Author: MW Hamilton

Today’s Song of the Day is “Under the Aurora” by Counting Crows.

School has started back and I have to pay the bills, so I need to figure out a new routine to keep up with the song of the day posts! For now, I’m two days behind and it’s Saturday, so no excuse!

I’m circling back to this album from Counting Crows, but I’m being very deliberate—it’s just this line that resonated with me yesterday: “and I wanna believe in something.” I’m may be at that point where I can’t find anything authentic in my life, and it was refreshing to hear this hook repeat throughout the song.

Outside of the hook, this track has such a live feel to it. The drums, guitar, and bass all work together so well in the space. There’s some strings and synths going on, and of course, an acoustic piano, which is really a feature of the entire album. I love that sound!

I also love how they establish a sing along feel and build it up, but then it strips back down to a new verse and builds up larger the second go around. What nice feature in a track; it’s like a built in sequel!

It’s a great album, but this is the track I’m feeling today. I’m about to go for a run, and I think I’ll give this album a front to back listen again!

Check it out if you haven’t heard it!

Today’s Song of the Day is “Your Song” by Elton John.

This one’s a nostalgic pick for sure, but a bit more intentional because today is piano tuning day. So while the tech tunes away I figured I go after a piano tune.

For most of my childhood playing outdoors around a swimming pool, there was always an easy listening station in play for all the adults hanging around the pool. So I heard my share of 70s and 80s greats—Elton John, Bonnie Tyler, Lionel Richie, Billy Joel, etc. “Your Song” is just one of those that stood out in my memory.

Through producer ears, it’s a great track; lots of stereo information, as well as some subtle imperfections or “leave-ins.” The most noticeable to me is the kick coming in heavier on the right ear. I fight with my overhead mic positions often to avoid this, but now I doubt my struggle. It doesn’t sound so bad here, there’s so much else going on, it just seems to work.

I can also hear a few piano noises, which I appreciate because the tech upstairs was able to fix a squeaky pedal on my piano. I’m just used to the extra noises in the recordings.

The track is filled out nicely with acoustic instruments as well as strings that really give it that old school studio vibe. It’s hard to hear it and not think about what the old producers wrestled with before digital technology took over so much of the recording process. It’s quite refreshing.

Check it out if you haven’t heard it!

Today’s Song of the Day is “Shipwrecked in the Eighties” by Kris Kristofferson.

It’s late again, but I spent the day without a laptop. The cool part was that I got to watch a bunch of songwriter’s perform in Nashville for most of the day, so I’m not complaining.

Kris Kristofferson is probably my favorite songwriter; I honestly could pick a song of the day from him every day until I ran through his entire catalog. But this one is special to me. I was born in the eighties, so it’s not the timeframe, but I can certainly can identify with the sense of being shipwrecked in a time period—not fitting in, barely surviving, and not sure where to turn for help.

My story for this song involved seeing Kris Kristofferson play live at Summer Fest in Wisconsin. I worried I would never get a chance to see him live, so I was mostly happy about getting to see him perform at all—but he led his set with this song, and it made it all the more special.

Check it out if you haven’t heard it!

Today’s Song of the Day is “Heroes” by Sal Gonzalez.

So, yesterday was the first song of the day post I missed, but it was because of this guy, so I’ll share one of his songs today.

Sal is a fellow veteran and one heck of a songwriter and vocalist. Yesterday we were at a video shoot for his first music video, and it was a busy day to say the least—full of lots of unexpected twists and turns…and punches.

“Heroes” stands out among all the songs I’ve seen him perform because I was fortunate enough to see him sing it at his first Grand Ole Opry appearance. It was just him, his guitar, and a song that he wrote—but it was such a perfect setting, and I heard the song in such a different way. Everyone was nervous for our friend on stage, but we couldn’t overlook the power behind the lyrics.

This recording catches the power of the song, but I’ll admit, nothing could catch the power in that moment at the Opry!

Veteran songs are special; and the ones that capture the experiences of veterans should probably be heard in small doses—but they should all be heard.

I can’t wait to hear music from his upcoming project!

Check it out if you haven’t heard it!

Today’s Song of the Day is “The Mountains Win Again” by Blues Traveler.

For Xennials like me, it’s hard to remember the high school days without thinking about Blues Traveler; “Run-Around” and “Hook” were so popular and they played just about anywhere you went as a teenager. But I added this one to a playlist because, though I may have heard it some back then, I didn’t hear it the way I do now—and that’s what Song of the Day is about!

First of all, it’s quite a hook—the mountains win again…it almost writes the song for you. For Blues Traveler, they went the break-up approach, which is all well and good, but when I hear it these days, I just laugh at how it can sum up a simple failure in life.

Secondly, I have a hard time with harmonicas. As a producer, they have their place, but as a listener, there’s been plenty a bar or restaurant that plays a Dylan song that blasts the harmonica and it just sounds so shrill, almost piercing, through the sound system. But not a Blues Traveler track; they make it work—I almost forget I’m listening to lead harmonica!

So if you’re having a hard day, go listen to this one, but if you’re feeling all right, go listen to some Blues Traveler tracks for old times sake!

Check it out if you haven’t heard it!

Today’s Song of the Day is “Hemlock” by Roman Reese.

This one is definitely from the nostalgic realm; Roman is an old friend of mine from college. I remember signing up for “Ranger Week”at Tennessee Tech University to make some friends and enjoy what seemed to be a week of camping and such—wasn’t that. Roman showed up with a guitar if I remember correctly, adding to the confusion regarding my situation.

Regardless, it was a fun week, and though I eventually left Tech for WKU, we stayed in touch for a while. Both of us went on to serve in the Army and he continued to play that guitar, eventually releasing music that me and my friends back home grew to love very quickly.

“Hemlock” was a favorite of mine. I love the lyrics, and they certainly speak to the crushing anxieties of being drawn to someone and not knowing how to handle it. For me, it reminds me of the greater lies of liquid courage—so glad I wised up to that eventually. I love the line: “it’s the rounds in my revolver as I walk over to her.” I see it differently now, but I remember how it used to be.

Production-wise, the background vocals are amazing, and I’m surprised at how present they are, yet they don’t seem to take anything away from the lead vocal. The mandolin is a nice touch as well; there is just enough contrast between the thumping of the acoustic and the jangly-ness of that mandolin.

I’ve only seen Roman a few times since those days; hopefully he’ll put out some new music. He’s a great writer, a great performer, and a pretty cool guy!

Check it out if you haven’t heard it!

Today’s Song of the Day is “Babylon” by Lochridge & Co.

This one may be a little selfish on my behalf, because I did produce it. But I have a great reason for making it the song of the day!

Last night I visited Tuscumbia, AL for W.C. Handy Fest and the band performed the tracks from their EP that debuted yesterday. So, fresh on my mind in the hotel room this morning, I’m thinking back over the process of creating the track.

We started with a simple phone recording demo for charting. Bobby Sudekum actually laid down the drums before Cameron and Andy Lochridge dropped by to do their acoustic and electric parts, so they were really forced to follow his lead. I remember I recorded Andy’s amp too hot, but I chose to keep it as it was and worked around the extra crunching.

There was this issue with a line in the chorus that we couldn’t fit while the song was following the established tempo. I spent an entire evening reconstructing his vocal phrases to make something fit, while still being cohesive with the chorus, and we finally settled on, “look for the end to come.” It sang better, so we went with it.

During the project I invited several session musicians and vocalists to come and add some parts throughout. In some cases, there was little to no direction, because I wanted to see what would stick and was still grasping for some inspiration. In the case of “Babylon,” I just said “let’s make it weird.”

Andrew Worley added these dreamy little phrases, and I tucked some of them away in the mix, so they’ll poke out here and there after a few listens. Third Block opted for a darker electric piano tone and dropped some phrases in the open spaces. I wanted an organ to keep a Jim Morrison vibe going, so we used one to pad the entire mix.

The real treat is the background vocals. Cameron Lochridge has a unique voice, and it’s tough for the background singers to find a niche. So I opted for a choral sing along in the choruses with Cooper Lane and Mary Maggie that seemed to fit well enough.

I thought there might be room for some more and asked Mary Maggie to do some “singing stuff,” and I referenced Pink Floyd and the vocal warm-ups that made it into “The Great Gig in the Sky.” Mary Maggie went back and added the ooh’s and aah’s and the last few phrases of the song and it magically transformed into a new song—finally hitting that vibe of a late night drive that was slightly “under duress.”

Lastly, I decided to get extra creative and used the Cascadia plugin to reverse the delay trails on her ooh’s and aah’s. This led me to reverse the reverb tail on Cameron’s lead in phrase—a nod to what I remember was done to Eddie Vedder often on Pearl Jam tracks such as “Jeremy.”

I remember the demo track—and we came a long, long way with this one. So, I’m letting it be my song of the day!

Check it out if you haven’t heard it!

Today’s Song of the Day is “Strawberries” by Caamp.

This is another one I added to Sunset on the Side. It’s maybe the fourth or fifth song by Caamp that I’ve heard but I thought it fit perfectly on the playlist. It drags, but in a good way. I caught myself waiting for a chorus that never came, and then thought, “well, that was pleasant, nonetheless.”

Lyrically, it’s a great little conversation. The imagery is interesting and the “strawberry milkshake” line was a particularly vivid creation. His vocals are stellar—so different, but they are so commanding.

The fret noise in this one is very pleasing, almost distracting, but I imagine a single mic and a great take becoming “the one.” No one wants to mess with it; just release it. Maybe that’s the case, or maybe not, but the fret noise sure leads me to think so.

I’m always surprised by Caamp tracks—I don’t want to go listen all at once, but I love it when a new one pops up in a playlist!

Check it out if you haven’t heard it!

Today’s Song of the Day is “Crush” by the Dave Matthews Band.

I get frustrated when asked about my favorite song ever—It’s too hard to love music, listen to it all the time, AND have an all-time favorite. To me, it’s about a song hitting you at the right time, but on a list of favorites, it’s usually the songs that can make me recall a specific time period or event in my life, especially the pleasant ones. This is one of those songs, and if asked on the right day, I may even call it my favorite.

You either like DMB or you don’t, and I do. It was a strange transition from most of the 90s rock and country that I was listening to in high school and college, but strange typically sticks out the most.

This one creates such a mood—never mind the lyrics, they’re quintessential DMB lyrics for the era—but the instrumentation blows me away every time. How do they get so many instruments in the mix so seamlessly? It’s so distracting in the best of ways.

It’s funny to think about a saxophone in a track back then, but then there’s also a flute, a violin, and sometimes it sounded like anything they could find that made noise. Today, I’m intrigued by the mix; back then it was just the novelty against popular music of the 90s.

Second to instrumentation is structure. He’s a master of building choruses just to change the lyrics and surprise everyone. Or better yet, tagging an extra line to a section just to keep you on your toes.

And then there’s Dave chords, which just make life better and frustrate you all the same. He really introduced me to fretboard fluency; trying to learn how to play some of these songs on an acoustic guitar was near impossible, for me at least.

I remember hearing a podcast where Steve Lillywhite discussed how he wanted to recreate DMB’s stage presence in the studio, which he found to be quite unique. I think that’s what’s cool about producers and the decisions they make—had he just tried to make DMB radio ready to sound like everyone else, I probably wouldn’t be writing this right now.

I know I’m making a case for all DMB music, but this time I’ll keep the reason I picked this song above the others to myself. Life’s a story about living and learning; and sometimes music just marks the beginning and end of the chapters. This one reminds me of one of the better chapters.

Check it out if you haven’t heard it!

Today’s Song of the Day is “I Wish I Was” by the The Avett Brothers.

This one was a happy accident for me. When I was building Sunset on the Side, my thumb mistakenly added it but I gave it a listen anyway.

I love the Avett Brothers, but had never actually heard this one. And yesterday, on my Sunday afternoon walk, I heard it in the kind of way that made it a song of the day. It’s about as sing-songy as a track can get, and it starts out with a cool little lead-in breath that adds to its folkiness. The perfect song for a walk.

The lyrics sell this one—they’re quirky like a love song should be, but they have an abruptness to them that really makes the song pop. Plus I like a song that avoids the “I love you” mantra all throughout, and this one avoids it until the very end.

It’s a playful tune by a very talented band. The acoustic guitar and banjo sits very comfortably in the recording space and it sounds just like a live recording of a folk band should sound.

Check it out if you haven’t heard it!