As ever, February brings FAWM, in which the songwriter attempts to write 14 songs in a month. Personal best this year: 7*. Also as ever, I blame the president. I've also appended two more songs written after last year's OTB but before February. I cheat. Deal with it.

Like the previous OTBs, these are all first-take recordings, tho in a break from

As ever, February brings FAWM, in which the songwriter attempts to write 14 songs in a month. Personal best this year: 7*. Also as ever, I blame the president. I've also appended two more songs written after last year's OTB but before February. I cheat. Deal with it.

Like the previous OTBs, these are all first-take recordings, tho in a break from tradition, I actually recorded them with a real (if cheap) microphone into a real (if odd and kind of slapdash) recording interface, and did things like "boost the volume" and "add reverb" in "post." It's possible that I avoided bulldog snoring in the background this time... it's also possible that I did not. Like every year, some of these songs may be new constants in the set lists, and some may never be heard from again.

*well, 6.5: I kept the chorus and bridge of Kentucky Straight from a few years ago and just rewrote the verses, because the old ones were...not very good. Which isn't necessarily to imply that the new ones are better.

So I only wrote four songs this year for FAWM (the goal is 14), which is a little lame. I blame the President. But, as a show of my esteem for you, the listener, I'm appending five more tunes that I wrote over the course of last year AFTER February, all recorded in the same scratchy home recording kind of way.

These are all first take recordings

So I only wrote four songs this year for FAWM (the goal is 14), which is a little lame. I blame the President. But, as a show of my esteem for you, the listener, I'm appending five more tunes that I wrote over the course of last year AFTER February, all recorded in the same scratchy home recording kind of way.

These are all first take recordings (full disclosure: I DID multi-track Today Is Today, because it would have taken me HOURS to nail it live. I'll practice, I promise), so all miscues, swallowed words, dog toenails clicking, and other odd sounds are part of the "fun." Some of these may become beloved members of the canon, others may be stripped for parts and sold on the black market. Time will tell...

Only got 6 songs done for FAWM (as ever, the goal is 14) this year, AND I was super disorganized, hence this collection is about two months late, HOWEVER: in those two months, I wrote (or finished) three more tunes, and appended one more that was written mid-last year. So my inability to accomplish really anything in a timely fashion ends up

Only got 6 songs done for FAWM (as ever, the goal is 14) this year, AND I was super disorganized, hence this collection is about two months late, HOWEVER: in those two months, I wrote (or finished) three more tunes, and appended one more that was written mid-last year. So my inability to accomplish really anything in a timely fashion ends up benefitting you (if, as I'm implying, more new music from me is a net benefit to you, which: your mileage may vary).

As before, these are all first-take recordings, straight to Garage Band on my iPhone, so any muffed chords/dropped lyrics/curious melodic choices/background noise is, if not intentional, at least knowingly baked into the pie. Some of these songs have already found their way into my repertoire, some will never be spoken of again. 'Twas ever thus...

My first attempt at the February Album Writing Month challenge (www.fawm.org). You're supposed to write fourteen songs in the month of February. I wrote... five. Almost had six, but it didn't take. More remarkably, though, I think they're actually all maybe not terrible, and I don't know that I've EVER written that many songs in a row that maybe

My first attempt at the February Album Writing Month challenge (www.fawm.org). You're supposed to write fourteen songs in the month of February. I wrote... five. Almost had six, but it didn't take. More remarkably, though, I think they're actually all maybe not terrible, and I don't know that I've EVER written that many songs in a row that maybe aren't terrible. Your mileage may vary, admittedly...

These are all first take recordings, so some have decidedly incorrect chords and muffed lyrics; even in the couple weeks since I wrote them, some have already been refined or altered; some may, in time, be revealed to be much weaker than I think they are and scrapped for parts (or taken out back and shot). But maybe when #JHSophomoreRecord starts to take shape, some of these tunes will be on the list.