The GreenFin Gardens food project/Kansas Songwriter Showcase

The GreenFin Gardens Kansas Songwriter Showcase is kicking off its tour with back-to-back dates on Saturday November 24th and Sunday November 25th at the Wareham opera house in Manhattan, Kansas.

There are 3 showtimes available each day:  noon-3pm, 4pm-7pm, and 8pm-11pm.

Tickets are $30 and are not expected to last, so order early.

Here's how you get tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/greenfin-gardens-17915606483

More Song Evals!

I received more song evaluations today!  It's always fun and educational to see what other songwriters have to say about my songs.  Each of these songs was evaluated by 2 people, with both of their comments shown below:

My Home Planet --

"I really enjoyed listening to this unique and tender song.  Many of us have felt like outsiders at some point in our life, and I think your lyrics resonate with those isolated feelings.  Your melody also set the mood for this song well."

"I like the idea and execution of the song.  As opposed to feeling like you're from a different time, which is a more common theme, feeling like you're from a different planet gives a new dimension to feeling "alienated."  The verse about wanting to find a lady was the only part I found common."

Schopenhauer's Hour --

"I get the metaphor and can appreciate the use of Schopenhauer's philosophy throughout the song.  Specifically the line about pushing the boulder up the hill knowing it will come back down.  Overall the song has a hopeful slant, which I enjoyed."

"For me, this song represents that directionless feeling of watching the days go by wondering who you are and what you're doing.  I really liked that you asked questions throughout, I thought it made your lyrics more personable and kept me interested from beginning to end."

Overflow --

"I enjoyed this sweet tune about overflowing love.  The percussion added a nice touch.  Such a tender song.  Good job!"

"Excellent song.  What a tribute to a father and mother.  Would love to see more imagery -- I was seeing a kid in the backseat of the car, -- what else did the kid see that led to the overflow?  Just a thought but I know when I listen to a song I like to close my eyes and follow the story.  It's a great love song though and again, such a tribute!  Bravo!"

Save The World --

"I have thought all my adult life that Row Row Row Your Boat was the most profound of children's songs.  Nice to see that you know the wisdom there!"

"With a delivery reminiscent of Tom Petty, it's a fair point when looking at the big picture and individual insignificance that one would ultimately be happier by narrowing their sphere of influence to just making life good for themselves and their loved ones."

Throw Your Faded Mask Away --

"The vocal and composition suggestive of Neil Young effectively back up a lyric about finding the energy to persevere and persist."

"I am stuck with these earphones to get through these songs.  I want to follow your advice to get back to nature soon."

Well Spent --

"What a truth you sing about.  It seemed like you might be singing to a child--I wonder if there are ways to make this clearer, to bring out the poignancy of an adult knowing what the child can't see yet?"

 "I couldn't hear this recording clearly on either my computer or my stereo system.  Either it recorded poorly or you are a very avant-garde folksinger."

Carry Me Home (The Sexy Mama Within) -- 

"Beautiful sentiment.  I loved, "I love your hair, and I love your eyes; I love your smile when you've been surprised."  What a loving observation."

"Super slick song James.  I like the groove and the cheeky lyrics.  The only thing I would add is another verse that references back to your 1st verse where you have the initial conversation with your sexy mama.  Great stuff James!!!!"

Crystal Clear --

"This is a very human problem--how do we tell each other what we need to?  Challenging to sing about.  In this song as well as "The Sexy Mama" song, I think there's more repetition of some lines than necessary.  But the love you're trying to express comes through in both songs.  Keep working to sing with the conviction you write with."

"Really sweet song!!  You have some great grooves!!  I like the guitar breaks in the chorus.  An area of opportunity could be to talk more about why you have these feelings for this girl.  Was it a moment?  Something she said?  Great song James!!!"

The Only Women I Like -- 

"This definitely made me laugh out loud.  I think the song was surprisingly sweet and romantic for a humorous song!  I appreciate the audacity of making a sweet song with the words "pubic hair" and "badonkadonk."  The recording was too soft for me to really hear your voice but the overall sound was great and I loved the bridge!  It definitely added some musical diversity to the song."

"Oh, man, you know how to show people a good time, James!  I only wish I could hear your voice better on the recording.  Wonderful songwriting skills, pretty melody and well-balanced structure - you've got a good recipe for success.  And such amazing lyrics... thank you for the fun listening!"

I Looked Upon My Way --

"This song was a clever concept.  It really shows as journey of learning what matters most in life.  Sometimes we forget to LOOK when beauty and joy are all around.  Good job.  Nice, smooth voice."

"Great lyrics, keep it up."

Hopin' Heaven Has a Backdoor -- 

"Now that is a DIFFERENT angle for a spiritual song.  I wonder if Heaven will have a backdoor and a smoking room??  Food for thought.  I like it when folks think outside the box!"

"A very chill vibe; I enjoyed listening.  I had trouble a couple times understanding what you were saying, but it might just be the recording."

Moonlight in Amaj7 --

"Very nice, soothing.  Excellent guitar skills."

"The composition contains several unexpected turns melodically and rhythmically.  The mellow, free-associative character coalesces with the understated melodic refrain as a contrast."

GreenFin Demo Albums

I've completed 3 albums over the past several months.  I know that makes it sound like I've been putting a lot of time into it, but it only takes about 5 hours total for each album, so it averages out to about 1 hour per week. Someday I hope to be able to set aside more time for it, but it's just not feasible right now.

Here are some media players to listen to the songs if you're interested.

Overflow - a song for my dad

Here's a song I wrote for my Dad:

If you want to check out the rest of my music, you can listen to the songs free at https://jameswesleysperman.bandcamp.com/releases 

NSAI Song Evaluations - Nashville Songwriters Association International

I joined the NSAI recently to see what it has to offer.  One of the services that they provide for members is song evaluations, purportedly by industry professionals with songwriting experience.  I decided to submit a few songs to get a feel for where I'm at in the eyes of such folks and to see what they think I need to work on.

They ask you how severely you want to be judged, ranging from 'be gentle, it's my first time' up to 'don't hold back, give me the brutal truth'.  I chose brutality.

I didn't have any 'real' demos to send in, just some rough ones I made for a completely different purpose (to familiarize myself with scales and playing lead guitar) that have way too much guitar and way too little volume in the vocals.  I tried to explain this in a note to my evaluators, in the hopes that they would just look past it and focus on the underlying song.  It didn't work out that way, though, and I ended up with reviews that spent most of their time talking about too much guitar and not enough vocal volume.  Regardless, even when you remove those portions, the NSAI evaluators still shared some valuable comments, and I am thankful for their time and thoughts:

Schopenhauer's Hour --

"Hey James, what a cool approach to a tough topic. I think you're on the right path to being a cool songwriter, and you should be trying open mics and getting on stage. Would love to hear more from you - please turn that vocal up! It's clear you have a songwriter's mind."

Hopin' Heaven Has A Backdoor --

"This one has AWESOME lyrics."

The Only Women I Like -- 

"This one is your strongest melody yet. Again - great lyrics, a poet's eye."

The thing I was most surprised about was that they didn't judge/grade the musical side of the song at all (other than to say 'less guitar, more vocals'), and instead only focused on the singing part.  To me, the music portion of a song is just as important as the vocals.  A catchy guitar riff can make a song, and I try to make songs that have something catchy and interesting going on in both the music side and the lyric/singing side, especially since singing is my weak point.  But after getting my evaluations and reading some other evaluations online, it appears that the NSAI places very heavy emphasis on the singing side, meaning that you could probably submit your songs without any backing music at all--just you singing the tune--and still get similar feedback.

- James Wesley Sperman