I had decided early on that with this project I wanted to outsource for my sounds as much as possible. What I mean by that is that on previous recordings I recorded all the instruments myself. Unfortunately, all I had to record piano tracks with was a roland electric piano. I wanted real instruments. Real pianos. And I desperately wanted a rhodes for my electric piano sounds. So I went to Gat3 Studio here in Charlotte NC. 
I was able to track all my pianos on a 1933s Steinway Grand Piano, and a 1978 Rhodes. The sounds came out beautiful.

So we went back to Bombhouse Recording to finish laying the bass tracks down on the cd. Lee Stowe has been a friend of our family for a while, and has played with me and my dad, on many occasions. Beyond the fact that Lee is an awesome bassist he and Jason Carter, (the drummer) used to play together in a contemporary christian band called "The Ross Wright Band". They know each other's grooves really well. 

This is another session with the amazing Luke Skaggs. We didn't get everything recorded that we wanted the first pass through, so we decided to take an empty room in the HIM conference center and track the rest. Some Banjo, mandolin, and even.... some timpani's. Most of this was for the track "Rock a Bye Baby". We had a good time.

I love idioms. I love taking them and weaving them into the songs that I write. As an artist, I want to be able to take the twenty plus years of learning about God's nature, and weave it into a song using an idiom or an old phrase that everyone knows. Maybe they'll realize it's about God, maybe they won't. 

As I was writing about life, babies, and the issue of abortion, I also wanted to include a vital part to the whole puzzle. I wanted to write a song about adoption. I was inspired to use the lullaby "Rock a Bye Baby" as the inspiration for this song. 

I sat down and penned the first paragraph.

Rock a Bye Baby, in the treetop.
What are you doing, there so high up?
Who left you there, oh and why don't they care for you dear.

What came out on paper after this, was pure genius. I take full credit for writing it. I give Jesus full credit for being such an incredible inspiration. 

Hush little baby, I'm on my way,
Climbing the branches, as they start to sway,
And it won't be long, you will sleep in my strong arms tonight.

As I wrote I pictured an old gnarled tree, with a baby abandoned in the top of the branches. This tree was the broken and mangled remnants of a family. A Family tree. 

And what is this family tree? 
Twisted and broken, 
Embraced by a father of love climbing up to a child, 
With whom He's enthralled,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.

A picture of adoption. A father's intentions declared over a child. "If nobody wants you, I'll take you."

Sleep now my baby, you are my own,
I will not ever, leave you alone,
Stay in my arms, 
You will be safe from harm, here my love,

And just in case the message is lost in translation; (the message of a heavenly father who has adopted each of us as his children) 

I turned the chorus around. We love Him, because He first loved us. 

Who is this father willingly climbing up a tree to rescue a child? Who is this man hanging from the branches?

And what is this family tree?
Twisted and broken, 
Embraced by a child, with love running down from a Father who answered the call,
And down will come baby, Cradle and all.

And what comes after, is the joy and the love that flows on and on.

You can download a copy of the song for free at this link: https://www.noisetrade.com/SamuelGatlyn

Please share this with your friends. And if you want to support this project, we would incredibly appreciate it.

Thanks!

Samuel

My previous recordings I've done, I had fully produced myself. I had tracked, mixed, mastered, and played most of the instruments myself. I wanted to do something new on this album.... spend some money. 

Along with spending some money on the recording process I wanted it to sound fresh, and raw. It would be enough that I play all the acoustic guitars, piano and rhodes tracks. But I needed another sound to mix it up. 

That's where Luke Skaggs came in. Luke is one of the most amazing versitile musicians I know. The video below is a small sneek peak of one of the recording sessions we had with Luke. His sound brought these songs to life. From Banjo, to Electric and Slide Guitars, to Mandolin. Check it out.

Thanks for your support!

Samuel

Hi Friends,
This CD project has been in the works for about four years now. I started writing these songs back in early 2008. And then in october of that year we began recording.This is the first video diary I did. I'll be posting more of these. 

Thanks for watching and supporting this project.

Also as a reminder, click on this link and download a free track from the upcoming cd:
http://noisetrade.com/SamuelGatlyn

Blessings,
Samuel

Hi Folks,
I've posted a pre-release track from the upcoming album "Missing Galaxy". You can download it at: http://noisetrade.com/SamuelGatlyn .

Check it out and please share with everyone!

Blessings,
Samuel