I’ve had two days in the studio with Neilson Hubbard now, and it’s going well. We’ve been deciding which songs to pursue and then outlining them, getting the keys, tempos, grooves and main melodies down.

These songs are very different for me. They’re very, dare I say it, “pop”, but naturally. I’ve been relating more to simple songs recently, more Tom Petty, less Radiohead, and that’s where these tunes are sitting. And I really like it. But it’s different. We’ll see where they go from here.

Garett is coming in today to lay down some of his percussion-y goodness. Instead of putting down the major drum kit right away we’re going to start with layers of perc rhythm. We want the foundation to move naturally so that the drums get to be more dynamic on top, without having to worry quite so much about being the metronome/heartbeat. Should be a lot of fun. It’s a bit more of a Peter Gabriel/Paul Simon approach.

I think, at the end of the day, we’re trying to do with my music what this guy does with jumping out the windows of buildings. And now it’s time for a family trip to the grocery store before heading back to the studio for Day 3. I’ll try to take some pictures today.

An excerpt from “Bound for Canaan” by Fergus M Bordewich, a book about the Underground Railroad.

Conductors who were in a hurry, or desperate, sometimes literally flung fugitives onto a passing ship, and hoped for the best. In one such instance, a steamboat captain named Chapman, en route from Cleveland to Buffalo, was hailed about three miles offshore by four men in a small boat, two of them merchants with whom he had done business the day before, and the others black strangers.

One of the whites threw on board a purse containing fifteen dollars in silver, and asked Chapman to land the black men in Canada, telling him to take his pay out of it, and to give the passengers what was left. The sight of the new passengers didn’t please the captain, who, imbued with the racial prejudices of his time and place, found them “very black, coarse in feature and build, stupid in expression, and apparently incapable of any mental excitement except fear.”

Fortunately, however, Chapman was a man with a heart, and he ran in near the Canadian shore, and landed the men on a beach, where they were met by the agents of the underground… …Chapman handed the men the entire fifteen dollars, and told them they were free.

What he then witnessed startled the captain.

“They seemed to be transformed; a new light shone in their eyes, their tongues were loosed, they laughed and cried, prayed and sang praises, fell upon the ground and kissed it over and over. I thought to myself, ‘My God! Is it possible that human beings are kept in such a condition that they are made perfectly happy by being landed and left alone in a strange land with no human beings or habitations in sight, with the prospect of never seeing a friend or relative?’ ”

“Before I stepped upon my deck I had determined to never again be identified with any party that sustained the system of slavery.”

———

This is a powerful story, and it’s also a powerful metaphor. We are all slaves to something. What or who is your master? What would your freedom look like? How would it affect the people who saw it, like this captain? Is it worth it to pursue it? How will you?

My weeks are starting to be busy in a new way right now. A lot of business-y things are going on and so it’s been a lot of meetings, a lot of brainstorming, a lot of making of lists (and checking them twice). It’s all very good stuff, and I think I’m just going to lay it all out when it’s a little closer to complete, but it’s enough to say that we’re trying to get the Andy O machine off the ground in the next year, and I’m really excited.

I’ve been trying to find time to write new songs recently. It hasn’t been easy to shift from the business to the creative, the left to the right side of the brain, but I have a few things I’m excited about.

I’m going to go in the studio with Neilson Hubbard starting next week, which should be fun. He produced Matthew Perryman Jones, Glen Phillips and Emily Deloach, and is going to help be another set of ears for me on these tunes. We’re just going to start with a handful of songs and see where they take us. I’ll keep you posted next week. Probably very posted actually.

I’ve also started carving out some time this summer for Letters to the Editor, Vol. 2, so if you get a good song idea, write it down. I probably won’t ask for them until June, at least, but I thought I ought to get it on your radar.

A couple of other things (in beloved bullet form)

- This site is awesome.

- I played with JJ and Dave Heller last night at the Exit/In here in Nashville, and we opened for Chris Sligh of last season’s American Idol.

- The new AndrewOsenga.com is getting close to finished, and it’s looking (and working) killer. Can’t wait to show it to you.

- I love the new Colbie Caillat song “Realize” just as much as I loved her first one. It’s amazing, and hopeful, to me that a good, actual song can still get played on the radio. I didn’t think they still played real music these days.

- You ever get that feeling that you’re supposed to be somewhere, doing something, but you can’t remember what? I have that feeling all the time.

Ok, now I’m going to go try and turn off the business and finish a couple tunes.

It’s Tuesday now. The final show of this leg of the Overdressed tour was Saturday night, and it was a great show. It was the smallest room we’ve played a full show in possibly since I joined the band five and a half years ago. And it was really fun. It just felt like there were people everywhere, with a balcony that stretched around both sides of the stage. And it was Illinois, a psuedo-hometown crowd for me. A good way to end it.

The Cubs game was a great experience. Our seats were, literally, the last row of the furthest section out beyond third plate. Here was the view behind us…

Jeff and I freezing our collective toucas off in the wind of the Windy City…

Cliff, Josh and I out front…

And our friend Ryan and I… He came along this past weekend to shoot video and stills of this great tour. He was a blast to be out on the road with and a few of the things I’ve seen so far have been amazing…

Now that the tour is over, I’m about to dive in nose-deep, (or ankles-deep, depending on how you dive I guess…) into songwriting for a new project. I’m going to do some experimenting with a couple different people to help me with a bigger vision, and I’m looking forward to that. More on that subject as it becomes clear.

For today, though, I’m taking the day off to be with my family. I took the girls to the zoo this morning, where we met up with Todd and his son. Baby alligators are awesome.

Oh, and the Cubs won 13-1. Pretty great game to start with.

We’re playing in Chicago today and Jeff, our bass player, got us all tickets to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. I’ve never been to a major league baseball game, and I’m excited. More later…

I was on the elliptical machine at the YMCA here in Kokomo, IN today. I was listening to the new Counting Crows record on my ipod while the tv in front of me was tuned to the Montel Williams show. The closed captioning was on so I could read the conversation as I worked out.

This particular episode was about “regular” people changing their lives “for the better” with plastic surgery. Everyone he talked to A) looked really unnatural and weird and B) had spent at least $40,000 for this “improvement”.

As I was working out to burn off a few pounds I don’t need, I watched these people, proud of their “accomplishments”. The irony was overwhelming and incredibly disturbing.

America, maybe this little recession isn’t enough. Maybe a purpose-less war and a giant national debt aren’t enough. We are praising people for spending tens of thousands of dollars to temporarily reverse the effects of their gluttony, in a world where millions of children starve to death each year.

For the cost of one of these people’s plastic surgery, 104 kids could be sponsored through Compassion for a year. For $40,000, seven children can be sponsored from the age of 3 until the age of 18. That’s 15 years of food, education, housing and health care.

Would you like some fries with that?

It’s a clear and chilly Sunday afternoon. The girls are taking naps, they’re both so tired from church that they went down quickly, sweetly, and without a fuss. Alison’s out to lunch with friends.

The house is a rare quiet for a few moments. I’ve done a lot of sitting this weekend, mostly from behind the wheel of the car, North to Chicago, back South towards home. Somehow, all that sitting has left me tired, too. (Or it could be that it was Alison’s and my turn with the 2-3 year olds this morning…)

I love that the studio is three miles away and the last show is 500. There are a million things that need to be done, but none right this moment. So I’m going to take a nap while I can.

Usually I read before I fall asleep. Today I’m just going to listen to the quiet and know that it’s the quiet of the lives that are here now. Someday, it will be the quiet of the lives that are gone; off to school, to college, to husbands…

I’ll have plenty of time to read then.

Well, last night was a pretty great night. The show with Jeremy and Eric was really fun. We went in a big round, two songs at a time, and each ended up playing seven tunes. I’m such a fan of my friends and it was great to be able to just jump in and sing along here and there, and have them do that for me.

I brought the Jazzmaster and a Memory Man and that was extra fun, as well, and nice to have another texture besides the acoustic guitar. I’m really digging this guitar, in a major way. (Did anybody get a good picture?)

After the show we walked two blocks to Giordano’s pizza, a Chicago-land staple. We invited everybody from the show and ended up hanging with 15 or 20 or so folks and just had a good time.

Came back to the hotel, watched last night’s The Office, which was painfully hilarious, and then got wonderful un-baby-interrupted slumber. Once I hit the “post” button here we’re going to pile back in Alison’s car (which she was so kind to let me take this weekend) and head back home. As great as it is to be out playing music with friends, it’ll be good to get back.

In a hotel just North of Indianapolis. I’m with Eric and Jeremy, on our way to our show tonight at the Union in Naperville, IL.

Each the father of a 14 or 16 month old baby, we took the opportunity to sleep in. It was awesome.

The boys are talking about Jackson Browne and we’re about to hit the road to get the rest of the way to Chicagoland. Hoping for some good pizza after the show tonight. If you’re anywhere near (or you’re Chris Hubbs) we hope to see you tonight!