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This Is All I've Got Right Now

A move to South Carolina in December 2009 sidelined a few of my projects while I got re-established. But I was playing with, and in front of, new people, and the fact that Back Issues hadn't yet been completed was hurting my progress as a musician even more.

In hindsight, the gigs I played in the first six months in my new home helped me get over a few crucial hurdles that would eventually help me finish those songs. But in that interim, I needed something quick, simple, and good, to sell and to provide to venues and other musicians to get them quickly up to speed on what it is I do.

I made the decision one Thursday that I was just going to set up my live rig, and record a standard "live" performance in my bedroom, and release it as an album. These sessions didn't turn out quite the way I wanted them to, and they were eventually scrapped. The next day I started again, recording individual parts as I would for a normal recording, but limiting myself to only acoustic guitars and my voice. By Sunday I'd recorded 9 tracks, 7 of which made it to the album. I'd decided, as a way to relieve my frustration over the Back Issues sessions, to call the album "This Is All I've Got Right Now."

As I would be duplicating these by hand on CD-Rs to save money, this title worked great as a visual motif, making my handwriting on a CD-R part of the gag (or "art direction," if you will).

Working with an artist from Savannah, GA named Cami Podell, we did a fun photoshoot which not only produced the album cover, but the awesoe "homeless man" photos, where I'm bedraggled and holding a sign saying "Will starve for artistic integrity."

All I've Got turned out to be a good bridge between the stripped-down live performances of these songs, and the eventual full-band versions that will be released.