I cant recall if I shared this before or not but this is simply a fusion of two great songs that change the genre, direction and potentially the audience of the originals.  This is what the freedom of music is about.  The feeling you get watching this is just how it feels when you are in a zone with a band or songwriting and something great begins to happen.  They really made this their own to say the least

Click here to view the embedded video.

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One additional bit of information – and uplifting for me so the timing was great.  For those of you that follow the blog, you’ll recall that a fellow blog reader (and brain tumor survivor) became inspired by River of Faith and the site.  She is heavily involved in her church and handles the woman’s conference every year.

She decided to call the Women’s Conference in October of 2008 “A River of Faith” and wanted each woman attending the conference to have a copy of the CD and a lyric sheet for the song River of Faith.  We worked out a special run of CDs and just made it happen.

Anyway, she was kind enough to share the backstory with me in terms of how all of this came about and I wanted to share this with you.  When I see my music and journey as a brain tumor survivor helping people, it is so satisfying and just reinforces how God is using me.  I’m just an instrument in this whole plan.

Here are her words:

I had been having terrible headaches, dizziness, and problems with my legs. I felt like my knees were going to buckle as I felt like I was losing control. An MRI of my brain showed a problem with the Pons area. This is not something that can be fixed. The options are that it may stay stable and not change, or it could begin to flare up and grow. If that should happen, then life as I know it now will change.  At this point things are stable.

The day we went to the doctor’s office I grabbed hold of the door and as I did I heard ‘ Princess and the Pea ‘  - right then I knew that my problem was something hidden deep inside and nothing could be done. It was like God was saying ‘ this problem was as small as a pea, but you are a Princess of the King ‘.  After receiving the news, I went back to work, yes, that same day as my manager was not about to offer to work that last few hours of the day for me.  When I got home I had a short conversation with my husband and then I sat at the computer surfing the internet wondering what to do and wondering about the next woman’s conference.  The questions in my mind were ‘ would I be around for another conference? Is this going to grow fast ? ‘ etc…

I have no idea how I came across your web site. The only answer I have for that is that God Himself put your site in front of me. I listened to your music and your song ” River of Faith “  stood out in bold and I knew right away that this was to be the theme for the next conference and that the conference would be my last one. I’ve had some pretty dark times, but I believe this may have been the darkest as I sat there wondering what was to become of my family. Your music is a reminder that we all live on a river that has all kinds of turbulence, but God guides us and He’s there even if we feel lost. It’s those times we surrender all and He can speak to us and use us.

A number of ladies have told me how much they like your songs. The songs really minister to them and no matter what their situation, your songs have spoken what they have felt and has made them realize it’s ok and to keep trusting God, no matter what. Others have become closer to God – they are reading His words more and praying more. Still others are not as angry or blaming in a situation – they remember your songs and  thank God for being with them and guiding them.

I would like to thank this reader for sharing this with me.  The feedback always inspires me and adds just a little bit extra to keep everything going.

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I know my post last night was a downer.  I couldn’t sleep well last night and I often turn to music.  I am NOT much of an instrumentalist at all.  I’m a production guy.  I come up with a good piano groove, marry it with a drum groove, bass line, textures, strings and then write lyrics and come up with a melody and vocal that works. 

Last night I just needed to play.  This is just straight piano – 2 takes.  First take was just to play for a few minutes.  Second was just hitting the record button.  It’s repetitive and I’m not particulary fond of it but I’m calling it Under the Same Sky.  It’s four minutes.  As I played, I just thought about how all of our lives are so different but we all live amongst each other.  And even though we might feel unique, there is someone out there struggling with the same issue, somewhere.

Anyway, up since 3am.  Back to sleep. 

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I have been meaning to add a page to the site called “storytellers” for quite some time. I received a number of emails from people who asked if I would be willing to tell the story behind each song that I wrote for River of Faith. I thought about this and thought it was a great idea and found it interesting that so many people were interested in the “back story”.  For anyone that has seen the VH1 show in the US called “Storytellers”, the concept is very much in that vein.

To that end, you’ll find a tab at the top of the site called Storytellers. I have written narrative that explains the story behind each track on the album and have embedded an mp3 player that will play the track below the narrative. I hope you find it interesting and thank you to those that sent me emails!

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I’ve been thinking about this lately – really over the past 24 hours or so. I haven’t written a song since “Angels of the Night” in mid-May which was the last track I added to River of Faith. That song is probably the one cut that has grown on me the most of all the songs I wrote for the album, probably that song and “The Messenger”. Anyway, since everything cranked up here with my treatment, and I had the album wrapped up about the time my surgery was scheduled (in fact, the cdbaby.com site was established two days prior to my surgery on June 29th), I haven’t even played a note, wrote a word down in my lyric tablet or had the notion to write a song. Part of this certainly is what happens after completing a project – there is a lull. However, a significant part of this is just being emotionally drained by what is going on in my life right now.

Today, however, I’ve been looking over at my studio equipment and thinking that I need to play – I need to write. As I type this, I’m in my studio and I believe that I’ve taken enough time away. And it’s not writing into a project, it’s writing some songs to get out what I need to – not really any different than what I did with the River of Faith album. So, I think I will fire everything up and just play the piano for starters – just stream of consciousness. I may not even write songs right now, but playing has a certain therapeutic value. It’s been over a month since I’ve touched anything in my studio – and I don’t blame myself what with the gravity of what is happening right now, but it’s time to get back to what I enjoy. The more normalcy I can inject into my life in the midst of the madness, the better! Slowly, I’m getting there…

Site Search Tags: songwriting, album, lyrics, studio, river of faith

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My debut album, “River of Faith”, is now officially released and available for purchase on cdbaby.com. There are a number of links here on the blog that speak to the significance of this album to me as a songwriter. You can read about this at the link above on cdbaby or find more detailed info here on the blog under the Album Review tab and in other posts.

If you purchase the album, please don’t forget to come back to the River of Faith page on cdbaby.com and write a review about the album. It is much appreciated.

Site Search Tags: songwriting, river of faith, album, cdbaby

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I met a really nice guy awhile back through email – Paul Gibbs. Paul is a Christian radio host and has a weekly radio show that airs on Sunday mornings on WHAZ 97.5 FM in the Albany, NY area. A separate version of the program airs on Saturday evenings on WNGN-FM.  Anyway, on Sunday’s show he had some really touching things to say about my current situation and also played the title track from “River of Faith”. I’d like to thank Paul for sharing my music with his listeners and for the thoughts and prayers. Thank you!

If you’d like to hear this part of the show it’s queued up in the player below so check it out:

Thanks again Paul.

CD AVAILABILITY: “River of Faith” will become available shortly – probably early next week. Check http://www.cdbaby.com/markmillercd/ next week and it should be ready to go. Otherwise, just perform a search until I can get buttons and so forth in place on the web site.

Site Search Tags: songwriting, radio, cdbaby, river of faith

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In spite of what is happening with my impending surgery, I am continuing to move forward with the release of the River of Faith album. Yesterday I started the process of the release by sending a limited number of CDs to CDbaby.com where the official album page will be established and the album will go on sale. My wife and I have discussed this in terms of the disposition of proceeds from CD sales and we have decided that a percentage of sales will be tithed. It’s the right thing to do. This album as you may have read in other posts has been a significant source of strength and guidance throughout this trial in my life and it’s only appropriate that I give back. I’m still trying to determine what the web site address will be where the album will be available. I will add it here to the blog as well as on the home page if I can get it set up quick enough. Alternatively, you can check CDBaby.com in about a week and just do a search for Mark Miller River of Faith and find it just fine.

There will only be a limited number of CDs available initially but I will be replenishing stock sometime in July so please be patient if stock is consumed.

Site Search Tags: songwriting, album, river of faith, cdbaby, cd

Cheers,

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Well, after writing, recording, rewriting and working for the past 6 months I have decided to cut the album and have sent my final master off for some pre-production duplication comps that I can inspect before mass producing. I started the production of this album in mid-December, 2006 which was literally one week before I enterered into this difficult season of my life which, as you know by now, has led to the diagnosis of a primary brain tumor. All is ok as it’s surrendered to God but it’s been a tough ride! Now let’s get on to the good stuff…

You know, God has a plan for every one of us and I think it’s no mistake that I was completely mentally and creatively geared-up for this project when this all started. I was being prepared for what was coming and it was the plan all along – that I would have songwriting and this very project as a way to work through my feelings and fears. Likewise, it would be another conduit or lifeline to be used for consistent spiritual connection. It’s almost as if I was thrown a life vest not knowing why I even needed it – before anything happened. That’s what the River of Faith album from a songwriting standpoint has meant to me and will always mean to me. These songs were a source of hope and strength for me and I know God was working through my music to provide me with this when I needed it the most. And, somewhere through this process, perhaps my music can also offer hope and inspire faith in others who are facing trials in their own lives. I see nothing but positives here! As a result, He has given me some amazing inspiration and the material for the album has been some of my most inspired writing ever. For that I am truly grateful.

I will put up additional posts that will talk about the cuts on the album but for now just wanted to put up the design comps that I’m using for the album – these were sent to press along with the CD master.

CD Surface

CD Front Cover

CD Back Cover

A lot more to come as this moves forward…

Site Search Tags: CD, River of Faith, mastering, God, recording, songwriting, studio, album

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The recording, mixing and mastering for the River of Faith production is completed. I did most of the mixing of each song as I went along but the mastering I’ve been working on over the last month or so off and on as I finished off the last 2 songs or so. I wasn’t sure when I’d feel like I had enough songs. I actually wrote closer to 16-17 but some never made it down the road. I’ve mentioned in other posts that I have a song graveyard of sorts – a digital dumping ground for songs that just don’t take off for me creatively. A few ended up there and then a few I decided to cut in favor of stronger cuts. It’s pretty standard stuff really!

So I went through the mastering process which is a fairly tedious and complicated process when cutting an album. For me, I lined up every single track in Wavelab and then ran the entire stereo track through to check/monitor eqs, levels and so forth and made some across the board changes but also had to understand where I needed adjustments. I won’t get into all of the details but the end result was good. I’m very happy after the hours and hours – and days spent that the finished product is something I can be very proud of. The next step is get on with the CD duplication process. The artwork is done – I just need to key the track times into the design. More to come on that…

Site Search Tags: CD, River of Faith, mastering, recording, songwriting, studio, album

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