Wow- so I’m dropping a new song, “Keep a Little Faith,’ today! That’s exciting. It’s streaming all the places you get music, so go stream it a few hundred times today for me.
Of course, I hope you all like it. I know it’s a little out of my normal window- a song that might actually be a little uplifting (at least I think so).
This song came into being in January of 2021- so middle of the pandemic. I was preparing for a podcast appearance on my friend Dave Coile’s show, Raw Songwriting. You should check it out. Dave sends the guest a prompt, and then we both write a song to the prompt. On the show, we talk about our process and what went into each song. You can find that specific episode here, but you should listen to Dave’s podcast and follow him. He’s a super creative guy.
The prompt I chose was a picture of a young woman, standing on a desk, in the middle of what seems like a junkyard. She looks like she’s about to jump off the desk, and that sparked the first line of the song. I wondered what she was thinking. I also thought about what a crazy time we were in the middle of, and how we have to find a way to keep going, even when things are tough.
And the song sort of stuck. It’s slightly different from what was on the podcast, but that happens as you try to make a song more than just the raw creation or first draft. When we brought it into the studio, it was not a song we had played a lot in public. So the recorded version is what we worked out in the studio (it’s not always that way).
Recording it was really great- I love playing with Derek Ray Kirkman (bass) and John Bunzli (guitar), and it’s always a pleasure to hang with Brian McRae (who played drums, mixed and engineered the track). A fun surprise in the process was meeting Ryan Benthall. Ryan came in to play the organ parts late in the game. It was a case of ‘I know a guy, let’s see if he’s free,’ and he was. His playing added a lot of depth to the production. Every one of the fellas is an awesome person, super talented musician, and great fun to play with. I really couldn’t say enough nice things about all of them.
Mark Kranjacec at Peak Wave Mastering did the mastering on this track, and as always, is great and super efficient. I also need to send special thank you’s to my wife and daughter, who listened to early versions of the song and the video, and gave me really excellent notes.
I hope you dig the song, and as always, stay safe and be well!- JS
Great song ….I think this is going to help a lot of people who need to hear a song like this to get through tough times especially these days..