After a very brutal week in Nashville, pre-production for the album is finished. Over the next month song selection and casting will be completed for tracking in mid-April. Can’t wait for the tracking sessions to hear what noise is made once the rubber hits the road. Speaking of road, I’m hitting the road again tomorrow back home to Fort Worth, TX. I haven’t been back in about three years and it will be great to see everybody. It’s a perfect time to relax a little bit and just soak up some down home-ness under the Texas sky. I will be doing some writing with my friend and cohort Shawn Summerhill and we’ll likely crash an open mic night or two for the hell of it. Good times. I’ll be posting where we decide to go here at the site so if you are in the area make sure you are subscribed here or have me on Twitter or Facebook to find out where we’ll be.

Yours,

SB

Alright, got some video down and uploaded finally. We burned the midnight oil last night and this morning putting down guitar tracks for “Never Gonna Change” and a few on “Penniless And Poor”. As usual, rock n’ roll is the only reason I get out of bed every afternoon! A special thanks to David Norris’ vidiot kids Matt and Michael Norris and I thank them for not flashing their union cards on this one. This tune is really starting to come around. We’re doing a lot of experimenting with different sounds and feels but we’ve pretty much got this song nailed to the cross. Off to catch a few winks before we do vocals this afternoon. Will hopefully have video of that session as well.

Yours,

SB

Some scheduling changes have extended the pre-production session by a few days. Guitar and vocal tracks for the “Never Gonna Change” demo have been moved to today after re-thinking the time line a bit. Last night was spent getting the arrangement and rhythm tracks down for the song “Penniless And Poor”. It was more efficient to do the guitar and vocal tracks all in one day. It sure is a luxury getting to demo these songs out and really thinking them through before going into the studio and it’s certainly the part I enjoy the most about the recording process.

David Norris took me to dinner last night and I finally got my chilis pablanos at Las Maracas where we would have been joined by Jack Clayton if he didn’t decide to cheat on us with another meal. Anyway, these last three days are going to be rigorous and I’ll be back with more as soon as I can hopefully with some video and some demo snippets…

Ciao

SB

Working hard and late on a new song called “Never Gonna Change”. I wrote this song about two weeks ago and is obviously one of the newer songs Dave and I are fleshing out here at Norrisong. This song has moved along pretty easily and we’ve spent the majority of the time experimenting with B3 and Wurlitzer tracks and it’s from Mars, man! That’s what I get for leaving Dave unattended for ten minutes. Hopefully soon I’ll have some audio snippets up here at the website. I am starting to run out of patience, however, because I have not yet been to my favorite Nashville eating spot yet for my chilis pablanos. This is simply going to have to change quickly. And just heard a great blues cat named Ira Walker! That dude is for real!

Off now to the cave to cut guitar tracks and vocals for the “Never Gonna Change” demo. Talk soon.

SB

Really looking forward to this next week at the “Norris Nuthouse” in Nashville, which will be one of the final pre-production weeks before we hit the studio for tracking. I am still very much in the song selection process, but the picture of this album is really starting to emerge with the new material we will be working on. David Norris will be very busy! Up to this point we have really taken this step by step making sure that all the “I”s are crossed and “T”s are dotted. I expect for this session to get the majority of the pre-production work done. We are returning many of the same players for this recording that cut the EP. Drummer Wayne Killius, guitarists Danny Parksand Bobby Terry will again be making an appearance. I’m also thrilled to have the Hyatt brothers back in the fold for a second go ’round. Another reason I’ve been looking forward to this trip is to catch up with some of my Nashville friends. If I don’t get to do Idle Hour with Dennis Eggers, vibe it with Vick Raye, and do dinner with Jack Clayton the week will be a failure. Failure I say!

Listen, my new Twitter account is set up so you can begin following me there throughout the week. My new Facebook page is up too, it’s a bit naked right now but will be posting updates with some really good stuff from the week so “fan up”, ya’ll.

Talk soon,

SB

Stacey Blood interviewed by Jim Hyatt of Music Row Insider:

It’s gonna be an album. Stacey Blood is expanding his 2008 EP into his first major LP release. This yet-to-be titled album is not only an extension in concept, but in collaboration. Returning for the completion of the record will be Nashville rising star producer, David Norris, behind the glass and many of the same players as well as some new surprises. “It’s been kind of an adventure because material keeps coming out and then I re-check what’s going on here” explains Blood. “But I’m pretty sure about the song list, on the 1st of March is the final pre-production session and then we’re off”. So how hard is it to expand an EP into an LP from songs recorded 24 months ago? “It’s not that hard. All of these songs go together. The concept is there. We’re using the same studio, same players, and we’re even re-mixing the first four with the rest to build continuity.”

Blood says the album should be ready for release this summer.