I have not yet been to Nashville, but Sam and Luke were there… right through the floods…(which I’m sure influenced the songs they wrote).  They’re heading back home and I’m looking forward to hearing from them first hand, about their experiences… but in the meantime, in a Guest Blog, here are a few of their thoughts, “borrowed” from their blog:

Nashville Floods–We Were There

We were huddled inside our Nashville hotel room, writing songs for our debut CD as Music City was experiencing severe thunderstorms and the worst flooding in 150 years.  For a while there, the weather was pretty terrifying to us.  We kept waiting for the windows to shatter…. or worse.

Reassured by our producer, the legendary Colin Linden, we pressed on and penned 11 brand new songs altogether . . . four of which were written in collaboration with Nashville songwriting giants: Gary Nicholson (Peter Frampton, Etta James, B.B. King, Los Lonely Boys, Ringo Starr) and Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Taylor Hicks, and Billy Ray Cyrus).  Colin lined us up with those great songwriters. They made us feel right at home so we could write freely and openly. We’d come up with the direction of the songs then we’d all collaborate on the music and lyrics.

We also wrote songs with Colin, and with the young Canadian recording artist, Liam Titcomb, who happened to be in Nashville at the time.   Liam’s close to our age and a lot of fun to write with. We’re really glad we got the chance to work with him.

But not all of the songs were collaborations. Sometimes we’d write alone in our hotel room at night. Our parents were in the room next door so we were free to fire up our micro amps and plug-in, working late into the night.  Thankfully the other guests in the hotel never complained.

Once all the songs were written it was time to lay down the tracks. The sessions, which came off without a hitch, were recorded at Nashville’s Sound Stage Recordings and Pinhead Recorders. We were blown away to record with the celebrated bassist and American icon, Bob Babbitt.  Never in a million years did we think that one day we’d be recording with him.  Bob is the original bass player with the Funk Brothers and is prominently featured in the movie, “Standing in the Shadows of Motown”. He has played on thousands of recordings with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Elton John.  Along with the other monster players: Tom Hambridge on drums, Kevin McKendree on Hammond B3 and grand piano, Stephen Mackey on bass, Colin Linden and Liam Titcomb on acoustic guitars, and Jim Hoke on horns, we blew through the fast-paced recording sessions charged with creative electricity. Our personalities immediately clicked. It didn’t take long before we were all playing and nodding and laughing and trying to outdo each other. It was magic.

Beginning September 7th, the CD “Standing in a Room” (working title) will be available on CD Baby, and iTunes.

We hope to have it available directly from the Sam and Luke website as early as August 1st.

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Sam & Luke