We’ve solicited the talents of local pianist, engineer and producer Ben Zecker.  Ben and I will be co-producing this project together.

Ben Zecker has gained a reputation as one of the more exciting and in demand young musicians in New England.  He has been heard with funk masters such as John Blackwell and the Matrix, various side projects of the Soulive crew, The Boston Horns, or playing in one of his own straight-ahead jazz or funk projects featuring some of the finest musicians in the Boston scene. You may also have heard him freelancing with a neo-soul, pop, rock, jazz, hip-hop, or an “all of the above” showcase band.  No matter what the situation may be, one thing is for sure; Ben always brings serious musicianship, versatility, great technique, energy, taste, and creativity to the gig.

Yesterday, we went into the studio and tracked drums and bass with some of the best musicians I’ve ever had the honor of working with. Wally’s legend Charles Haynes (Kanye West, MIA, Meshell Ndegeocello) absolutely killed it on drums, perfectly complimented by local funk master Baron Browne (Steve Smith, Mike Stern).  These guys really brought our compositions to life and laid down a great foundation.

Onward!!

PS – Pics to come!  When I get them I’ll post ‘em.

Jamie Lynn Hart

So lately I’ve been diggin’ this whole co-writing thing..

I love it when Jamie comes over.  Everything is always so relaxed.  We usually make tea, chat for a while and kick back.

She is the yin to my songwriting yang!  She’s a melody machine.  She carries around a small notebook and captures the musical ideas that float around her head as she goes through the day.  My inner ear’s play list, on the other hand, is usually built from the bottom up.  I tend to hear grooves, changes and arrangements (that I have been known to play air guitar solos to).  Put the two of us together for any length of time and the creative juices just start to flow.

We’ve been tossing around some musical ideas lately which have manifested themselves in the form of 3 tunes that we recently performed at the famous Lizard Lounge Open Mic Challenge hosted by Tom Bianchi and Danielle Miraglia (We made it to the finals!).

A friend of Jamie’s was able to get it on film!  Check out the videos below!

For more about Jamie, you can check out her web page, her MySpace page, or her YouTube channel.

What do you think of the tunes?

The fruit of a year’s labor,  James Houlahan’s solo debut album Seven Years Now is an honest, organic and creative collection of 14 original songs that will take you by surprise.

From a producer’s standpoint, I always try to keep things simple.  There’s a pretty basic formula to making a great album:

• Great Tunes/Writing
• Great Players/Performances
• Great Production

James definitely delivers on the “Great Tunes” front.  He originally brought me a CD with 25 or so demo cuts that he had made sitting in front of his computer.  We had to gradually narrow them down, reluctantly removing songs from the list until we had 14 songs that we couldn’t do without.  Commonly described as a cross between Bob Dylan, Neil Young with a dash of Tom Waits, his abstract and expressive lyrics always seem to pierce right through to the listener’s core, and they’re always delivered on a platter of musical simplicity.

Tom is one of the best engineers in the country.   If his lengthy discography is a testament to anything, it’s that he knows what he’s doing both in engineering AND production.  Working with Tom is quite the learning experience and  I am always grateful for the opportunity.

Between the three of us, we managed to pull in some pretty amazing musicians.  See the official album player’s list below:

• Tom Eaton: Producer, Accordion, Melodica
• Mike Null: Producer, Electric Guitar, Percussion and Backing Vocals
• Tom Bianchi: Upright and Electric Bass
• Paul Schultheis: Pump Organ, Hammond, Wurlitzer, Rhodes and Piano
• Andy Plaisted: Drums
• Jake Armerding: Fiddle
• Kevin Barry: Lap Steel
• Kristen Cifelli: Backing vocals
• John Curtis: Banjo, National Guitar, Mandolin
• Kristen Miller: Cello
• Sara Colb: Backing Vocals
• Daniella Colb: Backing Vocals
• Dan Blakeslee: Backing Vocals
• Scott Aruda: Trumpet
• John Aruda: Saxophone
• Jeff Galindo: Trombone
• Paul Ahlstrand: Saxophone

Most of these guys play out regularly.  If you have nothing to do tonight, randomly click on of the links above and find their show calendar.  I’ll guarantee it will be a show you won’t regret seeing.

If you are you close to the Boston/Cambridge area, you are hereby officially invited to the official CD Release show!  James will play with a slew of some of the great performers listed above.  It is going to be a lot of fun. Come check it out!

Seven Years Now CD RELEASE!!!!
Sunday, January 25, 2009, 8:00PM
The Burren
247 Elm St.,
Somerville, MA 02144

Illustration by Dan Blakeslee

If you’re dying to hear some of the tracks but won’t be able to make the CD Release show, you will be able to order the CD online in a few weeks.  In the meantime, you can hear some of the tunes on James’ Myspace page.

]]> http://www.mikenull.com/james-houlahan-seven-years-now/feed/ 0 http://www.mikenull.com/the-essence-of-a-song/ http://www.mikenull.com/the-essence-of-a-song/#comments Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:19:31 +0000 Mike http://blog.mikenull.com/?p=5 Something interesting happened in the studio today. For those who don’t know, I’m currently producing James Houlahan’s debut solo album. He is a very prolific writer, and is teaching me a lot about the craft without even knowing it, perhaps. We had a dilemma. James wanted to record a song that had been written recently. We tried to lay down the track, and Tom, the engineer and co-producer, and I realized that the song didn’t sound as complete as the other tunes. It sounded like two separate ideas glued together. So, I began quieting my mind in hopes of hearing a solution.

It’s tricky. What is a song? How much of can you take away and still keep the essence of the song the same? If someone asks me to arrange a three chord folk tune, there are a million ways I could go about it. I could add this, or that, and change this, or extend the melody here, and add a new section there or rewrite the words here, etc.. I could go nuts! But, if I just let my instincts run wild, at the end of the day, do I still have the same song?

Though I’ve been playing and composing for a long time, I’m new to songwriting. So, I asked James what he thought. He said, to him, the core of the song is the melody. You can strip away the harmony, the arrangement and the production, and if it’s still got the melody, you’ll recognize the tune.

Arranging a song is like re-potting a plant. You have to do it ever so gently and with care, so as not to traumatize it. I added minimal harmony changes to the verses just to add a little momentum going into the chorus. Then, just to give the song some body, I came up with an instrumental bridge. That way, we could throw in some flavor, without compromising any of James’ writing.

The tracking is going well! I got to take the roughs home today. Making an album is such a wonderful process with so many steps. There is something to be excited about at every turn.

To make a long story short, we met at Guitar Center. I had just moved to Boston and had been working on the guitar floor for about a month. “James in flames” was a new hire who had just returned home after getting his Masters at the University of Chicago. Having a similar love for the blues and lead guitar, we clicked right away and formed a band.

We quickly realized that two lead guitarists were not enough to put on a proper show, so we began scouring the local blues jams for a rhythm section, and we networked our way into a few gigs.

Having different yet complimentary styles, James and I quickly developed a reputation among our fans (all 3 of them, including our moms and the fat guy at the Blue Plate) for having a great musical chemistry. Among other things, we were often compared to salt and pepper, yin and yang, ketchup and mustard.. you get the idea.

The band began heading in a different musical direction, and I began taking on other projects, so my role in the band became short lived. We parted on good terms, and though we ran into each other occasionally, we didn’t really talk much after that, until last year.

At the time were both going through breakups, and we began to hang out again. James had come a long way in his songwriting, and I was in the middle of cutting my teeth as a producer. We agreed that upon the completion of Kelsey’s album, we would give it another go.

After playing out together for a show or two, we decided to take it into the studio. To view the rest of this show, click here.

After weeks of preproduction meetings, we started the initial tracking today with Tom Eaton, (Tom really knows how to get great sounds coming into the board, and it is an absolute pleasure to work with him again!) who is going to engineer and co-produce! So far (and I say that because ya never really know what you’re going to end up with), the album is a collection of melancholy introspective solo tracks.

The tunes are stripped down, acoustic, organic and breathing. I love James’ writing because it’s so bare bones. I am going have a ton of fun arranging these tunes! I see mandolin, accordian, cello, organ, piano, backup singers and a lot of late nights in my future!

We’re going in again next week. Stay tuned!