Dave Hawkins October Newsletter
🎃 I just got back home from dropping the kids off this morning. Whew! 32 degrees, ten miles, frost on the ground. Hope y’all are settling into fall.
🥇 First, thanks for joining my newsletter. Social media algorithms have really started to let down small, independent, artists by forcing ads and unfollowed mega-influencers into our algorithms, while down-ranking the posts of people we actually follow! I appreciate that you recognize the value of direct, non-biased communication, and know that not all email is spam! (although it sure tries hard, doesn’t it? 🙈)
I’m not sure how, but I’ve really gotten back in a steady rhythm of song-writing and production. “Bones” is out today on all streaming platforms, or you can pick it up on Bandcamp for $2.
🦴 I wrote Bones on my Squier Stratocaster electric guitar. The opening lick is something I’d been mindlessly strumming for a few months. On a walk with my dog, the melody and lyrics came to me in the span of about a block (gratitude to voice memos for allowing me to record my thoughts and not forget them! 🙏) The song touches on reconnection, and putting in the work; A topic I find more and more relevant as I get older, and relationships change and drift together & apart..
🎹 In throwback fashion, I’ve also released a dave-at-the-piano acoustic version of “Colors of the Leaves”, which is an exclusive Bandcamp release. It reminded me of my songwriting roots, sitting at an acoustic piano, in a dimly lit practice room in the basement of the University of Michigan school of music. If I had to pick a time and place where I “became” a songwriter, it was then.
⏭️ What’s next? Well I’ve got two more songs in mid-production. A funky, Wurlitzer driven cover of Santa Fe, and a year old (!) song about "an old guy that lives in a cabin and maybe eats mushrooms". (trust me it’s cool, wintry, and slightly weird)
💿 After that, I'm lining up to create a four or five track album during the winter months. My first attempt at doing something more than just a one-off single. I've got some themes and production techniques I really want to explore, and it's going to take more than a single to cover it properly.
👋 Well that’s it for this month. Thanks for your continued support, camaraderie, attention, and everything.
-Dave Hawkins
“BONES”
OUT 10/31
“COLORS OF THE LEAVES (Acoustic Version)”
