A Song Each Day

Songwriter Johnny Massey has decided to complete a project, but his will be shorter than usual: he’ll be doing 7 songs in 7 days. His project will start on Jan 3, 2010!

In advance of his start, here is a bit about Johnny:

Like many kids from small towns, sports played an important role in the development of Johnny Massey. A superstar from a young age in both football and baseball, he seemed destined to come crashing out of the Mississippi Delta and into a full ride at a top notch university. But by the time he reached college his interests had changed and he found himself at a crossroads.

Art had always been a major part of Johnny’s life, but the music bug didn’t bite until his freshman year in college when his parents gave him his first guitar. Soon, every bit of spare time that had been taken up with sports was converted into creating chord progressions, lyrics, and eventually writing full length songs. His love for classic rock gave way to an obsession with Pavement and Silver Jews, and eventually Johnny rediscovered his musical and cultural roots by immersing himself in the blues.

Fast forward 12 years and Johnny lives outside of Atlanta with his wife, two dogs and a recording studio in the basement. He spends his days as the VP of Marketing for a custom carpet manufacturer, but at night he immerses himself in writing and recording songs. He also runs a web design/graphics company called Massey Entertainment and a small digital independent record label under the name ME Records. Johnny has been in several bands over the years but more recently he can be heard playing guitar and singing with Delta Company, as well as Capture Squad, his solo project featuring a revolving group of musicians from Atlanta/MS Delta. Capture Squad’s new album, “Mineral Row”, was released in early December 2009 and can be streamed and downloaded for free from www.masseyentertainment.com

Well, I only made it through 19 songs. Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings definitely put the brakes on things but the real truth is, writing and recording songs at this pace will drive a person mad. The first week was exciting, the second obsessive, the third just plain crazy. I decided rather than go crazy over it all that I would go ahead and admit that writers block had set in. Not that there were no ideas flowing, it was more about the quality of the ideas. To write a good song I always like to have that improvisational enlightenment thing happening. Without that feeling the melodies just are not as good and the words become lame. I have written songs at a fast pace in the past but doing it day after day without a break is draining. I must say that Eric and CJ pulled off something incredibly difficult and deserve a hand for finishing the insanity.

For those who took the time to listen, Many Thanks! I want to also thank CJ for putting forth the effort to keep something like this going, i do not take that for granted. This process definitely offered me a much needed kick in the butt. I am looking forward to hearing music from the next victims. Until then I don’t think I want to hear music for a few days.

What can I say? Doing 30 songs in 30 days is harder than it looks, and I know first-hand.

Andy King cranked out 19 songs in just over 20 days, and the quality of those tunes is exceptional. But alas, Mr. King was struck with a bit of the ol’ writer’s block at an oh-so-inopportune time, and thus fell 11 songs short of his goal. Shit happens!

Anyway, we’ll do the customary wrap-up post shortly and also post all of his songs in one location on the “previous artists” page.

ASongEachDay.com won’t see much action for the rest of the year, but I’m pleased that another songwriter has decided to have a go at it. Though his busy life (and husbandly responsibilities) will only permit him a shorter run, songwriter Johnny Massey will do a 7 Songs in 7 Days project beginning just after the new year. More on him soon!

Once he is done, we will once again need someone to take on the project – any takers??

With this one I just played a little guitar then wrote some passive aggressive words.  Another short little idea in the spirit of Instrumental #18.

Instrumentation:
Guitar, Vox: Fires of Bangkok

Lyrics:
I’ll sharpen that old pencil,
sharp enough to use in a fight.

Write down some fightin’ words,
then erase them before they’re heard.

I’ll write down a thousand words,
bear down real hard.

When I erase the words they can still make them out,
then maybe they’ll hear me out.

My dad used to make these tapes with one guitar where he would run through the form of a song twice.  Each tape had about 25 songs on it.  This reminds me of those tapes.  This will turn into something more grandiose in the future but for now its just nostalgic.

Instrumentation:
Guitar: Fires of Bangkok

Lyrics:
N/A

Lots of ground loop noise to deal with on this one… so I compressed the hell out of the telecaster to get what I could out of it… maybe next time. Dealing with the bad signal/noise ratio made me do some things I would have never done otherwise. So maybe I learned something. Telecasters ain’t easy but always sound really cool.

Instrumentation:
Drum Programming, Bass, Guitars, Background Vox: Fires of Bangkok

Lyrics:
N/A

This one wasn’t easy… I had the block today big time!

Instrumentation:
Drum Programming, Basses, Guitars, Vox: Fires of Bangkok

Lyrics:
See that falling light.
As it walks across,
Across the sky.

I could write a perfect letter.
I could paint myself the fool.
Say how we were lost.
That there’s nothing new.

See that falling light.
As it walks across,
Across the sky.

I could write a perfect letter.
I could paint myself the fool.
Say how we were lost.
That what we had is gone.