tag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:/blogs/johnplaysmusic?p=2johnplaysmusic2021-11-12T07:00:00-06:00John Carrollfalsetag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/68011402021-11-12T07:00:00-06:002024-01-31T00:39:59-06:00🌩️ "Hurricane" is a Big, Loud, & Passionate Release<p>Hey Friends! </p>
<p>My new single "Hurricane" is out on all streaming platforms!</p>
<p>This is a song about struggle. It's about the endless fight to overcome day after day in all of the mounting pressures that threaten to overwhelm (much like the vocals are almost overwhelmed by the constantly building arrangement). How that struggle pushes us to new heights that were previously unimaginable....and how you truly are the hero of your own story.It's meant to go big, rock out, and inspire you. Keep making the world a better place friends. - John (:</p>2:57John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/68011032021-09-03T07:00:00-05:002024-01-31T00:30:13-06:00How Songs are like Time Machines...<p>Hey Friends! </p>
<p>This month’s release is a song I’ve wanted to write for a little over a year and a half now. Its based on a couple of real encounters I had on back-to-back nights. </p>
<p>The first night was on St. Patick’s Day. I was playing at a tiny but well-known-to-locals bar in downtown Chattanooga. The parade was just finishing up and 2 older couples in their green hats and beads walked in together for a round. Before they left, one of the men approached me and asked if I could play “Sweet Caroline” - it was for his wife, he said, it was their 53 wedding anniversary, and her name was Caroline. </p>
<p>He went over to help her up as I started playing. The patrons becoming aware of the situation, helped push some tables and chairs back (we were crammed in there). They slow danced. Both had tears in their eyes. “50 years”, I thought, “a lifetime passed between them during that chorus.” </p>
<p>The next night was at a Tequila bar/restaurant that actually happened to be right around the corner. Two young parents came in with their three year old daughter. “Do you know Sweet Caroline?” they asked, “our daughters name is Caroline.” This time when the tables were pushed back, a circle formed. Patrons ran to join from other tables, waitresses and waiters, complete strangers, all held hands with little Caroline. They let her lead the circle. Swung her around on an endless wheel. </p>
<p>And it felt like I was seeing the same Caroline on different nights of her life. Like skipping a stone across time. Crowd after crowd, hands touching hands, reaching out, touching you, touching me… (: -John</p>3:25John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/51766692018-04-11T11:25:00-05:002024-01-31T00:30:56-06:00"The Ground Above Us" AnnouncementThe day you've all been waiting for!<br> <br>Go listen to/download the new song "The Belly of a Whale" off of <strong>The Ground Above Us</strong> by following the link:<br> <br><a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.johnplaysmusic.com/tgau-landing-page" target="_blank">The Belly of a Whale</a><br> <br>I'm so excited to get this project started!!! This project is not only new music for you, but represents a new chapter in my music creation process. That sounds about as crystal clear as the person in the photo up above, right? (although, I'm 95% sure that's me (: ) So let me tell you about it in the same words I so eloquently wrote for the website announcement:<br> <br>So what is <strong>The Ground Above Us</strong>?<br> <br><strong>The Ground Above Us</strong> is going to be a collection of songs that takes a close look at our self-narratives. Who do you tell yourself that you are? Who do you tell others that you are? Who do other people tell you that you are? The answers to those questions tend to become so ingrained in us that we think of them as a permanent part of our identity: "I am who I am." But in recent times these narratives have been given an incredible amount of power(social media anyone?), and it has changed everything in tremendous ways. I thought now would be a good time to write some material that shines a spotlight on these stories and to re-think how we use them to relate to our own self and others around us. I call these stories The Ground Above Us.<br> <br><strong>The Ground Above Us</strong> also represents a new approach to my music that I'm really excited about sharing with you. I'm going to be releasing singles through monthly emails. These singles will have an over-arching theme that will be announced every 6 months. At the end of six months, I'll bundle the songs as an EP and also put them out to be streamed on your favorite streaming service. It will be like a serialized concept album or rock opera that takes a new turn every six months. This is exciting because it will give us more time for discussion around the art as it is being created and released. How cool would it be if your input could influence the work of your favorite music artist?!!!<br> (end of website announcement)<br> <br>So cool, right?! This is going to be a work in progress as I figure out this new method of music writing and story creation, but I love the idea of making it ongoing and keeping things fresh and new and open dialogue (for you and for me). So plenty more to come because I've been hard at work - there's artwork coming up for the project, more photos to be released, a performance video, behind the scenes, etc..A lot to be excited about!<br> <br>Also, I wanted to mention that the amazing string parts that you're going to be hearing on the tracks of this project were played by Tammy King who (along with many other credits) is the fiddle player for The Steeldrivers. I was VERY lucky to have her play, and I absolutely love how the tracks turned out.<br> <br> <span class="font_large"><strong>And other news,</strong></span><br> I have some shows coming up in South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia, and we are already looking at more areas, so check out my calendar <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.johnplaysmusic.com/events" target="_blank">here</a> if those areas are close by! Or just go check out the snazzy new web page layout with some new photos taken by the amazing Stephen Byrum who runs Young Blood Films on <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.johnplaysmusic.com/" target="_self">My Home Page</a><br> <br>I know this is a huge post, so I'll end here. I just didn't know how to tell you everything that's going on without brimming over (with joy/excitement!) John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/47852892017-07-19T13:14:00-05:002024-01-31T00:35:34-06:00Songs and Stories from Nashville<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">Hey Everybody!</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">I hope you've been having a great summer. It's definitely my favorite time of year. I grew up in southern TX around Houston and developed a taste for sweltering heat. So I kinda love this stuff.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">Also, I just recently got back from a quick trip over to the mid-South and had a blast. For those reading this who made it out to those shows, I just want to say that I really enjoyed getting to meet everybody. Also, thanks for coming out - the concerts definitely blew away my expectations (in Lawton ya'll packed the room plus some!), and that's solely based on your kindness.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">On to the news:</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;"><span class="font_large" font-size:="" margin:="" padding:=""><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">For the Nashville area:</strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">I get asked a lot by my friends in the Nashville area if I play in town (where they wouldn't have to travel crazy distances to see a set). I've been putting a lot of my efforts into playing in neighboring areas and haven't had a lot of options for you. But good news! I'm now one of the regular performers at Cafe Lula (in the Ryman). The August schedule should be posting in the next couple of days, so I should have some local gig times posted soon. Stay tune-d.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;"><span class="font_large" font-size:="" margin:="" padding:=""><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">For the East Coast:</strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">We've got a really cool project going on where me and 3 other songwriters have put a show together called <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Songs and Stories from Nashville</strong>. This is a project my buddy Dave Minninburg organized, and it's something I'm excited to be a part along with Dave, writer Eric Haines, and Marc-Alan Barnette. We'll be playing our songs in the Nashville Writer's Round style. This is going to be our first few shows, but we were excited by the interest it has generated so far and plan on keeping the project going. <a contents="Here's a quick video to give you a little more info:" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/1E_GTY6eP98" style="color: #0b71b6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Here's a quick video to give you a little more info:</a>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;"><img src="https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/114104/497bd58c670c2c126cb8b40201d07275b9d5c2f7/medium/5683193987727360.jpg?1500486504" class="size_m justify_none border_" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.5em auto; padding: 0px; width: 300px;" /><a href="https://youtu.be/1E_GTY6eP98">https://youtu.be/1E_GTY6eP98</a>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">Here's our current dates coming up:</div>
<ul style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"> <li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.9em 0px 0px;">7/22 Sat. 1-4pm @the Salamander Resort & Spa (Middleburg, VA)</li> <li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.9em 0px 0px;">7/27 Thu. 7-9pm @the Bright Box Theater (Winchester, VA)</li> <li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.9em 0px 0px;">7/29 Sat. 4-6pm @the Villain & Saint (Bethesda, MD)</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;"> </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">This is our first run out of what we hope to be many. So let me know if you would like us to head to your area! And if you're close by to these venues, we'd love to see you. I can say of the other 3 writers that they are top notch. It's going to see a great show!</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;"><span class="font_large" font-size: margin: padding:><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">For Fun:</strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">I love playing music - but my favorite part of the gigging and the traveling is meeting new and really cool people (if it was just music, I could do that in my studio :) ). In Dallas about a week and a half ago, I got to talk to Edward after my set and he was telling me about his own love of words (I mean, check out his blog title :) ) and how he likes to rewrite lyrics to popular songs. He shared one with me on his blog called "Getting Old" (written to the tune of "Letting Go"). I thought it was fun and that I'd share just to help spread the word that there are amazing, creative, and cool people creating art all the time around us. It's one of things that keeps me optimistic about life. Thanks for sharing Edward! Check out the link:</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;"><a contents="https://edwardantonym.com/2015/04/22/getting-old/" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://edwardantonym.com/2015/04/22/getting-old/" color: margin: padding: text-decoration-line: none>https://edwardantonym.com/2015/04/22/getting-old/</a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0px;">I have exciting stuff brewing that I hope to be able to share soon. Until next time!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">John</div>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/44671602016-11-14T21:31:00-06:002024-01-31T00:36:24-06:00Sunnymeade Live Recordings<div>I had a cool opportunity come up to play out a house concert series called Sunnymeade Live. The audience there was spectacular that night...and I even had a bit of heckling there that night (all in good fun! :P ) that just made it one of the more fun times that I've had playing songs for an audience. The other cool thing about the show was that one of the host is a working audio engineer in the Nashville area, and he made a live recording of the live set. So I wanted to share that with you! Here's a link to a file with the mp3's:</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23728596/John%20Carroll%20-%20Sunnymeade%20Live%2010-23-16.zip">Sunnymeade Live Set</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>I just want to thank Ed and Melissa for letting me come out to play, and for the people who came to support. This is a monthly concert so check their facebook page for future shows of other great artist. I'll list that link below along with a link to Ed Brussa's info for those of you looking for a talented music producer/sound engineer for your own projects!</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/sunnymeadelive/" target="_blank">Sunnymeade Live FB page</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div><a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://stopgorec.com/" target="_blank">Ed Brussa and StopGo Recordings</a></div>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/39632442015-12-14T10:48:00-06:002024-01-31T00:38:16-06:00"Heart to Heart" Music Video on VIDEO NATION<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I wanted to share with you some cool news that's come my way this holiday season. Before the band I worked with <strong>Man & the Mountain </strong>had decided to do other things, we recorded a music video of "Heart to Heart". The guys graciously agreed to let me use the video if opportunity arose. And I'm excited to say that opportunity arose!<br><br>An organization called Video Invasion is creating a show dedicated to music videos from Indie musicians, and the "Heart to Heart" video was picked to be a part of it! Video Nation has partnered with hotel companies such as Wyndham, Sheraton, Hilton, Ritz-Carlton, and others to broadcast the show to over 600,000 motel rooms across the US. They're also working with online services such as SmartMed Plus to show streaming videos while people wait to see the doctor. The shows will be available to most smart tv's including Chromecast, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV. So, you can see that it's a great opportunity.<br><br>I have to say a really huge thank you to Jeff Swafford who took on this project as director/producer and made all of this possible. I also wanted to give a shout out to the guys from <strong>Man & the Mountain. </strong>This video is a reminder to me of how much fun we had playing together.<br><br>And now if you're wanting to see the video, there's more good news.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="MNi_y0BGwuc" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/MNi_y0BGwuc/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MNi_y0BGwuc?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="400" width="640" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><br><br> John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/38452072015-09-07T07:30:00-05:002024-01-31T00:39:01-06:00Hard at WorkQuick update:<div> </div>
<div>These past couple of weeks have been exciting ones. Music in general is great, but some moments are more gratifying than others. I've been experiencing one of those peaks these past couple of weeks watching these songs that I've written come alive with the arrangement and polished sound design that Dean and I have been laying down. It's kind of like finally seeing an idea that you've scratched out on a napkin turn into a full fledged painting. You think..."that's what I really was creating!" So we've been hard at work in the studio making it happen. We've only got one more session for mastering, and then the songs are ready to go! It's hard to believe the moment has finally arrived.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Also, with every project comes artwork. I'm excited to say that I'm working with Jacob Hansel again for the album artwork. He was the artist who created the Man & the Mountain artwork for the <b>Songbird</b> EP, and we loved it. This album is different, but the artwork is shaping up to be equally as awesome. I'm very excited about this whole project from cover to cover....literally. :) Here's a preview using a scratch idea that was later fleshed out for what will be the some of the album art. Keep in mind this is a scratch pencil idea...I can't show you everything and ruin the surprise!</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HoNBxkgn57M/VeydmSrDcvI/AAAAAAAAWn8/mp9iWxY8pzM/s1600/1-paperboat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="//4.bp.blogspot.com/-HoNBxkgn57M/VeydmSrDcvI/AAAAAAAAWn8/mp9iWxY8pzM/s320/1-paperboat.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" height="247" width="320" /></a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>So very soon, you'll see the finished version of everything up and ready for you to experience. I'm counting down the days!</div>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/38217532015-08-16T17:00:00-05:002024-01-31T00:39:59-06:00EP COMING!!!Big News!!! I'm so excited to tell you that my solo EP is happening! I've worked hard writing material, getting the right producer, and everything else that goes into making an EP. And now it's ready to track. This is a huge step for this process, and it means that this is going to be ready to roll out very soon.<br><br>I'm working with producer and songwriter Dean Payla, Jr. for the tracking, recording, and mastering of this project. He's a great songwriter as well as producer, and I really believe he's going to help complete the vision I have for these songs. Here's a video of Dean doing a cover if you're curious about this guy:<br><br><br><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9xc3WzQabZU" width="560"></iframe><br><br>Also, I encourage you to go check out his web page<br><br><a href="http://deanpalyajr.com/">http://deanpalyajr.com</a><br><br>If you're not following me on FB and/or Twitter, I encourage you to do so to get more updates on day to day activities of this process.<br><br>Again, I am super excited that the ball is really rolling. I can't wait to share it with you.John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/38069412015-08-06T16:25:00-05:002022-03-28T04:25:13-05:00Two Step Texas GirlI wanted to drop in and update with this recent bit of cool news. I co-wrote this song "Two Step Texas Girl" a couple of months ago with songwriter friend <a href="https://www.reverbnation.com/bobpennington4">Bob Pennington</a>. We had it demo-ed and I mixed up the tracks here at the home studio. I've been meaning to post this song to the blog anyways for ya'll to check out for some time now, but I received a call about a week ago that it was picked up for rotation by <a href="http://www.hamiltonradio.net/">Hamilton Radio</a> which, of course, is amazing news. Big thanks to Paul Mac for spinning the song!<br><br>Well, I was really excited to let you all know. Stay tuned for some new really exciting news shortly! Now without further ado - here's "Two Step Texas Girl".<br><br><br><iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/216183269&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/37650382015-07-03T16:48:00-05:002022-01-20T13:22:23-06:00Last Band Release of "Man and the Mountain"Sad news. The band I fronted, <i>Man and the Mountain</i>, has broken up. It was a smooth band break up as far as band break ups go. We were just moving in different directions and thought that we would end it before things became difficult. Which means we're all still friends...so you may yet hear them on future recordings! That being said, it is sad to no longer be meeting with that great group of guys. It was really awesome to be able to say that I really liked and am friends with every member that was in the band. I've been told that doesn't happen often. We wanted to leave everybody on a high note with one of our favorite songs to play out...and we always opened with this song. This was actually a co-write with a former-former member of the group Eric Landshaft. He'll be releasing an EP soon himself so watch my FB page because I'll be spreading the word when its ready. The song is called "One Day Dreamer":<br><br><div><iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/206245315&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></div><div>
<br>This does not mean you won't be hearing more for me, however. I've been writing new material for a solo EP and have been talking to producer's around Nashville to get this project out. So there will be new material as soon as I can get it to you!<br><br>So there's the happy news with the sad. We really hope you enjoy the band's farewell track. I know I'll remember the time with the band as a really awesome and formative time of my life.</div>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/37352622015-06-09T12:46:00-05:002020-11-13T05:25:35-06:00Wildflower Festival and Spice Radio InterviewHey there -<br><br>These past couple of weeks have been really eventful ones for me. I know you've seen some of it if you've kept up on facebook, but here's a recap:<br><br>Wildflower Festival was awesome! I got to participate as finalist in their songwriting competition. There were around 600 song submissions from around the country, and I made it into the top ten. This got me a spot in the songwriting competition onstage and also an hour set at the Wildflower Festival. So we packed up and headed to Richardson, TX (a close suburb of Dallas). I lined up a coffee shop gig for that Friday night, and spent all day Saturday doing music stuff. Here's some pics. The first was the awesome auditorium for the competition and the second is the stage out at the festival:<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F3hje9qXKEY/VXcgQp-OvvI/AAAAAAAASiU/7Xmxp78umgs/s1600/20150516_112826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="//1.bp.blogspot.com/-F3hje9qXKEY/VXcgQp-OvvI/AAAAAAAASiU/7Xmxp78umgs/s320/20150516_112826.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" height="180" width="320" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tj5aBnpySFU/VXcgQluUv-I/AAAAAAAASiU/qdpSB4uez2Q/s1600/20150516_140908.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="//4.bp.blogspot.com/-tj5aBnpySFU/VXcgQluUv-I/AAAAAAAASiU/qdpSB4uez2Q/s320/20150516_140908.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" height="180" width="320" /></a>
</div><br>My family lives pretty close to that area, so a cool thing that happened was that my Dad was <br>able to come out and back me for my set. He's a drummer who played in a lot of bands during his college years (country, 70's rock, etc...) and had even organized the praise team that I played in during my youth group years. So it was really cool that he could come out and play some cajon with me. You can see him in the pic there.<br><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o0g4NaSmv-E/VXcl5NS57JI/AAAAAAAASiw/9zspNfN2GZo/s1600/20150516_231756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="//2.bp.blogspot.com/-o0g4NaSmv-E/VXcl5NS57JI/AAAAAAAASiw/9zspNfN2GZo/s320/20150516_231756.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kansas</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br>It was awesome getting to play, but getting to meet the songwriter's there was just as great an experience. There was some serious talent there from all around the country. At the end of the festival, we were all invited out for the after party. It turned into a song round. There was a lot of inspiration happening in that room. It was one of those moments where you can sit back and appreciate something you've worked hard to be a part of.<br><br>I would be remiss, if I didn't throw in a quick mention of my favorite act of the weekend. Kansas has always been a favorite band of mine (ever since I stole the Kansas cd we got for my Dad on Father's Day...I stole it that day upon hearing it). Since then I've tried to see them in concert, but it never panned out. A ride would cancel, or it would rain. So finally I got to see Kansas that Saturday night. It was amazing. I could sing along with every song. :)<br><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oBtDOv3r7nQ/VXchuXm-wpI/AAAAAAAASik/T9gyYXGbCJY/s1600/20150517_215734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="//2.bp.blogspot.com/-oBtDOv3r7nQ/VXchuXm-wpI/AAAAAAAASik/T9gyYXGbCJY/s320/20150517_215734.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After Party<br>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br>Oh, also, I did get an interview right up where I was able to talk about my thoughts on songwriting and my personal approach to my art. It's not often that I get such a forum, so if you're interested, here's a link to it: <a href="http://wildflowerfestival.blogspot.com/2015/05/john-carroll-every-word-and-note-counts.html#more">Every Word Counts</a>. I have to give a big thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/ericamueller">Erica Mueller</a> for the interview and the write-up!<br><br><br><br><br><br>Shortly after getting back, I went down to Huntsville, AL for an interview with music blog <a href="http://spice-radio.com/">Spice Radio</a>. I met with Ben there and recorded a few songs and did an interview about the songs and what I'm up to these days musically. I had a blast with them and hope to be back there soon to talk about the EP that I'm working on (when it releases! :) ). Here's the link for that interview: <a href="http://spice-radio.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Spicecast-34-John-Carroll.mp3">John Carroll @Spice Radio</a>.<br><br>I know, that's so much information! And there's even more I can tell you about, but write too much in a blog posts and it becomes too hard to fit into peoples busy schedules. So check back here in about a week or so, and I'll post more. Talk to you soon!<br><br>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/36757882015-04-24T16:38:00-05:002022-04-23T09:32:07-05:00Heart to Heart Video Shoot!Really exciting news!...we've been working with a video producer to put together a music video for "Heart to Heart"! We were contacted by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0841430/">Jeff Swafford</a> about creating a video centered around this song's story line a couple of months ago and have been working with him to put things together. A little over a week ago, we got together and filmed everything. It was a blast to record and a really incredible learning experience. We brought in some actors to play the two main characters of the story. I took some pics while I was there, and I wanted to share them with you. Ha, I'm not in any of them because I was the one with the camera. You'll just have to wait until the video release to see me. :) <br><br>The video is currently in post production now. Stay tuned for more updates!!!<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F113439075229333174812%2Falbumid%2F6141419364452638737%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26authkey%3DGv1sRgCIX1yPKSucPoag%26hl%3Den_US" height="267" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="https://photos.gstatic.com/media/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400"></embed>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/35342452015-02-16T10:09:27-06:002022-05-10T05:30:41-05:00"When a Beautiful Girl" - New Single!<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="soundcloud_audio_player" frameborder="0" height="500" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F189820006&visual=true&liking=false&sharing=false&auto_play=false&show_comments=false&continuous_play=false&origin=tumblr" width="500"></iframe><br> <p>I hope everybody had a great Valentine’s! and that all you action movie fans were able to get in your one and only rom-com dose for the year. It’s important to feed those emotions that you keep locked in the basement every now and again. And for everybody else, I hope your romance was unleashed and bloomed like that red rose that’s now sitting in a vase in the center piece on your dining table. :)</p>
<p>But, big news for me and the band musically! Since you’ve last heard from me, we’ve released a new single! During the voting period for the American Songwriting contest, we promised that we would release a song for free download because of your amazing support. This is it!</p>
<p>You can get the download on our website: <a href="http://www.manandthemountain.com/music">www.manandthemountain.com/music</a></p>
<p>For this one we kicked back and had fun. We went rock. It was a different turn and not where we plan on heading, but it was also just a whole lot of fun. This track had a lot of energy going, and so we wanted to go with it. This was recorded in Murfreesboro with engineers Andrew Riehle and Truman Lusson. We also brought in electric guitarist Greg Stewart for his amazing skills. Hope you enjoy!</p>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/34998982015-02-02T13:56:00-06:002022-01-12T08:30:07-06:00Co-Writing Project “Match”<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="soundcloud_audio_player" frameborder="0" height="500" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F189147354&visual=true&liking=false&sharing=false&auto_play=false&show_comments=false&continuous_play=false&origin=tumblr" width="500"></iframe><br> <p>One of the cool things about the Nashville music scene is that co-writing is a big thing in town. More so than any other place that I’ve lived and played. There are soooo many songwriter’s here (me included) with all kinds of styles, strengths and weaknesses in their songwriting, and a desire to get better. So there’s a lot to be gained (usually mutually) by seeing a writer you like playing out and saying “Hey, I liked your music. Let’s co-write.” It happens all the time here. :)</p>
<p>For me co-writing has been a big learning curve because I’m so used to my idiosyncrasies and approach. But having to think about new ways of writing, different metaphors that you don’t normally approach, new chord progressions/melody lines is one of the major draws of co-writing for me. Also, it helps build friendships with other great writer’s. Co-writing = good.</p>
<p>So here’s a co-write project that we’ve recently finished up. This was based on a song I previously had written, but I didn’t have an outlet for it. So I brought it up with Bob Pennington and we made some changes to make it a song that we’re currently working on placing. The songs called “Match”. Enjoy!</p>
<p>I have some more projects co-written with Bob, so stay tuned!</p>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/34739502015-01-19T08:00:00-06:002022-04-26T02:44:00-05:00My EvangelineYes! More music! and so soon! It's a folksy tune this time around. The band liked it, so I'm sure you will hear a Man & the Mountain version of it at some point in the near future. There might even be a washboard involved if you cross your fingers and wish very hard for it (I know I am!). For you right now, though, I'm going to give you a stripped down version. Just a guy and his guitar.<br><br>The idea came from a Longfellow poem. I was going through trying to get some ideas ("A Boy's Will" and such) and came across this tale. Originally its more from the girl's perspective. It tells the story of two people who were destined to be together, except upon their engagement they were forced from their land. The guy sends Evangeline first on a ship (ends up being a pretty big mistake). They spend a lot of time waiting and looking for each other. I won't ruin the ending. Go read it! I do like me some Longfellow. The song switches plot points around a bit, but the names of the innocent were not changed for their protection:<br><br><iframe frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/158303492&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br><br>We're talking to some sound engineers now about getting a studio recording of this which we can release soon. I thought I'd let you hear it first. A "behind the scenes" look, if you will.John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/34739512015-01-05T10:00:00-06:002022-05-09T15:52:02-05:00Check out M&tM EP!Happy New Year's!<br><br>I hope you're having a great one. So far so good for me - though I did just spend the morning writing a song about the sun and how it brings to life and then burns up everything it touches. It's really dark (figuratively). But it's just a morning mood thing, it's really rainy and wintry outside right now. Maybe I was just sun sick.<br><br>Anyways, this year is looking like it's going to be a big one for me. I'm going to be able to step up my music game in a big way, and I'm very excited to share it with you! We have a few recordings that my band M&tM is getting ready to release very soon. I'll post links here along with my social media accounts so be watching for it.<br><br>Now, however, is a time to catch you up on stuff I've already released. My band Man & the Mountain recently released our EP entitled "Songbird". It's available for download now if you haven't been able to get a hold of it yet. If you like my music - then you will definitely want to check it out. Click on the cover and it will take you there.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.manandthemountain.com/music"><img src="//4.bp.blogspot.com/-0l5QORyfPYM/VKhsFiVSuiI/AAAAAAAAQao/25u7uUBqsWM/s1600/cover_digital_small.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="320" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/34739522014-07-14T10:00:00-05:002020-05-17T05:22:12-05:00VBS and More!Fun news! It came time again this year to sit down and get a song out for Cornerstone Mesquite Baptist Church in TX. Every year for the past 3 or 4, I've co-written the VBS theme song with Michelle Lenk. This year was pirate themed, which was great fun to write and produce. Michelle wrote the lyrics and emailed them over for me to write and record some music. I immediately thought of a guy I knew here who plays accordion:<br><div><br></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ubhFOdYLhOI/U8Gh9ZVXryI/AAAAAAAANg8/ZS_HN9NfCqc/s1600/20140611_191811.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="//2.bp.blogspot.com/-ubhFOdYLhOI/U8Gh9ZVXryI/AAAAAAAANg8/ZS_HN9NfCqc/s1600/20140611_191811.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gage Gleim</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div>(Gage Gleim). Had a blast bringing him in on it - it was my first go at recording accordion. Also, for a fun note, you can hear everybody who worked on the project in the gang vocals (ahoy matey) with Darren (drums), Gage, and my wife Kat! They just finished up with VBS there with a successful week. Here's the finished product. Keep in mind this is different from my usual stuff - It's for a children's sing along. Expect some silliness:</div><div><br></div><div><iframe frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/157527789&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/34739532014-03-03T10:00:00-06:002020-08-13T03:30:08-05:00The Latest and GreatestHey everybody!<br><br>I wanted to drop in for a quick update about my music life here in Nashville. Things are great! I've been playing out around town - some solo, some with the band. There are so many cool, different people that you get to meet at these writer's nights. I hope to share that on this blog pretty soon. If you're listening to my music, there's a lot of other writer's out there who haven't made mainstream yet that are still super talented individuals - and I hope to share that with you soon. That's in your future.<br><br>But...the band has been recording. We working hard on getting an EP together to get our sound set, and something to be able to put in people's hands. I've put on my sound-engineer's hat, and I've been having a lot of fun with that. There are so many more possibilities in song-writing if you are not only putting the time in on the lyrics and music but also on the production. I'm really excited to be sharing that very soon. We've already sent one track off to be mastered and should have it back within the week. Two more are already in the process of being tracked. We've been busy!<br><br>This is Waldon Rowe at our recent gig at Ugly Mugs:<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SmhRVf1ngOM/UxNAE-87HHI/AAAAAAAALzY/dnfu9E9R3G8/s1600/IMG_3299.CR2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="//2.bp.blogspot.com/-SmhRVf1ngOM/UxNAE-87HHI/AAAAAAAALzY/dnfu9E9R3G8/s1600/IMG_3299.CR2" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" height="213" width="320" /></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WOn8qcoq8sI/UxNAIYwqW1I/AAAAAAAALzg/-8QrqVVvEEc/s1600/IMG_3303.CR2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="//2.bp.blogspot.com/-WOn8qcoq8sI/UxNAIYwqW1I/AAAAAAAALzg/-8QrqVVvEEc/s1600/IMG_3303.CR2" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" height="213" width="320" /></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WPAIxGtjPLk/UxM_ymDBzAI/AAAAAAAALzI/PPPRzcjNS58/s1600/IMG_3317.CR2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="//1.bp.blogspot.com/-WPAIxGtjPLk/UxM_ymDBzAI/AAAAAAAALzI/PPPRzcjNS58/s1600/IMG_3317.CR2" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/34739542014-01-02T18:14:00-06:002021-09-21T11:05:49-05:00Song Corner: Zeno's FountainHappy New Year's!<br><br>I know everybody says that this time of year, but I really mean it this time. It's a rare New Year's this year in that I'm really excited about the upcoming year. It's not that I'm usually depressed, but most of the time around this season I'm reflecting on the previous year wondering where things got off track and how I'm going to make things better. This year I'm just excited about plans that are happening and the potential for the upcoming months. So just believe me as I say "Happy New Year" to you all, because this time I really mean it. :)<br><br>Here's a song I wrote that I recorded with Nashville artist <a href="https://myspace.com/ericlandshaft">Eric Landshaft</a> (check him out!). He's a great vocalist and harmony genius. He also gets cred for the ukulele playing on this track (I have to look that word up every time I write it out). So give his name a click and take a listen. He has some other tracks that he should be releasing in the near future for which I can vouch for their greatness, so give him another friend request on facebook and wait expectantly.<br><br>This song he recorded with me is one I wrote and produced as an personal experiment - like a mad scientist in the lab. It's fairly abstract in content, and we made strong use of vocal harmonies (thanks Eric!). It's somewhat based on Zeno's paradox (hence the terrible song title) and the idea that the main character feels that their not able to move on or develop their life. Maybe something similar to what I might have written on a lesser New Year's.<br><br>Without further ado:<br><br><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/127610214&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br><br><br>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/34739552013-11-18T20:00:00-06:002020-06-15T00:28:12-05:00Square Dancing is CoolEarlier this year, I worked with square dance producer Scott Bennett to produce a square dance track to the Lou Rawls song "Miss My Lovin' ". It was a fantastic learning experience where I got to dip my toes in a completely different music scene. I also had a great time trying to recreate the sound of 70's soul.<br><br>Scott and I were both very excited that the song was picked up and performed around by square dancing giant Tony Oxendine. I've been told that this song has now been played in locations all of the world. This is always fantastic news for any musician.<br><br>Here's a video of him performing it in South Carolina. It was cool for me to see because even though I can arrange and play the instruments, it doesn't mean that I know how the dance is going to look out when its actually being called. I thought you might like to see as well. :)<br><br><br><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/lWJAak-P8_k" width="560"></iframe>John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/34739562013-11-10T08:05:00-06:002022-03-16T07:54:29-05:00Song corner: "Oh Little Bird"So I'm a part of a band called <a href="http://www.waldonrowe.com/">Waldon Rowe</a>, and we've been fitting ourselves somewhere in the new folk/indie movement. This has been a pretty cool shift in writing focus for me. Stylistically new folk has a lot of focus on creative transitions, different sounds, and lyrics that can say just about anything. Creatively its very satisfying. You can write about anything you want mostly how you want with only a few minor genre constraints.<br><br>Here's a first song that I really feel I have that fits in that slot. It's called "Oh Little Bird".<br><br><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/116294368" width="100%"></iframe><br><br>The inspiration for this song comes from the love story in "For whom the Bell Tolls". The two always talked about the great future they had in front of them - the time after the war. My favorite example being of how she would talk about how beautiful she would be after her hair had grown back out (it had been cut after she had been captured). All this emphasis on the future, despite both seeming to feel that both of them were not going to make it out alive. Yet any spare moment, they still found themselves back there dreaming together. Was it a waste of time? It's this question that I'm exploring. <br><br>I hope you like it! We're planning getting together a full band version of this in the near future, so I just recorded an acoustic guitar/vocal track. Until next time!John Carrolltag:johnplaysmusic.com,2005:Post/34739572013-10-21T20:00:00-05:002021-12-04T07:02:38-06:00New Website!Welcome to the new website! This one will be a lot easier to maintain (I always see bloggers say that, it's fun to say it for my first time). This means more time to make content for you. It's been a busy time, but fantastic musically. So much stuff has happened - I'm having trouble trying to figure out where to start.<br><br>I've been hitting the open mic scene these past few weeks and have been really encouraged by the response. I've met some really great writer's and am already working on getting together to start making some music. I'll be keeping you updated.<br><br>Our band, Waldon Rowe, just recorded a couple more songs in studio. One of them is definitely one of the most upbeat I've written. It's always tremendous to see your stuff take life in a studio with great musicians - almost like it wasn't alive until that moment. It's called "When a Beautiful Girl" and will be posted free for download for all of you. The only thing that we ask is that you get your friend to download it for free, too. We just want people to hear it! Also, we'll be playing at The Rutledge coming up in a couple of weeks....quickly followed by another set at The Basement. Both of these places are awesome, and I'm really excited just to get to set foot on stage there.<br><br>Well that's a broad, quick round up of what's going on. You'll be seeing more in the days to come! John Carroll