Thanksgiving - Highs and Lows

So, this Thanksgiving was certainly an interesting one.  Filled with highs and lows.  My best friend lost his father, who had been (and always will be) one of the most unique, down-to-earth, funny, kind, and welcoming people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.  I felt as though I lost a member of my own family...ugh.    I was certainly reminded, as I thought about what a full and influential life he had, that we should all try to live our life to the fullest.  I know it sounds cliche', but it's true.  This was very unexpected, and proves to me that every day matters.  My friend has one of the closest families that I know, so I know that all of them will lean on each other and make it through a little easier.   This Thanksgiving pretty much changed the way I'll look at Thanksgiving from now on.

During all of this, my brother and I had been planning to do all of his recording sessions for our new side project/album called "The Collins Brothers."  So, we rolled with the punches and decided that we would improvise.  I packed up as much of my home studio that I could, and hauled it down to Apopka, Fla where we spent Thanksgiving day with our parents.  

We set up all the mics, the computer, etc and basically turned the spare bedroom into a makeshift recording studio.  Now that I think about it, it fits this CD that we are doing very well.  It's Americana - it feels like we're at any given family function with a guitar, singing songs, just like have for as long as I can remember.  So, why not record it the same way?

As I was looking at the room we transformed - we raided our mom's linen closet, and made a huge tent out of blankets, sheets and pillows - it reminded my of all of the tents we built growing up...pretty cool stuff.

So, to get to the point, we knocked out my brother's parts on all eleven songs in one afternoon - I told you Bo was good!  Now we're one step closer to having the album done.  Next step, add a few more instruments, mix and master.  Hopefully, we're still on track for an early 2009 release.

Thanks for keeping up with me on here...I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving! 

Matt