New Release: 'Used To Be Broken'
Background Of The Song
These are the original lyrics for ‘Used To Be Broken’. I wrote them in one go in early 2024. The missing chunk torn out of the corner is courtesy of Boogie D Langston, the pup we adopted for Christmas 2023.
I had recently turned 50, had remarried, and moved into a house I’d built with my new wife. I was happier than I’d ever been, despite the stress of navigating life in a blended family with 4 teenagers. I was comfortable - in a big picture sense - knowing that things would never be perfect. I was absolutely content with whatever mess evolved from this situation. This song was an attempt to express the gratitude I felt for arriving at this moment, in full acceptance of the clumsy, litter-strewn path I had carved getting here.
In the fall of 2024 I played this song at a songwriter circle hosted by my friend Bill West. He reached out to me afterwards and offered to produce and record it. Bill is a fantastic songwriter and musician in his own right with millions of Spotify streams, so I jumped at the chance to work with him.
Pre Production
Bill asked me to record myself playing the song into my phone and send him the lyrics. Two days later he was sending me audio files with questions, comments and suggestions each of which was spot on. Had I considered changing the order of verses? What was I getting at with this line? What if the melody went up in this spot? I loved it. It really got the creative motors running and I was energized to whip the song into shape and get it recorded.
Just before Christmas 2024, Bill brought a few microphones and his laptop to my place to begin some basic tracking. It took maybe fifteen minutes to set everything up in my garage and voila - I was recording a first take. We did perhaps 7 or 8 takes that day, each time sharing ideas on what could make a more interesting performance and then taking a swipe at it. We laughed a lot and I was inspired.
Bill took the recording and, just like the demo, sent questions and feedback via audio messages. He convinced me to add a bridge which, in a break with my normal process, I was able to complete in just a few minutes. Normally, I’d spend hours fretting over a line or two, only to scrap them and start over, but working with Bill I was feeling confident and motivated to just push through self doubt and get the work finished.
Final Tracking
On January 3rd of 2025, we set up in my living room to record vocals and acoustic guitar. We recorded about 9 takes with Bill pushing me in different ways on each one.
Over the next month I played around with the basic guitar and vocal tracks adding lots of different instruments. You can listen to my favorite of those demos in the player below. It has pedal steel, piano, and a highly processed ukelele.
Work and life press on, and it was several months before I finally got it together to record the electric guitar and bass that made the final version. Bill himself added a great drum groove, background vocals, keys and I’m pretty sure a glockenspiel the he buried deep in the mix.
That Cool Guitar!
For the song's image I used a photo of a guitar that was given to me by the artist Tim Lee. He painted this guitar in his distinctive style, which I've loved for several years. Tim's not only a fantastic artist, but he's a talented musician as well. He and his brother, Robert, are the core of the great Atlanta band, Del Roscoe. I encourage you to check out Tim's art and music.