Indiana Jones should've stayed in retirement

I went saw Indiana Jones 4 last night.

Not good. They shoulda kept this puppy in development for about 10 more years.

I was bored the entire movie...and this is coming from a guy who actually found some entertainment value in Idiocracy.  

Seriously, see this movie only to help Spielberg, Lucas and Ford fatten their retirement funds.  It's all it's good for.

On the other hand last week, I saw Iron Man  and it was freaking fabulous!  Go see that one today!  Well, tonight after you get off work.

Sales Report

So the sales report came in for last week: 2300!!!

I know it doesn't sound like a ton but it's only a 40% drop from last week, which is great! In fact on iTunes we only had an 8% drop from 698 to 631...again the key is longevity. We're selling a lot of downloads on Empty Me - it's been in the top 10 Christian/gospel on iTunes for 3 straight weeks. So people are definitely reacting to the song.

The finale was fun...I thought Jimmy Kimmel's Seacrest/Sligh joke was hilarious. The Pyps video had me rolling...Iron Man looked great dancing! And I'm glad a rocker finally won!

ETA: Apparently (thanks to Rosalee for pointing this out) Ken Barnes over at USA Today reported that i sold 1100. I just checked with my label and 1100 is what we sold in the mainstream (iTunes + stores) and we sold about 1200 in the CBA (Christian) market. Apparently, Ken just missed those sales.

Coldplay and other muzak

So, Coldplay has a deal at Coldplay.com where you can download a song for free by just giving an email address...the song is their first single from their newest album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends called "Violet Hill".  I'm a minor Coldplay fan (I loved Rush of Blood but was disappointed by X + Y)  so I went and downloaded the song.  I had heard a buzz about this album because Brian Eno (sometimes called the 5th member of U2) was producing so I went with tempered excitement.  And was blown away by how good the song was.

On iTunes, they have a pre-order of the new album and with it you get another song, the title track of the album, "Viva la Vida".  So, I pre-ordered the album and downloaded that song...and my head almost exploded.  I think this is the best Coldplay song ever.  It's incredible.  So, go pre-buy the album and get the track in advance.  It really is great.

I also bought an album called Cannons by an artist named Phil Wickham.  Wow.  Seriously, you need to buy this album immediately.  It is some of the best brit-rock I've heard in forever.  It's what Coldplay's last album should've sounded like but with some of the best spiritual/religous lyrics I've read in a while.  Great, great record.  Go buy it immediately.  Or the next time you're at a store.  Or at on iTunes.  Well, download my album first, then Coldplay's then this one, how about that?

A while back (hey, I haven't written about music in a while), my favorite dread head (sorry Castro, but me and Adam go way back) Adam Duritz and his band Counting Crows released their 5th studio album Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings.   You will remember that Jim Bogios, the drummer for Counting Crows, played on 3 songs ("Waiting For You", "I'm Clean" & "Love is Raining Down"), and Counting Crows has long been one of my favorite bands, so I downloaded it the day it came out.  This album is seriously their best work since, well, ever.  I think it's all the best parts of August and Everything After and Recovering the Satellites, their first two albums.  The first half of the album rocks.  Hard.  Not Disturbed or Marilynn Manson hard, but classic rock hard...it's great.  The second half is more acoustic like their first album.  It's Adam's best songwriting and it's catchy and great.  Put this on your list of records to buy.

I got Bryan Adams new one 11 and it is classic Bryan Adams.  You know, he's a nostalgia act, and that's okay.  I don't want to buy a Bryan Adams record and find it to be a Radiohead record.  When I buy Badman (his nickname and publishing company) I want great love songs, great melodies and that classic voice.  This album does not disappoint.  Great songs, great production, and - as I said - that voice that I can never quite get enough of.

Finally, I recently got Jason Mraz's We Sing.  We Dance.  We Steal Things.  I wanted to support a fellow Fool's Banquet alum, plus I was so blown away with his talent at the songwriting retreat that I knew this album was a must-have.  I've only started to digest it, but it's really cool.  It's kind of fresh...lite-funk horns, thick bgv's, some reggae influences, some strings, acoustic guitar and poof, you've got a great sounding record.  I'm enjoying it.  More on this later.

So, I've gotten a lot more music that this since my last music post, but I'll get to the others later.

iTunes + Reviews!

Hey guys,

I'd love for everyone who has bought the album and has seen the blog to leave a review over on iTunes.  Then, once you've done that, I'd love for you to copy the review over into the comments here.  This is the review blog I mentioned a while back!

Even if you didn't buy the album on iTunes, if you have an iTunes account, just sign in and leave the review!

Thanks so much!!!

Jason Castro

I got to hang out with Jason Castro last night for a few hours.

Seriously, what a great guy.  We have mutual friends and mutual friends of friends, so I had gotten his number a while back and reached out to him the week before he got voted off.  He was leaving L.A. as I got here for Crystal Cathedral and he was getting back to L.A. as I was leaving for El Salvador, so we decided to get together when I got back.

So, after my plane trip yesterday and his dance rehearsals (you remember how much I loved dance rehearsals finale week last year), we got together and ate dinner and hung out.

I also shortly got to meet Carly and Kristy Lee...both were very sweet.

Anyway, I won't get into details....but the guy is a great guy and I had a lot of fun getting to know him over a couple of hours!

First Week Sales!

We came in a little under 4,100!

Doesn't sound like a ton, I know, but for the CCM market right now it is pretty great!  We sold a ton on iTunes, too, which, again, for the Christian market is a great thing.  

Just so there's no freaking out...in the Christian market, people find out about the album with the single going up the charts.  The higher the single, the higher the number of plays, the higher the number of impressions, the higher the sales.  So, for having a #18 single, it is pretty freaking great!

CCM has no centralized media...sure, there are websites that do great, but nothing like tv and mainstream radio marketing can do.  Usually, people find CDs as they wander through the Christian book store OR (as I mentioned above) hear a song on Christian radio, find out who it is and buy it.  

This is going to be a slow build and I'm glad...no Idol has ever come off and really done a grassroots thing: get in a van, travel the country, play, play, play, play and connect.  That is what I'm gonna do.  My label is pumped (it's their highest debut ever!) and distribution is pumped!  Now, the more shows I play the more you'll see sales trickle in.  Hopefully Empty Me can reach top 5 on the charts and then you'll see more sales than even this week.  It's seriously all about the songs!

Thanks to everyone so far who bought the album!  Now, tell a friend and let's sell some records!

Musicchristian.com

Musicchristian.com is having a special this week on my album Running Back to You for only $5!

So, encourage friends to take a chance on something beautiful and get the album for a cheap, cheap price!

Some Thoughts...

Quite a few people have asked me why I decided to move more in the pop direction for the new album, away from the more alternative pop/rock of HPF Take a Chance, and I think it's a fair question that deserves an answer.

I listen and love tons of kinds of music.  My favorite artists are bands like MuteMath, Muse, Switchfoot, Relient K, My Chemical Romance, etc., but my favorite songwriters of all time are artists like Bebo Norman, Steven Curtis Chapman, James Taylor, Bryan Adams & Adam Duritz (of Counting Crows).  The thing about that is: my favorite songwriters are many times on the opposite end of the spectrum of my favorite music to listen to.  So, as all songwriters do, you try to figure out how to combine all your influences to make and amalgamation that is your own style.  

With HPF, I was in a band and we were a mainstream band that wanted to put on as exciting a show as possible, so songs like Hero, Closer, Tunnel Vision, Somewhere and Convenience ended up really working for what we wanted to do.  When we played a 30 minute opening set, we had the opportunity to rock out for 30 minutes straight.

Now, the goal for my solo career is to be at a place where Chris Sligh is identified as being a band show...but there are still times that I will be playing acoustic gigs.  After all, I am a solo artist.  I'm not a band.  On later albums, I'm hoping that I don't have the problem of having to worry about playing acoustic gigs, so my albums may be informed by that.  However, on this album, I knew that in trying to break me as an artist that I'd be playing acoustic gigs...thus, I needed songs that I could sell with just me and an acoustic guitar.  I'm sorry but none of the songs I mentioned the prior paragraph would work in that fashion.  I included several songs as it is (Love is Raining Down, Arise, Waiting For You, etc.) that do not really work acoustically...but I have enough of a song base that I can pull it off.

So, to answer the questions...the reason I went more pop has to do with being real in a live situation.  I'm a solo artist now.  Look for albums to come to definitely be a little edgier...but for now, I'm excited for and proud of the album I made, and I think it fits me perfectly for where I am at this point!

Another thing I've seen is people saying that they wish I'd shown more of my personality in my lyrics.  I would like to point out someone like John Mayer...Mr. Mayer is one of the funniest celebrities I've ever seen and in concert he jokes and tells stories and is hilarious.  But his music is deep and serious.  As a songwriter, I feel like that's my place.  There are few things in life I take seriously and those things are my relationship with Christ, my relationship with Sarah and music.  Period.  That's it.  I feel like I would be cheapening my vision for my artistry by writing "witty" or funny lyrics.  I want to write songs that meet people where they are for a lifetime, not just makes them laugh for a couple of seconds the first time they hear it ('cause let's be honest...once you've heard the joke, you've heard the joke - it's not as funny the next time around).

I hope that people listening to the album will enter in listening with an open mind.  Don't go in with preconceived notions of what I should be (funny, witty, etc.) because you won't get those things.  What I hope you get is an album full of killer songs that speak to your life like they came from mine.

Empty Me on iTunes

Hey guys, I thought this was interesting this morning:

Empty Me is #13 on iTunes Christian songs!

In A Moment is #52!

Not bad! Thanks for your support!

Thanks!!!

Guys, thanks so much for making my release day so great!

It looks like the album is selling extremely well (for the market we're in), so thanks for making it great for me!

Some review snippets:

"Fans of Chris Sligh during last season’s American Idol recognized in him something the show had never previously had — not just a bright contestant capable of wising off to Simon, though he certainly was that, but a rocker with an omnivorous musical appetite and a flair for the unexpected. Running Back to You shows what Sligh didn’t have time to do before being voted off. The songs, many written pre-Idol for Sligh’s band Half Past Forever, clearly come from a Christian perspective, though they’re still full of wit and intelligence. And the arrangements aspire to pop grandeur: Soaring string runs, burbling synthesizer riffs, edgy guitars, and Sligh’s occasional flights into falsetto make Running the most musically ambitious of any post-Idol album". — Brian Mansfield USA TODAY

USA TODAY REVIEW

"Running Back to You gets off to a running start as the first track, “Arise,” thunders in with a drum lick that kicks you right into the song – a strong, radio-ready rock piece featuring a full band sound, driven by Sligh’s easy-to-listen to vocal delivery. “I’m Clean” follows, still in a strong, mid-tempo rock mode, and proving that Sligh can write memorable, hook-filled songs that have plenty of opportunities for funky guitar licks as well as full, commercially viable production values. Sligh doesn’t compromise the rock and roll, even when the lyrics get very explicitly Christian, as they do in “I’m Clean,” where he sings, “Love is just a picture of your glory / And my best tries at love have fallen short / I pretend these dirty clothes are holy / Knees patched up with grace from you, Oh Lord.” Make no mistake – the lyrics on this album are boldly Christian in nature. Sligh has clearly made a decision to be bold about his faith on this project, even though the big ballad, “In a Moment,” and the rocker, “Waiting For You,” could easily cross over to mainstream radio and, I think, get considerable attention.

From the straight rock of “Love is Raining down,” to the ‘Eleanor Rigby’-like string accompaniment of “Loaded Gun,” Chris Sligh is a powerful, expressive, credible rock/pop singer and has crafted a well-rounded debut project that shows us that there’s more behind that cherubic appearance than meets the eye. Hopefully, he’ll be running back to us again soon." - Bert Seraco

Soul Audio

"Running Back to You is a rather impressive piece of work. Back in February of this year, Sligh released "Empty Me," his first single, to radio outlets. The song, simply put, is a made-to-be modern worship hit. The Chris Tomlin-esque melody and passionate lyrics of putting aside pride really do the job of setting the tone for the entire album. From tracks like "Arise" to "Something Beautiful," Sligh constantly praises God for his mercy and sacrifices. "Let You Know" could even easily find its way to the top of the contemporary pop charts.

Love is unquestionably one of the main focal points of this record. "Love Is Raining Down" speaks for itself, and Chris cleverly and thoughtfully compares love to a "Loaded Gun," while at the same time manages to make the track the most unique one on the album. The combination of the orchestra that plays throughout along with Sligh's voice add an unexpected twist that is sure to make "Loaded Gun" a fan favorite. One song that you can absolutely not pass up is "Vessel," the closing track, where chilling vocals and an incomparable message add a great finishing touch to the disc.

It truly is amazing how open Chris Sligh is about his life and faith on this record. This is a spectacular accomplishment for him and is definitely worth a listen all the way through (especially for fans of artists like Jon McLaughlin and Brandon Heath). In fact, this could be noted as one of the best records of 2008 whether or not it receives the attention it very much deserves. And don't be surprised if it garners a few nods at next year's Dove Awards either." - Logan Leasure

Jesus Freak Hideout

Tour Update 1

Well, 2 Wild Wing Shows down.  

And it's going great!  Wild Wings was a perfect choice to start off my official touring.  It's a low-pressure venue (you show up whenever you want), they LOVE the cover songs we have in the set, the audience is there to just have fun, and it gives the band time to settle into being tighter in front of an audience that is eating and drinking, etc. as much as they are listening.  It's kind of like having a dress rehearsal with an audience that actually kind of cares!

We actually have played 2 really good shows, too!  The band is really, really tight already and, outside of not being able to hear really well, we're listening to each other, playing off each other and just playing great.

Here's how the set list works:

The band goes up and does "Summer of '69" which morphs into "Arise".  From there we go to "Love Is Raining Down" into "Pleased".  Then "Cry Tonight" & "In a Moment" followed by the Killer's "All These Things That I've Done" (which is great as everyone sings the bridge - "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier!").  I then introduce Jason Walker as my special guest.  He does 3 songs with bass & drums and then one song alone with the piano.  Then the band comes back up and we do Bryan Adams' "When You Love Someone" which segues into my Compassion International presentation (for $32 a month you can literally change a child's life - more on that in later posts).  Then we go to break.

We take a 15-20 minute break then head back up.  In most shows, I do a 2-song acoustic set and tell some stories (it hasn't worked at Wild Wings yet...but in church shows, we'll do the acoustic set).  Then the band comes back up and we do "Eleanor Rigby" straight into "Loaded Gun" (we do the full band version).  We then go into "City of Blinding Lights" (by U2) and that goes into "Potential".  We finish up that set with "Empty Me" which morphs into "40" (by U2), which ends that set on a very very meditative note.

We leave the stage and hopefully people cheer.  Loud.  Once they do, we head back out and we perform a surprise song (which I won't give away here).  And we end the night with "Let You Know".

So, I can't wait to see all of you at a show!  Now you know what to expect.  Listen to the songs, learn then, learn every word and then sing along with me (and quickly realize how many words I get wrong!)

In A Moment

7. In A Moment

Words and music by Chris Sligh

Produced by Brown Bannister



The Writing:

This was the last song that I wrote for the HPF record. We actually had finished recording the album by the time I went to Hollywood week. In Hollywood, I was roommates with Phil Stacey and when we both made it to the top 40, we talked about n him coming up to Greenville to record a couple of songs in the time in between Hollywood and top 24 to have them available once the experience was over and he was talking to labels. I knew that for me, my HPF recordings would be invaluable, and I wanted Phil to have something, too. So, I went home and wrote this little love song for my wife with the intentions of Phil recording it.
 In order for Phil to learn the song, I put together a demo and sang on it. It was a full demo: piano, guitar, drums, etc. And I sang the vocal that you heard on the HPF album. I was proud of the song and took it over for Don to hear and he flipped and told me that I could NOT give that song to Phil. I talked to a bunch of people and everyone agreed, I had to keep that song.


As far as writing goes...it stayed the same from when I wrote it on guitar. Because I was writing it for Phil, I was trying to write my version of a Diane Warren song (she wrote Edwin McCain’s I Could Not Ask For More, Aerosmith’s Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing and literally hundreds of other hit songs). And it worked. 

Just a side note: Brown told me that when he first heard the song, he couldn’t place it but he thought that it was weird that we were covering a Diane Warren song until he realized on second listen that it wasn’t a Warren song. Haha...little did he know. 



The Meaning:


Well, it’s pretty simple: it’s a love song about my wife and how in a moment life can change, both for good and for bad. But with her it’s changed for good.



The Recording:


This one included all the same players as the other Brown productions, with the addition of Stephen Leiweke on acoustic guitar. Brown and I wanted to change this song up slightly with the production, so instead of being completely piano based as the original HPF version had been, we wanted to start off with acoustic guitar and sparse piano...we thought with this one that less would be more, especially at the beginning of the song.

Dan Needham programmed the loop for this one, sitting at his drum set, with a little computer with Logic installed. He programmed at the end of the day on the first day of tracking, so that we could work on this first thing the next morning. Once he was done, Stephen came in that night and recorded the acoustic guitar.



One key difference between this and the original HPF version is where the key change happens. The HPF version’s key change happened right as it was going into the last chorus. Both Brown and I thought there was something special about that last chorus, but we didn’t want to make it so obvious (i.e., cheesy). So, we masked it a little bit by going to E major (from D major) out of an E chord out of the bridge. Simple, yet effective. 



Don, once again, did the string arrangement and we used the same method as we did for “Let You Know” and “Cry Tonight”...Don recorded his “fake” strings and then David Davidson recorded real violins over the top of that.

In a moment, love can pass you by  * 
And in a moment, a heart can come alive  * *

Every moment's getting better   *  Every moment brings me closer to you  * *  Can I hold you till the morning light  *  Takes away the dead of night  *  And sunrise shines on you?  *  Can love take all these fears away
 *  Till morning comes with brand new day?
 *  It's love that pulls us through
 *  In a moment  * *

In a moment love can tear you down
 *  And in a moment a heart can come around  * *  pre-chorus * chorus  * *  I feel you in my heart
I feel you in my soul  *  Oh, you make me whole  *  In a moment…  * *  chorus



Let You Know

6. Let You Know

Words and music by Chris Sligh

Produced by Brown Bannister



The Writing:

When I decided to take HPF in a different direction and Adam Fisher and I started working together, he brought an extra computer over that had Logic installed. I basically used it as a songwriter tape machine. I would record ideas and write lyrics over music I had pieced together.
 Originally the opening riff was for a song called “Somewhere” (the lyric of which became the song “Somewhere” from Take a Chance with different music). The riff was cool, but the rest of the music was really stupid. I thought the lyric was cool, but it just didn’t fit the music. So, I did something I hadn’t done ever before...I wrote and recorded an entire track without lyrics. I used the riff and put together chord progression I thought was cool and later wrote the lyrics that became this song (originally just “Know” on Take a Chance - we changed it because on the radio Know sounds like “No”...it’s confusing.)
 The song, since I recorded that original demo has not changed a bit musically and once I wrote the lyrics, they have stayed the same...it’s one of the few on this album that didn’t go through various permutations.



The Meaning:

This is one of those songs that I wrote down the lyric pretty quickly and started to piece together what it means down the road. It’s actually a very Christian song without being a Christian song. The premise is this: I make mistakes, the reverberations of my choices continue on and they’re mine to deal with...but we need each other. Some day, soon, I’m gonna call on you to be there for me, and as brothers and sisters we’re there for one another.



The Recording:

This was like all the other Brown productions. We tracked with the same guys and this one went down pretty quickly. Dan Needham changed the intro drum beat up just a bit from the original HPF recording. For some reason, drummers don’t really like the Coldplay “Clocks” beat. So, we changed it up. This one in initial tracking was pretty note on like the HPF recording. It was in overdubs that different stuff started to happen.


I did all the rhythm guitar stuff with George Cocchinni acting as tone chaperone. I’ve played those guitar parts thousands of times over the years, so the recording actually went very quickly on this one. On the bridge we did several huge guitar parts on the riff going into the last chorus to give it a little extra umph. I tuned to drop D and did the riff in that tuning, giving it a huge bottom end.


We went over to Paul Moak’s studio and this was one of the songs included in that session. He threw on the little delayed part at the very beginning and on the verses. With everything that was going on, we kind of felt like that was all it needed.


Don Chapman, again, arranged the strings on this one. I think this arrangement is brilliant. It is churning and majestic at the same time. Seriously, Don is going to be a big name in arranging soon. He just does things that other people don’t do. He’s great. And this song is one of his shining lights showing his talent. For the string session, Don had already recorded the “non-real” strings and had them in the session. Then David Davidson laid down 8 violin tracks over Don’s track, making the “non-real” strings feel way more real.


Lost in the windows of time, * You see a time of change
Don't it all feel strange?
 * Stuck in the reverb of me * I hear echos of myself
 * But I can't say what I see * * 

I'm finding the answers * 
To my great divide

 * * Someday when the sky is falling I will let you know * 
Someday when my dreams are caving in, I will let you know * 
I'll let you know * * 

Forget the first verse of life * There's nothing learned at al * 
At least until you fall * Stratospheres and atmospheres collide * 
Worlds come to an end * 
And there's nowhere left to hide * * 

pre-chorus * * chorus * * 

...when I'm falling * 
I'll let you know when I'm calling
 * I'll let you know when I'm breaking
 * I'll let you know when I'm making it through * * chorus


Something Beautiful

5. Something Beautiful


Words and music by Chris Sligh


Produced by Brown Bannister & Stephen Leiweke



The Writing:


The original version of this song was written right after HPF had right after we had finished up the 1st HPF album. We recorded a 2nd collection of songs to add to our merch table that we called Besides… (a play on B-Sides), and the original version was recorded for that album. The original was more along the lines of Jason Mraz or John Mayer, with bluesy tones and b-3 organ...it was also a little slower.


As I started preparing for this album, I wanted to explore old songs that I’d recorded before to see if they would work for what I was wanting to do with this record. Obviously, I knew that a few songs from Take a Chance were going to be on this album, so I didn’t want to leave any rock unturned. As I listened to this song, I felt that the chorus needed to be rewritten to really pop like the rest of the record was going to. So, I made it a little less John Mayer and little more U2, melodically. The bridge and verses stayed the same, however.



The Meaning:


I remember having a conversation with a close friend where we talked about how frustrated he was basically with not being in control of his life. There are so many things about God that didn’t make sense to him. As I walked away from that conversation, the optimist that I am, I thought about all the things that didn’t make sense, but really turned out in our favor as human beings. I mean, Christ left heaven to come and die on a cross. Tell me how that makes sense? So, I wrote a song that put all the things that didn’t make sense into a song that basically says that it’s okay that I don’t understand God.



The Recording:


For Stephen & Brown’s co-production, we used Stephen on guitars, Joey Canaday on bass and Will Denton on drums for initial tracking. Will & Joey were in Stephen Curtis Chapman’s band together for a long time and now play with LeAnn Rimes. 


As we started to record, Stephen really wanted to break away from the feel of my new demo, and we tried several different ideas. Joey came up with what is now the opening riff and it stuck. It went from more 80’s pop/U2-ish to Maroon 5-ish in a hurry, but it felt good and it worked.


We did guitar and keys overdubs at Stephen’s studio. I recorded some rhythm guitars and did most of the keys on this one. The keyboard part is from a moog sampler called MiniMonsta. The piano part on the 2nd verse is from Akoustik piano...we threw some distortion and delay on there to really mess it up. Finally on the verses, we used a Nord keyboard to throw a moog-like bass (real filtered and funky) to copy what the bass was doing then mixed the real bass and fake bass together.


On bgv’s Chris Eaton came in and did them all.

There’s something beautiful   * 
About the way you don’t make sense
 *   A crown for a cross, heaven for earth  * 
Beauty for ashes in the dirt  *  There’s something marvelous,
 *   Some kind of mystery in your grace  * 
Love comes from pain, joy comes from loss  * 
Still we find beauty in the cross  * 
And hope from what was lost

 * *   Though I can’t wrap my mind  * 
Around the mysteries I’ll be fine  * 
There’s something beautiful in all I can’t see through
 * *   There’s something wonderful
 *   About the way you break my heart  * 
This world for a cross  *  Riches for shame
 *  Trading this glory for your name  * 
And success for lovely gain   * * 

chorus

 1  * * Though I don’t understand today  * 
The mysteries of grace I’ll be okay  * 
There’s something beautiful in all I can’t see through  * *  Oh, something beautiful  * 
Oh, something beautiful  * * full chorus  * *  bridge



Don't Pretend Like You're not Impressed

A Couple of Things

I saw the Ken Barne's article about my chart position.  He is right that I've been at #19 for a couple of weeks.  However, from what I'm being told, there's nothing to be worried about with where we're at.  With the way that Christian Radio works, there are stations that will not add a song until they have gotten testing back.  And every radio station involved will not put the song into heavy rotation until the testing has come back.  Testing usually takes about 6-8 weeks from when they add the song.  Our single's release date was Feb 22...so, we're just now getting research back for the stations that added week one or the stations that started testing week one.  

We are hearing that testing is coming back out-of-this-world good, so the team around me feels pretty confident that we'll see the single start to climb again in the next few weeks.  If you look at Matthew West's single, he was on the chart for close to 20 weeks before he broke the top 5.  We've only been on the charts for 6 weeks.  It just takes time.  If you look at the top 20, no one is moving up substantially except the huge artists like Third Day.  We're doing great right now! 

Secondly, I'd love to have you all post reviews of the album street week.  Just 2-3 paragraphs would be great.  On May 6, I'll start a discussion thread that will be dedicated to your reviews.

Thirdly, I just posted another Theological Digression.  So, check that out.  

Fourthly, I posted another Adventures of Sligh.  So, check that out.

Empty Me

4. Empty Me


Words by Chris Sligh, Tony Wood & Clint Lagerberg


Music by Chris Sligh & Clint Lagerberg


Produced by Brown Bannister



The Writing:


We were supposed to start recording in September originally. We were going to try to have a single out in October to move it up the charts before Christmas time. But Brown didn’t think we had the first single yet. So, for about 6 weeks I wrote and wrote and co-wrote and co-wrote trying to find one that everyone agreed was the first single. 


Tony Wood and I wrote the original version of this song in a couple of hours. We had music (that is actually pretty darn cool, so I’m keeping it to write a new song later) and everything. I brought it into Brown and he loved the lyric but didn’t think the music was right yet. I was, of course, a little frustrated, but I went back and tried to rewrite...but it’s tough when you’re as close to something as I was with that song...I just couldn’t rework it.
 A week or so later, I wrote with a guy named Clint Lagerberg and as we were trying to figure out what to write, I asked if he’d be okay trying to rewrite some music and in about an hour, we wrote the music for what is now Empty Me. We changed the lyrics on the pre-chorus, too, so Clint got some credit for the lyrics, too.



The Meaning:


The meaning on this one is pretty self-evident. It starts off talking about what I’ve been through in the last few years and ends with a simple prayer to be filled with God.



The Recording:


As with the rest of Brown’s songs, Jerry, Jimmy, Dan & Blair played on the initial tracking. Most of the guitar work and all of the keyboard work was done in the overdub stage at Brown’s studio. 
 All of the acoustic guitars and electric rhythm guitars were done by me. The lead guitar part on the intro and bridge, as well as the solo was done by George Cocchinni while he was there helping me as tone chaperone. 
 All the keyboards were done by Blair in overdubs. 

Though it’s hard to tell, there are actually something like 12 different keyboard tracks going on. Blair is an incredible musician and would come up with these little parts that I never would’ve thought of and they just worked great. He also programmed the loop on the verses, covering it with a distortion and giving it an industrial feel.


On bgv’s Chris Rodriguez did some of them and I did the rest.

I’ve had just enough * 
Of the spotlight when it burns bright  *  To see how it gets in the blood  *  I’ve tasted my share  *  Of the sweet life and the wild ride
 *  And found a little is not quite enough  * *  I know how I can stray  *  And how fast my heart could change  * *  Empty me of the selfishness inside
 *  Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
 *  And any foolish thing my heart holds onto
 *  Lord, empty me of me so I can be filled with you

* *  I’ve seen just enough
 *  Of the quick buys of the best lies
 *  To know how prodigals can be drawn away
 * * pre-chorus  * *  chorus

* *  ‘Cause everything is a lesser thing
 *  Compared to you, compared to you
 *  ‘Cause everything is a lesser thing
 *  Compared to you, so I surrender all  * *  solo  * *   chorus




I'm Clean

3. I’m Clean


Words by Chris Sligh


Music by Chris Sligh & Jason Walker


Produced by Will Owsley



The Writing:


When I got into town, I started to co-write with several writers who write for various publishing companies. Word Publishing put me with one of the young writers, Jason Walker. Jason is actually a mainstream artist who signed with Word publishing as a writer. He is an incredible pianist and we hit it off pretty quickly. We wrote the music for this song (and another) before Jason went home. That night, I spent a couple of hours just listening to the music we had recorded. I finally pulled up my word processor and typed out these lyrics in about 15 minutes.
 The only thing that got reworked a couple of times was the bridge. I couldn’t decide if the brige needed to be longer or shorter, so I had a couple of extra lines that ended up being cut later. We thought shorter was better.



The Meaning:


This is one of my favorite lyrics on the record. One of the things I want to do as an artist is write about truth but in ways that feel fresh or new; say it in a different way than is normally said. I feel like this lyric is my best example of that: we are covered by the blood of Christ, so when God looks at us He no longer sees our sin...so we are clean. What a comforting thought.



The Recording:


Just like Brown’s stuff, the original tracking was done at Warm Front. However, with Will’s production, we only had one extra musician: Jim Bogios - the drummer for Counting Crows. We spent half a day getting the sounds set up and then a couple of hours getting the 3 tracks Jim was drumming on. He flew in from San Fransisco ultra prepared and kicked butt. 
 All the overdubs were done at Owsley’s studio in the basement of his house. Well, a couple of my guitar parts from the original demo were imported over and then Will played bass and guitars. Jason Walker’s original piano part that he played on the demo when we were writing ended up on the album, too. So, I actually got some engineer credit!
 When we got into mixing, we realized we needed something in the high range to fill out the sound of the song. So, we went back to my original demo and imported a lead guitar part I did and it literally made all of us feel like the song was finally completed. You can barely hear the part on the final recording, but just having it there harmonically gives it something that I can’t really explain...it’s weird and interesting how all that works.

Love is just a picture of your glory  *  And my best tries at love have fallen short  *  I pretend these dirty clothes are holy  *  Knees patched up with grace from you, O Lord
 * *  No one is righteous  *  But I’m not the one you see  * * I’m clean,
I’m covered by forgiveness here  *  And only You can forget all I’ve done  *  I’m clean:
through no good of my own  *  But when you look at me You see Your Son  *  And I am clean  * *  Looking back, my past is worth forgetting  *  But every try brings me to my knees  *  Where I can see the shades of your forgiving  *  Each color covers a sinful memory  *  pre-chorus  * 
chorus  * *  On my own, 
I’m simply man, at best  *  But my sin’s
as far as east from west  *  Christ's perfection now defines me  *  chorus


Cry Tonight

April 25, 2008

2. Cry Tonight


Words and music by Chris Sligh


Produced by Brown Bannister



The Writing:


I have learned over my time of trying to write that re-writing is a songwriter’s friend. And usually re-writing several times is a songwriter’s best friend. This is one of the songs that evolved over several rewrites.
 The original draft of this song was written after my wife and my third date. I went home afterwards and wrote an up-tempo love song for her. We actually performed this song for a couple of years in concerts, though we never recorded it. After I started my band Half Past Forever, the song lay dormant for a couple of years.
 In 2006 when I started to write for my band’s 2nd album Take a Chance on Something Beautiful, I pulled this song out and rewrote much of the lyric, adding a second chorus, making it a little slower and brit-rock and completely rewriting the bridge, both musically and lyrically. And the title of the HPF album, ended up coming from the last line of the 2nd verse.
 When I signed a solo deal and started working on the album, there were three songs that I knew for sure would make the solo album from the HPF album...Cry Tonight was one of the three.



The Meaning:


The meaning is pretty easy...it’s just a love song for my wife. At the time it was originally written, I was writing from a perspective of not knowing if it was going to work out. When I rewrote it, I knew the answer, so from a lyrical perspective there’s some foreshadowing going on.



The Recording:


Brown produced this one, so it was Jerry, Jimmy, Dan & Blair playing at Warm Front for basic tracking. Brown really felt that the original HPF recordings of this song and Know had a similar riff on the intros, so he wanted to figure out how to change the intro riff for Cry. We messed around with it for a while and Jerry came up with the new intro, which is basically just an inversion of the original riff. Dan Needham came up with the idea for the feel change on the bridge. On the HPF recording the changes were on the upstroke of two, and we changed it to just straight and driving.
 All the guitars outside of the intro riff were replaced in overdubs. I played all the rhythm electrics. Brown came up with the idea to do a thick acoustic guitar thing on the verses...he compared it to a Tonic song...so I came up with the riff and George Cocchinni played it, using 3 different vintage acoustics from the 60’s and 70’s. We then panned them hard left, hard right and 1 in the center, which is what gives the verse acoustic guitars that thick sound. After all my guitars were done we went over to the guitar heaven that is Smoak Stack Studios where Paul Moak played some stuff, including the little slide part on the last choruses and bridge and the little riff at the top of the bridge.
 There’s not a lot of keyboard stuff on this one...just a pad in the background. Blair did that at Warm Front. Don Chapman arranged the strings and programmed the midi strings. We then brought David Davidson in to stack real violins on top of Don’s fake strings. Don has incredible samples so his stuff on it’s own sounds great...but adding real violins really put the sound over the top. I think the strings sound incredible.

You could never understand  *  Just how scared I am  * 
I've lived and loved and lost a thousand times  *  Is this a second chance  * 
Just to make it past all this energy  * *

I don't wanna cry tonight
 * Don't wanna hang my heart on my sleeve  * 
But you're everything my soul could ever need
 *  Don't wanna cry tonight
 * 
It's just a little faith  * Gets us further in this race  *  We both know trust don't come too easily  *  Is this just romance  *  Or will we take a chance on something beautiful  * *  chorus 1  * *

I don't wanna cry tonight  * 
Don't wanna know my heart's broke in two
 *  'Cause all I ever need right here is you
 *  I don't wanna cry tonight
 * *  Don't say it's hard enough to be myself   * 
'Cause all I ever need is you  *  All I need is you…

 * *  chorus 1  * chorus 2

Arise

April 24, 2008

1. Arise

Words by Chris Sligh & Tony Wood

Music by Chris Sligh
Produced by Brown Bannister

The Writing:

This song was originally conceived in the bowels of the Toronto arena where we played during the American Idol tour. At nearly every stop of the tour, I would take my Mbox Pro (which is an interface for the recording software Pro Tools), my 49-key keyboard, a Hagner electric guitar and my computer into the dressing rooms, set everything up and work on musical ideas. I would almost always finish a musical track, burn it to iTunes, then to my iPod and sit on the bus and write lyrics. 


I remember sitting on the bus very late one night (or very early depending on how you look at it). I was in the back lounge with Phil, Sanjaya and Shyamali. They were enjoying each other’s company while I “worked”, ear phones in, computer out and typing lyrics as they came to me. I wrote the entire lyric, and showed it to Phil who told me that it was perfect. Ultimately my lyric wasn’t perfect but it felt that way for a while.


When I got into Nashville, I knew that this song had a chance of making it on the record but just needed some fine-tuning. Originally, the chord progression on the chorus moved much, much slower, so I sped up the changes to create a little momentum in the musical phrasing. Then I got with Tony Wood, one of my hero lyricist, and we worked out some of the kinks of the not-so-perfect lyric, changing a few words here, a line there, eventually coming onto a lyric that we thought worked quite well.



The Meaning:

A lot can and has been said about God’s mercies being made new every morning - it is a basic truth that can revolutionize a life. I wanted to write about mercies made new, but in a way that I hadn’t heard before...I wanted, lyrically, to paint a picture of morning coming and relieving darkness and with the morning comes God’s mercies. When you reach the chorus, I wanted the lyric and music to become so bright that emotionally, a soul can connect with the sentiment of Arising with the morning to find God’s mercies new.



The Recording:
Brown produced this song. The players on all of Brown’s solo productions were Jerry McPherson on guitar, Jimmy Lee Sloas on bass, Dan Needham on drums and Blair Masters on keys. Of course, Steve Bishir was the head engineer on the entire album, so he was involved in the initial tracking.
 For initial tracking, we recorded at a studio on Music Row called Warm Front. In the 70’s and 80’s it was Ronnie Milsaps studio. The recording board even had braille to signify the track numbers. The room sounded fantastic and the board was an old Neve board from the 70’s. Bishir brought a bunch of his outboard gear (compressors and eq’s), too, so it was tricked out.


After the initial tracking, we moved to Brown’s studio. I replaced all of Jerry’s guitars, with the exception of the little delayed lick he played on the verses and the riff on the bridge. The big rhythm guitars are mine, as well as the 2-part harmony guitar going on in the pre-choruses and choruses.
 Most of the keys were done in overdubs at Brown’s. Blair had played a piano part at Warm Front that we kept, but all the other keys were done at Brown’s...with the exception of the trill little synth part you hear on the intros and verses - I did that in my original demo in Toronto.


Chris Rodriguez came in and he and I both got on a microphone and did the bgv’s. Later, we decided that some of Rodge’s parts were a little too edged (in the way they moved) - it wasn’t his fault, we had originally thought the vocals would move a little sharp-edged...ultimately though we decided to make the movement in the bgv’s a little softer, so I replaced them.
 The final version of this song sounds almost exactly like the demo I recorded in my little studio, just bigger and it sounds better. But the arrangement and feel is virtually intact.

Stars go down in the western sky  *  The light fades in as the darkness dies  *  Sunlight, sweet sunlight  *  Brings the day that you've created  * Perfect remedy  *  For all that tears at me  * *  Arise, arise with the morning  *  Arise, your mercies are new  *  Arise, arise with the morning  *  That finds me running back to you  * *  Darkness comes and covers all my faults  *  Tears fall down, sting my wounds like salt  *  Hopes fade, till I'm caught  *  In the day that you've created  *  pre-chorus  *  chorus  * *  I'm anxiously waiting  *  Redemption is brimming  *  With stories created *  Each new day, I now you are coming  * *  chorus

A lot to come!

For the 13 days leading up to my record release (I'm behind already), I will be releasing notes to each song on the album, as well as the lyric, so that you guys can hear more details about the album being made and hear where the songs are coming from, how the songs were written and all that jazz.  Who knows, maybe you guys don't care...I just know when I saw artists do this kind of thing I loved it and read every word of it...so hopefully someone does!

Phil Stacey - April 29

Hey guys,

I had the joy to be on stage at the Dove Awards last night with Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant, singing Smitty's song.  Joining me on stage was Mandisa and one of my best friends in the world: Phil Stacey.

Phil has his debut label album coming out April 29.  Here are a coupla links for you guys to visit to help promote his record:

Phil Stacey Preview

Phil Stacey banners

Tour Dates Thus Far

For some reason, good ol' myspace is giving me the "technical error" page every time I try to update my tour dates.  So, I'll put everything I have so far on here, so at least the fansite can have it!

April

24 - 8:00pm @ Exit/Inn (2208 Elliston Place - Nashville, 

TN 37203)

benefit for American Neighbor

$10 at the door

Daniel Moore 615-944-1370...events@americanneighbor.org

May

  1 - 10:00pm @ Wild Wings Cafe (15 W. Washington St - Greenville, 

SC 29601)

full show with special guest Jason Walker

Free show

Rob Lamble 843-881-0039

  2 - 10:00pm @ Wild Wings Cafe (729 Lady St - Columbia, SC 29201)

full show with special guest Jason Walker

Free show

Rob Lamble 843-881-0039

  3 - 6:00pm @ The Warehouse (Seacoast Church Mt. Pleasant)

leading worship with The Warehouse's band

Free show

  3 - 10:00pm @ Wild Wings Cafe (664 Coleman Blvd Mt. Pleasant, 

SC 29464)

full show with special guest Jason Walker

Free show

Rob Lamble 843-881-0039

  4 - 10:00am @ The Warehouse (Seacoast Church Mt. Pleasant, SC)

leading worship with The Warehouse's band

Free show

4 - 6:00pm @ Secoast Church Mt. Pleasant, SC

full show with special guest Jason Walker

$10 at the door or at church bookstore

5 - 7:00pm in Nashville, TN

private dinner

PRIVATE

7 - 7:00pm @ Seacoast Church (212 Roper Mountain Road Ext, 

Greenville, SC 29615)

full show with special guest Jason Walker

CD RELEASE PARTY!

$10 tickets

Chris Surratt 864-284-0781...chrissurratt@seacoast.org

9 - 6:00pm @ The Refuge (4917 A Mercer University Dr, Macon, 

GA 31210)

full show with special guest Jason Walker

478-254-2740

10 - 6:00pm @ The Crystal Cathedral (Garden Grove, CA)

I'm being presented an award for being a believer in the mainstream

PRIVATE

11 - 9:30am @ The Crystal Cathedral (Garden Grove, CA)

singing "Vessel" for the televised church service

Free show

11-17 - El Salvador

Going to El Salvador for Compassion International

20 - 8:00pm ET @ American Idol Final 2 performances

going to the finale pt. 1

21 - 8:00pm ET @ American Idol Finale