A year ago I recorded my buddy Phil in the late-added bedroom that practically hangs off the side of our house. The room sounded terrible, my guitar was in tune to only itself (which later proved problematic), and I had next to no idea what I was doing. I’m still barely figuring this thing out, but I’ve had a wonderful time recording music in Fort Collins, Colorado.
In 2010 I was working with The Sunshine House and Sean Brage, both of whom are described below. In 2011 I’ve picked up three new artists, all dear friends of mine.
Ian Mahan came to me in early May of this year, talking about The Sunshine House’s self-titled EP and the All Souls Steppe EP we finished in April. He liked the sound of those records and had faith that I could do something similar for him. While Ian has yet to see that come true, we’re almost halfway done with what might be understood as his debut, a four-song self-titled EP. It’s a different sound than The Sunshine House but it’s adds welcome pop variety to the young catalog of Valley House artists. We have yet to set any kind of release date, although November has been tossed around. There’s little rush as we chew our way through the process. Look for some kind of Road 34 release show before Winter break! Ian’s website can be found here. Also, he’s @iannmahan on Twitter.
I’ve done music with Chichi Agorom for a number of years at local churches and in worship music everywhere, but it wasn’t until the fall of last year that I heard her own written music. Immediately I felt upset because she was playing guitar like I had not seen her play guitar. Why hadn’t she shown off earlier? In June I was able to talk her into working with me to record the music I knew she’d written. At the start of scratch tracks, sitting on the couches in her apartment on the West end of town, I knew from the first couple of measures that this project was going to be different than previous projects. Her flair and her intricate lyricism is exciting. All of our friends are going to be so excited about this when we finish. A yet-to-be-titled EP is in the works and should be done before the end of this year. Drumming on the record myself has given this a slow start, but as the project blooms and unfolds you should look for 4 songs that smear the folk/pop/whatever line. Follow Chichi on Twitter, @chinweag.
The last project I’ve taken on this year is Stang Gappa, a shamelessly Country/Western songwriter whom I’ve known since 5th grade. As 12 year-olds waiting to be picked up from Franktown Elementary School we discussed some clever t-shirt he was wearing. Just a few weeks ago we sat at a Spoons restaurant in Old Town, Fort Collins to discuss the clever country-pop he had been writing. Immediately I was excited because of how freaking excited he was. Again, this is a whole new sound for me to record and produce but I’m excited for what will happen.
Look for an EP to be released later this year. Ten years ago I was watching for his mom to pick him up after school. This year I’m looking for Eric Church to pick him up for a tour opener. It’s a pleasure to work with yet another heart-invested songwriter. His Twitter is @stanggappa.
The first Valley House project started small and started just-for-the-fun of it, but led the formation of a wonderful band called The Sunshine House, who wrote six beautiful songs that I had the pleasure of recording and producing. The six songs became an EP that had a sold-out release show and an iTunes response wich has peaked so far at #42 on the Singer/Songwriter charts. To my level of knowledge, this feels like a success. The boys in the Sunshine House better feel that way too. Their music made it easy for me because it already sounded so good. Listen to their music on their website! Look for it on iTunes! They’ve also since released another EP with Valley House called “All Souls Steppe” and have just completed their last work (tragic) with Dave Farrel, a fan-favorite single called “Sound and Small.” Keep in touch with them on thier website (link above), or here on their Facebook page.
Another musician I’ve had the pleasure of working with is my dear, dear friend Sean M. Brage. We’ve played music together almost as long as either of us have played music, and I do believe we’ll play music together as long as we play music. Last year, the man released the first song we worked on together. You can find it here at his Band camp Account. I recently wrote a brief post on this blog about the song and about some upcoming work we’re doing together. You can read it here if you’d like. I’m excited to keep working with Mr. Brage. His Bandcamp is a great way to stay in touch, but I also recommend an adventure on over to his Facebook page for more Sean info. Something else to look for this year from Sean may be a collaborative work with Hannah Gurley, another singer/songwriter from Dever, under the name “All The While.” We’ve just barely started into All The While but I already can’t wait. Sean’s Twitter, which I may adore more than any other’s, is@seanmbrage.
So what does that have to do with this blog? It’s another form of self-expression for me. Perhaps you’d be interested in the music that comes out of this “studio,” this “company.” Below is a link to a Facebook page which stands in at the moment for a legitimate website.
Give it a listen? I’ll post more music as more music is recorded at Valley House. For now, tell your friends about this nonsense if you have any excitement about it.
You can contact me at valleyhouserecordingco@gmail.com with any questions or with any interest in working with me! The Facebook page for this is accessible here.
