation

CHORUS

So I’ll enjoy my final summer
Quietly in reflection
On some sandy beach
Just out of your reach
Someplace on my God’s creation
And wait for the change
Of our final autumn’s leaves
And hold my breath as I
Wait for these revelations to unfold


Write on... until Oct 1st anyways
Todd

The Never Ending End (My Letter to Harold Camping) How I Trick Myself Into Lyrics. The Bearded Songs Cont.

Here's a common trick for coming up with lyrics for new songs.
First I decide to write "in character".
I'll take a current event, and without much study, jot down some lines around it.

I've been mesmerized by Harold Camping lately as many of us have and wanted to write something about his prediction that the end of the world was coming on May 21th. Ends up, his math was off, and he has adjusted this to Oct 21.

I couldn't help but wonder what some of his followers are thinking now, especially the ones who gave all their possessions away, spent their money, or gave it to Harold and company.

I wrote this song from the point of view of one of these followers. I started out by jotting down lines from various tidbits that I knew, then I dug in and studied it online. Just glanced at an article really, then wrote a couple verses "stream of consciousness" style, then read a bit more and back. I mean, I didn't dig in or study too deeply as I know from experience that this will clog me up. Don't need to get too wrapped up in the truth here don't cha know... I mean, hell, I'm making up stuff. Too much information sometimes isn't a good thing when you're writing a 4 minute song.

I feel the song should be aggressive, but who knows how it'll end up. This was my first full run.



Lyrics (note: the guitar is in a dropped down tuning.. It is like playing in standard E, but I've dropped it down to D)
The Never Ending End (My Letter To Harold Camping

Chorus
I thought it was over
I thought we were done
I thought I would walk with my God
On golden streets in the sun
Where the Summers are endless
And the Sorrows have ended
But I'm still with you sinners
Is this end never ending?

I spent my last year
Thinking is really was my last
I spent my last penny
Burned my last tank of gas
Prayed a whole lot
Had a little tiny bit of fun
While waiting for May 2011, day 21

Chorus

I've spent a lifetime
Thinking about my ending
Spending most my days
Focused on the final day of my living
Putting up with the Adams & Eves
That apple was eaten
They're rotten to the core
And now I know I've gotta be with Them
For a few months or more?

Chorus
Break

Dear Harold Camping,
I hope this finds you well. I'm writing because, until October, we've got more living to do. With four kids and a wife. More living to do. I've spent my last dime on you and I've got more living to do. A non-believer now has my job and well, yes, unfortunately, I have no fortune like you, but still we both have more living to do. So, I'm sure you won't mind if we all move in with you.

I thought it was over
I thought we were done
I thought I would walk with my God
On golden streets in the sun
Where the Summers are endless
And the Sorrows have ended
But I'm still with you sinners
Is this end never ending?
Will this take forever?
Is this end never ending?

I think I like this one, but it is timely, meaning, by the time I put a CD out, it will either be old news and of no interest to anyone, or, we'll all be dead.

Okay, keep writing.
More soon.
Thanks
Todd

Ripping Off Petty and Bowie - "The Bearded Songs" Continued

Today's song attempt came from the dream I mentioned yesterday that I had the night before last. I dreamed that I was being put to sleep. I like the irony in this.

When I sat down to write this morning, I didn't really have an idea as to what I would do beyond that one line. No musical ideas either. This is an old trick that I've used over the years. I play a song that I don't know from memory. Meaning, I hack through a song from someone else the best I can, without looking the song up or reading the lyrics online or what have you.

A few years back I did this with Tom Petty's "Break Down". I started playing the song the best I could, without knowing what the hell I was doing and eventually, I came up with my tune, "Hip About Time". Listen here. It sounds nothing like Petty's tune.

This morning I did the same, but today I tried it with David Bowie's "Five Years"
I've never played the song, and barely knew any of the words, but it brought me to today's song. I'm not certain that it has legs, but I felt like I accomplished something this morning.



You might be able to see how I got there musically if you compare the two, but I'm certain that no one could accuse me of ripping them off.

This is a wonderful way to kick start ideas, musically anyway. Next week I'll discuss how to trick yourself into writing lyrics.

THE BEARDED SONGS - I'll Shave After 10

May 19 2011
My Masterpiece of Crap
(this blog goes in reverse chronological order)

This AM I set out to write a bad song. Some days, when I'm without obvious inspiration, I simply go through the motions. It may sound silly, because it is a bit, but it keeps my muscles working and possibly tooled up for when the real deal comes around.

So, I joked to myself... and wrote

I sat down to write my masterpiece.... of crap.. (ha)

I just wrote this one out with a simple melody w/o guitar (see second verse)



I don't see this song getting performed... not in the state that it currently resides, but it was fun and I enjoyed the wordplay.

At the end of my allotted writing time this AM, I remembered that I had a strange dark dream last night...
Last night I dreamed that I was being put to sleep.
I like that line... put to sleep like a dog that is.. very dark.. and ironic.

I also read a short story written and sent to me by Frank Larnerd called The Night Doctor.

Frank said, "The Night Doctor is set in Putnam county in 1885 and follows two slave children as they follow the Kanawha River to freedom. In 2010, the story won the Giardinia Prize at WVSU.

Your music has always inspired me, hope I can repay the favor."


Frank, thanks for this. I loved the story and highly recommend it. I believe it has been stored for future inspiration.

Thanks for hanging with me.
Sincerely,
Todd






May 18 2011
My Face Has Faced It
(this blog goes in reverse chronological order)


This morning I got up like most mornings, waking up and opening one eye, then the other...and not having any idea as to what I wanted to write about. Normally, when I start with an idea I think is good, It ends up.. a clunker. I messed around some with JD Hutchison's song, "Money to Burn". JD is a great writer from Athens County WV. JD is legendary in and around WV and Southeast Ohio etc. Tim O'Brien once played in this band, The Hutchison Brothers. Before Tim was in Hot Rize. Here's a version of the song, Money to Burn, by Hot Rize. Couldn't find JD's version online.

So, I've always loved that tune, but never have played it. I started messing with it some thinking I might learn it or possibly write a song like it. This is a method I use to trick myself into writing an original tune. Most of the time I get so far removed from the song I'm thinking of, it simply sounds,,.. well, original. I even went as far as to work on the line, "if i had time to spare". ha.. That didn't pan out. But, somewhere along the line, I came up with the line.. "To some distant place where grace is vacant...and my face has faced it". I liked this and the words and melody came quickly. Grace possibly? Possibly... This song might get me closer to shaving (see below), but it is way too soon to tell. More later.











MAY 17 2011
WHAT IS THIS BEARD BLOG THING ALL ABOUT?
Those of you who know me, know I write a lot. Almost daily. That being said, most of the songs I write, never vibrate into another's ear. Every once in a while, when I'm feeling like I'm having a dry spell, I decide to not shave until I've written a tune that I'm happy enough with to share. This superstitious behavior has served me well in the past. I decided the other day that I would shave after I've written 10 songs I'm happy with. That way, my new CD will be in place. Maybe I'll shave at my CD release party in 2018? har.

I'm thinking I might be up to about three songs or so. Maybe you've heard me sing them live. The titles being, "Looking for my Nuts", "Enough About Me", "Blue Monday", "Opening Act, Pain in the Yea" (Here I am playing it live during a show with Tim O'Brien & Bryan Sutton)



Then there is the song I wrote from the perspective of Joseph, as in THE Joseph. I was thinking what it must've been like to have been Joseph. Had I been, I would have been wildly insecure about the whole situation. Listen to my demo of "Joseph's Prayer to his Baby Son"




So, maybe I'm forgetting a tune or few, but those are the ones I am playing so far. I will soon be playing a few others. Working titles: "Bend Me Out of This Shape That I'm In", "The Spark Was There (Because of all the Friction)" and today I worked on an idea called, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction Either".. ha Bill Kirchen gave that one to me.




So, I'm sharing this with you as I go, because today's technology allows it and, well, because it challenges me. I always seem to do better with a bit of pressure on me. Suppose I work harder to get out from under it and all. I'll be posting ideas along the way and welcome comments and song ideas it you have them and want to share. Maybe we'll co-write one! I'd like that. Hopefully my beard won't get too long.

Thanks for reading.
Hope to see you at a show soon!
Todd

On The Road (2011)

MAY 14 2011
NELSONVILLE MUSIC FESTIVAL
Okay, this is one of my all time favorite festivals. If you've ever been, you know why. Where can you hear The Flaming Lips, George Jones, Michael Hurley, Julian Lennon, Southeast Engine, Bruce Dalzell and gobs of others in one spot?

I played in the "no-fi" cabin early saturday. The crowd was packed, in my face, intense and just wonderful! Billy Matheny stopped by in a three pc corduroy suit and played banjo on one tune, then disappeared into the misty dew with his Nixon mask in tow.

The kids (Will 7 and Soph 4) both got up with me and sang "The Bugs Are Coming".
Will's tune. Crowd pleasers those two.






TAMARACK - BECKLEY WV MAY 6 2011
Larry Groce, John Lilly & Todd Burge




I was honored to be asked by Kelly Elkins @ Tamarack to perform this Songwriter In the Round concert with Groce and Lilly.
Both are really great songwriters. Over the years I've gotten to know them both really well. Larry as you probably know, is host of NPR's Mountain Stage and had a top ten Billboard hit with Junk Food Junkie back in the 70s. What most probably don't know is, he still performs and writes on occasion. I love his acid wit and his performance style. Highlight for me would have to be "Wilderness" and his new tune. "See Alice" ? Title?
John Lilly writes tunes that sound like they've been with your family forever. I dig his new songs and he has a bunch of them nowadays it seems. His "A Little Yodel Goes A Long Way" is one of my favorites.

The Purple Fiddle - Thursday April 28



One of my favorite places on the planet to perform would have to be the Purple Fiddle in Thomas WV. Near Davis WV (Canaan Valley)in what I like to call the "weather vortex" or our state. The food and drink is great and being in those WV mountains somehow touches me every time I make the climb on 219 from Parsons to Thomas.

The topic of conversation when I arrived on this sunny Thursday evening was the hissing sound my VW TDI was making as I was making my way up the mountain. Purple Fiddle owner John Bright jumped in the VW for a listen as did sound man Ben.
Ben diagnosed it as a turbo leak and sent referred me to one Brian Jones in Parsons.

I felt I had a great show as the fiddle and met some new friends. I love the sound of that room. Makes me want to play.
The next morning bright and early I was off to see Brian Jones.




Brian was busy, but stopped what he was doing, jumped in the VW, listened, lifted the car, fixed a loose clamp and charged me $15! Unbelievable. Thanks Brian/Ben and John.

FREDERICKSBURG VA FRIDAY APRIL 29th


Stage view of the capacity crowd. Carla Ulbrich performs

I was off to Fredericksburg VA to play Bob Gramann's songwriter series.
The Fredericksburg Songwriter Showcase.
Bob and Lou Gramann have been putting this on for years (I played it once before back in the 90s) in a fine venue behind a great music store called "Picker's Supply". Fredericksburg is full of history. Deep South history don't cha know...

I walked into a Chinese restaurant after sound check and this was my fortune.



Bob and Lou could teach a crash course on how to put on a successful concert series.
I met and performed with three great writers Rupert Wates, Carla Ulbrich and Joe Giacoio. Each one a master on guitar. Carla and Joe are married and both very funny. Rupert had a tribute song to the late George Carlin that just knocked me out!
We had a sold out crowd and sold a ton of CDs. A wonderful evening of music!


After the show we went back to Bob and Lou's house for an after show party. Bob gave us the tour of the house and we guitarists were especially interested in his workshop.
Gramann is truly a master luthier. The Gramanns were kind enough to lend me their guest room. That night I dreamed about the Gramann guitar I had played earlier. Possibly because I was surrounded by them? This was the view from my bed that night.


I'm also thinking I may have found my guitar "soul mate". I believe that'll haunt me until I, well, buy it.

Bob Gramann with some of his work behind him.

This is an unsolicited advertisement. Check out this man's work. I've never played a finer instrument!
http://www.bobgramann.com/theguitars.htm

MORGANTOWN WV SATURDAY APRIL 30

I ended the week at the Blue Moose in Morgantown WV


I've been playing the moose for years and love returning to the town of my Alma Mater and seeing old and new friends. Thanks to Aaron Hawley for "saving folk music"!
We had a problem with the PA and Aaron came through.
Good to see some old friends drive in from Clarksburg and Fairmont. Jim Rebrook and Eric Lewis and all.
Musical highlight: Someone requested Pickin a Lock.. and I felt a little rusty and insecure about playing it. Of course I attempted it anyway. I very possibly could have been my favorite performance of that tune.
Don't have a recording of it, but here's a version from about a decade ago

Hey Blue Moosers... What fun! Will see you again soon with a new song.

Thanks for helping me do what I do.
Sincerely,
Todd

Oh, This week, Tamarack with Larry Groce and John Lilly!
www.toddburge.com

20 Years of Thanks (Give Burge this Holiday Season) There's Still Time

Hi Friends.

I know there is a lot of music out there, and they keep making more of it.
I want you to know that is sure means a lot to me that you would choose to purchase mine!

I was just inside the Todd Burge web store and it is so crowded!

There are over 100 songs there that I have written and recorded over the last 20 years.

Maybe you have somebody on your list who might enjoy some of my music as a last minute gift?

Go to my store and click on the "Gift Certificate" link.
They'll have a credit and can pick and choose their favorite.

OR.

Purchase something yourself and have it shipped to them by Christmas.
No shipping Charge!
And
We'll even gift wrap it for you!
Do it before Wednesday December 22nd 12noon Eastern.

Below is a list of songs available. I hope you have the best holiday season!
Thanks for your support! I couldn't do this without you.

Sincerely,
Todd

Todd Burge Store
www.toddburge.com

DISTRACTION PACKED(2010)
This Song Won't Write Itself
Live it Up
I'm a Shark
As Old as I Can Be
Human Being Dog
Whiskey Heaven*
Medication
Intervene
Get Well
The Bugs are Coming
MY LOST AND FOUND(with TIM O’BRIEN)2008
Another Sunny Sunday
My Lost and Found
Baby Ray
Fearing the Reaper
I Believe This, I Believe
Do You Know Which Way My World Goes Round?
She Looks Up To Me (Because She Has To)
Not My Time To Go
Eloise
Move On (To Another Song)
Someday
Our New Day
Buffalo Skinned by all the Kings Men
MOST REQUESTED 1989-2000
My Kinda Town (Ghost Town)
My Fat Chance is Gettin’ Thinner
Pickin’ A Lock
The Kids Are Out of Hand
Why You Need Me Now (Back to WV)
My Apartment
Whole Lotta Choice (Lost in Cleveland)
Blast Town
Draft Beer For Ten Dimes
Hey Hey Little Christian Girl
Up in the West Virginia Hills
100 Miles Long
Bartender’s Bell
Uh Oh Ho Ho Ho
Bonus recorded live on Mountain Stage2006
Hip About Time*
The Good Dog*
My Roots*
HIP ABOUT TIME(2006)
My Roots
Hip About Time
The Good Dog
Your Heart Can’t Take This Beating
The Things I Think and Do
Your Mistake
All That’s Left to Need
Close to You
The Fairy Land Files
Son Shine
Nashville Cats Have Guts Too
Tape Recorder
Talkin’ Back to Parkersburg Blues
Barrel of Your Own Gun
Not For Kids
Kiss My Axe
NEW YEAR(2003)
One Last Shot
My Grandparent's Backlawn
Wood County Man
Big Fat City Heart Attack
Quits On Yesterday
Cutie
Long Live Bobby Lane
Jesus Night Light
Sleepy Leesee
Happy Birthday Boy
DREAMS UPSTAIRS(2000)
Now It's Your Turn
Up In The West Virginia Hills
100 Miles Long
Sore Thumb
Bartender's Bell
Didn't Look Up Enough
I'll Make It Up To You
My Fat Chance Is Gettin' Thinner
Blast Town
Days Number Way Too Few
TIN SINCE(1994)
Crawl Like Babies Do
My Kinda Town
Together
Randy Used To Dream About Mickey Mouse
Best-Seller Blues
Me & Mack
The Truth
Draft Beer For Ten Dimes
Pickin' A Lock
As Long As
Choosin' Sides
Bye Bye Baby Baby Bye Bye
NEVER SAY UNCLE(1990)
Pocket Book
Newspaper Blankets
The Kids Are Out of Hand
Like Nobody Else
My Apartment
Last Drunk
Don't Try and Understand
Daddy's Not Workin'
College Down
Daughter Ask Father
All Wrapped Up
My Book
Still Wanting You


Todd Burge Store
www.toddburge.com

Never Say Never to Never Say Uncle

I always look back a bit a the end of each year. When 2010 started, I was digging through some old band demos and tapes, mostly 63 Eyes,my band from the 90s and beyond.

Next year will be the 25th anniversary of the first 63 Eyes Show. My band from the 90s and beyond. Our first show at the Underground RR (now 123 Pleasant street) was Oct 30th 1986.

For whatever reason, It makes me want to release some of that stuff out there in the digital world. Document it I suppose. Makes me want to play yet another gig on that 123 stage. Maybe we have another show in us.

This year marked the 20th year I have been releasing solo recordings. It started back in 1990 with my first CD, Never Say Uncle. I've pondering re-releasing some of this old music, but through the years I have always heard it as, well, not very good.




While in the studio last week, I started to remaster Never Say Uncle and, well, heard it in a different way. Two decades distance allowed me to enjoy it once again.
My ego and I enjoyed it 20 years ago. Then, when my ego split (on that recording anyway..) I suppose I did too. Now, I hear it like some father listening to his son.

So, today I'm digging through the original lyrics for Never Say Uncle and having fun with my past. Look for that old stuff in the digital world next year sometime.
I might do the same with some other recordings like Tin Since, Live at Ravelers and New World Out of Order.

I'd be interested in what your interest level is.

That being said, all of this, or most is available on CD from my website
Http://www.toddburge.com

And that being said, I must say, I'm very proud of my most recent work with my band the Odd URges. Look for "Distraction Packed" on my site and, well, everywhere in stores like iTunes and Amazon. I think you'll dig. It starts out soft then turns hard and dirty.

Let me know how you're doing.

Todd

Burge is chasing Lady Gaga!

I need your help!
That's right, I am chasing Lady Gaga on Facebook.
Lady Gaga has 47,919,600 people who "like" her
I have 1,401
Share this link with your Facebook friends.
With your help, I think I can have her beat by next Wednesday, Thursday at the latest.
Much love and thanks!  Todd
(CLICK ON TODD'S PICTURE HERE AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT)

Todd Burge

Promote Your Page Too

Today I'm thinking..
"What Would Woody Do"

Listen to and get a free download to this song here... pass it on
http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/song_details/4277123?play_now=true

Another Song in the Key of C – May.28.2010
by Todd Burge

I sing another song in the key of C
Hope it does for you what it did for me
And what it does for us we might not agree
But still I must sing my song in the key of C

Can’t you stop this dirty leak
It’s making our whole planet weak
Big Brother’s eyes have ceased to peep
As we stare at all this Texas tea
Oil on a bird, oil on a fish
Oil in my heart makes a heart stopping dish
I’ll make my list full of wishing
That someday I’ll see some clean deep sea fishing

Chorus

Don’t ask me about don’t ask don’t tell
And we won’t have to hear each other yell
But I’d send my love to hell and back
If we could just love one another without the flack
Cut some slack, cut some slack
She loves she, she loves her back
He loves him, he loves him back
Tell me, while they fight our wars
What could be wrong with that?

Chorus

The roses are red and the violets are back
Spring is here and that’s a fact
The soil is rich with our old ideas
So I’ll sew some love and grow a few good kids
Birds and bees, bees and birds
Love is the best sound you’ve ever heard
Write it down and notarize it
So it is written, let’s galvanize it!

Chorus

Thoughts on the new album by Sad Iron Music

I’m listening today to Sad Iron Music. It is the first album of tunes from WV native Jason Lewis in seven years.

Jason has recorded a bunch over the last couple decades with various groups, but might be most known as the front man for the NYC band, Star City. “No Depression” magazine once called Star City“the best alt.country band you’ve never heard of.”

But, Lewis has been on a “break” from music of sorts as he attended the Iowa Writers Workshop, received an MFA in fiction, wrote a novel and short stories had a child and, from the sound of this homespun release, he learned how to record.

Before all this, Jason recorded a solo outing with the late Jay Bennett of Wilco fame.
Something sonic must’ve taken hold after that exchange, because to me, I dig the sound of Sad Iron Music over the Bennett production, not that that was bad, it was indeed sweet.

My understanding of Jason’s music has always come from one place over the years.
West Virginia.
20 years ago when I first heard him in Morgantown, I heard a songwriter wanting to get away. And now for more than a decade, I hear one who lives to get back, at least in some fashion, back, to the state of mind of this great state.

There’s not a whole lot about the lyrics or even the weepy, thick (but not overdone) sounds of this album that flat out say “WV”, but my gut tells me it is so, so, I say it out loud here and now.

But wait, there is this from Red Light..
“Midnight in the industrial park.Ten beers down and a half shift to go”
That has my family tree growing out of it

The album starts for me at Tom Waits for No One.

“You and I play out
Like an old record scratched
Jumping back every time
we get to this place
and I’d cry you a river
if I knew how to act.
But we both know which tails we should chase.”


Damn it, that’s just a flat out fantastic lyric,
and I’ll stand on Steve Earle’s coffee table and yell it.
If Jason had sent me an advance copy, I would have tried to talk him into opening the album with this, but that would probably have been the wrong choice for him, cause I’m always picking the wrong tunes to open my recordings.

The tune then breaks down into a recitation of sorts a la George Jones
“Think I’ll buy a squeeze box
And an old beat up Nash
Park out in the driveway,
Sit there and hash out
The notes to the ending
Of our crippled love song.
And will I find I knew these notes all along.”

Sweet I tell ya.


Most of the recording is, well, sad.
Sad seems to be ironed into Lewis’ soul. And, I like that, but I’m guessing that he can’t be that down.
Or, I hope he isn’t, but even the snappier numbers are bummed tunes about heartbreak and regret. The good stuff.

Outta My Heart is one of those numbers that snap. Lewis has gotten good at grabbing you with a sharp phrase at the beginning of a tune…
“I don’t know if I can take this.
I don’t know if I’ll survive.
I don’t know if I can make this
Make sense without a little wine.”

But, all that sadness falls aside as the CD closes with a dear tune
Vaughan’s Song
A song dedicated to Lewis’ daughter and at the risk of throwing famous references around, it reminds me of John Lennon meets the Velvet Underground.

There are some fine players on this including Randall Davis, Ryan and Adam Bernemann, Lewis’ wife, Theresa and David Chernis.

Check it out for yourself now, it is waiting for you.
http://www.sadironmusic.com/

Twitter Songs by Todd Burge - 140 Songs About 140 Characters in 140 Characters or Less by One Character

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO:
Song #1
ZZZZZevon

(C) Todd Burge-Bunj Jam-BMI

Oh poor pitiful you
Once was king of LA's music zoo
Sleep now, dead man
Sleep now, because now, you can

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

www.twitter.com/toddburge

Neil Young's "Songs of our Times" adds Buffalo Skinned by all the Kings Men

Todd's Tune
Buffalo Skinned by all the King's Men
Has been added to Neil Young's 1000 "Songs of our Times"
Today it is charting @ #36
Click Here to listen to the song.
Give er a listen and pass it on
Click here to listen to other tunes of protest on Neil's site


Peace
TB

Todd records again with Tim O'Brien/Don Dixon

Just finished a fine recording project with Tim O'Brien, Michael Lipton, Ammed Soloman, Ted Harrison. Don Dixon (producer/engineer for REM, Marshall Crenshaw and songwriter for Joe Cocker..etc.. more on Don Below) was behind the knobs.

The project is a tribute to Blind Alfred Reed and sales from the project will benefit the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
Reed was a WV singer/songwriter and fiddler was one of Ralph Peer's discoveries on the legendary 1927 Bristol field trip that unearthed both the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.

I recorded his song, The Telephone Girl with Tim O'Brien singing back up and playing fiddle and the other cats mentioned above backing the whole deal up.
It was a live recording and was also taped by WV Public Television.

Other acts scheduled to record on the project include, Kathy Mattea, Nat Reese, Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel), Connie Smith, John Lilly, Molly O'Brien, Dwight Diller and others..

Stay tuned..
Todd




About Don DixonProducer, musician, performer, vocalist and songwriter Don Dixon is perhaps best known for his work as producer for some of America's favorite artists including R.E.M., Marshall Crenshaw, The Smithereens, and his wife, Marti Jones.
Dixon started out as a bass player and vocalist for North Carolina band Arrogance. The band's five albums spread over almost a decade and generated a fervent regional following before the band went their separate ways, and Dixon decided to try his hand at producing and creating his own solo records.
Dixon's songwriting talents garnered him a single on the Joe Cocker million-seller with "I Can Hear The River" and a co-write of the song "Time and Time Again" with the Counting Crows. And while writing, Dixon also has been playing. He played bass on Mary Chapin Carpenter's #1 single "Shut Up And Kiss Me."
Dixon completed a run in New York City, along with Jim Wann and Bland Simpson, in a rollicking cabaret show about life in the coastal Carolinas entitled "King Mackerel & The Blues Are Runnin'." Notices were outstanding. King Mack was taped and is broadcast by the North Carolina Public TV Network as part of their annual Festival fundraiser.
Dixon's album, Romantic Depressive, got wonderful reviews, incidentally causing him to tour as the support act on a bunch of amphitheater dates for Hootie & The Blowfish.

I'll never open for Loudon Wainwright III

Just got this email from Tim Peacock.
He books Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville Ohio

Hey Todd,
I just sent an email to Loudon Wainwright's agent yesterday with a link to your site asking them about you opening. Unfortunately, they said Loudon doesn't want an intelligent, witty male songwriter opening for an intelligent, witty, male songwriter. So, I'd take that as a complement.
Tim

Hey, I have some unfunny stupid songs. Gimme a chance. TB

TIM O'BRIEN WINS A GRAMMY-HEAR TIM ON TODD'S NEW CD

Hey Folks! My friend in music, Tim O’Brien
won a Grammy last night for:
Best Traditional Folk Album!

Fiddler's Green
Tim O'Brien
[Sugar Hill Records]

You’ve got to check Tim’s music out!
www.timobrien.net
Congratulations Tim.

By the way, you can also hear
Tim play on my new CD, Hip About Time.
Listen Here


Or visit
www.toddburge.com

Sincerely,

Todd Burge
www.toddburge.com
304-422-4068