ANDIE LOU

New album cover for Andie Lou. Check out her fantastic EP, produced by Joe Pisapia, at andielou.bandcamp.com. 

STONE JACK JONES

I put together this cover for Ancestor, the new LP from Nashville artist Stone Jack Jones. Out March 4th!

B-SIDES

Lots of designs don't ever see the light of day, and I've been meaning for a while to dump some of them into a blog post now that some time has passed. For one reason or another, these designs never went to print, but they still hold a special place in my mind.

2013 WORK

It's been a fun year filled with great and interesting design projects that I've felt fortunate to work on. Here's a long look back. 

ROOM 237

Here's a new cover I designed for Death Waltz Recording Co, for ROOM 237. Available in both a condensed LP (with CD) and standalone CD with pop-up digipak. I wrote some liner notes as well and was very psyched to be involved with this release, a synthy, Italo-influenced score by Jonathan Snipes and William Hudson.

CAVES

Tristen has just launched the Kickstarter page for the self-release of her new record CAVES.  In addition to playing a little on the record, I did the design and layout and I couldn't be more proud to be involved with this release. The album cover photo is by Bekah Cope. The back cover art seen above will be offered as one of the Kickstarter rewards as a limited edition print. Check out the video and lend your support here.

IMPOSSIBLE TRUTH

This year I've been honored to create album artwork for some of my best friends and favorite artists. At the top of this list would be my good friend and former bandmate William Tyler, whose Impossible Truth LP will be released by Merge Records on March 19th. I'm very proud to share this album cover I designed for William. Look for more packaging shots here soon.

BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH

    

Here's one of a few illustrations I'm doing for the Nashville Symphony's 2012-2013 season. I approached making an image for this titanic piece as I would in creating an album cover, and the fine art directors of the Symphony encouraged me to have fun with it and explore whatever direction the music inspired me to explore. I was inspired by a legendary quote of Beethoven's that supposedly said the piece might recall "fate knocking at your door," as well as the idea that his fifth Symphony remains an intimidating and iconic composition for the ages. 

YOUNG VOLCANOES

One of my favorite singer-songwriters I've had the pleasure of meeting, knowing and playing with over the past several years is my good friend Zac Clark. His long-awaited debut Young Volcanoes LP is finally being released via a Pledge Music crowd-funded drive that doubles as a benefit for Burlington's Cancer Patient Support Program. As of now the project is 98% funded with 11 days left. Head to Pledge Music to watch a video about the album and, if you make a pledge, start listening to Young Volcanoes now. Above is the album cover I designed for Zac, which just went over to United Record Pressing here in Nashville along its way into listeners' hands. Please enjoy.

TRISTEN DECKS THE HALLS

Help Tristen release her “Decks the Halls” Christmas 7” by contributing to this kickstarter campaign. I played some drums and am working on the single and poster design, which I'll post soon. Pledge a little for the single, or more for additional gift goodies, like Tristen’s handmade journals and scarves. A great early present for anyone wanting to support local artists this holiday season.

JOY

I was recently asked to come up with some album artwork for Souvenir Driver, the band/alias of my good friend Nate Wey. I'm always excited to work on projects with Nate, who you may remember from a previous blog post on his great photography. Learn more and get the JOY LP here.

NORM

Dave Paulson of The Privates has released a new EP as NORM. He asked me to whip some artwork overnight for the cover. Download the excellent NORM EP on Bandcamp here.

WILLIAM TYLER - BEHOLD THE SPIRIT

Coming November 23rd on LP and CD from Tompkins Square: William Tyler's Behold the Spirit. The above album cover photography is by Mike Vallera, and I had the honor of doing the overall layout and design for my dear friend William. This is his first record released under his own name (his last full-length was released as The Paper Hats) and as you would expect from any musical endeavor by Mr. Tyler (Lambchop, The Silver Jews, Kort) it is an essential title for your music library. Beautiful instrumental, guitar-centric compositions that you can hear for yourself for a limited time courtesy of NPR at this link. I'm so happy to be even marginally involved in the release of this wonderful record, a perfect soundtrack for the changing of the seasons and the coming winter. Check it out and support your local indie record store by picking up a copy. Enjoy!

LONELY AVENUE

Today marks the release of the Ben Folds / Nick Hornby collaboration "Lonely Avenue," an album we've been working on for a little over a year. Ben and Nick have been good friends for a while but always wanted to do an album together, with Hornby (esteemed British author of High Fidelity, About a Boy and others) providing the lyrics and Folds arranging them to music and melody. I, along with the rest of the band, got to play on most of this record and help bring these lyrics to musical life. It was a cool process, I'm proud of it and excited to play these songs out on the road. AND to meet Mr. Hornby at some point soon. Anyways, I won't bother with any links here but if you pick it up please support your local independent record store and, if you really wanna make me happy, pick up the 180gram vinyl. We recorded to tape and the warmest way to hear it back is on a turntable. Here's a video preview of the record. Enjoy!.

COMING SOON

Photography by Michael Vallera, Design by Sam Smith

THE LOOKING GLASS / HIPGNOSIS

I was inspired by Lauren Taylor over at Art for Doe to do two things. First, to whip up this Looking Glass album cover for fun based on a photograph by Bekah Cope. I'll jump on any opportunity to play around with anything in this style and feel like I could stay up all night doing it sometimes. Lauren, an amazing artist in her own right, will be designing a cover for this Nashville band soon, so look out for that... I'm sure it will be more interesting and original than my blatant homage to LP cover art of the 70's...

Many of those album covers were created by Hipgnosis, a British design group I was also recently reminded to post about. Beginning with Pink Floyd's Saucerful of Secrets in 1968, they created over 100 iconic covers for their time, among these no less than what might be my favorite album cover ever: Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy. Here are a few more great ones from Hipgnosis; there's also a great new book out there called For the Love of Vinyl covering their entire body of artwork that I'd love to add to my shelf...

BENJAMIN A. HARPER'S FANTOME

The second of three new EPs from The Comfies is now up for download. I've been a rotating member of The Comfies for over five years, and Benjamin A. Harper, the man behind The Comfies, is one of my favorite songwriters and singers in the world. Needless to say, I highly recommend you check it out and give it a download. This is a 100% independent release, with a limited-edition CD on the way for collectors. I created the artwork for these EPs, the covers of which will connect in a panoramic landscape. I also played piano on one of the tracks, "Christmas Eve Eve." I'm always happy and proud to be involved with anything Ben Harper and The Comfies put out, and to help spread the word about his music. Enjoy!

Download The Comfies present Benjamin A. Harper's Fantome at Bandcamp.