Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Short Stories of Pawn Shop

So…creative people change just like everyone else. Your perspective moves, gets stuck, etc. You sing differently. You work in and out of humanity however you do-then you document it. You just to have empathy for that process or else it’s never fun. I hate listening to most of my songs, but I DO like remembering where I was coming from at that time. It’s just important to know what to keep/throw out/ recycle/ etc from the little rascal signposts. Little signposts that remind you….well just remind you. All this to say, when I made my last record, PAWNSHOP, I made it in 2 sweeps. The first one was in Dec of 06 and the other was in Sept of 07. I did Ohio, What Would I do?, She Uses Love, Easier to Read, Ramshack Run, Down Down in the first sweep. Then I did the rest in the sessions in 07. Had a good time, and all was quiet on the western front. In Oct/ Nov I realized how fragmented I felt the recordings were. My general approach to singing/ writing/ etc. had just shifted between sweep 1 & 2. Not in a bad way. Well yeah maybe in a bad way. But-the music was just so dang ambitious and I felt disconnected from it. SO-the question arose-what do I do with all of these different kinds of songs. I’ve got my development down on tape, and it might be more disengaging for folks listening than anything. So, I decided to parody the confusion of the situation with a concept record. Fortunately, working with a wonderful person like Jason Harwell at Rebuilt Records made this naive call look way more together than it was. I wanted to have stories going along with each song that would help tie the album together better so it wouldn’t feel as fragmented (maybe) and illustrations with it. SO I called my friend Jewly Hight (great songwriter, writer, bad ass), and she was in. We talked through it over several months and came up with something we both were proud of. Then Jason Harwell contributed some stellar illustrations to top it off. We had an accidental concept record from a literal sonic pawnshop that became this more holistic experience with stories for each song…documenting Pawnshop’s journey. Since most people buy my music digitally, it didn’t really translate how I wanted. But I’m proud of the whole concept that saved it for me (even if it’s just me!). The interactive nature of it. I just wanted to share the experience of this record beyond the 50-60 minutes that you may or may have not heard. I’m also going to put the story up for those who want to get their hands on Jewly’s tasty writing. You may hear a song differently too. See ya.

Click here to read the mini book: http://www.micahdalton.com/pawnshop-story/

Md

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Reinventing the Wheel While Bass Fishing

So I never fish, but my friend Jonathan took me this past weekend, and I saw the light . It was a gorgeous experience. I saw a snake, dope overlooks, and fish really close up. Most importantly, I sat quiet on a rock for about an hour and a half and felt a sense of clarity for at least several minutes. Then I shot a gun. I didn't really like that because of the ring in my ears and the "what did I just do?" weird feeling afterwards. I'm taking some time off of touring this Summer. I didn't necessarily mean to, but a tour got pushed back, and I'm not exactly jonesin' to make all of those kind of transitions happen these days (at least the on and off the road ones). Plus- I'm wanting to extend the creative flow I've had working for about the past 9 months. Every once in a while you need to take a sec to remember why it is music is generally important. Then you can start the aggravating self prod again.That can suck because that self accountability has a specific calling that leads into an abyss of trial and error. A frustrating one but necessary. I've produced 2 projects (one alongside my pal Paul) recently. Tyler Lyle and Ryan Horne. We didn't have "a system" for either one which seemed fruitful but entirely exhausting for me and, i'm pretty sure, everyone involved. Everybody seems pretty dang happy though. I do. All this to say, there's no sub for rest and unplugging. I can tell when an artist is always plugged in. Into everything but themselves and their own humanity. The more and more people I run into in the city have an incessant desire to make something original of themsleves. To build a "new us" or, perhaps, a "false us". I am in that place very often, and I'm now worn from those transactions. I'm more interested in what's benefiting my community here and now and turning over rocks for sincere ideas rather than original ones. Sure, they can run together-but theres millions of empty shells with millions of original ideas. Like this blog for example-it's awesome, original, self-important, and anything else right.
Rant.
Rant.
Bless-Micah

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Road & what I've been up to.

I'm finding out that living without cable TV automatically removes you from 25% of the conversations you could possibly have.I realized that about a couple months ago (but I haven't blogged over it...). I've played a hodge podge (sp?) of events (colleges, churches, camps, clubs, free mason halls, bingo halls, bowling rings, etc.) recently and have caught up with a handful of very wonderful people that I've not seen in sometime. Most of these people were at Sharptop Cove the last couple of weeks. I'm frustrated because I haven't really read in the past 6 months or so. I've skimmed around with
"The Power and the Glory", but I haven't finished. Me and my sideman/stone cold killer/mandolin player is also named Micah. He's on these 4 dates with me, and he's extremely talented and easy to be around. I'll also be co-writing with Nate C this weekend in Brooklyn. I'm playing SXSW for the first time this year and, honestly, it seems like it could potentially be more trouble than it's worth. But I hear it's a good place to be. Signing off-
Md