Author: Jody Whitesides

  • New Song “Echo” Continues Jody Whitesides’ 2026 Releases

    New Song “Echo” Continues Jody Whitesides’ 2026 Releases

    It’s already off to a rockin’ start for 2026. In the past couple of weeks releases for some heavier tunes have hit the ground running. I got to eat at a restaurant where Presidents dine. We’re slowly getting one of the coolest animated covers finished. I’m back in the studio and it’s nearly all systems go!

    Kicking off the new year with another year of new songs coming out every single week. Started off with Publicity, followed by Digital Empire. This week it will be a mellow song with a heavy vibe called Echo.

    If you haven’t been paying attention, new goodies hit the store for each release. If you’re clever enough, you’ll find the current week’s upcoming release items at a discount. The latest edition, besides the full blown studio mixes, transcriptions and shirts is… Wall posters of the artwork. All printed on high quality paper and shipped right to you.

    Echo Cover Art thumbnail

    Last week I spent some time in city where Jazz was born. I played hooky from my own work to help out my girlfriend and her high school’s Jazz band. While in the city of New Orleans we ate some amazing food! Saw some incredible live music and enjoyed the mild weather.

    There’s a spot in New Orleans called Dooky Chase’s. This particular spot came highly recommended by a good friend. A small group of us hoofed to the joint and got incredibly lucky to get a table. Seems a group of 4 in front of us decided not to wait the hour+ of time and we got to sneak right in.

    After scarfing down a plate of stuffed shrimp, I asked the waitress about former President Obama and what he ordered. Turns out, she knew what he ordered. The gumbo. Then we were privy to a little story about that order of gumbo and what happened to President Obama. If you want to know the story, I strongly suggest that you get yourself to New Orleans and get your butt to Dooky Chase’s. Don’t forget to ask, as it’s a funny and worthy anecdote.

    My time of distribution to get animated covers to Apple Music has dropped from what would normally take nearly a week per cover, to one day for all the art. Not the production of the covers themselves. Some are still in production and taking much much longer than anticipated.

    There is a cover that I saw a test run of the animation last night and I’ll say this – it was fuckin awesome. Fingers crossed it gets done in the next couple of days.

    Back in the studio. Getting more merch done for the store. Rounding up the next batch of animated covers and getting it all planned out for release. Plus getting more music bits into fixed form. Also, there’s multiple updates that happen right here on my dot com every week, from this blog, to the about page, store items, and more.

    If you haven’t signed up for the Jody Army, it’s high time you did. You can snag a nice discount on top of newly discounted items each week.

    2026 is look like a whirlwind of happenings all year long, every single week. You don’t want to miss it.

  • Digital Empire Music Release and a Year of New Music

    Digital Empire Music Release and a Year of New Music

    Looking into 2026 it’s already a year with wild amount of opportunities sprouting up. Waiting to hear final word on a commercial looking to use some music. New music every week this year! Creating more cool items for my store. Another new song release called Digital Empire, And Improved communication from me.

    Spent yesterday getting a few new items up and running on the store. Including wall posters, and more transcriptions of songs. More items coming soon.

    The bigger switch is I’ve opted to offer up free shipping on all items, worldwide! I want all purchases to be as easy as possible. Don’t worry about the shipping, it’s on me.

    Sadly as much as I wanted Publicity and Digital Empire’s releases to have their animated art on release day, there’s been some difficulties beyond my control and I’m waiting on external forces to correct the delay. They were in on time and you can see them here on my website, until they’re on Apple Music.

    BTS I’m getting another batch of animated covers ready for releases several months from now. As I progress, I’m getting bolder on the cover art ideas and I’m hoping I can pull them off. Time will tell if the vision is too bold to make happen.

    Digital Empire thumbnail

    This week’s song is Digital Empire. It’s quite apropos for what I’ve been building and all the fan oriented updates I’ve been adding to the website, store and email system. Building a Digital Empire bit by bit.

    Are you part of the Jody Army, on the email list? There’s new stuff happening there too. I’ll make it worth your while to join.

    In the mean time I’m about to hit New Orleans with a Jazz band. More amazing things coming next week.

  • Why 2025 Changed Everything: Music Tech, Direct Fan Connection, and What’s Coming in 2026

    Why 2025 Changed Everything: Music Tech, Direct Fan Connection, and What’s Coming in 2026

    Goodbye 2025, it’s been nice knowing ya. But I’m damn glad to give you a swift kick out the door. There’s been some awesome highs and a few horrid lows. Here’s looking at 2026 with delusions of grandeur while giving a 2025 review.

    Starting with the road of improvements. This year brought a massive redesign of my website. Part of it is thanks to building a new backend and more advanced server. The tech part has been more blessing than curse, and I happy about that.

    Along with the redesign came the added feature of bringing the email list under personal control, where there isn’t a 3rd party with prying eyes. Plus I’ve added features of fan levels. A lot of work but worth every painful minute of frustration that now works as intended.

    Another massive feat was releasing music every week. Talk about a massive undertaking, and I’m finally getting into the swing of it. 2026 will see more of the same, new releases every week. What’s more awesome is how my website can integrate each new release with the fan list.

    The music releases are also building to Atmos versions. Which is exciting and fun. They bring back the giddiness of what made music feel special when I was growing up. Which is exciting.

    Publicity cover art

    Along with the music releases are the new animated covers. Sadly it’s only Apple Music that currently does animated covers. Though non Apple Music users can still see the animations right here on jodywhitesides.com.

    Getting used to the new tech of it wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were some tragic setbacks. For every step back it’s been three steps forward. And with just a puzzle piece or two left to complete the entire picture, I’m stoked with what I’ll be able to announce in 2026.

    It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of the clown show in the White House. That has been a tremendous bummer. What makes it worse is having to inadvertently see it and hear about it every day. I like it better when politicians are not a constant never-ending news cycle.

    Which leads to the ironic lead off single for 2026: Publicity. A song all about what it takes for fame. Good news, bad news, it’s all fake news. Oh what a prophetic lyric that became. That now comes with the updated mix and master you can now get right here in full studio quality. Not that watered down streaming.

    So yes, I want to engage you more on a personal level. Not via social media, but between you and I. Which is what all the work in 2025 was for, to make 2026 a year to really shine for the music and the direct connection between you and I.

    I’m telling ya, 2026 is gonna be bright.