Would you like a song commissioned?
Aside from live performances and personal recording projects- I also write, record and produce songs by commission. I’ve written songs in many different genres– from ambience and instrumental pieces, to jazz, country, rock & blues and easy listening pop– and will have something for you and if you’d like to hear what people have said about the music I’ve written- please check out these reviews.
“At the Clark County Courthouse” written for Jy & Issy
When I was speaking with newly engaged Jy- he dropped the line that his parents were married in Vegas. Cool! Where, I asked? He answered “At the Clark County Courthouse man!” I told him that was a line for a song and so I wrote this for Jy and Issy. They were due to get married in 2020 but the Covid debacle put those plans on hold– but not for long! Here’s the song– for Jy & Issy.
“Sweet Sweet” commissioned by the Broken Bay Diocese
In 2018 I was contacted by the Catholic Schools of NSW to write a song to accompany new materials they were producing for teachers across the state. As part of the launch and overall packaging of the materials they commissioned a song and here’s the result.
“Beyond my Fire” commissioned by BeyondBurns.org
In 2019 Dale Forbes from BeyondBurns.org asked me to write a song specifically for their group– a support group for survivors of burns. We’d done a gig many years ago for Dale at a burns survivors support group down in Kangaroo Valley. It was a very memorable night for many reasons and so when Dale got back in touch to write a song for them it was particularly special.
“My Heart is made of memories” commissioned by Motorcycle Memories: Stories from the Road
Chad Warner is a friend I met when I was riding across the US with another mate back in 2015. He’s a bit of a motorcycling legend and has put together a great little series of travel tales and he was looking for a theme song- and this is wrote I wrote for him when he asked if I could do something for them!
“When the River Runs Dry, the River Runs Deep” written for St Joey’s Barcaldine & the whole town
In 2019 I got a call from Amanda in Barcy, in central Queensland to see if we’d come up to do a gig for the school- St Joeys, and the whole town. Sure thing! One other thing– she asked I we could do a workshop for the kids while we were there. For sure! And so we wrote this song with the kids, for them, their families, the school and the whole town.
Studio Projects
Since 2010, I’ve record five studio albums/EPs and half a dozen singles as one-offs.
The first two- “Pennies for Tomorrow” (2010/11) and “Delicacy” (2012) were recorded in Miami, Florida and the next three- “Third” (2014), “Take me to the Badlands, Mamma” (2017) and “Redemption” (2017/18) were recorded in Sydney, Australia.
Aside from the albums, I’ve recorded several singles “Sweet, Sweet” (2018), “You’re the one who’s always smiling next to me” (2016), “Somewhere to Breathe” (2016) and “The boy in blue and the man in the moon” (2018).
My music is incredibly diverse. There are instrumentals- Lullaby and Sweetheart, gentle singer/songwriter pieces- The boy in blue and the man in the moon, Somewhere to Breathe and You’re the one who’s always smiling next to me. There’s country, blues and sassy jazz- At the Honkytonk, Love on Fire, Be Cheeky and then there’s covers of iconic hard rock and heavy metal songs- Paranoid and Run to the Hills,
As for my favourites? Well- they’re like children- you can’t have favourites but there are three that I’m particularly proud of.
Even though Paul Kelly (After “To Her Door”) is I think the best song I’ve written- particularly in a technical sense. I could monologues about it for hours but I won’t this time…in short- it’s the back story to Paul Kelly’s famous song (“To Her Door”). In that song, the guy- turned alcoholic- writes a letter from rehab and it must have been good because “she thought he sounded better so she sent him up the fare.” We all find ourselves at some point in time needing to write a letter like that. This is what I would have written.
Let It Flow is a song in a rich tradition of singer/songwriter pieces and it sounds like something you would have heard before- but it’s a piece close to my heart and in a simple way paints a powerful and emotive picture of taking your memories with you as you get old. It’s a bittersweet piece that walks the line between contentment and sad reflection.
God Only Knows is a powerful song that to me defines the “Alternate | Acoustic | Heavy | Roots” sound. I’ve known ten men who’ve taken their own lives. Depression is a terrible and powerful companion. This song is about my struggle and it’s for those ten men who I knew and think of every other day- Lachlan, Graziano, Eric, Stephen, Malcolm, James, Gianluca, Stephen, Paul and Eddie.