I went to Des Moines, IA last week to do some shows and more importantly to record some songs at a studio there.  Sonic Factory is a groovy studio in the Drake University area.  Tony Bohnenkamp and Jon Locker (former Nadas), old friends going back to Nadas, Domestic Problems, Hello Dave Fresh Tracks tour, own the joint and have accrued some very nice gear.

I spent all week in the studio working on several songs that’ll be coming out on a new HIMEBAUGH cd in early 2012!  I’m really excited to get these songs out.  Some of them have been on my shelves for a few years but some I’ve just written over the past year.  

La la la lala

The recording studio is one of my favorite places- hours can go by in a blink of an eye and magic happens.  A song that was just a couple of strums on a guitar and a melody becomes something alive and bouncing around the room like a beach ball.  I really enjoy building the songs with parts and harmonies and tambourines and whistles and whatever the heck else we want!  And then there are times when all I want to hear is a whispering guitar and the words!  I have to admit that nearly all the time I prefer the simplest of things on a song but there are times when the song is calling out for something more.  One of the songs I recorded seemed to respond when we started building up a ‘parade’ atmosphere at the end.  Who knows if it will stand up in the final edits but it’ll be fun to play with all the parts.  

Jon Locker taking a picture of me videoing him! :)

I spent 10 or 12 hours in the studio every day then I had a nice dinners with friends.  Sushi was the main staple this week- it has been hard to come by living on the farm in Central Illinois.  I guess the deliciousness of sushi has not reached this neck o’ the woods yet.  

Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights I played some shows.  For all three of them I was paired with Damon Dotson- a local Iowa favorite.  All I can say is- great songs, great voice, great guitar playing and great EXCITEMENT to sing his songs.  I really dug working with him.  He even came in to the studio to sing on a couple of songs!

McAdams and HIMEBAUGH

Mary McAdams joined us for one show and I was really impressed with her show.  I’ve known her for several years.  We met out at the Song School in Lyons, CO in... 2005 maybe?!  Somewhere in there... Anyway- she has blossomed like a huge Sunflower- writing and singing her songs!  She’s preparing for her second album soon.

***Dotson has a bunch of records out- one of my favorite songs is called Wounds to Heal!  

Now... let’s have some Christmas action!!!! 

Rock On folks!

Happiest of Holidays to you all!

HIMEBAUGH

Good day and Good Morning Sunshine!

Good Morning Sunshine is a song I wrote last year.  It was a chilly, spring morning.  I’d had the idea for the song, the whole chorus even for a long time but I could never get it to come all the way out.  Kind of like birth... I could see the head for a long time but I just couldn’t push it out.  Okay, maybe it’s nothing like birth maybe it’s more like drawing a picture when you’re a wee one.  Back in the days when NOTHING really mattered except food and sleep.  When we were innocent young children and every single thing we encountered was incredible.  I remember I loved to draw.  But usually I had no idea what I was gonna draw until I let the pencil or crayons start moving across the page.  That’s kind of what writing a song is like now.  Except sometimes when I’m half way done with the ‘drawing’ I hit a wall.  Maybe it’s because when I realize what I’m ‘drawing’ I start thinking about it too much.  Hmmm, interesting.  

Anyway, on this fine morning last spring I was letting my mind wander.  I was laying on the floor in front of a big glass door and the sun was pouring in over me.  I was trying to clear my head of all the junk that’s usually there- ‘what should I have for breakfast?  Maybe I should go for a run, I really gotta pay my credit card bill, where’s my phone... did I get any texts? Daisy... do you have to go outside.. etc etc etc.

It takes a long time to stop the nonsense but on this morning I finally did it for the first time.  I was able to find a really peaceful, calmness that kind of washed over me.  I’d never been so relaxed in my life.  Then, without a thought, I got up.  I picked up my guitar and started playing the parts of Good Morning Sunshine I had already and kept going.  I wrote a verse.  I wrote the second verse.  I sang the chorus again and altered it a little.  And then.... I was done.  It only took a couple of minutes to finish.  I sat and smiled.  A HUGE smile and then I thanked everybody!  :)

At that point, I think maybe it is a little like giving birth- a LITTLE.  The feeling I get when I finish a song -that I like- is like none other.  Pride, love, gratitude, eagerness to play it again... and a lot of joy.

Since then I’ve been all about the sunshine.  Sunshine!  What’s better than a little sunshine?

I’ll try to explain what I mean by the Sunshine in my next episode.. blogisode... whatevs.

I guess I should let you check out the song if you want to- there is a version of it on YouTube- from the Back End Studio (for you newbies- the BES is the studio in the back of Madison The RV that I cruise around in).  It's just me and the guitar!

Good Morning Sunshine- HIMEBAUGH

Rock On and Take ‘er Easy-

HIMEBAUGH