DBT #320 Michael Tyler Demos
Ok if you haven't read the blog much, I love to listen to music I own and I'm not shy about it. No Spotify here, and when out of the blue Michael Tyler messaged me if I was interested in buying his collection; I was curious. He sent pictures of the 56 vinyls he had and I really had about 16 of them but the some of the others filled holes that I really didn't have in the library. So I made a higher offer than I expected I would but if he found a buyer individually he might have made more depending on the shape of the records. We had a deal and agreed I'd stop over and pick them up.
Oh my did we have lengthy conversations about collecting in general (yes he collected bicycles so I used one of his many photos of bikes for this blog post), religion (we went to the same church for awhile), military (Michael is a Navy vet), and how to get along in this crazy political world. (Story better left to Michael to tell) The collection included a Dan Berger CD who was the LaCrosse legend that created the Songwriter's Corner, so we eventually got talking about songwriting. This is where the genesis of the blog came from, and NOT the 92 songs that I've already imported to my digital library from his vinyl. (yes these songs are sure to show up in future playlists)
Michael won a songwriting contest in Nashville and when He played a demo for me at his house that day, I could tell they were special. He sadly said he didn't know what would become of them since more and more people can't play CDs. I told him, don't worry I'll put them up in YouTube as an audio video and they'll be around forever. (Yes I have faith I've seen Star Trek play YouTube videos in the future.)
A few weeks later, Michael said he's found them all and I could pick them up. Thinking about this post, I did ask him to document his journey, this is how he described it:
I originally made contact with Brett Huus (He has studio in LaCrosse) and I took in a few songs I had written and did a very simple demo with me thumb strumming and very green with structure and lyrics. It was fun but I worked harder with song ideas and structure for a while after that. I met a Steve Buttel, of Caledonia MN. I had googled local studios and his name came up.. called him and went to his home. That's where he helped me record the song "Angel Always Fly" I gave you. He had Tammy Graff (I believe her name is) it's been so long.
He covered most everything cost wise with hopes that he could get song picked up by one of his Nashville publisher contacts. It was accepted by a couple but not used up to this day. We signed no contracts and after a couple years he said to do what I wish as far as having luck getting it heard or signed. Steve is very good people as well as Brett. But anyhow that is when I entered song in Paramounts contest and actually won a demo package etc. They did the demo of the male singer on "Angels Always Fly" along with a couple more songs I sent. Most I did pay to have done after that but knew that's how the game worked and what they did charge me along with communication was very reasonable compared to costs locally.
The downfall was that even though I had the open invite my job prevented me to go to Nashville and have a more hands on approach. As said though..I think Brett and Steve are both Great but at the time I found it more cost effective and impressed with the studio work to go with Paramount..along with a bit more exposure at the time through Paramount. I haven't been in contact with them in many years but it was a David Robinson that I communicated with. They may very well be out of business now. I will see what I can find out.
While we won't hear Michael's voice as he was singing in the above picture at the Dan Berger's Songwriter Corner, these are top notch demos done by some very talented Nashvile and LaCrosse studio musicians (who will go unnamed unfortunately) Who I can name is Mudcat Jim Grant and Don D Harvey also sitting on the stage with Michael in the picture above.
Let's listen to the songs:
1) Angels Always Fly (female lead) - LaCrosse Demo
From Michael's story this is the song that got the whole thing started, and I could assume won him the contest (money award plus additional demos) This was my first video I worked on and I find myself totally bored if a video doesn't have some movement or different pictures. I continue to pay too much for a monthly Adobe Stock Photo's subscription, so I put my built up credits to work; and more in the rest of these videos. Michael's songs all have great imagery and storylines that I could find something to fit each video. I'm not sure if it was this song or the male demo version that Carrie Underwood heard, and put a reservation in for the song. Michael still owns the rights though.
2) Angels Always Fly (Male lead) - ParamountSong.com (all unless noted)
Michael did find out that the lead singer was a 70+ local Nashville singer. Oh my he's got great pipes. It was one of the later videos I did, and by that time I found out for 8 credits I could get small videos; I love how the ferris wheel worked, though splicing them back to back did make it jerk once. Ha a little thrill if you were way up high.
3) Little Stone Church
A beautiful story of faith and while I tried to find a church as close as Michael describes, he later sent me the actual church that inspired the story.
I was already done, and I probably would have felt compelled to eliminate the Keep Out sign on the door.
4) Private Dancer
I love this song and reflects a range in Michael's songwriting. Hey we're all Saints and Sinners, and this is a tasteful song. The video reused a walking clip I had first used in my song, "Diamonds on her Shoes" and I'm not sure both of the songs subjects were in the same occupation.
5) Show Me Your Dance
I put Michael's country rocker purposely after "Private Dancer", and yes these images were used originally in my songs "Family Tree" and "Blonde Attitude" Get of your duff and show me your dance. YES, I bought the stock photo five years ago and yes it now looks like Beyonce's country image. I think it has been one of the more watched videos because people click on it because they might think it's her.
6) Burning Rain
What an image, and Adobe struggled with having something to represent it; BUT now they have some AI generated images and yes flames in rain was one of them. Kind of a tough sad blues piece that ParamountSongs put a great mix to it.
7) Road Trip
Great country twang, perfect car driving song.
8) Welcome to My World
Speaking of cars, I just had to follow "Road Trip" with this one with Michael's three car nightmare. The barn in the picture was Michael's when it would be routine for him to have several cars in different needs of repair. You know in other words, INSPIRATION! Yes, it took some searching to find three cars to use in the video those weren't Michael's.
9) Missing
Ok a country tear jerker.
10) Living on the Outside - (I guessed that this was a LaCrosse demo, the cd did not indicate the ParamountSongs trademark)
A very nice introspective song.
11) Sunday Morning Sunshine
We'll end the demo playlist with a ray of sunshine and hope.
Yes there is a ONE Click playlist for you to put this on in the background and listen to all of them, it just over 40 minutes.
Not sure if I'll ever do a project like this again unless I run into a talented songwriter who wants to part with their vinyl collection. Remember if you are reading this blog today and enjoyed the songs, they are already nearly 15 years old. Good Music Has NO Expiration Date; enjoy!
Next steps:
- Stop over to the Review page to my other most spinned and loved albums.
- Browse the rest of the blogs by stopping at this "Theme Page."
- Enjoy Tune Tuesday which brings you one song from a past blog post.
- See what other post have been most popular recently with our Stats Page.
- Find out who in the world thinks he has the authority to write this blog in the About.
- Let me answer why you won't find the playlists on Spotify here.
- Finally, the Mission page explains why there is no advertising cluttering the page.
If you use Facebook, we have a page that will help you remember to read the next post.
You could always decide to feed my music addiction and donate to the cause. If you did, I will spend it only on music and even will buy the music you recommend if you tell me to. Here's a Paypal donate button
