Not long ago, I was asked to collaborate on some country music....

After a little writing, recording, and beer drinking: these six songs emerged as my first batch of country tunes! Now maybe you do or you don't like country, but the rest of this story is great regardless so keep reading:

The day the demos were finished, a friend Janice Duffy heard them and asked if she could have a copy to pass along to someone she knew. Next thing I knew I was on the phone with one of the cutest country accents I'd ever heard: Jaynie Chowning, daughter of the famed Si Siman. She loved the demos and wanted to show them to her brother Scott Siman, a Nashville country music music exec who's managed artists like Tim McGraw and Julianne Hough.

Turns out Scott liked the songs too! So much so, that he took them around to some big-time Nashville producers, and one of them was James Stroud (Toby Keith, Randy Travis, Willie Nelson, Clint Black, etc). Apparently, James loved the song 'Fall Madly In Love' (listened to it 3 times in the meeting) and wanted it for his new artist Margaret Durante to record and release on her upcoming album!

Holy sh$t, right? So I just signed my first single-song contract! Here's a pic of me and my co-writers Tyler Johnson and Douglas Showalter with our contracts:

Yay for AM picture time! I'll keep you posted about her album and our song!

And, as if that weren't enough, I was also invited out to Missouri, to do some country songwriting with Randle Chowning (of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils)!! Over a few short days we wrote 3 more songs that sound incredible, and I got to see the sights of Branson, Kimberling, and Table Rock Lake. By the end of the trip, Randle, Jaynie and I felt like old friends :)

The night before I headed back to California, we all jumped into the car to drive around the lake and listen to the newly finished demos on the car stereo. I was happy as a clam - top down, warm air, songs sounding great and [thanks to the great state of Missouri] I could sip on a bud light while riding shotgun! I think I'm really gonna like this country music thing...

Here's Randle Chowning and I (Jaynie's taking the photo).

Workin hard or hardly workin at the Lakehouse (yes that's an 8 track recording set-up!)

P.S. he's probably gonna kill me but check out this sweet throw-back pic of Randle!