 |
TO THE MOON
I'm building a rocket to fly to the moon. Metaphorically speaking, of course. LaDonna & I went to see The Astronaut Farmer tonight. It's
a new flick with Billy Bob Thorton. While watching the movie I remembered something really important - when & how I began this musical
adventure. I'm sitting at my desk at home listening to Rocketman by Elton John. It was the song that was playing during the closing credits.
I love this song, i think it helps put me in the right frame of mind to sit down and write you a letter. (It makes me think of that movie Almost
Famous where they played Tiny Dancer.) Incidentally, have you ever seen that movie October Sky with Jake Gyllanhall & Larua Dern? The
title of that movie is an anagram = rocket boys.
Anyway, here we are. It has been quite a while since you have received a newsletter from me. (or maybe this is your first time) I am one
of those people who really loathe getting junk mail & SPAM© (the junk e-mail, not potted meat, .........mmm potted meat). So please don't
feel neglected or that I have been "out of the picture", it is quite the contrary. Things have been going well for me, my wife LaDonna & the
members of the band. One of the things I realized during the movie was that I should go home & rewrite this newsletter. You should have
seen the other one.......how shiny & polished it was. Very clean & promotional - nice graphics, perfect layout - very appealing. But alas I felt
as though I needed to say more though. More than just "HI, check out our new CD & fancy digs".
We have been very blessed over the last few years. The last newsletter you received from me was about the CD Everybody Needs a Tuba
(I'm still not sure what that title means.) We have sold the majority of them while completely selling out of the other previosuly recorded
disks. Glow is the only one that I have re-ordered thus far - our best selling CD to date. I am still proud of that disk even though I sound like
an adolescent boy who hasn't yet gained weight, lost hair or discovered guitar pedals.
PLAYING OUT
I wanted to tell you about something that started happening a
couple of years ago. Being a musician & late-nighter, I realized
that my time from 10pm - 2:30am was spent mostly on youtube &
myspace while my wife was sleeping. I thought to myself "self, you
should start playing the open mic's at the local Dallas spots around
Deep Ellum & Lower Greenville club areas". This was quite frighten-
ing at first because I'd been playing mostly churches & that type of
thing. The first week I was asked to come back was quite inspir-
ing. One of the things that I had feared was being turned away
because of my faith in Christ. I didn't want to seem too "preachy"
or intrusive. Soon I learned they respected my "chops" & songwrit-
ing style. I found this type of setting to be very forgiving of shaky
performers & newbies of all ages & background.
So for about a year, I started visiting tons of these types of "non-
churchy" venues & still playing my original songwriter tunes &
gaining credibility in a completely different world than I had been
involved with. (mind you I am still playing a majority of churches &
faith-based organizations & venues). Sometimes the owners & bar-
keeps would say "Hey Joel, let's sing that setting sail song again".
Eventually the folks in my band started going with me, plug our
instruments into the house sound system & play a four-song set. This
led to people really digging our style & showmanship, I guess.
The next thing I know, we were asked if we knew enough songs to
play a 3 hour show on the weekends. Well, we got a nice set list to-
gether with half originals & half cover tunes & started playing these
clubs/pubs/venues and started placing in the local battle of the
bands. It has been a really great eye opener for me having been
someone grown up in the Bible belt. I do realize that there are a
number of folks that frown on us playing these types of places. One
incident led to a preacher removing his students from a retreat i was
leading the music at because he saw "bar gigs" on my calendar.
CURRENTLY
Alright, so lets FF>> to March 2007. Last year we played 258 shows.
I am so amazed to look back & see a calendar full of dates. You
see, in my life, every "gig" that we get is by word of mouth. We
rarely call on anyone that we do not know in some form or fashion.
This letter is a thanks to all of you that have been so kind to us over
the years. Those of you that have supported & believed in me by
purchasing CD's & T's, buying songs via itunes, those we've met at
a church or club or coffeeshop or in a parking lot or that signed up
on my mailing list & lastly – those of you that have shown such belief
in us to have set us up in front of people to perform our style of mu-
sic. Thank you for what you've done, for your great ideas, prayers,
financial support & for placing your trust in me & the band.
THE NEW CD
So we have a new CD coming out soon: Caffeine & Gasoline.
It was recorded at The Park studio in Nashville, TN by Donnie Boutwell,
the same guy that recorded Everybody Needs a Tuba. He's
not only a talented engineer; drummer & percussionist who has
toured with a number of very familiar acts BUT he also played in
the junior high band with my wife, LaDonna. The CD has 15 songs
on it (plus a hidden track for those who stick it out till the bitter
end). That is about 72 minutes of subjectively enjoyable tunes.
THE BAND
We are playing trio like when I started out in college; drums, bass
& guitar. Simple yet intricate enough to have a full sound. Justin
Tabor has been playing with us for over 2 years. He's played with
national punk & country bands as well as studio gigs, including one
of merle haggards recent albums. We recently added an upright
bass into our set. = folk/rock/funk/jazz/rockabilly. Layci Guyon has
been playing drums with us intermittently since 2002. She recently
graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston
with a degree in percussion. She is currently teaching and subbing
for the local D/FW orchestras. Both are working full/part-time & are
in the process of making it so that we can all play in the band 24/7.
THE PLAYA'S
Justin, Layci & I played our consecutive instruments on the CD. I
also hired a number of young Nashville players to come in & be
a part of the project by adding horns, organ and electric guitar.
They were great musicians whom I look forward to seeing where
they will be in just a few short years. Russ Murphy, my college minister
from Indiana Ave Baptist Church in Lubbock., played electric
blues lead on one of the tracks. He currently lives in Nashville as a
songwriter/performer. You can check out russmurphyministries.com
for updates on he & Saralyn. I was honored to borrow his talent.
MORE ABOUT THE CD
You will find this CD completely different than the previous albums.
There are 2 cover tunes "Time After Time" & "I Can See Clearly
Now". One of the reasons I recorded this album was to make sure
to serve the people I am playing for. I realized playing in a regular
club/pub/venue that i often wouldn't bring out some of my previous
CD's because I felt like I was being a "sneaky Jesus person".
I want to be confident in selling a CD that is accessible to more
than just one niche while still trying to maintain my integrity.
LOOPS
About 5 years ago I started using a "Phrase Recording/Sampling
pedal" to experiment with sounds & effects through my acoustic
guitar. I can overdub tons of sound in layers one on top of the
other to where it sounds like an entire band playing all at once.
The "instrumentals" on this album were recorded "live" using the
Boss loop station. What you are hearing are two internal guitar
mics, two external amp mics & an effects feed all blended into a
stereo mix, dumped straight onto a hard-drive & edited with audio
software.
You will hear me scratching the strings, knocking on the body of
the guitar, playing the bass line, harmonics, & other normal noises
from an acoustic guitar & singing harmonies along with a myriad
of digital & analog effects: reverb, envelope filter, distortion, delay,
echo, tube screamer, tremolo, chorus, flanger, EQs & so forth
& so on. I plan on recording an all instrumental/loops album in
2007/2008.
THE MUSIC
• Happy Go Lucky from GLOW is hosted on more myspace pages
than any other Joel Sprayberry song.
•Acoustic Chaos from TUBA is downloaded on iTunes more than
any other Joel Sprayberry song.
• We played for a number of record exec's at Hard Rock Café.
Peter Pan & Save Me from Myself won the contest that night.
• Opened up for Trout Fishing in America in & the Little Memphis
Blues Orchestra (Taylor Hicks' Band)
• We continue to stay in rotation on Indy, college & internet radio.
• Have shared the stage with country music's Pat Green & Dove
award winners MercyMe & Nichole Nordeman.
• Our music has made it into worldwide distribution via itunes, real
audio, rhapsody, amazon.com, bestbuy.com and walmart.com
THE PLAN
I need help in exhausting every resource to make this album as
public as possible. Our plan is to send it to quite a few record labels
as well as a handful of musicians/contacts we've made along the
way. If YOU have any connections, friends, cousins, aquaintences
or some type of 6 degrees of separation, please let me know &
I will follow it up asap. If anyone knows Kevin Bacon, that would
help. . . he seems to know everyone.
FREE GUITAR
Ok so we are giving away a free acoustic 6 string as a way to promote the new CD.
Every pre-order gets their name in a hat (or helmet as the case may be) & we draw it
at the CD release party. I'm thinking it'll be signed by the band.
CD RELEASE PARTIES
Come to the Caffeine & Gasoline CD release party on April 14, 2007 @ 8:00 p.m.
Poor David's Pub: 1313 SOUTH LAMAR ST., Dallas, Texas 75215
Smoke -free atmosphere – any age with adult - tickets $12
OR calvary Baptist church on april 21st 7pm in Lubbock tx
RSVP to: joel@sprayberry.com or by snailmail before April 14th
Tell me if you're coming? I'd love to hear from you.
9:33 PM
Powered by  | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|