The Final Leg

Two more sleeps at home before I hit the road for the last dates of my first regional tour.

The vision for this tour came together at the end of January. That’s when I first reached out to Happy Nomad Booking. I had an itinerary in mind that I hoped would take me to places that used to be solid indie rock stops: places like Morgantown, WV, then over to Pittsburgh, then back down through Virginia, before heading south.

Morgantown never materialized. I did play Harrisonburg, then Friday night was a great gig in Raleigh, aka, “indie rock city.” I sing about it on “Out of the Mainstream.”

Played a small dive bar near downtown called The Night Rider. Funky space and amazing sound (low ceilings always help). What was cool is that the original act, a power trio that wasn’t a good match for me, cancelled. Cooper Uglow ended up being a last minute replacement. He was perfect, playing solo, opening my show. Got to talk some inside baseball with him and Joe, the terrific bartender for the night. I rarely get to talk music with people who get my vibe.
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Loading Them Road Cases

Since moving to Lynchburg, I’ve been making a musical transition. Oh, I’m still making and playing music, but my journey has diverged from the path where it began seven years go. Back then, I was just hanging on, struggling with the loss of a son, and my guitar became a means of finding some way forward after a devestating and seemingly senseless tragedy.

I initially thought I wanted to see if I could work-up a setlist that would allow me to get booked into clubs and other venues on the “cover circuit.” Every state and region has one.

What I learned is that if you have enough drive, and you can get on the phone and/or craft a compelling booking pitch, you can play regularly. Or, at least that was my experience in Maine. Before I knew it, I’d moved into playing some clubs in Boston, thanks to making a connection with a small booking agency. My first few years of playing live music, I’d play 60 to 70 gigs a year. That changed when COVID hit.

Then, my wife and I made a monumental decision. Real estate was at its peak in New England. We realized that this was our time for a new adventure and no more winters in the northeast. Off to points south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Lynchburg had affordable housing and it wasn’t a dump like some places that are affordable. But Lynchburg also has been a very hard nut to crack in terms of trying to book shows. I’m not going to belabor the reality that I was initially bitter and then, disappointed in the lack of places to play original music in the city and nearby.

Lynchburg, Virginia, USA downtown skyline.

What that initial experience provided, however, was the chance to really work on my songwriting craft. I’ve been putting out material on a regular basis. Then, putting it out on various streaming platforms, the central one being Spotify.

What has happened over the past two years is that my streams on Spotify have slowly ticked upward. Unlike many of the local musicians who get all the gigs, but have less than 100 monthly streams, my numbers have shot beyond 1,600 monthly streams and continue hitting upward. I attribute this to being willing to “feed the algorithm,” or the “Al Gore Rhythm,” as one of my songs on my new release, Some Singles+ talks about. Continue reading

February Is a Tough Month (for Love)/RPM 2024

This year’s RPM Challenge was a walk in the park for me. Maybe, if I’d decided to push it and make a full-length and not an EP, it might have been a bit harder. But for some reason, the song ideas were flowing and I even have my next single in the can from this creative exercise.

My latest release

With this release, I embraced a bit of genre-shifting, or at least, I diverged somewhat from my usual indie rock. Granted, the first two tracks align with most of my previous input, save that the overall quality of recording has improved.

On the opening track, “Al Gore Rhythm,” I wanted to tackle the notion that to succeed in music these days, it really does come down to “feeding the beast,” which are the social media algorithms (or, Al Gore Rhythms) that seem to drive everything, talent or songwriting prowess be damned.

The second song on the new release, is an update in my musical narrative that really began with the death of my son, Mark Baumer. January was the 7th anniversary of his death and music has allowed me a space to find some healing of sorts. “100 Days (7 years later)” is an update on the story about Mark, and also serves as the single on this release.

The next track is probably one of the peppiest numbers I’ve done (at least in terms of music and melody, if not lyrics). Breaking out of my usual 115 BPM, “Rocket Store” could certainly fit the bill as a single. On this one, I really embrace Auto-Tune on my vocals.

During the making of FIATMFL, I’ve been playing around a bit with synth loops and other effects. That exploration delivers the fourth track, “Synth Wave Sweep,” which uses a synth loop to create a bit of “space” on the record between songs.

In 2008, I wrote my first Moxie book, Moxietown, which detailed how Moxie and my hometown of LIsbon Falls became epicenter of the Moxie universe. The central figure in that narrative was Frank Anicetti, “the Moxie man,” or better, “the Mayor of Moxietown.” This track, a simple acoustic number is my paean to one of the more interesting characters I’ve met in my lifetime. Glad I took the time to pay attention his stories.

The final track is me, my electric guitar, and a pedal board. Decided to have some fun, crafting a song, “Future Gaze,” best described as shoegaze, with lots of delay, distortion, and compression.

If you use Spotify, please add me to your playlists and give the new single a spin or two when it drops on Friday.

Guitar Story (episode 2)

Guitar Story will be my weekly feature where I share details and tips from my own journey of picking up the guitar again.

As someone once said, “the guitar is an easy instrument to learn; the difficulty comes in the mastery.”

I’m on a quest to master the instrument I love to play.

This week’s video finds me talking about the myth of talent.

If you are new to my music, you can find all my important links here.

It’s a Wrap on 2023 (JimBaumerME Newsletter)

Bunker Rock/JimBaumerMe

Movin’ On (A New Musical Home)
Vol. 3/Issue 2

I’m actually working on this newsletter on the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. I don’t love this time of year, where, at least in these parts, the days start out dark and the light fades far too early.

Dec. 20 follows Dec. 19, which this year would have been the 40th birthday of our late son, Mark. It was nearly seven years ago that he was hit and killed by an SUV along a desolate stretch of highway in Florida’s Panhandle while attempting his second walk across America. Many of you know the story, so I won’t elaborate.

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The Music Shift (I Don’t Sing Like Taylor Swift)

The song “Music Shift” is about music approached as an avocation, if not a vocation. The idea of working a “shift” in terms of labor dates back to 1809 and mining. Playing guitar may not be mining but it helps to approach music with that same sense of purpose and consistency.

I begin the song by saying that playing music is a “grift.” This emanates from much of today’s music promotion being about “pay to play.” Yet, this is nothing new. We know about the days of payola. In our time, it’s the constant enticements to pay for this or that in terms of getting your music streamed. Even if your song(s) get played, you’ll make little to nothing because any profits from Spotify or other platforms aren’t funneled equitably to the creators of the work. The con works because musicians want their music heard by others.

Since I began writing songs and getting my music out there, I’ve had a sense that people really don’t understood what I do. I play indie/alternative rock with influences from lo-fi bands like Guided by Voices. For fans of Taylor Swift and her overly-produced schlock and corporate façade, lo-fi with a DIY orientation sounds foreign.

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Creative Continuation

I was thinking the other day about creative output and how it relates to my own production. During the time I was focused on writing, I put out four books from 2005 to 2014, which also included my repurposed Moxie book in 2012, sold to Down East Books (now Rowman & Littlefield). Remarkably, this book continues to sell and I’m sure it’s one of the better-selling regional releases for New England from that period.

Those years also included a host of articles for publications; alt weeklies, trade journals, and newspapers, both local and regional. I launched this blog in 2012, as a platform for content and became a practitioner of “shipping” (as Seth Godin frequently talks about). It was routine for me to create and post three to five blog entries each week.

Since 2018, I’ve been focused like a laser on music, another side of the creative process.  First, playing guitar daily in order to advance my playing. But just as important—writing my own songs. Over the course of that time, I’ve written 30+ songs. I have two Eps and two full-length releases available for purchase on Bandcamp.

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Love Makes the World Go ‘Round (RPM Sketch #2)

There’s some irony that, here on Valentine’s Day, I’m releasing my next RPM Challenge track, “Love Makes the World Go ‘Round.” It’s not the usual “love song.”

As I write, “love is misunderstood.” You think?

I’ve always had a problem with the way that the word “love” gets tossed around incessantly. IMO, it’s often used to speak of something other than what I think love ought to be.

I’ve said to people that I love, who said “I love you,” that they didn’t know what the word meant.

We see love used as a slogan, a word on signs about “loving neighbors,” when the people with those signs never once attempted to connect with me, their neighbor, next door. (true story)

Lest people just want to call me a “bitter crank,” I do know what real love is. I had that with my son and his death’s impact was so profound because of that deep-loving bond we had with one another. I’ve had that bond with my wife now for more than 40 years. I know what love is.

But, songwriting is subjective, so I’m not going to delve deeper into my intent on this song.

I’m happy with the lyrics and the overall production. The song has a 70s vibe to it, and I count that as a positive. Even added a little reverb on the vocals.

As a one-man-band, I don’t have a drummer or a bass player, but I find ways to lay down drum tracks (a drum pedal) and the low-end gets handled by tuning down a half-step and using my Danelectro and single-string intonations in creating a bottom on the track.

For those who like the lyrics, here they are:

Love Makes the World Go ‘Round

Love, Love Makes the World Go ‘Round
Love, Love Makes the World Go ‘Round

Not Sure Why They Say Its, Just Look at the Evidence and Weigh It
Love, Probably Don’t Make the World Go ‘Round

I Don’t Think That Love Makes the World Go ‘Round
No, No, I Don’t Think That Love Makes the World Go ‘Round

Come on Brother Be Straight, How Can You Not See All That Hate
Love, Love, Love Don’t Make the World Go Round

(Break)

Love Is Just a Word that People Say
Yes, Yes, Yes, Love Is Just a Word That People Say

They Love to Cast Their Spell, But With Them It’s Like a Clanging Bell,
Love It Don’t Make the World Go Round

Love Is Misunderstood, try to treat people like you probably should
That Kind of Love Might Just Make the World Go ‘Round

Love Is Misunderstood, try to treat people like you probably should
Oh Yeah, That Kind of Love Might Just Make the World Go ‘Round

©EveryDayYeah Music

Movin’ On Down (RPM Sketch #1)

It’s February, so it must be time to write some new songs. This year is a bit different, though, because I’m tackling the RPM Challenge.

The RPM is an annual creative challenge, seeking to motivate anyone to record original music during the month of February. Artists set their own length goals (EP, or full-length), and have until March 1 to complete their projects.

JimBaumerMe is tackling the RPM Challenge in 2023

Last year, I could have entered what became Living in Some Strange Days, my first full-length, but come midnight on February 28, I wasn’t happy with my final track. Instead, I wrote a new song the next day, “Kick the Darkness,” because I needed something more hopeful than the overly dark themes on most of the other tracks. I’m glad I did, as the song really became the “single” of the release and garnered some worldwide airplay.

This year, in January, I was intentional about doing RPM, properly. I even started writing a song before the challenge officially began.

I view some of these tracks as “sketches,” not entirely finished. I’ll probably come back to some or all of the five or six tracks that will make up the release when it’s completed. I’d like to add some multi-tracks on the guitars and bump up the vocals, but I’ll have to see how much time I have.

This song is about moving to my new home in Lynchburg, Virginia. I’m calling it “Movin’ On Down” as Mary and I moved “down” from the North to south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

I really liked the riff the first time I came up with it. It didn’t take long to put the guitar parts together and the words followed. Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon laying down tracks and getting a “rough” recording of drums, vocals, guitar. I mixed it this morning and you now have my “rough mix.”

Not sure that the other tracks will be so “positive” in outlook, and that’s okay. But this one will likely be another one of my songs that gets lots of play in my live setlist. I really like that it captures the anticipation of a new chapter in one’s life, and figuring out the challenges of new geography, and finding some new people to hang with.

Here are the lyrics for those of you who like those things:

Movin’ on down to a brand new town
Gonna’ start a brand new life

Been talking about rollin’ out
Push away all that strife

Leaving the north, heading south
Lots of friends left behind
I touched down, looked around
Too much to process now

In a rut just hanging around
Find a new patch of ground

My new home in a brand new town
Picking up a welcome vibe

I touched down, looked around
Can’t process it all today
This new home in a brand new town
Enjoying it in every way
The old hometown, left in the dust
Place of birth not the same
Got so much I want to do
Before I go away

Movin’ on down to Lynchburg town
Gonna’ start a brand new life

I’ve been talking about rollin’ out
Push away all that strife

I left the north, I headed south
Toom many friends left behind
I touched down, looked around
New people to get to knowwww

Movin’ Movin Movin on down
I’m south of the Mason-Dixon Line

A New City/A New Home (JimBaumerMe Newsletter)

Bunker Rock/JimBaumerMe

Movin’ On (A New Musical Home)
Vol. 3/Issue 1

November and December was music-free for me. Rather than playing music, I was immersed in holiday nostalgia via movies like Feast of the Seven Fishes and of course, the most nostalgic of all Christmas movies—It’s a Wonderful Life—while coming to terms with living in a new state and region.

In September, Mary (my wife) and me drove to Central Virginia to look at houses and scout out places like Roanoke and Lynchburg. Lynchburg is where we found a house we wanted to buy, so JimBaumerMe is no longer in ME, but VA. It may necessitate a name change. But perhaps not—Matt Pond PA never changed his moniker despite changing geography. Actually, Matt Pond PA is on hiatus until 2025/26 according to his website.

[New house, new city]

Here’s hoping that gigging in this area in 2023 is as good to me as New England was the past two years. I’m sure it will be.

I’ve yet to play an official “gig,” but I have been making it out to some local open mics. It’s been good meeting some of the local musicians. I also did a live stream on New Years Eve.

Given that my music is oriented towards indie rock and not just cover fare, I think Charlottesville and Roanoke offer possibilities. Then, I’m only two hours from the music hotbed of Raleigh-Durham and even Greensboro in North Carolina. We’ll have to wait and see how the booking turns out.

A resource that’s really meant a lot to me in 2022 is Zen Guitar, written by the late Philip Toshio Sudo. To say it’s a self-help book for guitar players diminishes the scope of the book. But that’s a good starting point. The author helps readers understand the guitar-playing isn’t just about virtuosity but infusing your playing with soulful spirituality. Or something like that. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be a better musician.

I closed out my playing dates in Maine (and Mass.) with fair dates in Fryeburg (for the second straight year) and Topsfield (for the first time). I also played the Bolton Fair in Bolton, MA in August. Overall, I played fewer dates in 2023 (about 40) than 2022 (when I crossed the 60 gig threshold), but I began figuring out where I wanted to play rather than simply accepting a date for the sake of having one. Some of my favorite places to play in 2022 besides the fairs were SoPo SeafoodTumbledown Farm to ForkSide by Each Brewing, and participating in Newton’s Porchfest in June.

[Rockin’ at the Topsfield Fair]

My CDLiving in Some Strange Days, got some radio airplay on MIT’s outstanding college radio station, WMBR. I also got an invite from Lorenzo at WMPG to play live at the station in May.

Stay tuned for the next JimBaumerME musical chapter. Looks like I will be participating in the RPM Challenge 2023. I’ve already got one song in the can.

Happy 2023 from Central Virginia.

-JimBaumerMe