I’ve been having discussion with the person who might produce my upcoming CD. The next step, which happens soon, is for me to send him demos of the songs that are candidates for the CD. We’re aiming to record 11 or 12, to come up with a CD of about 11 songs. But I’m sending him more songs than that, so we can decide collectively which ones are the best ones, and which ones make the most sense for an album, to make sure that we have both variety and similarity across the CD. So at this point I’m still thinking through which songs should be on that list. And what I’m really making are three lists. The first one is the songs that, unless there’s a good reason not to (more on that in a minute), I want to have on the CD. List two is the second tier – the ones I can most imagine picking the rest of the CD songs from. The third one is a set of songs that I would be happy having on the CD, especially if they provide something needed in the song collection, but that I wouldn’t miss if they weren’t included. In the next couple days I’ll be making demos of all of these, and also moving them around on lists, depending on how I’m feeling about each of them. But here, in part for my own thought process is what those lists look like: Definite: I Was Here Dandelion Wine Susanna’s Song Bigger, Faster, and More Shackleton’s Whiskey Where the Words and Music Meet The Disarray Pan-Religious Bluegrass Band [That latter one is the potentially problematic one. I love that song. Audiences love that song. It’s probably the song people most frequently mention when they come up to me at the CD table to ask “which song is that CD on?” But it’s sufficiently different stylistically that I worry that it might mess with the unity of the album. I’ll be curious to hear what my potential producer has to say about it.] Maybe: You Remind Me What I'll Leave Behind Lay Me Down Easy If I Could Tell You Ludlow, 1914 Find My Place Take the Shot [might still want a few lyric fixes] Not Out of the Question: $7.25 Welcome This Winter Morn Crooked Plow [only on this list because Vance Gilbert really likes it) Reach the Shore Half of a Song [still could do with a revision or two] Underground [also has two lines that I need to fix] I’ve been writing so much that there are a gazillion other songs to choose from, but these are the ones I think are best. Even on the third list, there’s not a song on here I wouldn’t be happy to put on a CD. I’d love to hear what you folks think – are there any songs on here you’d particularly nominate for the CD (or, conversely, think might not quite work)? And, in the meantime, I have to get moving on recording demos!