Song Spotlight: “I’m Alive” by Brandon Scott McLean

Hi,

Two of the songs on our brand new album are actually cover songs.  There are a few reasons for this, but mainly because our versions have been turning heads in bars for quite some time and I believe in these songs so much that I just had to get them out of my head. 

One of the songs we covered is called “I’m Alive.”  This song is co-written and recorded by the country singer Kenny Chesney.  He wrote the song with Dean Dillon and Mark Tamburino, and it was first recorded by Willie Nelson on his album Moment of Forever, which Chesney also produced.   Chesney himself later recorded it (as a duet with Dave Matthews) on the 2008 album Lucky Old Sun.  This version later appeared on his 2009 Greatest Hits II album, from which it was released to radio in August 2009.

Hear Dave and Kenny’s version (and see the official video) here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLgLfD3wElQ

The song has gotten some pretty seriously mixed reviews.  Seems reviewers like the song but haven’t really liked a version of it that has come out….(and frankly, I’ve felt the same way for a couple years now.) 

CM Wilcox of The 9513 gave it a thumbs-down review, and said that the song had "somewhat ambitious" lyrics, made note of Matthews' vocal performance, but said that Chesney sounded like a "workaday singer" and that the duet did not have a sense of interplay between the two vocalists.  The Washington Post said, "The song is supposed to be an anthem about strength and survival and soldiering on…Yet it sounds more like a weary wish than a declaration,” and the Hartford Courant said that it "may be the plainest thing Matthews has ever done."

I feel the same way.  I think the lyrics are so powerful and intense, but the song was so lagging and dreary….UNTIL NOW…check out my version:

Despite all the bad reviews of Dave and Kenny's version, the song reached #6 on the Country Charts, and #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009.  I think our song has a chance of making some waves, since so many people already know and love the tune but haven’t heard anything like this.  Do you agree?

Thanks for listening, and thanks for your on going support...you can share it on facebook, twitter, or show your grandma!

Love,
Brandon Scott McLean

Can’t Contribute? Please spread the word?

Two weeks into our fundraiser, we've raised over $1200!!  Thank you SO MUCH for the support, and we can't wait to share all this new music with you.

If you’re as broke as we are, it’s gonna be hard for you to make a financial contribution to this thing.  BUT, if you believe in us and our music, would you consider helping us spread the word about it?

IndieGoGo provides each campaign with a set of “Share Tools” to help you spread the word about our project.  The Share Tools are located in the box right below your Pitch video at http://www.indiegogo.com/iwontfalldown.  

We’re learning that money does not just show up out of nowhere, but it requires a good and consistent outreach—sharing it with friends, friends of friends, family and fans.  How you can help:

Check out the Share Tools at http://igg.me/p/204091?a=1024370

YOU CAN:
-Copy the campaign URL and paste it into an email or social media update
-Click on the Facebook, Google Plus or Twitter icons to share through your social media networks
-Add a widget to your blog or personal website. Click Embed and then copy and paste the widget code. 

CLICK ON THIS LINK to increase our GoGo Factor to increase the odds that strangers will come across it and help us: http://igg.me/p/204091?a=1024370

Thank you so much for your support and your help.  We cannot do it without you.  

Love,

Brandon and Shane :)

You want to hear what we've been working on?

So you've been hearing and seeing us rave about this new project....but you're still in the dark about the whole thing.  So why not check out some early mixes?

There should be an orange play button in a SOUNDCLOUD widget just below this...but if not you can click on http://soundcloud.com/youngandnew/i-wont-fall-down-album-preview

For those of you (like me) who prefer a video with something to look at, I put together a slide show with some pictures from the sessions and this summer in a YouTube video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to8AGtnqRk4

If you like what you're hearing, I want to let you know that the album comes out on Thanksgiving 2012, and we're doing a crowd-funding thing, trying to raise some money to cover some of the expenses for the project...basically like PRE-ORDERING our album....please check it out? http://igg.me/p/204091?a=1024370 

http://www.indiegogo.com/IWONTFALLDOWN

Glad to share this stuff with you,
Brandon and Shane

Young & New Musician Spotlight: Autumn Rose Brand

Hello, 

Like we said in one of the last emails, there’s a plethora of amazing musicians and singers on this album.  And that is especially true of Autumn Rose Brand.  She came into Bongo’s studio on 3 days notice and busted out some AMAZING violin parts and some PERFECT background Vocals. 

Here’s some video of Autumn working with us on the I Won’t Fall Down EP on the song "Take Me Away From this Show (to the River"):

Autumn originally hails from the state of Washington, but now resides in Raleigh and plays in a really amazing folk-rock arrangement called Saints Apollo.  Autumn has a couple gigs coming up in Durham and Carrboro.   You can check her out on Saturday, September 22 at the Motorco Music Hall in Durham; and then the next week on Sunday September 30 at the The Station in Carrboro, NC

They’re a really cool mix up of violin, cello, keys, acoustic guitar, and drums that has been described as “unparalleled” by Oak City Livin.  See here:

 

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgiACWTRJS4
Twitter: @SaintsApollo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Saintsapollo
their site: http://www.saintsapollo.com/

Your contribution at http://igg.me/p/204091?a=1024370, our IndieGoGo album fundraiser, will ensure that we can keep working with Autumn and other amazing musicians in the future.  Please consider helping us out so we can pour Autumn’s violin and her amazing vocals into your ears when our album comes out on Novermber 22, Thanksgiving Day :)

Love,
Brandon and Shane

VIDEO TEAM Spotlight: Rob Underhill and Aravind Ragupathi

We hired an AMAZING video team to make our music video for the title track of our brand new album, “I Won’t Fall Down.”

Rob and Aravind have worked together on several independent films, and they are really making some waves. 

Their recent work includes the new feature film, DAR HE: The Lynching of Emmett Till (2012)—www.DarHeMovie.com—winner of 6 Best Film awards. 

The two films “Empty Space” (2009) and “Wolf Call” (2010): winners of 24 festival awards and 9 nominations. “Wolf Call” also was nominated for a 2012 Black Reel Award for Outstanding Short Film—www.WolfCallMovie.com. They’ve just completed the new Sci-fi/disaster genre film, The Carrington Event—www.TheCarringtonEvent.com
Check them out on the news!

Director/producer -  Rob Underhill—www.RobUnderhill.com

Cinematographer/producer, Aravind Ragupathi—www.AravindDP.org

VIDEO INFO:  Are you in Raleigh?  Want to come be in the video?  Are you available on Sunday, September 16^th?  See details at http://www.youngandnew.com/musicvideo or check it out on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/events/304752956290322/

Please check them out, and you can see our IndieGoGo promotional video that they made for us at http://igg.me/p/204091?a=1024370

Hope to see you soon,
Brandon Scott McLean

Who Won’t Fall Down? – Cast of Characters in this Project

Hi,

As you may already know, we are wrapping up recording our debut Young & New album, I Won’t Fall Down.  In the last message, we told you that it’s a really exciting project featuring  tons of great talent from all over the east coast.  So…who are all these people, you ask?

Here's a list of all the great people who have helped us create this amazing piece of sonic and visual art:

Guitar/Vocals/Producing/Mixing: Shane Smith (Windsor OaksBand / Cougar Magnum)
Guitar/Vocals/Producing/Mixing: Brandon Scott McLean (Windsor Oaks Band / Cougar Magnum)
Drums: Chad Campbell (JDC Funk Project)
Bass: John Federal (JDC Funk Project / Cougar Magnum)
Violin/Vocals: Autumn Brand (Apollo Saints)
Saxophone: Elliot Wernlund (The Balance)Synthesizers: Adam Nash (Igor's Egg/Codename)
Keyboards: Adam Pitts (Pseudo Cowboys)
Background Vocals: Bongo John, Jim Schaeffer, Diana Sedito, Ryan Smith (WOB), Alex Shepherd (WOB)
Engineering/Producing: Bongo John
Mixing: Dick Hodgin at Osceola Studios (Hootie and the Blowfish, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Clay Aiken)
Mixing: Mike Garrigan at Two Egrets Media & Recording (Young Cardinals)
Music Video Production: Rob Underhill - Wake Drama; Aravind Ragupathi - ZoningMedia, 

Cover Artwork: Zeke DiBiaso

(NOTE: this is not the official artowork....I made this on an iPad for fun)

I think we put together the perfect studio band, and we spent the last few months recording what we our best album to date.  We think it sounds BEYOND AMAZING….it features Saxophone, Violin, SYNTHESIZERS, a whole crew of male and female background vocalists, heartwarming acoustic sunshine, shredding electric guitars, and the TIGHTEST BASS AND DRUM rhythm section we could have ever imagined, which all together is sure to make your ears smile and your booty shake.  We expect HUGE and MONUMENTAL giant things to happen when this album and video come out on Thanksgiving Day 2012!  Will you help us make it a reality?  You can help with as little as a buck! http://www.indiegogo.com/iwontfalldown

Album Progress, Exciting News, and How You Can Help...

Hello, Today I’m writing to share a little bit of exciting news, and to ask for your help.  As you may already know, we are wrapping up recording our debut Young & New album, I Won’t Fall Down.  It’s a really exciting project that features tons of great talent from all over the east coast.  We originally hired “Bongo John” to help us track this album with us, and we felt so good with him that we had him mix "Three Little Birds" all the way to the end!  We got help from other producers and mixers in the area, including Dick Hodgin at Osceola Studios in Raleigh NC, and Mike Garrigan at TwoEgrets Studio in Greensboro NC.  The only thing with this strategy is that it increased the cost of this recording project, so now we have to pay for it.  We got some amazing sounding material, but some pretty hefty credit card bills to pay because of it. 

Are you familiar with CROWD-FUNDING?  The current state of the music industry is changing very fast, and there’s a NEW STANDARD for indie bands and artists like us.  Sites like Kickstarter, Feed the Muse, and IndieGoGo.com make it easy for musicians and artists to raise money for their art projects, albums, movies, and books and stuff.  For the first time in history, artists are relying on direct help from friends, family, and fans to see their art projects come to life.  We need your help to finish this project. 

So the other day, we started a campaign at IndieGoGo.com to raise the $8500 total that we need to finish the recording, film the music video for the title track, and promote it to the masses.  In exchange for contributing, you can get all kinds of prizes and perks in return when we finish our project, ranging from exclusive CDs, apparel, posters, and even a tennis lesson from Shane!

We know times are tough.  But would you consider helping us? http://www.indiegogo.com/iwontfalldown

You can contribute with as little as ONE DOLLAR, and you can use PayPal or any credit card on IndieGoGo’s secure website.  The deadline to raise the funds is October 5, 2012, so you have a little time to check it out and think it over and see how much you can help us out, if at all.  (Oct. 5 is my birthday, so even if you throw us a birthday buck, that will help out a lot!) Over the next few weeks we’ll send you some updates about how the production and the campaign is going, as well as introduce you to a few of the main people involved in this project.

Thanks for being a part of our musical lives, and we love you whether you contribute to our campaign or not.  
We have 41 days to go…

All the best,
Brandon Scott McLean
YOU CAN HELP NOW: http://igg.me/p/204091?a=1024370