Ephemera: It’s Not as Odd As You Think

About two years ago, I spent seven months living with my Mom in Jackson, Miss., acting as head house cleaner and cheerleader while she battled breast cancer. She has now been declared cancer free, and life for both of us has resumed a somewhat normal pace.

As we were nearing the end of Mom’s treatment and the tension slowly began to give way to relief and celebration, I decided, in typical artist fashion, to go into a local studio and record a half-dozen acoustic arrangements of new songs. I knew some of these songs would end up fully produced on my next studio project, and I knew some were simply near and dear to my heart.

As I considered how to share this music with friends, I decided to release a download-only EP. EP (short for “extended play”) is essentially a record that has fewer than ten tracks. Most Ep’s are 4-6 tracks in length.

Pronounced “ee-fem—ur-ah”, this intimidating-looking word simply means “content that won’t be around for long.” Since these versions of my songs (and favorite cover songs) are always the first, rawest, most intimate versions, they are meant for only my truest friends and fans—the ones that like to hear the imperfections of new music being worked out with just a piano or guitar and vocal mic.

I’ve just released the second version of Ephemera. All tracks on this round were recorded at my friend James Waddell’s studio called Lyricanvas. James is a wonderful engineer who isn’t scared of mixing dry, hot piano/vocals.

In addition to having a master engineer, the Maestro of Ax-grinding Chris Rodriguez, laid down some killin guitar tracks for me to sing to. Talk about inspiration…

Some of the tunes on this latest Ephemera have already been produced more fully for our upcoming full-length release, but I hope that you’ll enjoy these acoustic versions in the meantime. Truth is…if I could make simple, stripped-down records for a living, I probably would.  Then again, if I could make fully-produced R&B records for a living, I probably would. It’s all music. It’s all such a blast!

If after listening to this project there are certain songs that you’d like to hear on a full-length record, let us know. We’d love your input.

Visit this link to get your copy!