Randall Goodgame - Bluebird
If you haven’t heard the news yet, Randall Goodgame’s new album, Bluebird, officially releases today. About six weeks ago, as they were nearing the end of the recording process, Randall asked if I would write some string arrangements for it. I thought I’d write a little about the process here, for those interested in seeing behind the scenes. (I’ll leave a song-by-song commentary for someone else (Curt?) saying only that it’s a great record, from the opening downbeat to the last B3 organ chord.)
At first, Randall, Quinlan (the producer) and Winn (Randall’s manager and the B3 player on the record) wanted strings on just one song, California. After Andy Osenga added electric guitar parts to the existing tracks of bass, drums, keys, and vocals, they sent me an mp3 of a rough mix. And over the next day and half, I wrote the string parts. When I finished, I created an mp3 of a string mockup using some of the string samples I have on my computer and sent it to them. After they’d had a chance to listen to it, we decided to postpone the string session (which was scheduled for that evening) so that we could make some changes to the arrangement. They felt that what I had written gave the song too much of an orchestral feel, but that that style of orchestration would fit perfectly on another song, All the Years. So a couple days later, I met with the producer to talk about the kind of arrangement he wanted for California, and then started rewriting it that afternoon. (He’s a fan of Bjork and wanted it to sound a little like the string arrangements on her albums, so I downloaded her ‘97 album, Homogenic - she describes it as featuring “beats, strings and voice” - from iTunes and listened during breaks from writing throughout the rest of the day.)
After I finished the arrangement for California, about 7:00 that evening, I started in on the chart for All the Years. I had rescheduled the string session for 10:00 the next morning, since we were already a little behind schedule for when the album needed to be mixed and ready for mastering, so I knew it would be a long night.
The first time I heard All the Years I fell in love with it - it’s always nice when your work and the music you love match up. The song starts with Randall expressing his weariness of long years on the road, his desire to be with his love. In the chorus, he sings, “Take me away, take me away, my love. Can you find me a road I’ve never known? Take me away, take me away, my love. I’m tired, can you just take me home?”
When Quinlan and I were talking about the song earlier in the day, he said he wanted the strings to evoke that sense of longing for home, of homesickness. So throughout the evening, with the lyrics running through my head, I kept remembering the numerous passages Buechner has written about home, our efforts to find that place we remember from our childhood or perhaps to create the home we never had. I thought of the passages from Andrew’s novel, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, that express that longing for home so poignantly (see the comments on this post). And I did my best to try to convey that feeling with the strings, trying to match the range of emotions in Randall’s voice, 
from the almost desperate pleading in the bridge to the fragile, broken petition in the last chorus. I finished writing the arrangement a little after 4:00 in the morning, (helped along by a couple large cappuccinos,) got a couple hours of sleep, then printed the parts and headed out the door to hear the Love Sponge string quartet play what I’d been hearing in my head.
For the last couple weeks, Randall has been offering All the Years as a free download on his website. You can listen to it below, click here to download it, or buy the full EP at Randall’s web-store today.
A.S. Peterson has crafted a work of compelling historical fiction which begs the question, “Can this really be a debut novel?” With dogged fidelity, Peterson captures the spirit, manners, and social conditions present during the American Revolutionary War. We meet colorful, credible characters who navigate the high seas of life and love, dependence and independence, war and peace, truth and consequence, and despite forays into dark places, The Fiddler’s Gun is beautiful, lyrical, and redemptive.
Walt Wangerin, Jr. strikes again.
Janner Igiby lives in Glipwood, a nothing little village in the land of Skree, on the edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Manhood is on the horizon, but Janner finds it hard to feel much hope for the future. Skree is ruled by foreign oppressors, snake men called the Fangs of Dang, servants of a shadowy emperor named Gnag the Nameless. The Skreeans are weak and weaponless. They’re even tool-less. Any Skreean who needs to use a hoe has to borrow one from the Fangs (and fill out the requisite paperwork). And from time to time, the Black Carriage arrives in Glipwood to carry young Skreeans toward an unknown fate across the Dark Sea.
I am not a fan of Civil War literature; in fact, I have always thought of it as one of those weird sub-genres for obsessive types. They’re almost like Trekkies with their re-enactments and maniacal devotion to detail. It’s just not my thing (although I’m secretly jealous that they get to dress up and shoot cannons).
A Randall Goodgame song is like a great independent movie. Characters deliver lines like they were lifted from a break room, a truck stop, or a downtown diner. Seemingly incongruent scenes are juxtaposed and plot isn’t obvious; in fact, narrative–a good story–is often more evident than linear plot lines. An indie movie, like a Randall Goodgame song, seems to tell itself. Rather than being rudely yanked by a chain through a sequence of contrived events, with a Randall Goodgame song, I have the sense that I’m being allowed a willing, but vicarious sneak peak into the real lives of his real characters.
Sara Groves irritates me just a little bit. With each album she makes, she moves from strength to strength and is always raising the bar with the quality, depth, and lyrical ambition of her work. And as a fellow artist, that’s just a little irritating since it means the rest of us are going to have to work harder if we hope to keep up.
I am outside on my front porch. The yellowed leaves are methodically falling from the black walnut in the yard, my breath is chalky visible in the recent cold snap, and lately I have been exploring the unpleasant nuances of the dark night of a soul - my own, to be exact. It is a strange passion we live out on this over-glorified orb of rock hurtling through space at some rate that I’m sure would astound me were I to know what it was. It is an odd series of days, I am realizing, when you question your own faith more than you question your own doubt. And, indeed, it is these nagging questions which have prompted me to share my thoughts on Andrew Peterson’s 2003 album, Love and Thunder.
11-year old Reuben Land, a character in the 2001 book Peace Like a River, provides narration that is clear-eyed and insightful, yet retains the magic, wonder, and innocence of youth. I found it easy to entrust my imagination to the author’s clever method of telling the story through the sensibilities of a pre-teen boy. An author with lesser skill would have either made the boy too smart-alecky for his own good or impossibly cute.
I just finished a book that upon closing it, I felt like it finished me in a sense. A quiet meditative book that reached down and stirred the deep waters in me. It’s Marilynne Robinson’s 2005 Pulitzer prize winner Gilead, given to me by my friend Andrew Peterson.
Eric Peters’s body of work addresses a diverse range of topics, but hope is a recurring theme that gently percolates in the midst of it all. And yet, somewhere between the 2001 masterpiece Land of the Living, and Scarce, the flavor of hope that Peters’s work emits has evolved closer to a tone that is more resolute than what came before. And though the complexion of hope has a broad range, the lyrics from Scarce–while intermittently contrite and timorous as in previous efforts, are now strengthened and bolstered by roots that have grown deeper, radiating an underlying grit and security.
Having read The Great Divorce many times over the years, I’ve found this classic from the great C.S. Lewis to be full of startling clarity and depth on the differences between Heaven and Hell. The only thing both have in common is that both begin in the human will; we can either let Heaven enter us and rule in us to blossom into love and goodness, or allow Hell to infect and reign in our hearts by the daily refusal to submit to Heaven.
Even if you haven’t heard Room to Breathe, its still likely you’ve heard Andy Gullahorn. He’s what I’d call a heavy lifter by trade. He writes lyrics, plays guitar, arranges vocals and adds production help to the work of artists like Jill Phillips and Andrew Peterson.
Allow me to preface this by telling you that I am a great despiser of gushing reviews. I’d much rather write (or read) a scathing dismemberment of the latest Brett Ratner film or Terry Goodkind book than suffer through four hundred words of overblown hyperbole about even the best of things. But when asked to write some thoughts on Frederick Buechner’s Godric, no amount of distaste for high praise was able to intervene. I hope you’ll take what I say with the understanding that I do not say it readily or lightly.
Congratulations, Randy! Beautiful songs. This is from Randy’s blog at http://www.randallgoodgame.com, about the record, and about the title track in particular:
So I’ve got this new record that I’m pretty juiced about. It is called Bluebird, and there are only 6 songs. I was hesitant about making a mini-record, but in this brave new world of music production and duplication and distribution, in the end it seemed like the right thing to do. (that’s a different blog post!)
I remember the morning that the melody for Bluebird (the song) came into my brain. It was a really pretty day, and this is so rare, but I just started singing it. I wrote the whole chorus in the length of time it takes to sing it. It was so familiar that I racked my brain trying to figure out what song I was stealing these notes and syllables from. Stumped, and with a killer harmony part in mind, I gave thanks and started the work of figuring out what this song was about.
I don’t know exactly where the guitar part came from either. My best guess is that I had recently spent some time in Houston with my brother, John Goodgame, Esq. Even after years of gift neglect, his competence as a guitarist quickly reveals itself when he finally does take a moment and strap on his pretty blonde Larrivée and pick a ditty. And subconsciously or not, I wrote the guitar part to Bluebird with John’s picking style. I’d never written a song with that classic pseudo-Chet Atkins-thumb-to-thumb-and-middle-finger bounce before, and the major-to-minor changes just sorta fell in there together with the melody that was coming out as the song worked its way to the surface.
I have written complicated songs with many words, and I love Bluebird because it is so simple, that I am able to enjoy and rest in the musical moments as they pass by a bit more than I am used to. I loved the production ideas that came out of Quinlan as he stepped in the stream, and one of my greatest joys upon completing the record has been hearing my 7 year old daughter walking around the house singing that last line of harmony-become-melody that Amy sings to end the song. It is just right for her range, and it stops me like the lights going out when I hear her sing it.
This song really touched my heart tonight. Someone I love is in the process of going home to Jesus. She was a beautiful singer, and if she still could I think she might sing something like this. Thanks for posting it.
I am excited. I got mine!! Thanks all you helped!
I feel privileged to have been able to enjoy this album for the past couple of weeks. It’s been a pleasure! I gotta give the nod to “Heaven Waits” as my favorite song.
Is the physical cd really already out of stock, or is this a digital only release?
Echoing what Richard asked, is this a digital only release and will it be available here in the Rabbit Room store soon? I’m one of the neanderthals that has yet to join itunes, doesn’t have an ipod thingy and still likes to tote his CD’s and even Record albums around.
Stephen… I know I’ve said it 1,000,000 times before, but dude. You did some great work. Your arrangements really gave some finality to the songs and took them exactly where they needed to go.
Richard & Jim, you can purchase a copy of the physical CD via Randall’s store (we sold out early this AM, but they have more now!) It will also be available here soon.
I just listened to All The Years…very moving and powerful! Awesome job!
Thanks, Stephen, for sharing your inside scoop with the Rabbit Room readers. You indeed did fantastic work on both of those songs. Those brilliant counter-melodies in California raised up the whole track, and the bridge on All The Years became one of my favorite moments on the record after hearing your string arrangement.
Thanks rabbit roomies for listening. I love this place.
As soon as I ask my wife if it’s okay, this CD is definitely ordered. I have been waiting for Blue Bird for a long time (saw this played at the Ryman a year or two ago)….I CANT WAIT!
Thanks Randall. Now, please get to work on another one
Just kidding, I’ll take whatever I can get! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
To second Jeremy, I remember you and Amy singing “Bluebird” a couple years ago and “Heaven Waits” last year. I felt the warm front-porch melodies of Randy Newman come through in the piano part. But instead of his tongue-in-cheek abandon in the lyrics, there was your black and tan synthesis of pain and crazy hope, carrying the self-same endearment and empathy that tucked us all in between the covers of War and Peace, as we fell in love with its characters.
I have also waited with great expectations for your next project Randall, and I’m going to be drinking this one in for a while.