Letter Seventeen

We are thrilled to announce the official release of our 2012 RPM album “King Richard”.  The album is available for purchase on iTunes and CDBaby, or you can download it for free at the Letter Seventeen Bandcamp site. Use whichever link you want, but please go download and listen to the album.  Then share it! Tell your friends! Get them to download it, too. Then post links to your favorite songs on Facebook and Twitter.  Help spread the word about Letter Seventeen!

Interested in a physical CD? Become a fan of Letter Seventeen on Facebook and leave a comment on the wall.

I’m happy to announce the release of the latest Letter Seventeen album, “Snowbound”.  The album was recorded and produced as part of the 2011 RPM Challenge. It was largely written in December 2010, except for “Head On”, which was written in 1997 (!).Clarke McMurray returns again to add some great backing vocals to “Mr. Flashy Pants” and “Graduation Donkey” (he also played keyboard on the song), as does guitarist extraordinare Andy Samford, playing lead on “HEMANTIS” and “Graduation Donkey”. Ian Tanner played bass on “Mr. Flashy Pants”, Pedro Pereira played lead guitar on “Night Terrors”, and Grant Muller played drums on “Night Terrors”, “Mr. Flashy Pants”, and “Graduation Donkey”. I’m extremely proud of the record and I hope you enjoy it!  The download links are in the toolbar to the right.

My song “Chester Arthur” from the upcoming album “Snowbound” is featured in an article about presidential songs on MotherJones.com.  Check out Chester at position number 21.

The new album is once again a product of the RPM Challenge (record and produce 10 songs or 35 minutes of music during February) and will be released in early March.

It’s the first-ever Letter Seventeen music video!

Podcast Video [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I wanted to see how my Taylor acoustic would record, so I quickly threw this cover together.

Letter Seventeen - Burning Hell (R.E.M. cover) [ 2:54 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’m thrilled to announce another cover of a song from Backstage Stories.  This time it’s lead guitarist extraordinaire Andy Samford offering up his take on “Riding With The Captain”.  Andy did a great job, offering up a slightly freaky and psychedelic take on the song.  I like it!

Andy Samford - Riding With The Captain [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’m proud to announce that I have successfully completed the 2010 RPM Challenge.  I wrote and recorded the album “backstage stories” all during the month of February.  It’s a fun and quirky collection of indie pop and it’s a concept album about my friend Doc from the podcast Insignificast.  The songs are all a bit odd, but I’m quite proud of what I was able accomplish in such a short time.  I wrote five songs in twenty-five years.  Thanks to RPM, I wrote thirteen more in twenty-three days.  Eleven of them made their way on to “backstage stories”.

If you’d like to download or listen to the album, there are links on the right side of the page to do both.  Also, if you are so inclined, please consider becoming a fan of Letter Seventeen on Facebook.

I had a great time writing and recording “backstage stories”.  I hope you enjoy it.

I plan on setting up a detailed web site for the album soon, so please stay tuned….

In my entire life I’ve written maybe four or five songs.  Six, tops.  Yet here I sit, part-way through the third day of the RPM challenge and I have four pieces of music uploaded to my player with two complete sets of lyrics.  I have lyrics for another song partially done and I have a few more musical ideas floating around.

The daunting task of completing RPM2010 suddenly seems doable.  I can’t speak to the quality of the performances or the production, but that was never the point.  The idea was to see if I could do it.  And now I actually believe that I can.

That’s a great feeling.

Last month I produced my first interpretation of the 2 Guys, 1 Brain theme.  It was a fun bit of playing with electronic music.  This time through, I’ve decided to go for something simple.  It’s a cello, a piano, and a stand-up bass.  Next month, there will be guitars.  I promise.

Letter Seventeen - 2Guys Theme (February 2010) [ 1:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For those of you who haven’t seen my discussions of the RPM Challenge on the Letter Seventeen Facebook Fan Page, I’m participating in the 2010 RPM Challenge.  I’m trying to write and record 10 songs or 35 minutes of music during the month of February.  Understandably, the songs might not be the greatest, but that’s not the point.  The idea is to go through the writing and recording exercise. Stop making excuses and start doing.  So I am.

You can keep up with my progress on my RPM page.