#decisionfatigue #gift #stress #valentine #present #singersongwriter #acoustic #guitar Coming up with an original gift idea isn't always easy.

Over more than twenty years of participating in February Album Writing Month (FAWM), I’ve settled into a workflow that lets me capture a solid recording almost as soon as a new song exists. Everything begins with a guitar progression and a melody I’m humming into place. Once a few words surface, the actual songwriting kicks in. Even with all the digital tools available today, I prefer to keep things grounded by playing real instruments. I print the lyrics in large type, hang the sheet above a camera, and run through the song a few times. Usually the fourth or fifth take is the one I keep. FAWM taught me early on not to get stuck chasing “perfect.” After recording, I pull the audio from the video and drop it into a mixing program. Most of my effect settings are locked in beforehand. Then I add extra vocals and additional instruments—guitar, banjo, piano, keyboard. Once the mix sounds clean enough, I sync it back to the video. Every year I pick a new two-tone color theme for these recordings. If a song is captured this way during FAWM, it’s considered finished. After the month ends, I usually have three or four keepers that I test live on stage. Performing them helps the songs develop, but I never rerecord them. Around ninety percent of everything I’ve written in the last two decades began during FAWM—simple, consistent, effective. These days I use ChatGPT to check my lyrics for grammar and spelling and to offer suggestions; before that, I leaned on native-speaking FAWMers. The audio mix I upload to Bandcamp is identical to the one in the videos. My style is defined by single-mic, one-take recordings with a handful of added layers. I just piece songs together with a kind of easygoing, slacker charm.

Podsafe audio: https://studio273.bandcamp.com/track/what-to-get-you

I don’t know what to get you I need to figure out what you would appreciate I’m constantly in doubt

I want to be original but modest as well I haven’t got a single clue I just couldn’t tell

I don’t know what to get you but I want it to be right I don’t know what to get you I’ve been thinking all night

Something handmade, something to keep something expensive or something cheap something to listen to, something to wear something so common or something rare

It’s not about perfection it’s about being true Still I don’t know what to get you still I don’t know what to get you

I want it to be personal it has to be real Funny but meaningful not that big of a deal

I hope to bring a smile and happiness if I could Wrap something nice so we both will feel good

I don’t know what to get you but I want it to be right I don’t know what to get you I’ve been thinking all night

Something handmade, something to keep something expensive or something cheap something to listen to, something to wear something so common or something rare

It’s not about perfection it’s about being true Still I don’t know what to get you still I don’t know what to get you

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