Voices In My Head Podcast # 236:Crowd Music Part 2 - The Sampler

Today's podcast is brought to you by Audible. Get a free audiobook download and 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/voicesinmyhead. That's audibletrial.com/voicesinmyhead. Over 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle, or MP3 player. That's audibletrial.com/voicesinmyhead. Give it a try today! Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of me, Rick Lee James. I'm a recording artist, a singer, songwriter, an author, a worship leader, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. The Voices in My Head podcast is your source for discussions on music, literature, movies, pop culture, theology, and more. Now sit back, relax, and listen to the latest episode. Of the Voices in My Head podcast. And don't forget to let the voices in your head be heard by following me on Twitter @RickLeeJames and sharing your thoughts about today's show. Welcome back to Voices in My Head. As always, I am your host Rick Lee James, and I'm super glad that you're here with us today. This is gonna be a fun episode because today I get to do a little bit of a follow-up on an episode I did a few weeks ago with our friend David Browning from CrowdMusic. Now CrowdMusic at the time was just about getting ready to launch, and I wasn't able to share any music with you yet from Crowd, but I'm happy to say that now I have some music from CrowdMusic, and it is great. And I asked David Browning this morning, I talked to him on the phone, I said, "Hey, I think it would be a really great idea if you would allow me on the Voices in My Head podcast to introduce some of these great artists for people to hear, because I think people are excited about CrowdMusic, but they don't know what they're signing up for necessarily if they haven't heard the artist." So I told them I wouldn't play entire songs, but I would play parts of songs for people to hear and give them an introduction to the kind of music you're gonna get whenever you subscribe to CrowdMusic. What happens is they send you a batch of songs every month. I think it's 30 songs every month. They sent 31 this time as a thank you package from CrowdMusic, and I have listened to these songs over and over and over again. I have just loved them. So here are some of my favorites, and I'm gonna play them for you today. There's a wide variety of styles, and I'm gonna play a little bit from each of these tracks for you to hear. I would play all 31 for you if I could, but I'm just not gonna have that kind of time today. So let's see, where do I start? Where do I start? Maybe I'll just go alphabetically down the list. I really like this song by Adam McDonough called Fix Us, so I think that's gonna be the first one that I'm gonna play a clip for you from CrowdMusic. By the way, if you go to crowdmusic.com/rickleejames, you can go to my CrowdMusic page and you can join CrowdMusic using my number 3 3-7. I would encourage you to do that, and we can join together. Whenever you sign other friends up for CrowdMusic, for every person you sign up, they give you a dollar that goes off of your monthly subscription fee. So if you get enough friends to sign up, you get CrowdMusic for free every month. So that's just something you can do. I'd encourage you to do it. You don't have to. You can just go to crowdmusic.com, but if you go to crowdmusic.com/RickLeeJames, you'll be helping the podcast out in doing that. So without any further hesitation, I'm going to share with you a bit of this track by Adam McDonough, Fix Us.

On top of a bed of nails. So much to say, but no one here speaking. Afraid that I should ask, say, I don't know if I should give you space. Is the pressure going to make you break? I don't know if I should throw you a line, 'cause we're standing on thin ice. I'm going to fight to Fix it. Whatever it takes to make it right. Yeah, 'cause we'll never know if we never try. I'm gonna find it. I'm gonna find it. Fix it.

Wasn't that a great song? And I know you want to hear all of it, so you want to, you know, subscribe to CrowdMusic. But if that didn't convince you, let me share some more music with you. How about Aaron Benward? Do you remember Aaron Jeffries? Was it Aaron Jeffries? Aaron Jeffries, that's what it was back in the '90s Christian music heyday. They had a group together. Well, this is Aaron Benward, and this is his track that you can only find on CrowdMusic.

change your life. Turn around and say goodbye before you drown. You take a look inside your closet. The bones have all rotted. It's time to bury them deep underground. At every wrong turn, there's a right way. Every night then dawns a new day. Every secret Every season brings its own change. Why not today? Why not today?

Well, that was Aaron Benward with "Why Not Today?" I really like that tune, and I'm just gonna keep going alphabetically down with ones I really like. This is a song called "Night Ride." by Ashley Leone, and I think you are really going to enjoy it a lot.

Woke up from a dream that I had about you. I found a letter, internet things I wasn't supposed to, but it gets better. Yeah, we were meant to be. And we got back together. All the mistakes we've been making, all of the lies we've been shaking, all of the heartache. And baby, we took a night ride, just like we used to. Took a long drive, just like we were supposed to.

Baby, took a night ride, just like we Well, our next track is by Ben Jenkins and it's called Gasoline. I love this one.

That California coastline, she's begging for a new life, and I know there's nowhere else I'd rather be. See, I've got nowhere else to go. All the time in the world to gaslight.

Well, I hate to keep doing this to you, but you know, you're just getting into a song and then I have to stop it because I can't play the whole thing for you. But crowdmusic.com/RickLeeJames, they can hook you up with these great songs. The next one that I have is actually called Well Behaved Women, and it's by a group called Carolina Lyre. Check this out.

All sense of you. Now staying quiet never solved any issues. You think you're safe when you do what you're told. You're not that happy, and I'm never wrong. Just give me one reason, and I'll call it off. I'll set you free. Love is winner. They live like dogs, they never make history. So come on, come on, come on, let me show you, let me show you, 'cause we'll be equal. They live like dogs, they never make history.

That was Carolina Lyre. Our next one is Chris Lockwood, and the song is called innocent.

When I was a young boy, I wanted to be a man.

But now that I am old, I want to go back again when I would close my Well, that's one of my very favorite tracks of the 31 that they sent to me, and I'm really— man, I just don't know what to say about these artists. You don't hear them on the radio, and I think you should. Face it, a lot of us don't hear much of anything on the radio because we're always confined to our devices and what we're listening to anymore. I think that CrowdMusic is offering some great stuff. Now maybe the music that I've offered so far, maybe it's too singer-songwriter-y for you. Check this out for those of you that might have some more urban taste. This is Chris Webby and the University of Life. Welcome to the University of Life. Gather round and take a seat, students. I'm your substitute for the night. Cause you might think you're doing it right, I thought it too, up until I learned my lesson. Now it's the lesson plan that I offer you. Study history, learn from the mistakes of those who came before you so you can make it through life differently. Take Economics, a business class if you got it.

Had to learn that one myself when people got up in my pockets.

'Cause the school of hard knocks is full of roadblocks and potholes. And semester after semester, life is a long road. You gotta take some risks. But if you live in danger, risk, just know the consequences for the way you live. Because exposure from life is permanent. Ain't no principal's office, it's church services. So for all my fallen classmates, I tip this bottle of bourbon and pour it out. As I question what this life is all about, that's when they told me, welcome to the University of Downtown. There is something for everyone for sure at CrowdMusic. And again, I'm gonna keep like it's an infomercial. crowdmusic.com/RickLeeJames. Use my number 337 to subscribe. This next track is really special to me because it's by Dave Cleveland, and the song is called Fire Color. Most of you, or some of you, might know if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, or if you've read the liner notes of my latest album, Hymns, Prayers, and Invitations. Dave is one of the main guitar players on that album, and it was fun to be able to do some, like, guitar duets with him. He's one of the greatest guitar players on the planet, and I am not exaggerating about that at all. He has played for just about everybody in the industry, and this is one of his tracks, an original song, Fire Color. Check it out. Well, I wish I could play the rest of that song for you because I was really digging it, and Dave is just an incredible guitar player and a really, really nice guy, committed Christian. And I can't say enough good about Dave Cleveland. I would lay down in traffic for that guy, I promise you. Really amazing dude. How about for those of you that are into country music and want something that's a little better than the bro country that's on the radio right now, but still has a similar feel to it in some ways? I really like this one by Dave Finley called Same Ole, and here it is.

How you been? Haven't seen you in so long. You still a tin? Girl, what's been going on? I thought by now you'd probably be all married up and settled down. Girl, it's been a while now since our summer love. Well, over here there ain't been that much changed. I got the same old truck, same old job, same old house with the same Still waiting at the window for you to come on by. Got the same old town, same routine. One thing's missing, girl, you and me. Yeah, I still think about you all the time. No, girl, for me it ain't nothing new. I'm still the same old boy, still in love with you. Still in love with you.

Well, for those of you that might have something a little harder in mind that you want to hear, this is Greg Bissonnette, and it's a song called Mars. The instrumentation in this is amazing, the vocals are awesome, and if you're into a little heavier rock music, I think you're gonna like this one.

Like a comet, I'll fly through the Milky Way. Screaming like a satellite, I'll wish upon a star. I'm a constellation fighter, I might as well be on Mars.

I think that song is just awesome. It kind of reminds me of like, I don't know, Skillet mixed with Rage Against the Machine, and I really like it. What can I say? If you don't want to drive faster when you're hearing that song, then maybe you aren't really listening. I don't know. As you can tell, I like a lot of different music styles, and this is one that truly is going to be different than anything that we've played so far. And it's also just another example of the diverse music that Crowd God Music is offering each and every month whenever they send out the new music. This is John Steele, A Nail in the Tail. Check out this amazing jazz music. I could listen to that all day, and I really love that bass playing. That was just incredible, the upright bass. You don't hear music like that on the radio, at least not around where I'm at. So how about this next selection? This lady has an amazing voice that really draws you in, and it's almost like a— how do I describe this one— gypsy pop? Let's Let's see what you think of it.

Julia Ross, "Fell in Love with a Thief." You better watch your back, 'cause I'm a thief and I'm gonna steal your heart. Heart, heart, you'll never get it back. Better believe it, I'll tear your world apart. And take you far, far, we're never coming back. When you can't believe your eyes and you're begging on your knees. When everything you had is gone, you cry into a gypsy song. You fell in love with the thief. You fell in love with the thief. You fell in love with the thief.

That was Julia Ross, "Fell in Love with a Thief." And here is another amazing female vocalist named Kensington Moore, and I think we are going to be hearing a lot more out of her in the coming days.

All changed. Now you want me back, but I forgot your name. And I don't talk to strangers. Don't be hitting me up for love, you're like a beggar. No, I can't give you the pleasure, cuz I don't talk to—

I don't talk to I really love when I hear a song that starts out small and gets bigger and bigger, and this song Waiting by Manny Cabo is really one of those songs. And it just adds excitement as you're listening, and it just keeps making you think, where's it going to go from here? Well, guess what? You're not gonna find out because I'm only gonna play part of it. But here is Manny Cabo, Waiting.

But I had a little bit of help tonight. Walking in and out the front door, it's always the same whether I'm coming or going. You never change. I can hear the baby crying. Lord, there's no denying that the love we made was so yesterday. Cuz you keep me waiting.

Well, I hate to cut it off just as the guitar is really getting going, but I got more music to share with you and I don't have tons of time. So Not My Kind of Baby is the next song, and it's not your typical kind of song that you hear on a regular basis because it's Texas swing. When was the last time you heard that on the radio or even pushed on something like iTunes or Spotify? Music City Doughboys, they are awesome. Check this out.

You're not my kind of baby, not my kind of girl. If I have to pay for you in diamonds and pearls, I'm no sugar daddy. Fun as you may be, you're not my kind of baby. You're no good for me. The first time that I saw you, I was sure you were my style, just the girl that I've been dreaming of. But as I When I got to know you, I could see your pretty smile. It's a wise disguise of pure commercial love. So I hang on to my wallet. Thank you for the world. You're not my kind of baby. Not my kind of girl.

Well, if you weren't tapping your foot along to that one, I don't know what to do for you. This next song is by Pleviak, P-L-E-V-Y-A-K. He is someone that reminds me a lot of John Mayer in the sense, very bluesy, awesome guitar player, great voice, and I think you're really going to like this tune a lot. I dig it and I can't wait to hear more from Pleviak in the future. So Up for air, plebiek!

Hands underwater, I wish we could drown. Live here forever, let the waves pull us down. I'll be the sand to your sea. Just stay here, floating like this with me. Let's never come up for air. Cause under the surface, the world can't hurt us no more. And damn, it ain't fair, let's never come up for air.

Well, if you're driving, buckle your seat belts because this is Bleed by Save the World and it is a rockin' tune.

Pissed, used in the desert sand, sent home to the promised land. A jaget, jaget. Now he's a stranger in his hometown, walking the streets, living hand to mouth. Jaget, jaget, jaget, jaget. When you're down and out, we pray for you, bro, with a bang.

Man, I'm really sorry I can't share all of these songs at full length with you, because if you're like me, you just really get into it and get rocking and you want to hear the rest. And sorry, y'all just subscribe to CrowdMusic. I'm only gonna share one more clip of a song today with you, and I'm gonna have to get out of here. But this is a really great one to end with. Ironically, it's called Starting Over, which funny to share that with the title Starting Over as the last track when we're ending. But I just have one more quick thing to say after I play the clip from this song, and I want to tell you something really great about CrowdMusic and the people who run it. So, um, yeah, listen to this one and I got just some closing words for you. When I first heard that song a few days ago, I was so excited about it because I didn't know where the chords were going. You know what I mean? Like, you hear a song enough on the radio and you kind of hear the formula and the way that pop and country and rock and different types of music, they kind of have this formulaic, kind of cookie-cutter almost pattern to the way that the songs are written and the way that they're recorded. And the best thing I can say about what I'm hearing from CrowdMusic in just this first installation alone that they've sent out is it's unpredictable. The styles are so diverse. There are so many incredible artists that I have never heard before, and I am looking forward to hearing them in the coming days. I know it may seem like $20 a month is a lot for a music subscription service, and maybe for some of you you think, well, I'm going to put that into Apple Music or in Spotify or something. But I have to tell you, one thing that I love about CrowdMusic is this money goes to the artists. You are actually helping them continue their livelihood. You're helping them continue to make music. And there's one other thing on a personal level that I want to share with you that David Browning shared with me, and I don't think he said this on the podcast cast last time, but David Browning, one of the founders of CrowdMusic, when we were talking about this music service, he said, one thing that you can know for sure if you subscribe to this music service, no matter what, the guys who run this, we are all believers. And when we make money from this, you better believe that our money is being tithed for the kingdom of God. We are using it to build God's kingdom. And I was just thinking about the podcast I just did with Brian Owens and how we were talking about what what it means to be gospel-minded people. And Brian makes this amazing R&B music, and yet it's not congregational music, and it's not hymns and things like that, but it is gospel music. And the way he is using it is for the spreading of the gospel. If you are a person that wants to support godly people who are trying to do innovative things in the music business, then I would suggest that you give CrowdMusic a try. Try it for a month or two. Just see. I think you are going to be so incredibly surprised by the quality that you get. Even if you don't sign up using my number and even if you don't go to my website, you can just go to crowdmusic.com and you can just sign up. You don't have to use my number. I won't get any credit for it that way. My hope in doing this podcast is that you will just sign up and be a part part of this, because I'm excited about something creative and innovative. Too often Christians simply resign themselves to one particular kind of music and one particular way of doing things. And Christians aren't always the ones who are making the ripples in the pond. And I've heard this analogy before and I really like it: what Christians should be in the world are the people who are that rock that is hitting the water and making the waves. But what we too often do is we just jump on the ripples, which the ripples are strong too, but the ripples get smaller and smaller as it goes out. And so instead of being the ones who are doing something creative and something new and something fresh for the kingdom of God, too often instead of being that splash in the water, we are just content to ride on the ripples. And I just think that from knowing David, the little bit that I know, and having the new friendship that I formed with him, getting to hear from him his heart, not only for making quality music and bringing quality music to people, but also whatever he earns, small or large, knowing that he is using that for the building of the kingdom of God. I don't think you can say that about Apple Music. I don't think you can say that about Spotify. I don't think you can say it about other places. And if you know me at all, you know I love I love all kinds of music, and I think that the kingdom of God is so huge, and it would be a mistake to confine ourselves to just one thing. When we are in heaven worshiping our Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit one day, we are not going to have just one thing, I don't think. I think the diversity of creation is going to be present, and we are going to hear music like we have never heard before.. So in some ways I hear music like this and I just think in my heart, wow, this is like rehearsal for that Kingdom of God moment one day when we are going to be around the throne and we are going to be sharing with many voices, with many styles, all of us together from every nation, every tribe, maybe even other planets there together. And I'm excited about that. And so that's why I'm excited about CrowdMusic. So if you want to join CrowdMusic, MUSIC. I've done my best today to give you a preview of it, and I've done my best today to show you what you're going to get when you subscribe. You can use my site if you like, and I would appreciate that. It gives me a little bit of credit because I'm just a subscriber like you guys are. I don't get anything from this. I just really believe in this music service. But if you sign up under me, like I said before, every person that you sign up under your number, you get a dollar towards your subscription. So like, if one of you signs up today, my payment per month goes from $20 a month down to $19. And if I get 10 of you, then it goes down to $10 a month. So I am a paying subscriber just like you guys are. I just love good music and I want to be a part of supporting that. And I love what David Browning and the founders of CrowdMusic are doing. So, sermon run over, I guess. But I really believe that and feel that from my heart. I want to thank Craig Adams for turning me on to CrowdMusic in the first place a few months ago. I really am hoping that this will be something that really helps a lot of artists to continue making great art. And maybe one day you'll even get to hear some of my music through CrowdMusic, God willing. We'll see, and we'll see what God has in store for that. But if you don't, obviously you get a lot when you subscribe to Crowd. So that's all I have today, and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Voices in My Head as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you. It takes a lot of work to do an episode like this and a lot of editing, but it's still a lot of fun. I didn't get tired of these songs. I've listened to probably all 31 songs that they sent out in this first release, probably about 4 times through at least each of them. I listen to it— I literally am running, and sometimes when I hear good music it makes me want to get up and run. So in the morning when I work out, I'm listening to Crowd music oftentimes, and it has not disappointed me. So thank you for listening to Voices in My Head. I'll be back to you soon. Check out my website at rickleejames.com. I do have some upcoming tour dates, and I'd love to see you there. And in November I start recording the new album, including the unpublished Rich Mullins song "Thunders." So be watching for that. Thank you for listening to Voices in My Head. Thank you for being the wonderful listeners that you are. Make sure and send us some feedback and— it sounded like feedback, didn't it? Send us some feedback at Voices in My Head. I'd love to hear from you. You can email me, rick@rickleejames.com, or on Twitter or Facebook, or just look up my name. Find me. So God bless you guys, thank you for listening, and join CrowdMusic just as quick as you can. Have you ever thought to yourself, man, I'd like to host my own podcast? Well, guess what? You can go to podbean.com/voices and get everything you need to create, manage, and promote your podcast. I use Podbean every week for Voices in My Head. There's easy uploading and publishing tools, stunning templates, custom domains, social and promotional tools, an embeddable podcast player, monetization tools, and more. It is your all-in-one podcasting solution. With Podbean, you can create professional podcasts in minutes without any programming knowledge. Best of all, everything is mobile ready right from the start. So go to podbean.com/voices, and when you sign up, use the code voices and you'll get a sizable discount. Podbean for your home podcasting. Thank you for listening to Voices in My Head. Thank you for joining me here this week on the Voices in My Head podcast. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com, follow me on Twitter @RickLeeJames, like my artist page on Facebook book at facebook.com/rickleejames, and keep up to date on what I'm writing at my author page on amazon.com. Make sure to follow my calendar on the website, and if you would like to have me come to your town to do a concert, a speaking engagement, or a book event, you can book me through my website by clicking on the link for Pare Booking Agency. That's P-A-R-E Booking. And finally, it would mean the world to me if you were to leave me a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews that we receive, the more visible this podcast is on the internet. And now the benediction: May the God of peace who raised Christ from the dead strengthen your inner being for every good work, and may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest upon you and dwell within you this day and forevermore.

Amen.