The musical journey of tomorrow

I was home in Canada with my wife and children last week.  What a great week.  While I was there, one of the things I did was to sit down a couple of times and jam with my youngest son Braden. Braden (and his sister Skye) are both legally blind but have never let this stop them or slow them down.  Skye is an amazing artist and Braden has become quite a musician.  Not only does he write/record/produce electronica music (which you can find online along with Skye's art work), but he has also learned to play the bass and the guitar.  And so, just as I did with my dad many years ago, Braden sat down to jam with me this past week.
The boy hears music.  He hears melody.  He writes music.  I love it.
It also reminded me why I love songwriting so much.  It is pure freedom.  I got caught up in trying to write the formula, the hit song, the concise 4 minute song with the right verse/chorus ratio and somewhere in the process forgot the joy of just writing whatever was in my head.
Braden reminded me of that this weekend.  He played melodies and chords and ideas that were in his head and it inspired me.
So, here I am, back in Vegas, sitting at my desk and plugging in my Avid Recording Studio.
I will sit through the tutorial on Pro-Tools.
I will learn how to record vocals and guitar tracks and then how to layer and add bass and drums and keys.
Then I'll probably send it all to Braden and ask him what he would change or do differently.

Then I'll upload it somewhere for whoever cares to hear it.

I might get Skye to do artwork and we'll do our own music videos.

My oldest son Kyle has a very eclectic and very amazing sense of great music too.  This weekend he introduced me to several very cool bands that I would have never heard about if it weren't for him. I think I'll get his opinion on my songs too.

Writing songs again, just for me.  Not for worship, not for church, not for the radio, not for a band, not for the clubs, not for anything other than the joy of exploring a progression or a melody and seeing where it will take me.

...where it will take us.