Jody Whitesides

Author: Jody Whitesides

  • I Really Did That?

    I Really Did That?

    I really did that?

    Did I really do music that appeared somewhere? That’s what is sometimes surprising to me, the sheer amount of places where music I’ve done has shown up. There’s always a surprise each quarter as to where I’m going to have music having been used somewhere in the world, be it in film, on TV, in a commercial, or elsewhere.

    There’s a long list and I decided to finally put a page up where I tried to make it as comprehensive as possible to know where you’ve heard music that I’ve done. Problem is, I’m only going back about 3 years here. Which isn’t all that far back. There are quite a few more years that I need to add, but the start of the credits page is already a pretty big list as it is.

    There’s so many websites out there that claim to be the definitive authority on who’s worked with who in music, or who’s worked on what. Often times they’re incomplete, or incorrect and of course – they make it really difficult to correct the information (which is the biggest disappointment). Then other large services collate that incorrect data and it gets passed along as truth. Thus, I’m working on providing as comprehensive a list as I can for everything I’ve done in music. It will take me some time, but hey I’m gonna be the definitive source on all things music that I’ve done.

    Therefore if you’re of the curious type you can shoot on over to the credits page and find out where you may have heard me, or who I’ve worked with, etc. Chances are there are even things I’ve forgotten about and if you’ve got proof, I’d appreciate the refresher so I can add it to my list.

    In the mean I’ve got some more musical stuff to work on.

  • A Perfect Man Exists?

    A Perfect Man Exists?

    A Perfect Man exists

    Something so simple, yet so complex has been created by Claude J Woods Jr and myself. The idea of a perfect man isn’t something new. No. I’m sure there are plenty of women out there chasing the concept of a perfect man.

    Claude and I have done several tracks together and he came to me wanting to do more of a ballad type of song. So I decided I wanted to reimagine the idea of a ballad. Not the typical ballad or power ballad, but rather a stripped down and barebones bare the soul kind of thing. I came up with a very simple yet rhythmic solo electric guitar part that expressed that vibe. Claude responded with a melody and lyric idea that transformed into what you hear now.

    In Claude’s words: “The song turned out to be an introspective of being a man basically in charge of his world. Where he’s not egotistical enough to think that he is invulnerable or infallible in his endeavor to be the man that he was taught to be. He’s able be strong in his conviction and responsibility, while still keeping his self esteem and self confidence. This man has a strong desire to be good whilst at the same time staying honest and humble.”

    For me, it became about how a man could be put on a pedestal by his significant other. He realizes he’s been put there. That he wants to let them know about his imperfections and despite the possibility he might let them down, he’s still there for them, to the best of his abilities.

    The journey of getting the song tracked initially went very different from how I had expected to do it. The simplicity of the guitar part took a lot more work than it what the auditory sound like. I spent a couple of days playing thru various amp and mic combos to get the right vibe with the guitar I was playing.

    Once I had the guitar sound and got it tracked, I fought with my arranger & producer self to keep from putting too many instruments or layers into the production. In doing so, I really had to pay attention to how much emotion was coming thru the minimal amount of parts. A lot of attention to the detail of being able to propel the song forward came in to play. Usually I can throw the kitchen sink at a song and keep it interesting by sheer number of noises and layers I put in. The concept here thwarted that notion and made it more difficult to achieve.

    I gotta wonder if the feelings I ran thru working on accomplishing the goal of simplicity runs anywhere similar in nature to how Apple designs their iconic products.

    It’s my pleasure to present this song to you. I’ve already had some female friends tell me it makes them feel super sentimental to the point of bringing a tear to their eyes. To me, that’s the ultimate in compliments when a song can move a person to such strong emotions.

    Let me know how it moves you. I know Claude and I will appreciate hearing your connection.

    p.s. you can read more about the song here.

  • Reboot

    Reboot

    I did a little social media reboot. Not that you would have noticed.

    As much as I’d like to think I’m a household name and people hang upon my every little nuanced portion of life. I know that’s not my reality. Though it has been suggested to me more than once in my life that I should have a camera crew following me around.

    The reboot…

    A couple of weeks ago, I decided to make a change in my social media. Such that I took several hours, over the course of several days, to delete my Facebook posts history. I noticed a real stupidity in my own beginning there. The progression of posts didn’t get a whole lot better. But they were less stupid.

    I then found a means for wiping out my Twitter posts as well. Before I did that, I took the time to have Twitter send me an archive of all my past Tweets. I have no desire to go back and read through that history – but I have it saved in hard copy form should I ever wish to peruse my momentary lapses of reason on that platform.

    I continued the wipeout process by archiving a vast majority of my Instagram posts as well. I stopped short of completely wiping it out at the behest of an Instagram professional. He wanted me to leave a few posts – and start on a new schedule, which is what I’ve been doing there.

    Why did I do all that?

    The main reason for going on a social media reboot was to feel like I had a fresh slate. To make sure that I was more focused on what I was to post next. Each platform (Instagram, Twitter..) will get a more focused concept to what I’ll post on each. Have already made minor tweaks on Instagram that have yielded fantastic results.

    Quite frankly, I’m pretty much done with Facebook. Yes, I get the irony of typing that, when Instagram is owned by Facebook. Another friend recently tried to get me to start doing informative videos related to music and posting them to Facebook. However, with the recent spate of privacy issues and low reach Facebook gives to content creators at this point, it feels like a lost cause.

    The pivot

    2018 started with a huge amount of promise. I was to be going out on a major tour with a big artist, had a new band nearly finished and in the last lap of finishing the production on a bunch of singles.

    Suddenly, the artist I was too open for disappeared. Which required a quick change as my whole year was geared to being on the road. I hunkered down and finished up a new library of music. I also got into producing for other artists and helping them realize a goal of sounding great in a recording. There’s another project I’ve been working with that could result in something I’ve never seen a band do in the history of music.

    Goodbye 2018

    You’ve been a roller coaster of a year. Some really high highs and a near rock bottom low. I’m ready for 2019. The year where I’m not hyping anything – but rather letting you know when something has released. There will be new music released every month in 2019. If you got this far, I hope you’d sign up on my email list and join me for this reboot of a musical journey.

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