Songwriter Rick Paul’s thoughts on music, songwriting, technology, life in general, and whatever else might come to mind at any given moment.
I can’t believe January 2018 is already more than half over! I’d originally intended to write a year-end/New Year blog on either New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, but then various projects I was working on those days took longer than expected. Then January 2nd arrived, and it was back to the day job, … Read more
In an announcement dated November 17, 2017, but which only became public knowledge earlier this week, Gibson Brands, the company that is best known as a guitar maker (e.g. they make Les Paul guitars), announced that they were, “ceasing active development and production of Cakewalk branded products.” The reason stated was, “to better align with … Read more
When I took Spanish in high school, we learned that the response to, “gracias,” (“thank you”) should be, “¡de nada” (an expression translated as, “you’re welcome,” but literally meaning, “from nothing”, with an intention along the lines of, “there’s nothing to be thankful about”). It makes sense, I guess. I mean, it’s kind of a … Read more
Can you believe we’re already halfway (plus a few days) through 2017? At the start of the year, my “Looking Backward, Looking Forward” blog, in addition to reflecting a bit on the year gone by, speculated a bit on what might be in store for this year. I’d alluded to some recording projects I had … Read more
My latest single, as of this writing (early May 2017), is a song I wrote over thirty years ago, in early 1987. That was before I was writing lyrics on the computer, and before I started keeping extensive notes of lyric drafts in progress, so it would be tough to recreate the history of the … Read more
Anyone who’s been paying attention to my digital single releases in the first quarter of this year may have detected a theme. In late January, I released my rock-flavored cover of Bob Dylan’s iconic 1960s protest song, “Blowin’ in the Wind”. Early last month I put out a new recording of a song Ray Ducharme … Read more
Have you ever had an experience where you were working on something at a particular time, partly due to a series of coincidences that “just happened” to make something convenient at that time, where that thing you were working on ended up feeling “just right” for that moment? I had one a couple of weekends … Read more
Like many people, I set aside some time at the end of one year and the beginning of the next to review the year gone by and consider plans for the new year. Some years are easier to review, or plan for, than others. Of course, plans can change at any point during the year, and … Read more
As a largely unknown songwriter, who has yet to have a mainstream (or even cult) hit here in the USA — I make this geographical caveat only due to some minor international success, including a local radio hit in Norway and a top 5 radio and video hit in Mongolia, back in 2003 and 2004, … Read more
Back in Spring of 2011 I joined the TAXI independent A&R service in what I might best describe as a last ditch effort to try and get my songs into some paying opportunities. I’d been trying to make a living as a songwriter for over a decade, I’d been divorced for a bit over a … Read more