Here’s a Spotify playlist of my original music (no covers).
Below: all videos from my YouTube playlist, with liner notes, arranged as original songs first, then original instrumentals, then covers.
Not all my original songs have music videos, but they are all on the streaming platforms. For lyrics and links for all originals, check out the Lyrics & Links menu, above.
Original Songs
If this song helps strengthen any Ukrainian’s understanding that most people in the West strongly support them, or if it helps anyone in the West become more supportive of Ukraine, it will have succeeded.
A song I wrote for, and performed at, my daughter’s wedding. I sneakily had the guests join in singing the last verse, which worked out well, because at that point I was so overwrought that I forgot the lyrics. This is the studio version…
… and here’s a single take version I did using a looper, for submission to the 2024 NPR Tiny Desk contest.
Anyone can reflect grace, but it’s a hard concept to describe. So I tried writing a song about it.
Authoritarians embrace fear, while freedom embraces laughter. How do you write a song for a tyrant who sees the world through such a dark lens?
I wrote The Firefly Lullaby a few years ago. It was so successful at getting the little ones to drop off to sleep, that my daughters asked me to write another one. The request specifically was, “Can you write lyrics for Hush Little Baby that don’t suggest buying stuff to persuade your child to be quiet?” Challenge accepted.
Is this what “Many Worlds” looks like? Not really, but hey.
I wrote this for a singing course at a blues festival. The instructor was very puzzled by it, which was fitting, because the theme is confusion – but the pianist liked it…
I usually write songs starting with just a feeling and a few chords, and then they pretty much go their own way.
The larger keyboard is split into piano in the lower octaves, and piano + strings in the higher, and the smaller keyboard added more strings.
A brief twelve voice, four part, choral tribute to the inspiring people of Ukraine. (YouTube only.) Want to help? Give to United24. You can help rebuild Ukraine, give medical help, or give non-lethal support to the military.
Original Instrumentals
Birds are descended from a group of dinosaurs which included T Rex. With such an impressive pedigree, one must always look one’s best. This video was distilled from several hours of clips. The music comprises two instrumental pieces I wrote, “The Birdbath” and “CounterPlay”.
A short choral piece. “Lux Aeterna, de In Excelsis Sanctus Deo” means “Eternal Light of the Glory of God in the Highest”.
I wrote this to honour family who grew up at the foot of the Malvern Hills.
Covers
A duet with Lynae (I wrote the accompanying vocal part). This is one of Lynae’s favorite songs.
The first in my Tiny Window Solos Series – Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind.
The second in my Tiny Window Solos series. One of my favorite Cranberries tunes. The cover art was created with help from ChatGPT (but AI can’t yet draw upside-down people well, so some Photoshop was involved too).