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I chose my producer on Monday night, after a very full 4 days of interviews, second interviews, and hours of agonizing decision-making. The candidates were just that strong, and everyone offered different styles and strengths. In the end, I chose a producer whose tracks gave me the chills, whose melodies I was singing in my head, and whose arrangements were just as memorable. Erik Eldénius. He’s a drummer by trade, playing in the studio and on tour for such acts as Mandy Moore, Jackson Browne, and Donna Summer. In the last few years, he’s added producer to his list of talents, and I’m really psyched to have him producing my record!

When I called to give him the news, he wanted to start the next day. Since I have a hard deadline of July 28, he said we’d be working almost every day for the next 7 weeks! So I went to his place the next day to start week 1: pre-production. Our meetings pretty much went like this: we would listen to a demo of my song, both take notes, and then start to share ideas. Often he started with arranging, which is tightening up the structure of the song to make sure it flows well, stays interesting, and builds. For instance, on “The Monkey Song” he suggested cutting the first chorus early, on “So Lovely” he wanted to double one chorus and cut another, and on “Box of Bitterness” we’re cutting the re-intros and adding space between the verses and choruses. I find myself challenged at times, when I’m feeling tied to the way I’m used to playing it. But usually after I absorb the information, I realize his ideas are excellent and serve the song really well. Of course, if something doesn’t feel right, I’m vocal about it, and we talk about options.

My favorite part is when we talk instrumentation. I’ll say, “What are you hearing on this?” and then wait smiling as I see him materialize instruments out of the air. “Definitely cello,” he’ll say, and then start humming some line that goes with the chorus. Or, “this is a band song… hand drums, bass, and maybe pedal steel, but in a non-country way,” as he’s tapping a drum line on his legs. It’s really amazing to see this part of the process. This is one aspect of the producer’s job I’m fascinated by… they can hear a song a couple times, and then just start hearing the parts and sounds come together.

I also love when we grab the instruments to start playing together. When we were talking about “Drunk & High” he heard a “woody” hand percussion sound, so he took his acoustic guitar, turned it upside down, and started thumping along as I played. Now, I’ve never played with any sort of percussion before, so this is really fun for me, but also challenging to concentrate on what I’m doing! On “Fantasy,” he grabbed his acoustic and started coming up with other possibilities for how to play the chords… Arpeggiated? Straighter? More rhythmic? One thing’s for sure, I’m going to grow leaps and bounds as a musician from all this.

I had an epiphany about the producer-artist relationship this week. I’ve read and heard a lot about it, but I guess I didn’t know what it would really be like. On our second day, we listened to 2 songs that didn’t grab him. It was at the end of our meeting, so we decided to put these on the back burner and call it a day. My over-zealous ego left that session pretty tattered. I felt really insecure and self-defeatist. Why didn’t these songs grab him? Are my 5 demo songs the only good ones? Does he think I’m a bad writer now? Will he hate everything else in my repertoire? Gosh, it’s amazing how fast the sensitive artist can take a confidence nose-dive. I got to my voice lesson early, so I sat in the car to think. Then I grabbed my guitar, to see if there was some different way I could play “Arapahoe Road” to make it come together. I fussed with some different tunings, and then stumbled upon something quite by mistake. I started playing, and relaxed into a slower, more wistful, and shimmering version of the upbeat song. I knew then, playing my guitar in a parked car, with joggers and dog-walkers passing by, that I was having a really profound moment. Duh, Ry! That’s why the artist-producer relationship exists! If Erik had liked the song right away, I wouldn’t have been pushed creatively to try something completely new. But as a result of all my insecurity, I took steps that expanded myself as an artist.

Yesterday, we were hanging tight with 11 songs, but couldn’t settle on the last one. We listened to another dozen selections from my past, but didn’t find anything. So, we revisited “Arapahoe Road,” and I played him the new version. “I love this,” he said. Our 12th song.

It looks like we have a record.

Peace, love and music… Ry