On a rainy night in early 2020, right before the Covid-19 pandemic reached the United States, I was improvising on my guitar and came up with a chord progression that I really liked. It felt soulful, a little dark, introspective, and just a bit hopeful. I decided right then and there that I was onto something, and that I needed to finish this song. I then stepped into the shoes of a fictional character that I had in mind and I wrote down some lyrics about what this character was feeling looking out their window watching the rain. In less than a half hour, I had most of the lyrics completed. I then recorded a couple of takes in GarageBand and before the night was through I had a completed demo. I was happy with the instrumental parts, but the lyrics weren’t completely finished and I had only recorded a scratch vocal. I’m happy with my own vocals when used in the background behind a good lead vocalist, but I’m rarely happy with my own lead vocals on their own, and so I thought the song might never see the light of day. Besides, as it stood, the lyrics captured the feeling of isolation and sadness that I was going for, but I wanted the song to build as it progressed, eventually bringing forth a feeling of hopefulness and optimism about the future. I wasn’t happy with my vocal track. The lyrics weren’t finished. The sense of hope was missing. The song might just stay tucked away on my hard drive forever.
Fast forward to July. With the country battling the pandemic, my family and I had been avoiding public places as often as possible and spending a lot more time at home, which gave me more time to be creative in my home studio. Scrolling through Facebook, I noticed that my cousin had shared a post about the debut album that his friend, Megan Kleven, had just released titled “I Am”. (For more information about “I Am” please visit www.meganklevenmusic.com). I previewed her songs, liked what I heard, and bought her CD. I was really impressed with Megan’s voice. On her album she effortlessly glided between soft, lower registers and powerful, soulful higher notes. Her songwriting also impressed me. The idea hit me immediately: This was the voice that could turn my demo into a finished song that I could be proud of. I reached out to Megan via Facebook Messenger to see if she had any interest in collaborating, and luckily she was ready for a new project and was up to the challenge. I sent her my GarageBand file of the song and she soon sent the file back to me with her lead vocal track added in place of my scratch vocal. I was absolutely blown away. When I sent the song to her, my vocals were just the skeleton of a melody. What she sent back to me was a breathtaking vocal performance filled with melody, nuances, and most importantly, the sense of hope that had eluded me when writing the song. She re-wrote some of the lyrics and added some new ones, and that, combined with her amazing vocal performance, elevated the song to a level that I had not dreamed possible when I started it.
Now that you know the story behind the song, I would be honored if you would take the time to listen to our debut song “Rain”. If we accomplish our goal and the song moves you, we would greatly appreciate it if you could take a minute to share the song with your friends on social media. The link below will take you to a page where you can listen to “Rain” on your favorite streaming service. Thanks for listening!
CLICK HERE FOR STREAMING LINKS:
The Great Song Traveler: Chasing Songs From Town To Town 