Ben's BLOG

A bit overdue, yes, but here's the third installment of New BenSchorMusic bloggety goodness!

"On The Go" is one of the aformentioned reorchestrations of one of the old themes from my first promotional video collaboration with Ethan Shaftel. This little groove was easy to expand upon, conisdering that it was all built around the acoustic guitar pattern. I sped up the tempo a bit the second time around to give it a bit more punch. Additionally, the bluesier nature of the cue is more reflective of the direction I was starting to head into with the last of my compositions for Ethan's promo videos. More of this bluesiness is reflected in last installments piece, "Knof Off." And, for a guy who looked up to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Lyle Lovett as a young musician, it's about time some of that blues influence crept on out in an instrumental form.

"Countryside" comes from my second promo collaboration with Ethan in the summer of 2001. Ethan asked me to do something along the lines of our first year's Beautiful Italy theme, and I came up with this somber, gentle and contemplative piece. I was a bit concerned about the music being too slow for the video, but Ethan was very satisfied. The cue also gave me a chance to delve a bit deeper into my finger picking style, something I was starting to work on with my guitar professor at USC, David Oakes.

To this day, "Countryside" is one of my favorite compositions. I love how placid it is, and I just fall apart on the C section and coda where the two guitars interweave. I could listen to an entire cue built around that one section for hours. That simple progression gets me every time.

Lastly, the acoustic version of "Crush" was recorded in the late fall of 2001, just as I was developing material and arrangements with my friend and fellow songwriter, Matt Heinecke. Matt and I handled guitar and vocal duties, while my friend Susan Walter handled the fiddle (as she would later do on the album for Leave You Behind). Matt is a ripping guitar player, and I totally love his solo work on "Crush."

This acoustic arrangement was what I played around town up until recording the album. In fact, up until the day we had Susan in to record the CD, the fiddle part was going to be a part of the album version of the song. But, as fate would have it, the fiddle didn't fit in to the sound of the whole band. I am very glad to still have this version to play. I like how much a different perspective it gives on the song to the band version. And, considering how much a Nickel Creek and Bluegrass fan I am, this verson plays more to those tastes.

Enjoy, and I'll see you next week for Part Four.