Blogging in 2011

Is about to get a lot better. I have a lot of plans for this blog and there will be a lot more activity. I hope you guys have had a wonderful holiday season. Here's to an amazing 2011! Rock on.

Thoughts/Feelings...

Hey guys -just trying to get an idea of how you are all digging this blog. I know I haven't been very active with it, but I'm hoping to have more opportunities to make posts. Let me know if you have any ideas regarding what you'd like to see on here. You can post a comment or email me at Dan@DanTedesco.com.

Rock on,

Dan

Tracks On Fire....

So it's official. My next album will be titled, "Tracks On Fire". At some point I'll put together some of the general ideals that provide the foundation for this upcoming release. It will, in many ways, pick up and continue the story that began during "Starin' at a Green Light". The sound is much tighter, more raw and more live...but it's funny because in some sense being "smaller" has actually made it bigger. It's an intense ride through the ten tracks. I sincerely cannot wait to have it put together and available for you all. Please be prepared for initial tracks to be available as a preview sometime in January with an official release to follow in March. Rock 'n Roll.

- Dan

Hittin' the Road...

(Sunrise in NW Indiana, Oct 2009)

Touring season for 2010 will wind down beginning this week, and carrying through next week. We'll be pulling out of Chicago this Wednesday to wind up through Madison, WI - Minneapolis, MN - Duluth, MN - La Crosse, Wi landing back home for a couple of days and then rolling out for a couple of shows in Kearney, NE and Des Moines, IA. This will also mark the end of any major touring behind my current album, "Starin' at a Green Light". That album was released in March of 2009, and in the last year and a half we've covered over half the country touring behind it.

Over the course of the tour we've made new fans and friends, seen new parts of the country, been inspired for more songs, had one good solid blown alternator in the middle-of-nowhere Wamsutter, WY, consumed copious amounts of terrible (but cheap) food....and played a hell of a lot of shows. And as this album's tour crosses the finish line, the whole process starts to put out the next one...title and official release date TBA.

For those interested, you can follow me on these last tours of 2010 via my Facebook artist page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Dan-Tedesco/176304244465) or Twitter (http://www.Twitter.com/Dan_Tedesco). See ya on the road....Rock on.

- Dan

Making the New Album...

Ok....so for the better part of September I had extremely limited internet access, and for that I apologize that I was not able to post many blogs. However, that issue has been rectified and I'm back at it. I figure the best spot to pick back up is with last week's recording of my new album!



Above is a picture showing my setup during the main tracking with the band. You can see my keyboard and several guitars in the background. I brought the Les Paul back out and it sounded perfect. With this new arrangement of my band it really helps keep things full and warm, given the lack of a bass. Surprisingly enough, I only played electric on one song for this album.

A lot of people often ask me what the order/process of recording is like. I can give you a general breakdown of how these tunes were put together:

1) Live take of each song with myself on vocals or guitar/keyboard, Brad on guitar/lap steel and Rio on drums. Multiple takes are done to try and capture the best performance of each song. Slight changes to arrangements are made in between takes. My producer on this album was crucial for bouncing ideas and having suggestions to help enhance the original arrangments, and the tracks are all that much stronger as a result.

2) Once the general tracking is taken care of, it's time for the overdubs. With this album, I went through a re-recorded all of the piano parts with a real piano vs the initial tracking done with my keyboard. The difference in sound is pretty stunning. It's a bit tedious to go back through everything but absolutely worth it. In addition to the piano overdubs, a few organ parts, guitar parts and vocal harmonies were added in.

3) After putting together the full arrangements of each track I go back through and lay down final vocal tracks where needed. Here's a photo of what my setup looked like while tracking the final vocals.



That big, round black mic behind the pop screen was on loan from the guys in My Morning Jacket, and it sounded unbelievable. Hands down the best vocal sound I've ever had during a recording.

4) By this point we had basically every track arranged and recorded as seen fit. There was one last thing to do. I put together an on-the-spot arrangement of a song I've never played on piano before. Some of you might know it. It's called "Whiskey Roads". We miked up the piano, threw up a vocal mic and I cut the tune live in one take. It was one of my favorite moments of the entire 4 days of recording and I think will be a very powerful track on the album.

And that as they say...is a wrap.

August 2010 in a nutshell...

Lots of rehearsals….lots of travel….lots of rock ‘n roll. The band and I were very busy this past month. Between working the kinks out of our new arrangement, touring out east and last but not least preparing the songs for my next recording - well, sleep has come at a premium. It’s all good though - I can sleep when I’m dead.

We spent 9-days on the road in early August touring out to the east coast. In total we visited Ft. Wayne, IN; Cleveland, OH; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Pittsburgh, PA; Columbus, OH; Decatur, IL; Mendota, IL (The Mendota Sweet Corn Festival); and my hometown - St. Charles, IL. It was a whirlwind of shows (10 in 9 days), and a lot of driving. But my trusty Ford E-150 (aka “The Triton”, “The Bus” or “Old Blue“) stood it’s ground and went the distance for us. We made a lot of new fans and received the strongest response I’ve ever received on tour. The newly refurbished Long Haul is making quite the impact (if you’d like to get a chance to see what I’m talking about visit my MySpace page for show dates - http://www.MySpace.com/DanTedesco).

I took a few days off after our tour to relax and get my mind focused on rehearsals/recording preparation. The last couple of weeks have had me consumed with arrangement ideas, track listing ideas and physical rehearsals with the band. I cannot wait to lay down these new songs. The band is really excited about the new material and I personally feel it’s some of my most original stuff to date. It’s going to be a leaner recording than the last one, but it’s gonna be raw and it’s gonna rock. More info regarding release dates and such will be on its way soon.

I hope you’ve all been well and have lots of great memories as we wind down Summer 2010 and ease into the cool relief of fall. Rock on.

Tour Log - East Nashville, TN - Friday, July 30th.

Ah....so let's see where to begin. The ride down to Cincinnati was....well...not all that exciting. But it did go by pretty fast. I picked up a new harmonica and a new harmonica brace (yep, getting back into that whole deal) on my way out of Chicago, so I was able to rig that up and practice my chops while driving. Not the safest thing in the world I suppose - but then again I'm a pretty compulsive text-while-driving driver. Fueled on coffee and the "poor musician's feast" - 1 mcchicken and 1 mcdouble - I shot down I-65 and met up with I-74 outside of Indianapolis which carried me straight southeast into the heart of Cincinnati. If you haven't been there it really is a pretty town. It sprawls out over the rolling hills of the Ohio river valley, which this time of year are a deep green given the oh-so-generous rainfall that the midwest has recently received. The river itself is a beast, usually seeing a good deal of action from barges. I have a strange interest in inter-modal transportation, so that kind of thing gets me off. What can I say.

I took Pete Rose way around the Reds stadium and crossed the mighty river on a bridge depositing me smack dab in the middle of Newport, KY - about 2 blocks from home for that night - the Southgate House (http://www.SouthgateHouse.com). When I walked up to start taking gear into the venue I caught a glimpse of the marquee (photo shown above). Rock 'n Roll.

The Southgate House is a really, really, really cool venue. Very unique. As I mentioned in an earlier post it operates with three different rooms inside the house. There wasn't a big show in the ballroom last night, but there was another show in what's called the Parlour Room (I've heard stories of My Morning Jacket and the Black Keys playing to 5-10 people in that room back in the day). I put together my gear in the Lounge (directly underneath the Parlour Room) which is essentially the main bar area, ran a quick sound check, and was enjoying a frost Kentucky Ale by 8pm.

Unfortunately my presence in the Cincinnati scene is not too strong yet, and the band in the Parlour Room didn't have a super huge crowd. What did this mean for me? A slllllloooooooowwwwww night. I did get a chance to play for a few folks though, and they sincerely appreciated it. No CD sales but when I play to 5-7 people all night I can't really expect much. I passed out a few biz cards, so we'll see what the future holds :)

And the night rolled on, a few more Kentucky Ales were consumed, and then - the Tommy Gun. If you didn't read my earlier blog, the Southgate House is the former home of the man responsible for the invention of the Tommy Gun. That said, one would expect them to have a signature drink bearing the same name. I discovered this little gem. I suggest trying it when you have the chance. Jameson shot with a pickle juice chaser. Bam!

By 3:30 or so I was closing down the bar with the remaining staff and making plans to travel a few blocks away to an all-night diner - The Pepper Pod. A "the pod" I enjoyed a full ham steak breakfast complete with a full side of biscuits and gravy and a specialty of "the pod" - Goetta...some sort of sausage mixed with oats and fried. Sounds awful but turns out to be absolutely delicious. Especially after having suffered a couple "shots" from the Tommy Gun.

Sleep finally overtook me on the side of 4th street, lying across the two back seat captain chairs in my van. I think I made it through about 2 1/2 hours before the morning heat kicked in and awoke me into a fairly bad state. Of course nothing a few liters of water, gatorade, 2 bananas, a granola bar and a Snicker protein bar couldn't save. Having patched myself up, I rolled the van on up to I-71 S and began the voyage down to east Nasvhille. I spent the drive going over my demos for my next album, listening to some really bad radio and mentally preparing for tonight's show.

I now sit here in east Nashville with about 5 1/2 hours to kill before showtime later tonight. Rock on people.