10,000 Hours

"Driving in my car, smoking my cigar

The only time I'm happy is when I play my guitar"

- Cream    

With the release of "Loveland" I have this sense that I have come to a new vantage point in my musical journey. It's like I've climbed to an overlook where I can see both forward and back from where I have come. 

     Recently, I was looking at a photo of my first band back in High School. We were playing at the annual school talent show. The "Jaguars" were one of two bands; we played instrumentals like "Wipe Out" and "Tequila", nobody sung, and we had a trumpet and sax player. The other band had discovered the British Invasion, and did a killer version of "Satisfaction". It was a memorable event, the first time I ever performed in public and the first time anyone ever danced. 

    I played pretty steadily in a succession of bands, for the next 15 years, then put music aside. The reasons I gave up performing are a long story, not particularly notable, except that years later by chance I rekindled my love for music, as a composer, which led to songwriting, a move to Nashville, and most recently, a return to the stage. All through those years my main motivation was the need to earn a living, any purely creative impulses were strictly a side issue, an indulgence. Now that it's more in the forefront I'm thinking more about the "why" rather than the "how".  

    Like a lot of aspiring musicians I overlooked the "business" part of "the music business" when I was starting out. There's a mythology about "being discovered" and "overnight success" that is prevalent even though the facts are otherwise. Depending on the source, the statistics say of an estimated 25 million musicians in the US only about 1% actually make a living from their music. Those are steep odds. There are a number of reasons for this but a big one is the fact that the market is generational. It's rare, if ever, that one sees a new artist over the age of 35 achieve commercial success. In my own case a combination of bar band burnout and a realization of this fact led me to music production, which proved to be a pathway that allowed me to have a career, relative prosperity, and still be close to the creative side that I loved. 

    In Nashville, I met a lot of talented people who were still chasing the dream of commercial success despite years of rejection. Some of them were bitter, but others accepted the reality of the odds and were happy to be part of an arts community that gave them the opportunity to live a creative lifestyle even if they had to do something else to make a living. What I learned is that the music "business" is exactly that, a business like any other that requires capital, sales and marketing, and where success is very often dependent on having the right product at the right time for the market.

    More recorded music is available to consumers than ever. In 1975 about 1000 albums were released commercially, around 10,000 songs. Now 25,000 songs are uploaded every day.  The power of music labels still dominates because the cost of marketing gives an advantage to those who spend the most money. In many cases, if not most, the cost of marketing and advertising is several multiples of the cost of producing the music. I've known this for some time as I've watched the growth of home recording, a boon for those who want to record their music, but resulting in a flood of product.

So why persist when the odds of ever earning any financial reward are virtually nil?

That's right, the "why" does become more important than the "how" at a certain point for most of us. I've found two reasons, one practical, one magical:

1. Practical... After years spent learning an instrument the challenge to improve is still compelling.  Playing music is good for you for lots of reasons, especially as you get older; good for your brain, good to have goals, good to see progress. At a certain point playing, daily practice, becomes not what you do, but who you are, and what I call a " magnificent obsession".

The conventional wisdom is that it takes "10,000 hours" to master an instrument. If you break it down this way:

10,000 divided by 4 hours a day divided by 5 days a week (pretty intense schedule!) works out to about 10 years, assuming one takes a few breaks, a vacation now and then. 

So those who start early in life, say 6 years old, could conceivably be a virtuoso by age 16, and we have a few examples of that in guitarists like my hero Joe Bonamassa. Obviously, not every professional musician has spent 10,000 hours so one can be successful with less effort, but it still takes a considerable commitment of time and an investment that you'd like to see have some sort of return.

2. Magical...songwriting is a process that is part craft and part inspiration. One can master the craft and still have no clue as to how or when inspiration may happen, only that it's always worth the wait. One thing all songwriters share is an appreciation for those unexplainable moments when the universe smiles on you and a lyric and melody come together. One example is my song "If Everybody Loved". I was just noodling around with a song idea along the lines of universal love and the line "if everybody loved as much as I love you" literally popped into my head. From there the song just flowed, because once you have the main theme it's just a matter of filling it out:

"If Everybody loved, what a world this would be

No more loneliness, every soul set free

Stars would shine brighter, sky would be more blue

If everybody loved as much as I love you"

Listen to "If Everybody Loved"

At this point I'm not sure if I've racked up 10,000 hours, I've lost count, but I'm lucky to have something that is still compelling and provides a sense of accomplishment along with the challenge to keep improving.

Singer/Songwriter Rick Millward lived and worked on the West Coast until moving to Nashville in 2000. He was part of the Music City songwriter community, collaborating with other artists and producing over 30 projects in his boutique studio, including two EMMY nominated soundtracks. Now in Southern Oregon, Rick has discovered a vibrant local music scene centered around the many tasting rooms. His new record “Loveland” is available on Spotify and other streaming platforms.

Available on Spotify

Discography and Production

     My first paying project as a composer was for a corporate video. I wasn't really prepared when the opportunity came along and went out and bought a keyboard, a mixer and a MIDI program so I could record on my Mac SE. It was definitely a "earn while you learn" situation and after a couple of all-nighters I was able to record a simple track. I did a ZZ Top style blues rock song to accompany a Silicon Valley company rally that used a vintage Cadillac as a prop, and it was a success. I was on my way.

     Over the next decade I produced tracks for other videos, including Silicon Graphics, Hewlett Packard, Visa, Apple and others as well as starting to record some songs of my own. With each project I expanded my capabilities and equipment until I had a commercial recording studio. In Nashville I used the equipment to record my song demos in a home studio. At first I didn't seek out projects with others but eventually I started working with friends and over time built up a clientele, including other songwriters, did some tracks for cable tv and a couple of projects with the local PBS station that earned regional EMMY nominations.

      My time in Nashville was rewarding, even though I didn't place any songs with established acts, which was my main goal professionally. I'm glad I went if only so I could be sure I tried my best to break into what is arguably one of the hardest aspects of the music business: songwriting. It's a small group who can consistently make a living at it and there are many obstacles that must be overcome to achieve success. As I learned about the business I became better and found my voice, something I'm not sure would have happened had I stayed in California. Now on the West Coast I'm coming back to playing and performing again after a long, long break, as well as making some new music. 

        The latest  project is "Loveland" which was just released. Here's the Spotify link:

            My discography consists of three other albums of original songs:

"homemade" (2000) is an EP with 6 songs that are commercial country song demos for other artists. These tracks are the first ones I recorded that feature pedal steel guitar which opened up a whole new world for my sound. These are some of the first songs I felt expressed a personal style with an ear for what I heard on the radio.  

"Limited Edition"(2013) is a six song EP, each having a special meaning as representing milestones in my songwriting development, in particular "Baby Don't Cry". It came from direct experience, written in the moment and resonates deeply for me.

It's available on Spotify and is also the last record that I put out on CD, with a few in a "limited edition" metal case.

"Home for Good" (2016) has 10 songs that fall solidly into the Americana genre. They all explore themes that look at our culture from a personal point of view and is somewhat confessional and opinionated. It's on Spotify and other 

platforms as well.

    So those are the "official" releases. I've done three other records that weren't put out formally. Some of those songs made it onto later albums, and some are still "in progress".  In addition I have others that are reserved for pitching to country artists. They follow the radio format and don't quite reflect my personal style, though I do play them live sometimes just to showcase that side of my writing. It's a real challenge to write in the commercial radio format, and the competition is inspiring. 

A Fateful Turning Point

    There are rare moments in life when an event changes your future. One for me was when by chance I saw a newspaper ad looking for "musicians with construction experience wanted to build a recording studio". 

    In 1979, I had been playing in bar bands for several years, but even though I was living in the Bay Area, a music mecca at the time, and had been in a a couple of promising groups I hadn't reached the level of success I had hoped for, and, frankly, I was getting burned out-too many nights in smoky bars.

    When my latest band broke up, I was at a low point. I thought I wanted to "go solo", but I didn't have the resources to put together my own act and was working as a dishwasher to pay rent. Then I saw the ad in the classifieds. One of my "day gigs" had been as a carpenter's helper and I had learned some skills. I had also played with tape recorders for years, but at that point hadn't worked in a professional studio.

    This was to be an experience that would last three years and completely change the course of my career in two main areas. First, I became an expert in recording studio building techniques and sharpened my carpentry skills, something that would be valuable to me later, but more importantly I learned the basics of studio recording. which was to became my primary occupation. Although I put performing aside I was able to make my first recordings in the newly completed studio. It was a beautiful facility that is still in business and I will forever marvel at my good fortune to have been part of the team that built it. 

    I recorded 10 songs there which were to become my first record. It was called "The Dolphin and the Rose", with cover art on that theme. It was not released, mainly due to my complete lack of understanding of the "business" part of the "music business...a long story for another time. Nevertheless, I still have the tracks, transferred to digital from the long gone tape, and still enjoy listening now and then to my earlier self. 

    What's really interesting to me is that at that point I really hadn't settled on a personal style, and the individual recordings reflect several influences; Beatles, Jackson Brown, Doobies, folk rock, Steely Dan,  r&b, and even country. The one I've included here is called "Standing In One Place", which is one I still perform. I'm going to do an updated recording soon. I'm curious to see what I'd do different now.

    I can hear that developing artist in my most recent album, "Loveland". This record still wanders around in what I call "genre fluid" styles, but is certainly more focused. The big difference is that back then I was unconsciously reflecting all my influences rather than deliberately choosing a personal style. I had only written a handful of songs at that point and was just beginning to master that craft, something that continues to this day.  

    What this really brings home though, is the concept of fate. The definition is "a power beyond human control that is believed to determine events". 

    The "beyond human control" is the part that really gets me. The fact is we only have one path to follow in a universe of infinite possibility. How any one person's experience unfolds is the result of how their path winds through this infinite wilderness and though we may believe we know our way, the truth is that it is truly, "beyond human control". 

     I'm not prone to nostalgia, particularly about my career though it's been an amazing journey, but I can only guess at what would have happened had I missed that ad. It's not an exaggeration to say that the universe opened up for me at that moment and ever since has led me to this one.

Loveland "Liner Notes"

"Loveland" is a concept album in the sense that there is an intentional theme that all of the songs express in one way or another. 

   This came about when I realized that all the tracks are about some aspect of romantic love, from the sublime to the bittersweet. Further, these songs have a point of view that's a bit world weary and down to earth, not the intoxication of a crush or immature love, but more the emotions you feel after some of the experiences we all have looking for that connection. 

   That abstract concept is the theme of "Prelude", the track that sets the mood for the entire album. It's an aural flight through the void towards Loveland, One doesn't quite complete the trip. Instead it pauses at "Storm". "Storm" was first written over 20 years ago, inspired by a driving bass line, and has had several sets of lyrics as it evolved. It's one of those songs that never quite felt finished and now it's clear that it needed more time to find its full meaning.  As much as any other song in "Loveland" it expresses the longing and desire for an overpowering experience; of love, spiritual and complete. The message of "Storm" is that longing to open oneself to infinite possibilities and be lifted up to find "the power of eternal love" through the turmoil of life. "If Everybody Loved" is also an older song that has gone through several iterations. Over the years it has become a song I always play when I perform and in that sense my theme song. I first recorded it as an acoustic folk song, then redid it as country, adding drums and electric guitar. At that point I decided to take it one step farther and enlisted Chris Bauer to add some pedal steel licks. It's followed by the mildly suggestive "Rockin' U",  a track that takes me back to when I first heard a live rock band. The Fabulous Wailers were a popular regional act and they did a show at our local armory. I could hear the rumble of the bass from a block away, and I'll never forget the blast of sound that hit us when we walked in. "Rockin' U" is my homage to that experience. Next up is "Hold Me", that's about how our loved ones give us the strength to get through the struggles and disappointments of daily life. "Stowaway" was an unfinished song with a hook lyric and little else for a long time. It wasn't until I left Nashville and was in Oregon that the inspiration for the verses broke through a writer's block that also led to the next songs, "No Reason" and "Dead End Road", which are the newest in this collection.  These tracks are highlighted by the contributions of Paul Sandberg on saxophone and Nicole Dahl and Tiffany Hilliker singing backup.

 

 “No Reason” is a slightly different take on the age old dilemma of the newly single person finding the courage to take a chance on something new. This track features my friend and singing partner Nicole Dahl.

 

“Dead End Road”

True story? I ain’t sayin’. On my last record I had “Trouble Road” which paints a picture of the darker side of town, where people are up to no good, and this song is a sequel. It’s also in the vein of “Runnin’ Like Me” from the “Limited Edition” record, where life is reduced to a man, a fast car, and a long road with no certain destination. I’m joined by Nicole who plays the role of the femme fatale in the story.

   Perhaps the most meaningful song for me is "Looking Back",  which is a reminiscence of first love and how time changes our feelings about those left behind. It's also produced with a ear toward what I think of as classic production with a big sound and a soaring pedal steel solo by Chris. "Loveland" is the track that reflects the overall theme and is a bit different in style for me, with a R&B riff propelling the track as it builds to a finale with a driving sax solo from Paul. On a more abstract level, "Loveland" is a place, the destination of your journey, one that doesn't exist in physical space, but in another dimension beyond our senses. "Come along, someone is waiting for you" is the call that promises companionship for that journey. "Loveland" may be at the center of the Universe, or deep inside our souls. We may never reach it, or we may have been there all along. The last song, “Precious Days” is purposefully simple, just vocal and guitar. I wanted to end with something that reveals how a song begins, before making decisions about how to produce a recording and this song really lends itself to this approach.

   

   Each of these tracks also reflects my interpretation of the Americana genre. I see it as music rooted in the tradition of folk music, which has at the core a simple structure and straightforward message. In this way the songs can stand alone as a solo acoustic performance, and in fact that's where each of them began, but from there they branch out and embrace several different genres and eras as well. For instance, "Rockn' U" has a 50's rockabilly feel, and "No Reason" and "Dead End Road" gives a nod to roadhouse blues rock. "Loveland" is the most contemporary track structurally, it even flirts with hip hop a little, but even as it does I hear 80s pop and r&b too. It wasn't a necessarily conscious choice on my part but I do hear each track in the context of a particular time and the influence that period had on my music, including my time in Nashville immersed in country music. 

The image for "Loveland" reflects the idea of a journey and was taken on a road trip through the high desert in the Pacific Northwest near where I spent my childhood. 

Credits:

"Loveland" is a self produced and recorded project except for the following stellar contributions:

Background 

and Duet vocals:    Nicole Dahl (Storm, No Reason, Dead End Road)

                      Tiffany Hilliker (Stowaway)

                      Lindsay Millward (Hold Me, Looking Back")

                      Jamie White (Looking Back)

Pedal Steel :          Chris Bauer (If Everybody Loved, Looking Back)

Saxophone:           Paul Sandberg (Stowaway, Loveland)

 

Listening With Intention

My latest album "Loveland" is a "concept album".

Some records are simply collections of songs, but others are produced with the intention to be listened to as a whole complete experience.

One of the first ones was "Sgt. Pepper", and around the same time, "Pet Sounds" and "Dark Side of the Moon. Not only did these albums have songs that developed a particular theme, but they also were crafted with attention to how they sounded. 

Technology has changed how we listen. Radio had a lot of influence on modern pop music; for instance the emergence of the "single" and shorter songs with musical "hooks" to engage listeners. The first records were single songs and then in 1948 the LP was introduced. Forty years later the CD made it obsolete, and in 2001 iTunes, downloads, and streaming became the new radio. 

Now these days, and it's not a good or bad thing, the idea of an album is often more about packaging than concept. Playlists, an extension of the "mix tape", became a way listeners could arrange their music any way they pleased. Although vinyl has made a comeback, CDs are pretty much obsolete, most music is now strictly online.

What's this?

It also seems like that music has now become more of a soundtrack, just playing in the background while we do other things, while a movie or TV show may get our undivided attention for its entire time. We watch these shows because they tell a story and we want to follow it to the end. 

Music affects us in many ways, and I think of it as first eliciting pleasure though sound and rhythm, which is a the physical effect, and then by eliciting emotion, which for me is the primary challenge of songwriting, and where a certain magic can be found if one finds the perfect combination of lyrics, composition, and production.

So I would hope listeners will put on a good set of headphones and listen with intention. For one thing, all these tracks have nuance and detail that comes out best when listened with headphones, but also they allow you to focus without distraction. 

All these songs were inspired by personal experiences but I believe they have a universal message as well. "Loveland" is about a journey, and the concept is to travel along with each song and create your own narrative based on the feelings they evoke. I hope if you do you will enjoy the experience of listening to "Loveland" as much as I had creating it.

There are now dozens of online streaming services and "Loveland" will be distributed to all of them, including Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and Amazon Music, in January.

2020!

A Challenging Year

     Back in February I was looking forward to a busy year. As I began my third season as a performing songwriter in the Rogue Valley I had already booked out dates through December and was hosting a monthly open mic and Songwriter "In The Round" events at Roxyann winery. On the eve of the March open mic I had the realization that we were facing a dangerous epidemic and the first inkling of concern. At that time I wasn't sure how serious the situation was going to be, so just to be prudent I decided to cancel the event for the month. Shortly the Governor closed the state, and after that I canceled everything I had booked for the rest of the year.

     As March progressed the full impact of the epidemic became a reality, and we observed a strict quarantine, and I mean we didn't go out at all, even having groceries delivered. Lockdown. We watched as Europe struggled through its wave of infections, then New York. We only had a handful of cases locally and that was somewhat comforting, but we still were very anxious about what was happening. As we head into the end of the year, the situation is worsening and all signs point to many more months of waiting for the epidemic to come to an end. It's been a test of our patience and resilience, but also offered opportunities for growth. 

     What I soon realized was that over the last three years performing and practicing had taken up all my energy to the detriment of developing new material. I had a continuing writer's block that began when we moved to Oregon. I just didn't seem to be motivated, I think mainly because I was now distant from Nashville and the competitive environment, but for other reasons as well, like the distraction of exploring a new place and meeting new people. Not only that, but rekindling being a live performer necessitated mastering a new song list and many hours of rehearsal to prepare for gigs. All of that was put aside and as the time passed I fell into a more reflective state. My creative process returned. Ideas started trickling in.

    Also, I started working on some unfinished recordings that were left over from my last album, "Home For Good" (available on Spotify). What I discovered was that after two years of gigging, my singing had gotten better, and some of the melodies that were eluding me were now within reach. My guitar playing had evolved as well, and I enjoyed applying improvements to these tracks. The result is "Loveland", 10 songs that I will be releasing soon.

     If it hadn't been for the epidemic I wouldn't have taken the time to work on this project, and that's kind of a mixed blessing; I'm really happy with the tracks, but wish the circumstances weren't so tragic. This is the paradox of life, when events beyond our control take over and we are compelled to make the changes needed to adapt.

     2020 has been a retreat, where we have been obliged to take a step back from all our busy lives and hopefully used the downtime to meditate on and evaluate our paths for ourselves and for our society in the future. 

Loved To Death

"Money, too, remains a problem. The parks have endured a history marked more by congressional indifference and occasional hostility than by generosity. A $12 billion backlog for maintenance and improvements awaits funding. Fewer permanent employees now work for the park service than in 2002, even as it administers more parks and deals with record numbers of visitors.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/07/opinion/sunday/are-we-loving-our-national-parks-to-death.html

This article was written two years ago and has facts about the park system and the issues I witnessed firsthand during my recent visit to Grand Teton National Park. 

We got up at 5 am with an hour’s drive from our overnight stay to the camp site we were hoping to get. We hit a traffic jam at the park entrance and I became apprehensive about a crush at the “first come first served” campground. Are all these people going for the "tents only" site we wanted? Should we have spent the night in the parking lot? My nervousness alternated with my awe at seeing the mountains towering above us lit by the sunrise.

    At our campground/trailhead, Jenny Lake, which is the most popular spot for camping and sightseeing, the parking lot held about 50 cars. By 9 am every day the lot filled and spilled out onto the highway entrance, with cars and RVs coming and going all day. Work was being done on the facility, which I assume was to enlarge it.

    

We went to the park to hike, and once one got past the trailheads the crowds did lessen, because the trails are steep and rocky. Even so there was a steady stream of people, speed hikers charging up the hill, families with small children, couples chattering in a variety of languages, and guided groups of teenagers. A short distance up the trail, usually past the first overlook, it thinned out and by the time we got up to a lake three miles in we were virtually alone. Along the way we passed side trails that were closed so they could recover, blocked with large rocks and tree branches and posted with “loved to death” signs.

My personal peeve: the bathroom at our campsite was gross. It’s managed by a private company and to their credit it was evident that staff was doing their best to keep it reasonably clean, but it was in disrepair with broken doors and a bare concrete floor. The fee was $30/night so the 50 sites at this campground generate about $50,000 a month. I wondered what impression international visitors were getting. It was amusing to see a sign in one restroom that showed an awareness that it’s just not U.S. citizens coming to see our natural wonders. 

At the heart of all this is a consideration of infrastructure politics.The current administration is cutting the budget when most agree that the funding is insufficient to maintain and upgrade the system as it exists. Moreover, allowing even more people into these fragile ecosystems increases the cost to keep them healthy. Personally, I would like to see “tent only” camping and a reduction of traffic by using shuttles for day visitors. RVs are another problem. How anyone can call it “camping” when they are pulling a house behind them is a mystery to me, but they now compromise the majority of those in the campgrounds and are a constant presence on the roads.

Publicly held natural resources are vulnerable to mismanagement and exploitation for personal and political gain. By all accounts this is what we are facing now. Officials from the cabinet on down and some legislators are of the mindset that “too much” is being withheld from development. At best they may hold the mistaken belief that making these lands available to drillers, loggers and miners will add needed revenue to the treasury. At worst we may be the victims of backroom dealing and corruption; it is difficult to know the facts, but the risk of permanent damage from overuse and uncontrolled development is a real and present danger.

So let’s take a moment to look at the current Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke.

(Note: The following is cut and paste from Wikipedia, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress and Vanity Fair articles)

He’s an ex-Navy Seal, from Montana, has businesses and property worth over a million dollars, impoverished by Trump cabinet standards, and has been a politician since 2009.

In 2013, Zinke hosted a radio show in which he engaged with and promoted fringe conspiratorial views, including birtherism (the myth that Barack Obama was not born in the United States). Zinke said on the radio show that he was not sure whether Obama was a foreign citizen and called on Obama to release his college transcripts. Later, in 2016, as a congressman, Zinke appeared on the radio show “Where's Obama's Birth Certificate”, known for its promotion of birther conspiracy theories

During his Senate confirmation hearing he stated:

“Climate is changing; man has had influence,” Zinke said, differing himself from Trump's position on climate change. “I don’t believe it’s a hoax…I believe we must be prudent.”

The former Montana congressman said he was "absolutely against the transfer or sale of public land."

He also said he would be open to reviewing and expanding oil drilling, stating:

“The president-elect has said, we want to be energy independent. As a former Navy SEAL, I think I have been to 63 countries in my lifetime. I can guarantee you it is better to produce energy domestically under reasonable regulation, than watch it be produced overseas with no regulation."

One of Zinke’s first acts after confirmation was to overturn a moratorium on new leases for coal mines on public land. He subsequently recommended slashing the size of several national monuments, including Bears Ears, in Utah, and Gold Butte, in Nevada, and lifting restrictions at others to allow more development. (In December, acting on these recommendations, President Donald Trump announced that he was cutting the area of the Bears Ears monument by more than three-quarters and shrinking the Grand Staircase-Escalante monument, also in Utah, by almost half.) Zinke has also proposed gutting a plan, years in the making, to save the endangered sage grouse; instead of protecting ten million acres in the West that had been set aside for the bird’s preservation, he’d like to see them given over to mining. And he’s moved to scrap Obama-era regulations that would have set more stringent standards for fracking on federal property.

Perhaps the most cynical thing they are doing is in regards to the National Parks Funding Bill (S.751 - National Park Service Legacy Act of 2017) which Zinke came out and supported after it was introduced in March of 2017 but has been sitting in committee since. All while the president’s budget proposes a drastic 16% to the Department of the Interior, which houses the National Park Service, and a cut of 7% to the park service itself. It’s been reported they are also proposing a hefty increase to admission fees.

“They’re determined to lease and develop every acre they possibly can, which will minimize the potential for conserving these landscapes in the future,” Jim Lyons, who was a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Interior Department during the Obama Administration, told the Washington Post. “They’re quite efficient, and they know exactly what they want to do.”

Despite the crush, our trip was great. We just had to look past the crowds the same way you do at a theme park, concert or mall and make the effort to go farther in where most of them feared to tread, bear spray at the ready. It's my hope that this one part of our shared experience was geared more towards a concern for long term conservation rather than unfettered use and development and I wonder if those farsighted patriots who first aspired to set aside these unique treasures would be approving of what has transpired.