Hey folks!

Over the Thanksgiving weekend we drove down to California, and for some reason watched a bunch of Pirates of the Caribbean. Yes, there was wonderful food, wine, and family time, but I think the thing that will be burned into my memory is my partner’s younger sibling excitedly giving director’s commentary over some of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. It was joyful.

Now that we’re back home in Ashland, we’re watching hummingbirds visit our new heated feeder. We’ve taken to calling our favorite one Hector. Captain Barbossa’s full name is Hector Barbossa, so now we have a tiny pirate that we check in on every morning. He’s doing great. Right now he’s chugging nectar as the first snow of the season is falling around him. Never thought that the Pirates movies and my hummingbird obsession would tie together, but here we are. Life is good.

Here’s what I’m going to be talking about in this email. Feel free to skip around.

1. My Biggest Jobs To Date
2. I Fixed Something (With A Saw)
3. Working on Original Songs Again
4. The Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Been Listening To

My Biggest Jobs To Date

Back in March, I connected with a Country artist / producer in Nashville named Ryan Michaels. He seemed a little out of my league, which luckily, I didn’t realize until after reaching out. His duo Haley and Michaels had a deal with the NFL, 10s of millions of streams on Spotify, and shortly after we started talking they broke into the Top 40 for the first time.

Despite all that we got on the phone, chatted about music, and he told me he said that he’d like to have me record on a project at some point. Fast forward to August, and he asks if I can have an arrangement to with within the next 2 days for a Christmas song he’s producing. I dropped everything, and furiously worked to get him the parts.

The song was with Jim Brickman and Mat & Savanna Shaw. All 3 of the artists I just mentioned have Wikipedia pages. That’s a new one for me.

It was one of those dreams coming true moments. I tracked my parts project, sent them off to Nashville, and they went over well enough that they’re a prominent part of the new release, Christmases Together.

What I have yet to share publicly is that right after that, Ryan asked me to do another song. But this time it was for his duo. I can’t share the details of that project yet, but let’s just say that project pushed me even more, my parts feature more prominently, and it seems like the first real chance I’ve had at getting my work into the Top 40. As soon as I have more news on that one, I’ll let you know.

Needless to say I’m kind of excited.

I Fixed Something (With A Saw)

My studio monitors stopped sounding right recently, and it gave me a glimpse into what I want my life to look like. Music, problem solving, and working with my hands have always been some of my favorite things. So I decided to figure out what was wrong, how to fix it, and I made it happen.

I had to rip them open, figure out what all the cables did, figure out what was broken, find a replacement part, realize it was no longer manufactured in the correct size, order the wrong size, use a saw to open up the case diameter, and get it all back together.

Somehow it worked.

(Dead tweeter on the left, new one on the right. Raggedy saw cut only partially hidden)

The sense of satisfaction I got from solving the million little problems that came up along the way, and now getting to listen to music through these pristine sounding monitors whose guts I ripped apart and put back together is deeply satisfying. If I get to record for people during the week, and build or fix my equipment on the weekends, I could see being a very happy man for a very long time.

I’m Working on Original Songs Again

During the pandemic lockdowns, I started teaching myself how to produce. It’s what led me to the work I’m doing today, but that process left dozens of orphaned demos on my hard drive. I’m finally getting back to them, and treating them properly.

I’m working with a handful of co-producers that inspire me, I have a mixing engineer who does work that I’m in awe of, and I’m treating myself as one of my clients. My songs are in my system next to the one’s I’ve been hired to record, and time to work on them is going on my calendar. Little by little I’m chipping away at this fulfilling, daunting, exhilarating, and terrifying project of bringing some of my songs that mean the most to me into the world.

Here’s a clip of a production I’m working on. It still feels like a rough sketch to me, but I couldn’t be happier the direction it’s taking. It feels like me, and I’m really excited to hear where it ends up.

(Warning: It starts at the last chorus with no context, and isn’t quiet.)

The Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Been Listening To

Finally, I’ve been listening to a lot of string arrangements that inspire me. I want to get better at the work that I do, and in order to do that I need to listen to the best work there is. This song and string arrangement is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. Treat yourself.

Thank you for being here. Feel free to hit reply.

Talk soon,

Harley

P.S. If you or anyone you know is working on a song that might need strings just let me know. I’m always excited to hear what you’re working on.