What can I say… you can take the newsletter from the boy but not the boy from his newsletter. So I’m back. But why now? What makes this the right time for me to hop back on the horse? Well, every social media platform has gone to shit and is run by utterly contemptible people. So suffice to say I’m not too big of a fan of “posting” right now. At the same time, I need to let loose! I’ve got thoughts in my head swirling around. I don’t journal. I just have this and my little musical ditties.

My last newsletter was all the way back in June. I’m not gonna hash out every little detail of my life since then but I’ll give you the spark notes version. We got our roof re-done, I fell off a step ladder and broke my clavicle (ouch!), I recently turned 31, got a few more grey hairs in my beard, and I’ve changed the name of my musical project from film studies to cowboy chords.

The clavicle has healed nicely. I’m a little more machine and got a few more screws in me than before but other that everything is kosher. Now onto the music. Why the new name? Because why not? Mainly though its because I found saying film studies to be a little embarrassing. It just didn’t roll off the tongue. I had been thinking about switching things up for a bit and then once I decided to start working on/releasing new tunes it just felt like the right time. A new “era” of sorts. People really love saying that nowadays. I think in this case though it’s sort of accurate. It’s not that the music sounds all that different but I’m taking a fresh approach to things. Working fast and loose. Trying not to get too sucked into demo-itise and saving the goods for a real album.

Also, I’ve removed most of my music from streaming platforms. It just seems silly to pay to upload my music to all of these services to only receive pennies int return. I know I don’t get that many plays and there are millions of other artists who have a bigger gripe than me but I still think what I make has value.

So for the time being I’ll probably just put my stuff on bandcamp and maybe youtube if I’m feeling frisky. Last month, I uploaded the first cowboy chords release “01: cabin fever” which I will call an ep? mixtape? Idk. It’s a collection of home recordings from the month of January. Some songs are new. Some have been on the back burning for a bit just simmering. I’m pretty partial to the song “high noon” which I’ve been noodling around with for a while. I’ve probably recorded it 5 times trying to find the right key, tempo and general vibe. I think I maybe got it with this one.

My plan is to keep releasing collections of songs like this every month going forward. Warts and all. I love a deadline. It’s a fun way to trick myself into completing things.

There is no paywall for this newsletter but goddamn there should be. I’m giving away gold here folks. Enjoy this 30 min mix I made in honor of lo fi fuzzy music. A lot of Elephant 6 artists on this one.

Now That’s What I Call Hiss!

1. Daniel Johnston - Devil Town (Demo)

2. The Apples in Stereo - Rocket Pad

3. The Olivia Tremor Control - Define a Transparent Dream

4. Good Flying Birds - Eric Eyes

5. Guided by Voices - A Good Flying Bird

6. Sharp Pins - When You Know

7. Blur - You’re so Great

8. The Minders - Build

9. of Montreal - Don’t Ask Me to Explain

10. Neutral Milk Hotel - Where You’ll Find Me Now

11. Joe Glass - Dust on Your Halo

12. 2nd Grade - Favorite Song (Demo)

Top 5 Ways I Spent My Time Nursing My Weak Brittle Bones

5. Sitting in a chair and staring into space.

4. Tapping my toes and twiddling my thumbs.

3. Spilling food all over myself.

2. Seeing how long I could stand my BO since taking a shower was excruciating.

1. Playing Stardew Valley.

xoxo, t-dawg