Just getting started!

One of my favorite quotes ever was from the Revolutionary Naval war hero John Paul Jones, whose famous taunt to the British captain, laying waste to Jones’ Bonne Homme Richard (Well, it appears to be a bit of a debate whether it was muttered to an aide or actually yelled across the brow at the British. Suffice it to say, it showed some serious brass) was burned into my consciousness at a very young age – “I have not yet begun to fight!”

I come from a long line of naval heroes (which I have unceremoniously ended), so the first American Naval hero was someone often quoted by my mom, whose father was a WWII sub commander, earned the Navy Cross and was Director of Athletics at Annapolis.

I titled this blogpost “Just getting started!” to mention that today I began recording my first full-length record. I did scratch tracks of 9 songs (a scratch track is basically me playing guitar (or piano) and singing). I’m sure that the album will take shape over the course of its production in a lot of ways. I may not end up doing all the tracks I recorded, I may write/finish a couple of songs we didn’t do today. My initial concept is to produce a cause-related CD, with every song being in support of some cause associated with the theme or inspiration of the song.

Here are the songs I scratched today:

Supernova: supporting meth rehabilitation
No Ordinary Daughter: supporting depression research
Say Goodbye: supporting grassroots political action on the environment
Semper Fi: supporting wounded Iraq veteran organizations
Let Peace On Earth: supporting interfaith and multicultural initiatives
88/21: supporting SharedVoice, a not-for-profit cause related music project
Nobody said it would be easy: I have an uptempo and a slow version. Haven’t decided on the cause. Might be out.

I’m listening to the demo’s with the thought that I would post these tracks. There are a couple of tracks on the CD that were corrupted, and I want to put ’em up as a group. Once I get the other two tracks from Andy, I’ll post ’em.

I’m thinking of redoing the “Unamerican” song. The recording that’s out there is my first-ever. I think it has a bit of rustic charm, but there are also some wince-able moments. What do you think?