David Alan Wright

Written: 11.07.03 / Nashville, TN
First Recorded: 12.03.03 / Nashville, TN / Belmont University, Mike Curb School of Music Business (now Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business), Studio C
Appears on: Previously Unreleased

The Irving Sessions // Vol. Two: Rhythm of Falling
01.22.2009 / Minneapolis, MN

Video:

Rhythm of Falling (Irving Sessions) from David Wright on Vimeo.

Audio:

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I thought it would be fitting to follow “Divin’ In” with a song recorded exactly one year later, to the day, in Studio C at Belmont University.  Studio C is the smallest of the three main studios on campus, as the A-Z hierarchy tends to hold up in most complexes, and my friend Justin and I were just completing our Audio One course which granted us access to the studios for personal projects.  While this introduction was as far as I would attempt to take my hands-on engineering skills, Justin has gone on to work with artists like Mat Kearney, Rachael Yamagata, Sara Bareilles, Josh Kelley, Butterfly Boucher and Jeremy Lister.  Justin’s been through Minneapolis twice now since my transition to the cities in March, once with Bareilles and once with Yamagata, running lighting for the former and  rocking out with the latter (it was a few nights after his stop at the Fine Line he could be found holding down the back of stage left on Leno, singing BGVs and playing percussion and keyboard for Yamagata).  It’s friends like Justin and the joy they get out of their craft that push me to keep doing this in some capacity.

So, imagine a chilly but manageable early winter season in Nashville.  Two-thousand-and-three was winding down, and me, a sophomore this go-round, coming off a busy fall of writing, rehearsing, performing and chasing girls to the best of my abilities, (and having just written and recorded a few songs about such activity), “Rhythm of Falling” sort of came out of nowhere.  A concise song by my standards (I tend to want to state and then restate my point multiple times for emphasis), “Rhythm of Falling” originally clocked in at just under 3 minutes in telling of youthful romance as the air is beginning to turn (“When the breeze is like this / defense stands no chance”).  It was sort of the song I didn’t try to write, coming after a number of songs that included many revisions, many hours in the studio in effort to polish.  Here, instead, we did the song in just a few takes and kept the instrumentation straightforward with vocals and guitar, leaving with the final mix on CD that night.

I particularly like the cadence of the chorus:

Rhythm of Fall / Falling in Love

I didn’t intend for this lyric to mean anything more than simply “falling in love”.  You know, a short and sweet hook that doesn’t have to include a rhyme.  However, 5 years later, I feel the timing attempts to bring in undertones of the Fall season: the changing color of leaves, hooded sweatshirts, cold fingers trying to compose outdoors and feelings of love either starting to actualize or, in contrast, hibernating until greener pastures arrive with thawing weather.  There’s that rush to find someone with whom you can enjoy wearing pea coats and scarves around town while looking at Christmas lights or navigating office dynamics at the obligatory party.  This song is about that part of the early Holiday season.

I think this song might make its way onto the actual album that comes (fingers crossed) from these sessions.  I definitely hear piano, cello, slight percussion and BGVs on the re-re-make.

Version 1 / Recorded 12.03.03, Nashville, TN

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Version 2 / Recorded 01.22.09, Minneapolis, MN

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Written: 11.13.02 / Nashville, TN
First Recorded: 12.03.02 / Nashville, TN / Belmont University, Mike Curb School of Music Business (now Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business), Studio B & Post Suite
Appears on: Muggswigz Live: Disc One (2003) (out of print), David Alan Wright Demos (2003) (out of print)

The Irving Sessions // Vol. One: Divin’ In
01.12.2009 / Minneapolis, MN

Video:

Divin’ In (The Irving Sessions) from David Wright on Vimeo.

Audio:

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Why “Divin’ In” first?  I don’t have a great answer other than I always felt this song was strong.  I liked the guitar melody on the intro the night I wrote it and I always felt great singing it.  I think every songwriter has a song that while playing and singing they actually transcend into the song itself, the performance.  “Divin’ In” is often that song for me.  It was also an easy place for me to start as far as polishing very rusty Pro Tools skills.

Original Notebook with lyrics dated 11/13/02 resting on my new M-Audio BX-5a Deluxe stacked on a handful of GOOD magazines.

I wrote “Divin’ In” during the late fall of my freshman year of college at Belmont University in Nashville, TN.  I arrived in Nashville with the intention of writing music for a living.  I arranged to get a business degree at Belmont partly as a backup plan should my aspirations not pan out.  It was also a way for me to surround myself with talented musicians without having to formally study music.

I remember hitting quite a dry spell as far as composing goes that fall.  I wrote and recorded a song entitled “Tomorrow” in early September of ‘02, shortly after arriving in Music City, and though it had its moments, it lacked the type of hook that provides more than five seconds of a pitch in Nashville.  Next I tried my hands at writing and, gasp, singing two country songs – “Paradise” & “Nashville Lights” – both decent, but I remember thinking at the time they lacked the polish of the songs I had written for my high school band 5 Seconds Late.  Then came a creative streak of sorts which turned into a recording session on 12.03.02 at the studios on campus.  First, I wrote “Until Then”.  Ten days later I wrote “Divin’ In”, and between the two songs I thought I was slowly clearing a path toward a publishing deal, just months into my “career”.

I think I was surprised actually when those two songs didn’t receive the type of response I was anticipating.  And I don’t think I really ever understood why until I went to record the ‘09 version for The Irving Sessions last night.

The pace and delivery were never right, not for the original recording and not for the live recording that followed in the summer of ‘03.  So, for this rendition, six years later, I decided to take it much slower.  I told my girlfriend Jenn after hearing John Mayer sing his cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” that it was the first time I actually stopped to listen to the lyrics.  And the lyrics are fantastic.  But it took Mayer’s tempo and delivery for the song to have context.  She told me she felt the same way about “Divin’ In” post-six years vs. the youth of my performance at 18.

And though it pains the perfectionist inside of me to do this, here are the archives for comparison’s sake.  I guess this is what these sessions are all about.  I would love your feedback:

Version 1 / Recorded 12.03.02, Nashville, TN

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Version 2 / Recorded 07.12.03, Canton, OH

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Version 3 / Recorded 01.12.09, Minneapolis, MN

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It amazes me it’s 2009.

I pulled out my 3-ring binder tonight of archived lyrics and compositions – unfortunately I was not up to speed on the brilliance of the Circa system at the time – and paged through my old thoughts and feelings.  Some of the songs I flipped through have made their way onto cassette tape, some to CD and still others, the lucky/newer ones that is, digital.  Others I wouldn’t be able (or want) to play or sing the melody if I had to.  Those songs will stay simply as lyrics, written on the page by familiar handwriting but with the voice of a stranger.  A few songs are dated from April 1997, others ‘98.  I’m not sure when I wrote my first “song”, but I remember carrying a notebook around with me sometime around fifth grade.  I also remember trying to form a band in fourth grade that included multiple female instrumentalists and BGVs.  Even then I realized my athletic ability was not going to be my calling card to dates in high school (though I forgot for one brief season of football in 6th grade during which I led my elementary school team, “North”, to an 0-5 record as starting QB.  To be fair, I think I led our JV team to a victory or two prior to being elevated to a brief stint in the primetime).

When I writing songs at age 14, modest talent went a lot farther than it does now that I’m 24.  Being a songwriter was a lot cooler.  Writing a half-decent song was easier to stomach.  It used to be fun.

The problem with moving to a city like Nashville, or living in an area like Uptown Minneapolis, it’s more than just a hobby for a lot of would-be listeners.  This forces said writer to second guess, to stop early before the hook is finished and to avoid one’s back-catalogue of rough rhymes, forced themes and overplayed melodies.

A New Year’s resolution of mine is to actually share the music I create.  Being a perfectionist, I tend to hold onto my ideas until they’re already being done elsewhere.  So, I’ve decided in ‘09 that I will attempt the following:

1. Record a rough, iMovie-esque video and/or “live-in-studio” audio version of one song each week.  So, yes by the time 2010 rolls around you will have 52 David Alan Wright gems in glorious moving color, and,

2. Record a studio version of one song each month to arrive at an album’s worth of material by year’s end.

Thus, the relaunch of davidalanwright.com is my way of forcing myself to just play for the fun of it again.  To share songs that may be a few years old and a few chords shy of a masterpiece, but exist nonetheless, and may as well exist outside of my notebook or the rough demos only heard by a few pairs of ears.  Hopefully through sharing I’ll be able to reach people, polish my craft a bit more, reteach myself how to use Pro Tools and eventually work my way back up to the stage in some capacity.

I’m tentatively calling this soon-to-be body of work The Irving Sessions.

I have to admit, I’ve kept the guitars in their cases for long periods of time.  I’ve often gone weeks, months even, without strumming.  I realize it’s possible for me to live without writing and performing, because I’ve done it.  But I have to be honest, I’m not happy without those things.  And so I have to thank you if you fall into any of the following categories:

you’ve been to a show, read lyrics via IM late at night to give me feedback, bought a CD (even if as a favor), wrote an article or review, booked a concert, ran the soundboard, paid me a portion of a cover charge, painted or took my picture while on stage (I’ll prove the former later), created a music video, inspired me with your music, friendship and stories, encouraged me to keep writing, played in my band, let me play in your band, invited us to do a radio talkshow, spun our songs on the radio, recorded with me in the studio, patiently charted out songs on my behalf, sang BGVs, shared your thoughts via email, designed my Website back in the day (there have been multiple iterations), bought a bumper sticker (special props if you actually adhered it to your car!), invited me to share and speak, signed my mailing list, and, perhaps most importantly, let me enjoy life by giving the world a little music.

Thanks for all you’ve done to get me to this point.  I would be selfish to say this is simply about me, because it’s not.  The songs I’ve written and the songs I’m writing today are a reflection of who I am as a person, and that person is directly influenced by all of the above.

So, thanks for listening, and thanks for reading.

I hope you enjoy the music.

dw