"Aurora" is the 1st official video I'm releasing for the new cd, True North.

I purchased and edited together some really stunning footage that I thought fit the music well. 

I have never seen an aurora borealis but I think if I did.. this song would make a great soundtrack.

Enjoy the video. 

(Headphones HIGHLY recommended when listening)

Jim  

Picked one out of the box and gave it a good listen all the way through. I'm rather happy how this one turned out. I've been wanting to make a really chilled out vibey record like this for awhile now. This CD has plenty of warm melodic acoustic tones to relax to. Besides the guitar parts, I'm particularly happy with the string arrangements I came up with. Never knew I had it in me.  :) 

True North will be my 7th recording. If you're in the Chicagoland area I hope you'll help me celebrate it's release Sun Aug 2nd 2:30 at The Peck Farm Orientation Barn in Geneva, IL

All the details can be found on my website plus an extended 3min preview of the CD via the video on the home page. www.jimgreenmusic.com 

Fair warning.. If you think you are for sure going.. don't wait to long seeing how half the tickets are sold already and there will be an article in The Chronicle about it next week.

Cheers & thanks for your support!

Jim

Hey folks,

I hope this newsletter finds you well. I'm happy to announce the mixing and mastering of True North is finished and are now being duplicated. It was great to work with Brian Zieske of Off Axis Audio again. Brian mixed my last 2 EPs Souvenirs & More Souvenirs. He was very aware of the artistic sensitivity of this record as well as making my guitar sound better than I ever could. Press the play button below for a short teaser to True North.

I’m all done recording!

Ahh.. feels good to type that. Don’t get me wrong, I love recording but there are different levels of doubt and stress that creep in during the process. It’s a relief to be nearly done and be happy with it. This will be my 7th album and I’ve definitely noticed a general theme of thoughts and emotions when recording a new record that goes a little something like this..

Pre Recording:
I’m going to create the greatest record ever recorded.

1st Starting to Record:
Why can’t I decide on a mic placement? It’s been 2 weeks with nothing to show for it. Maybe I should go to recording engineering school..

A Few Songs Completed:
These songs sound great. Who needs recording engineering school? Thank you Youtube!

All Guitar Tracks Recorded:
Or are they? Maybe this and that song would sound better faster or in a different key? Nope.. it’s all good. J

Mixing and Mastering:
Damn, this is a lot of money. Maybe I should go to recording engineering school? I don’t have time for that! This is sounding really good.. bank account almost empty.

Artwork and Duplication:
Now I must find one picture that represents the record.. Impossible.
Eureka! That’s the one! 1000 CDs are on their way. Bank account empty. Back to my Ramen noodle diet.
I hope this is all worth it..

Finished CD in My Hand:
This is not the greatest recording ever made. This is the greatest recording I’ve ever made. I can’t wait to share this. J

SAVE THE DATE.

TRUE NORTH CD RELEASE PARTY WILL BE AUG 2ND 2:30

Details to follow..  until then..  smile,

Jim

www.jimgreenmusic.com

I’m happy to announce all the guitar tracks on this new project are done! I took a different approach to recording these than in previous sessions. Instead of using any click tracks or fancy editing.. The idea behind recording these was to capture the feeling of the piece in one continuous take and not worry about any little imperfections. So, my hope is that this record will have a live but intimate vibe to it as if I was to play the songs right there in your living room just for you. I chose to go with some takes that might not be perfect from a technical sense but they represent the overall feeling I’m trying to get across better than any of the more perfectly executed takes that to me seem to lack feeling. It’s funny how I can play the same song 10 times in a row and each ones sounds different to me. In the past I might try and edit together the best parts of each to make one SUPER TRACK. Not this time.. these guitar tracks are going to be all natural and organic. I want to feed your brain a sonically wholesome meal of acoustic goodness.

Surprisingly sometimes natural and organic can be a bad thing though. While recording the last couple songs, my guitar mysteriously developed a natural and organic buzz from within. It’s suddle but, when you have the mics close and play as quietly as I am playing, it becomes an issue. Things were looking pretty grim for a couple days. But I was able to continue thanks to my friend and fellow musician John Michaels for letting borrow his Taylor guitar. Thanks Johnny Boy!

Okay, now for the fun part of decorating these tracks with a few other instruments. Wish me luck.
Cheers,
Jim

Hey there everybody,
 
I thought I’d not only give you another update on how I’m progressing with the new CD but also clue you in to how I hear this record sounding. First of all, I have a title in mind for this project that I’m basing everything off of including song selection, mood and instrumentation.  Unfortunately, seeing how this is an ongoing work in progress, I hesitate to tell you until I’m done recording. I’d hate to feel pressure to keep the original title in case this thing takes an unexpected turn and requires a more appropriate title.
 
What I can tell you is that all these new instrumental compositions will be relax and calm in nature. Half of the record will be solo guitar pieces and the other half I'm hearing a lot of string parts and maybe some harmonica and added guitar parts. I think they are the most beautiful finger-style guitar pieces I’ve written to date. In keeping with the quality of song writing and mood of the CD, I’ve decided to include two cover songs rather that add any songs of my of mine I don’t feel are as good as the rest. These covers I’ll be including are Don McLean’s Vincent and Alex DeGrassi’s Turning.

If you have been to see me live in the last 3 years, maybe you’ve heard me play Vincent. It’s Chet Atkins beautiful guitar arrangement that I use and tends to be a crowd pleaser in the right setting… aka, quiet setting. If interested.. Below is a sneak peek of that song I recorded a number of years ago for fun using my nylon string guitar. 
 
OK.. that’s all for now. Time to get back to it if I’m going to have this ready and available this summer.
 
Cheers!!
 
Jim
 
https://vimeo.com/41071647

Women were not allowed to run the Boston Marathon in 1967. Kathrine Switzer dodged that rule, and became the first woman to finish despite organizers trying to stop her. I can only assume she signed up as a man in order to get an official bib number.

20:40  5K  Turkey Trot. This is a shot at the finish line. Look at all those young bucks BEHIND me! Fortunately in this pic, you can't see the 8 year old girl in front of me. That totally would have ruined my triumphant pic. ;)

And yes, those are socks on my hands. I refuse to spend $40 on a pair of running gloves. No, that is not underwear on my head. I did spend the money for proper hat.

I don't think most people realize that the origin of our national anthem comes from an English tavern song. World Series games are likely top the list of occasions that see the greatest number of Americans simultaneously raise a glass to our country while listening to the national anthem. Having a drink with friends goes well with baseball, but – perhaps surprisingly – is even more fitting for The Star Spangled Banner: author Francis Scott Key lifted the tune for this patriotic homage from an old English drinking song. The melody originated in an 18th Century London gentleman’s club, as the accompaniment to a verse entitled “To Anacreon in Heaven.”

"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken."

Look what I found in my tip jar at this afternoon's gig. What a nice surprise. Would have been nicer if it was written on a $100 bill. hee hee.. All kidding aside this made me feel good. 

My new logo. 
Thanks Rick!

http://www.moserdesign.com/

Love it! Although, I was just working on the inside of my guitar yesterday and it didn't look like this... very dusty. Anyway, check these out.. dust bunny free and awesome looking. http://www.boredpanda.org/musical-instruments-photographed-from-inside/ 

When we read about the deforestation of the Amazon rain forest we get mad and angry. This video accurately and humorously describes what some of us fantasize about doing... but we don't. We can AT LEAST Follow the Frog!

For those not familiar with Derek Silvers he is best known for being the founder and former president of CD Baby, an online CD store for independent musicians. he is fascinated with the usable psychology of self-improvement, communication, business, philosophy, and cross-cultural relativism. 

I found his article on the book So Good They Can't Ignore You - by Cal Newport to be very helpful in rewiring my way of thinking in hopes to be happier and more successful in my career. You'll find shockingly smart thoughts about your career here. A MUST-READ for anyone who is not loving their work, wanting to quit their job, and follow their passion, or not sure what to do next.

Here are some of the highlights of the article.

How do people end up loving what they do? 

The narratives in this book are bound by a common thread: the importance of ability. The things that make a great job great, I discovered, are rare and valuable. If you want them in your working life, you need something rare and valuable to offer in return. In other words, you need to be good at something before you can expect a good job.

Mastery by itself is not enough to guarantee happiness: The many examples of well-respected but miserable workaholics support this claim. The main thread of my argument moves beyond the mere acquisition of useful skills and into the subtle art of investing the career capital this generates into the right types of traits in your working life

The passion hypothesis convinces people that somewhere there's a magic "right" job waiting for them, and that if they find it, they'll immediately recognize that this is the work they were meant to do. The problem, of course, is when they fail to find this certainty, bad things follow, such as chronic job-hopping and crippling self-doubt.

The craftsman mindset is crucial for building a career you love. 

When you focus only on what your work offers you, it makes you hyperaware of what you don't like about it.

The deep questions driving the passion mindset - "Who am I?" and "What do truly love?"-are essentially impossible to confirm. "Is this who I really am?" and "Do I love this?" rarely reduce to a clear yes-or-no response. In other words, the passion mindset is almost guaranteed to keep you perpetually unhappy and confused

There's something liberating about the craftsman mindset: It asks you to leave behind self-centered concerns about whether your job is "just right," and instead put your head down and plug away at getting really damn good. No one owes you a great career, it argues; you need to earn it - and the process won't be easy.

Put aside the question of whether your job is your true passion, and instead turn your focus toward becoming so good they can't ignore you.

Regardless of how you feel about your job right now, adopting the craftsman mindset will be the foundation on which you'll build a compelling career. 

Adopt the craftsman mindset first and then the passion follows.

If you want to love what you do, abandon the passion mindset ("what can the world offer me?") and instead adopt the craftsman mindset ("what can I offer the world?").

he more experience you have, the more likely you are to love your work.

The traits that define great work are rare and valuable.
Supply and demand says you need rare and valuable skills to offer in return.
These rare and valuable skills are your career capital.
The craftsman mindset leads to acquiring career capital. 

You need to get good in order to get good things in your working life, and the craftsman mindset is focused on achieving exactly this goal.

You have to get good before you can expect good work.

It's dangerous to pursue more control in your working life before you have career capital to offer in exchange.

A hard truth of the real world: It's really hard to convince people to give you money.

Just because you're committed to a certain lifestyle doesn't mean you'll find people who are committed to supporting you.

Control that's acquired without career capital is not sustainable.

She tried to obtain control without any capital to offer in return, and ended up with a mere shadow of real autonomy.

Build up a decade's worth of relevant career capital before taking the dive into full-time farming.

Do what people are willing to pay for.

To those enthralled by the myth of a true calling, there's nothing more heroic than trading comfort for passion.

Courage culture: a growing community of authors and online commentators pushing the following idea: The biggest obstacle between you and work you love is a lack of courage to follow your dream.

The downside of the passion mindset is that it strips away merit.

Great work doesn't just require great courage, but also skills of great (and real) value.