So I’ve got this new record that I’m pretty juiced about.  It is called Bluebird, and there are only 6 songs.  I was hesitant about making a mini-record, but in this brave new world of music production and duplication and distribution, in the end it seemed like the right thing to do.  (that’s a different blog post!)

I remember the morning that the melody for Bluebird (the song) came into my brain.  It was a really pretty day, and this is so rare, but I just started singing it.  I wrote the whole chorus in the length of time it takes to sing it.  It was so familiar that I racked my brain trying to figure out what song I was stealing these notes and syllables from.  Stumped, and with a killer harmony part in mind, I gave thanks and started the work of figuring out what this song was about.  

I don’t know exactly where the guitar part came from either.  My best guess is that I had recently spent some time in Houston with my brother, John Goodgame, Esq.  Even after years of gift neglect, his competence as a guitarist quickly reveals itself when he finally does take a moment and strap on his pretty blonde Larrivée and pick a ditty.  And subconsciously or not, I wrote the guitar part to Bluebird with John’s picking style.  I’d never written a song with that classic pseudo-Chet Atkins-thumb-to-thumb-and-middle-finger bounce before, and the major-to-minor changes just sorta fell in there together with the melody that was coming out as the song worked its way to the surface.  

I have written complicated songs with many words, and I love Bluebird because it is so simple, that I am able to enjoy and rest in the musical moments as they pass by a bit more than I am used to.  I loved the production ideas that came out of Quinlan as he stepped in the stream, and one of my greatest joys upon completing the record has been hearing my 7 year old daughter walking around the house singing that last line of harmony-become-melody that Amy sings to end the song.  It is just right for  her range, and it stops me like the lights going out when I hear her sing it. 

RG