Track 01 "Sleepy Dream" - 'One Way' Album Preview

NOTES
"Sleepy Dream" might be my favorite lyric on the album. Discussing the unconscious, spirituality and nature, this was the first song I wrote for the One Way project back in 2004 - a new sound I wanted to pursue with depth and textural arrangements. But ironically, this song was held off the record because we couldn't find a place for it. Only at the last second did I ask our mastering engineer Dave McNair to throw it at the very top and it worked out great.

It was the one lyric I had to rewrite from the One Way college thesis project, and it took months to finish. In fact, I read some haiku to see how they packed so much sensory information in such a short space. I had only 10 lines of space to accomplish 2 basic things: 1) To invoke nature and spirituality without being banal, like Nick Drake did so well 2) To make sure the words fit in the melody and the words physically sounded right in the song.

Also the piano intro is something I came up with when I was about 16 years old and threw away until my high school friend Jill Hochstrasser (holla Jilly!) told me it was great. What do I know.

FACTS
Music, String Arrangements and Lyrics by Danny Ross
Written in 2004 (Age 20)
Inspired by: Nick Drake, Duncan Sheik
Produced by Rob Guariglia and Danny Ross
Piano Recorded at The Bunker Studios;
Engineered by Aaron Nevezie
Strings/ Guitar Recorded Spring 2008 at Galuminum Foil Productions; Engineered by Jeff Berner

Instrumentation:
Danny Ross – Vocal, Piano
Carl Basler – Acoustic Guitar, Slide Guitar
Leo Adamov - Violin
Rachel Golub - Violin
Corrina Albright -Viola
Jody Redhage - Cello

LYRICS
I wait to find a simple melody
A quiet night, a childhood memory
Like august trees in the yawning breeze
A bed of stars playing symphonies
I'm waiting for a sleepy dream

I try to find what it means to pray
A holy light my eyes cannot explain
A weightless trust, the flowing stream
My senses lost in ageless harmonies
Like waking from a sleepy dream

"One Way" will be available October 6, 2009. Play "SLEEPY DREAM” now at the new http://www.dannyrossmusic.com

And buy tickets now to the ‘Danny Ross Presents One Way’ Record Release Show Saturday September 12, 2009 with a 15-Piece Band and Orchestra at The St. Mark’s Church: https://dannyrossmusic.ticketleap.com/oneway

Track 06 "Stay Here With Me" - 'One Way' Album Preview

NOTES:
This is my favorite song on the record. My original intention was to write something in the vein of Beck's "Sea Change." That is, simultaneously dark and heart-achingly beautiful. This is also a good example of the muse working, because lines like "How can we beckon the past/ And savor things we know that won't last" - words I could never come up with on my own (I had to look up beckon in the dictionary) - found their way through my lips.

We really wanted to capture the fragility and dynamics of the song on the recording, we even thought of not recording to a click track, but the strings really did a great job of that. In fact, toward the end we have two sets of quartets playing to build the tension. I was also afraid that putting pedal steel and strings together would conflict (they both have that weeping sound) but they sound great! Lastly, hope you enjoy the outro - that's my ode to Brian Wilson's "Smile."

FACTS:
Music, String Arrangements and Lyrics by Danny Ross
Written in 2004 (Age 20)
Produced by Rob Guariglia and Danny Ross
Recorded Spring 2008 at Galuminum Foil Productions;
Engineered by Jeff Berner

Instrumentation:
Danny Ross – Vocal, Piano
Carl Basler – Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Slide Guitar
Matt Wigton - Bass
Fred Kennedy – Drums
Bob Hoffnar - Pedal Steel
Leo Adamov - Violin
Rachel Golub - Violin
Corrina Albright -Viola
Jody Redhage - Cello

LYRICS :
If you could wait for me
Until after the winter
These night skies will fade into day

But our smiles wait
Away in a picture
It leaves me with nothing to say
But stay

Stay here with me, no

If you could wait for me
We’ll share an apartment
And sleep through the afternoon

Revisiting laughs
In these phone conversations
So the light by the window can loom
In this empty room

How can we beckon the past?
And savor things we know that won’t last
The moment’s too fast

Stay here with me
Please don’t go
Stay here with me, no


"One Way" will be available October 6, 2009. Play "Stay Here With Me” now at http://www.myspace.com/dannyrossmusic or you can hear all "One Way" songs at the new http://www.dannyrossmusic.com

And buy tickets now to the ‘Danny Ross Presents One Way’ Record Release Show Saturday September 12, 2009 with a 15-Piece Band and Orchestra at The St. Mark’s Church: https://dannyrossmusic.ticketleap.com/oneway

'One Way' Album Preview - Track 05 "Woman"

NOTES:
"Woman" is the first song I wrote on guitar. In fact I was studying a semester in Washington and there was no piano around for the first time in my life, so I was forced to get acquainted with this strange string instrument. At the time I was also introduced to alt-country -- i.e. Wilco, Ryan Adams, etc. -- so this was my stab at it. First I came up with the theme lick (dee doo dee doo...) and it came pretty naturally after that. I also looked at other songs called "Woman" to help guide the lyric (John Lennon). I really like that the chorus is so weird rythmically and the outro is so different but still fits the song. Playing this live, we ride out the ending for a 25 minute harmonica solo.

FACTS:
Music and Lyrics by Danny Ross
Written in 2004 (Age 20)
Produced by Rob Guariglia and Danny Ross
Recorded Spring 2008 at Galuminum Foil Productions;
Engineered by Jeff Berner

Instrumentation:
Danny Ross – Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica
Carl Basler – Electric Guitar, Slide Guitar, Backup Vocal
Matt Wigton - Bass
Fred Kennedy – Drums

LYRICS :

I said please

I thought I told you not to cry

I thought I told you not to cry

When you left and you went back home

I said please

I thought I waved you goodbye

I thought I waved this goodbye

Was I high when I picked up the phone?

I said woman

I ain’t your dial tone

You said please

You lost yourself in the wind

And how you love me and you need me

And ‘baby never leave me alone’

But I said ‘wait!’

Now I’m about to cross the lines

I wont’ sit around as you cry

It’s a fight disconnected in time

I said woman

I ain’t your dial tone

Well babe I can’t hold on

No this can’t go on

I’m gonna drop the phone

I ain’t your dial tone

Hear ‘Woman” now at http://www.myspace.com/dannyrossmusic

Buy tickets now to the ‘Danny Ross Presents One Way’ Record Release Show Saturday September 12, 2009 with a 15-Piece Band and Orchestra at The St. Mark’s Church at https://dannyrossmusic.ticketleap.com/oneway

‘One Way’ Album Preview – Track 04 “ Forgive Me Love”

FACT:

Music and Lyrics by Danny Ross

Created in 2002 (Age 18)

Produced by Rob Guariglia and Danny Ross

Recorded Spring 2008 at Galuminum Foil Productions; Engineered by Jeff Berner

Instrumentation:

Danny Ross – Vocal, Piano

Joely Pittman - Vocal

Carl Basler – Acoustic, Electric Guitar, Tremolo Guitar, Backup Vocal

Matt Wigton - Bass

Fred Kennedy – Drums

OPINION:

This is the first single off the album. When I came up with song on piano, I thought I was clever for basically rewriting “Heart and Soul” but with one different chord. I wrote it off as a genre experiment and omitted it from the Cornell “One Way” thesis concert altogether (This is actually the only song on the album that didn’t appear in the original thesis). But years later in New York, I found myself finger-picking the song on acoustic guitar, and that style lent itself to an early 60s ballad “This Boy” vibe. Singer Jenny Foughner and I came up with the idea to sing the whole song as a duet, rather than trading verses. And our drummer Fred and bassist Matt gave it the relaxed flavor of sitting in a hammock on a country day. By the time singer Joely Pittman started singing with us, I was surprised by the huge response this song was eliciting. What do I know.

LYRICS :

Forgive me love

Ain’t hard to say I’m sorry

I don’t need much

But the comfort from your body

Now that you’ve left and gone away

There’s nothing left for me to say

But I’m sorry

Forgive me love

You were just a destination

And my vacant touch

Has sent you to the station

This room has never felt so small

Just waiting for someone to call

I’m sorry

I look out the window again

Well I should tell you I’ve been

Loving you for my own damn self

But come off the shelf

Ain’t it better than being alone?

Hear ‘Forgive Me Love” now at http://www.myspace.com/dannyrossmusic

Buy tickets now to the ‘Danny Ross Presents One Way’ Record Release Show Saturday September 12, 2009 with a 15-Piece Band and Orchestra at The St. Mark’s Church at https://dannyrossmusic.ticketleap.com/oneway

Making One Way: Part 1

(Originally Posted 7/7/08)

Prologue

Much like the awkwardness of adolescence, making a record is a long, complicated journey. There’s the writing, arranging, recording, mixing, mastering and all the logistics and money. There are also a lot of misguided assumptions about record-making. So let me give you a quick tour of this album and share with you what I’m experiencing.

First, some background. One Way originated at Cornell University, where I was forced to create a senior thesis for my major. Having already written the songs for my first EP, Introducing Danny Ross!, which was heavily influenced by Ben Folds piano-pop, I wanted to write the kind of music I was now listening to—in the style of Wilco, Ryan Adams, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Brian Wilson, The Beatles. I wanted lyrical songs, ambitious arrangements and challenging material.

Over the course of one year, I worked with professors to map out music and lyrics for over 20 songs, learned musical notation, composed string and horn arrangements, and worked with seventeen musicians to create an album with a coherent storyline. These were personal songs about my growth into adulthood and I considered them to be an arrival for me as a composer and lyricist. We performed it live for 200 people on April 17, 2006 and received Summa cum Laude.

Now, in 2008, with one year’s experience in the New York City circuit and an established working band, I’m able to finally get in the studio and make the record.

Part 1: The Plan

So I had 14 songs to record with a ton of arrangements and players needed. Talk about a logistical nightmare. So where does one start?

First things first, I needed a partner, or producer, that met several qualifications: 1) Someone who was intimately familiar with Pro Tools, the modern software used to record music; 2) Someone that would act as a second set of ears whose musical taste I could trust; 3) Someone with a lot of experience making records who could help in logistics and timeline.

The natural choice was Rob Guariglia. Rob is an enthusiastic guy with a hip musical mind who played guitar with Grammy-nominated artist Ryan Shaw. Not only did Rob meet all the standards, but we had already worked together on Introducing Danny Ross!. Rob signed on in February 2008, and between Ryan Shaw’s tours with Van Halen, Rob and I would begin working on One Way in March.

Fortunately my band of players were ready to go and they had a large network of musicians to help with strings, horns, organs, etc.

“Real” was the word that constantly came to mind. We wanted a natural sounding record with no synthetic sounds and genuine gutsy performances. We also decided early on that we would have nothing but top-notch musicians. So our first step would be to record the drums and bass live together at a recording studio.

Myth-bunker #1: You don’t need to be in the recording studio for the entire length of making the record. You only need to be there when recording an instrument. Once you get all you need at the studio, you can cull through the material on your laptop on a subway if you want to.

Rob had a great relationship with Galuminum Foil Recording Studios in Brooklyn and we would begin the process there. This gave us the foundation for our plan:

1) Record drums and bass for all 14 songs in one sitting at the studio. Have the players record 3 or 4 takes of each song.

2) Once done at the studio, go back to Rob’s apartment and cull through the takes, comparing one section at a time. Perhaps Take 1 had the best Chorus, or Take 3 had the best bridge. In this way, we’re choosing the best sections of each take to create a “super-take” of sorts. This is called “Comping”

3) While at my dayjob for the Congressman, Rob would edit the part to ensure it’s played in time and sounds good with the track.

4) Repeat these steps for piano, guitar, horns, strings, organ, etc.

Soon the parts add up to create a completed song! But you can see how this becomes an overwhelming process when dealing with the players, the studios, the money, the composing, the rehearsals, the scheduling, etc.. And of course there are always unexpected bumps along the way.

Now that you know the plan, hear how it all went down in Part 2 next week…and with the mad pics!

TO BE CONTINUED! (bum bum bum)

Original 2006 Cornell Daily Sun Article

http://cornellsun.com/node/17467

An Album for Our Era: Danny Ross, One Way
April 19, 2006
By Elliot Singer

In two days, Danny Ross will be performing his 17-piece conceptual rock album One Way at the Williard Straight Memorial Room. Featuring a core band including piano, drums, bass, and guitar, many of the songs are also scored for six string parts, three horn pieces, and three vocalists. The music is intensely personal and powerfully diverse - comparisons to The Who's masterpiece Tommy are not out of the question.

But nine months ago, Danny could only sing and play a few piano riffs. "I had the mind of a musician but not the ability," he told me. The story from September to Saturday is a testament to creativity and inspiration, one almost as rich as the one told in his debut performance of the album, One Way.

One Way is the finale to the College Scholars program Danny pursued in Popular Music Composition and Performance. Academically, the major means courses in music theory, piano, and voice, as well as weekly meetings with academic advisors in the music and English departments. In reality, One Way means months of writing music and lyrics, planning performance space, finding the best musicians on campus, and generally speaking, growing the confidence necessary to publicly present what Danny considers easily his life's greatest accomplishment.

To say Danny is devoted to the his musical project would be an understatement. More accurately, One Way is the culmination of months, even years, of obsessive daily work. The drive to create something musical began with the music his parents played when he was younger, was internalized in his teens with the music of Bob Dylan, Wilco, and Brian Wilson, and realized by the experiences of approaching adulthood. Through this lens, the story of making one's way will be a message any college students will understand.

Danny told me that the The Kings of Leon album second title Youth and Young Manhood eloquently summarizes the experiences that his work tries to articulate. These are years of ambivalent in-betweenness - somewhere in the middle between ivory towers and office buildings. Adulthood is never too far away, and for Danny's protagonist, learning to embrace the future instead of fearing it is an important lesson. Although the transition is not an easy one, "One Way is a belief in progress, in getting to the place you want to get to." It is an affirmation of the dreams we have when we're young. For Danny, One Way is what happens when a dream comes true.

Yet another theme of the work is that achieving success is not a passive act. Consider Danny's lyrics, the result weekly meetings with Professor (and published poet) Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon that sharpened and articulated what are most often ineffable thoughts. The work shows in particularly poetic lines like "The yellow leaves of aging trees/ Invite the wind to smoke/ Steeped in rain, the colors change/ A chill felt through my coat." They're abstract enough to make the story universally relevant but still maintain a linear plot that narrates the inner thoughts of an introspective narrator.

Sitting in on one of One Way's rehearsals gave me an opportunity to see if the music is as intense as Danny makes it out to be. It is. The pieces begin with a melodic hook which eventually settle into familiar territory like rock or doo-wop. Sometimes just a few instruments and Danny's expressive voice round out a song, but more often horn parts subtly make their way in, with a little flourish of cellos, violas, and violins to complete the confluence.

The communication between musicians is uncanny, particularly between Danny and his drummer Zach Jauvtis. Through the twists and turns of complicated arrangements, the group stuck together even with only a few rehearsals under their belt. And though the pressures of the approaching debut loomed overhead, Danny kept the morale high with jokes and constant encouragement.

Danny was unsurprised when I commented on how effortlessly the music came together. "I surrounded myself with the best musicians at Cornell - and they make these songs better than I ever envisioned." The feelings seem mutual; violinist Aneesha Dharwadker told me she enjoys the musical setting which is both relaxed and serious. "I was expecting a chamber orchestra, but I love playing next to a snare drums and guitars. It creates an interesting juxtaposition between shimmery strings and more percussive brass." Dharwadker told me that Danny trusts his musicians. His rehearsals are extraordinarily democratic; spontaneous revisions are welcome, all of which add to Danny's goal of making One Way as good as it can be.

About half-way through the session, one of Danny's project advisors, Professor Steven Pond of the music department wandered in. He sat quietly in the back, but it was impossible not to notice his beaming smile and toe-tapping. When I grabbed Pond on the way out, he revealed that this was his first time actually hearing the music. "I'm more of an intellectual advisor," he said. "I help him understand what the experience is all about: having a vision and orchestrating it." But he was obviously impressed with the result.

Danny is the first to admit that he, too, would have never thought that One Way would turn out as inspiring as it is. "I finished everything I set out to do, and more," Danny beamed. And after Saturday? "The second half of my life will begin."