In December 2023, I released my fifth album – They’re Not Making Land Anymore ! As I put the thumbnail picture below onto a few of my web pages, I had a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Five albums – 48 original songs and instrumentals !
I don’t know how many songwriters have written and released more songs than that, but I feel it is a song catalogue I can boast about, as least a little.
They’re Not Making Land Anymore
This song and title track of the album, was written about the housing crisis in Canada.
I tend to write songs about society, economic issues, self improvement, and moving ahead in life.
Maybe that is a sign of my age and career in business.
My Singer-Songwriter Journey
The Early Years
My musical journey began at age 11, in the basement of my Winnipeg, MB home. This is where I learned to play the drums. I also took up keyboard and voice lessons in my teens. I later made my living drumming in bands around Western Canada.
My early influences ranged from motown to pop, latin and jazz.
Music Paused For Family
I packed away my drums, soon after I married and began raising his family. In retirement, I took up the ukulele, and started writing songs.
Early Albums
Balance In Life, was released in 2020, and was my first album, I guess you could say the the first album took many decades to write, as it is a collection of what I felt were the best songs to date.
Richard’s Best Drum Rhythms of 50 Years was released later that year as a “drums only” album. It is a salute to my drumming years. These drum recordings were done around 2012, and I decided to release them. Using only drums, cowbells, wood blocks, tambourine, and an electronic drum, I tapped out some wildly melodic rhythms ( at least for drums ) , and I feel is my best drumming. After making these recordings, I sold my drums, as we were moving.
All Is Right With The World was released in 2021. I feel this album represents some of my best chord patterns to date. Part of songwriting is to continue to learn and grow as a musician, so you can bring new music to your songwriting.
The Older I Got, The Wiser Dad Seemed To Be, was released in 2022. The title song is a Hat’s Off to my Dad.
They’re Not Making Land Anymore
Track Titles are
They’re Not Making Land Anymore – Talks about the housing crisis in Canada.
Stone In My Shoe – A blusey “looking for better days” track.
You’re The Change You Seek – Inspired by the speeches of Barrack Obama, this song tells you to lift yourself up by your bootstraps.
Between – A song about grief, over the death of their son Nathan in 1991 at the age of 15.
Time To Grow – A song about self improvement.
YOLO You Only Live Once – a song that reflects on how best to use our time.
Peaceful Place – a song about something we all want, a peaceful place to live and rest.
Play Your Part – a song about helping out in society, and has a rhythmic beat and riff.
Moving Our Life – a song about moving to a new town, and the feelings around that time.
They’re Not Making Land Anymore, I feel is a patchwork of rhythms, chords and riffs woven together, with the threads of my musical and age experience.
Old Songwriters Never Die, They Just …
I sometimes wonder how much song inspiration do I have ? How many more songs can I write ? Of course I don’t know.
Maybe old songwriters never die, they just run out of words / lyrics. But I can say today, I’m not there yet.