I hope you are doing well. Here are seven updates from Dave's World of Music. Thank You for joining me. I appreciate.

#1 New Release: Collide

My latest song Collide is one of my most popular offerings to date. As most of you know, I create my music on the edges of a very busy life; especially lately. Collide was released a couple of weeks ago and I believe this bump in streams is primarily do to the increased exposure of appearing on a popular podcast and playlists of the folks from Derringer Discoveries (A Music Adventure Podcast). Thank You DD Team!

#2 I co-host a Podcast about U2!

Here is a link to the podcast about all things U2; co-hosted by none other than Moi: EP58: U2 with Special Guest David Husted. Thank You Again Derringer Discoveries! Team. I had a blast! Please consider signing up for their newsletter which can be found on their home website.  

#3 Music Live Performance

I continue to practice with a super cover band called WildGood. We will be playing live at the Port of Leonard Town Winery on 22 June 24. Come join us, sip some wine and bask in some great sounds. I am also working a side project to perform music with a group of talented musicians that will coalesce into a tribute band.  More on that later.

#4 New Original Song in Development: "Eclipse"

Creating releasable worthy music takes a great deal of time.  My pace of creation varies widely as I try to manage time constraints. The key to that feisty obstacle called time is to just keep at it; find the nooks and crannies. I stick to it mainly because I have formed good habits and the whole creation process still brings me great joy. My latest song still needs lyrics laid down. My vocal range is limited but I keep working at it and the song calls for increased vocal range. The song moves more into the pop rock/synth rock arena.

#5 Next Song to be Released:

Crumble Like Sand.  This will most likely be my next official release. It is still many weeks away from distribution readiness but it is the one I seem to be eye balling right now. Stay Tuned.

#6 Word of the Day: Pinhentagyu.   

I recently watched a Steve Martin documentary called "A Documentary in 2 Pieces" on Apple TV. I thought is was pretty good. During the film this word Pinhentagyu came up on the screen with the following definition: With a relaxed brain, being quick-witted and sharp. It struck me as a very pithy definition of Steve Martin. I liked it. It is my word of the day.

#7 Poem of the Week: Night Music by Philip Larkin. 

This poem initially collided with my brain and then formed a peaceful, quiet and empty space; clearing the incessant chattering of my mind for a few moments. I like anything that brings me peaceful moments. It is my poem of the week. You can find it here: Night Music

As always, Thank You for sharing a moment with me. May your weekend be beautiful and peaceful and filled with some of that Night Music too.

Sincerely

Dave
davidhusted.com

Collide: by David Husted

My thoughts on the birth of Chords and Arrangement in the moment of conception

I completed a song I decided to call Collide today.  It grew out of a simple C chord strumming pattern in the verse and me mumble singing melodic phrasing until the line "Show me your piece of the world" appeared. Coming out of that C I play a simple Am G back to F  and then back to the home court C.  I heard the following

Save me all your raving lunatic
Slogans that placate our minds

Verse 2 was more of the same until new words emerged.  I still had zero idea where the story was really going.  It seemed to be teetering on the brink of two divergent storylines.

I then spent a lot of time trying to be too cute with complex chorus chord structures and began to see my concept of a song and the actual feel of the song were not converging. I tried again.  This is when I went back to my keyboard and I just quietly played a piano version of the verse and felt my way into a simple pre-chorus chord transition that hit with the emotion in the words I was humming. These words ended up morphing into this:

C D7 F Fm 

But we got to move fast
This Earth's still shining
But she's running out of gas

I think the Fm is what grabbed hold of me because of the turning of the F major into an F minor.  Close chords yet shifting the mood a bit. Radiohead does this perfectly in the song Creep going from C to Cm.

Now, the actual chorus chords did get a taste of the chordal complexity I was after but I was happy that this complexity arose more organically based on what I was singing vice just force fitting in more complex chords.

Here is the chord pattern I hit on

Am F#m7b5 C G7 
The F#m7b5 adds a subtle dissonance that I was after

It was the lyrics here that the storyline finally took a position and became about our escalating climate and social crisis but also about how one balances their own mental health against these stressors. Hence the image of the yin yang symbol emerged and took shape in some of my lyric lines.

When I hear No, know that Yes opens doorways
When I feel Sad, know that Happiness will rise
When I head East I think I might be meeting West
When Yin meets Yang and birth and death Collide

So there you have it.   But not totally.  What I did not tell you is that I spent several weekends building a totally other song that just simply had to be let go of.  I was basing it off a reference track called Alaska by Maggie Rodgers. My goal was to create that intimate drum and singing style similar to that song.  It was a disaster.  I gave up. This song has no similarity to that song because I started over but it did provide the spirit and enthusiasm to create.  Thank You Maggie.  This is part of music creation I am afraid.  Sometimes you just have to start over. 

Well,  I finally took an opportunity to jot down some of my thoughts right at the moment of song completion.  Thanks for sharing a moment with me

Dave

I have completed a new song today which I will probably not distribute for at least a year.  The timeline varies but this has been my average gestation period.

I will use this song journal under the category "simmering" to document this conception point and comment on it later once I put all the final bells and whistles on it.

Thank You

Dave Out

Photo by Mark Plötz: