music
The music player below contains a few of the songs I have written and/or played on in my career. Below the player is information on each song. Hope you enjoy!
MP3s of the songs from the Dangerous album and Reflections of Psalms from the An Audience Of One album can be purchased below. More MP3s from An Audience Of One can be purchased at the Nehemiah Web Site.
Structured Dissonance
This is a really in-your-face instrumental piece that Chad Jasna started playing at practice one day. We loved it and basically turned it into the intro for the song Dangerous. The opening chord and main riff use a root note with a flat 5 and that really gives off a lot of tension in the tones. Buy MP3
Dangerous
For a keyboardist, Bill Rebsamen really rocks! This is one of the best tunes he wrote for the Dangerous CD. The guitar parts on this song and most others on this CD were recorded using my Jackson Soloist and Mesa-Boogie Mark III combo. Chuck Law's awesome production skills added the huge, fat sound. Buy MP3
Take It All The Way
Another good tune from Bill. I think this is one of the strongest songs on the CD. I love the melody line that Bill and I play together. The dynamics are good and bassist Mark Clay played his butt off. This song also shows the great singing ability of Rodney Huckey. Buy MP3
Message
Can you believe a keyboardist wrote this song? Rodney, who at the time had probably never heard Stephen Pearcy of Ratt, does a pretty good impersonation. Mark has some hot bass licks on this song. Buy MP3
Something In Return
This is my first song on the CD. Rodney and former bassist Greg Gibbons wrote the lyrics and vocal melodies. This started out as a Van Halen-esque tune. The middle section and solo is a tribute to TNT, a great melodic hard rock band from the 80's and 90's. The end solo is more reminiscent of Neal Schon, someone I have been compared to a lot. That is a great compliment because Neal is an incredible guitarist. Buy MP3
Turn Or Burn
Chad Jasna plays the rhythm guitar and first solo on this tune. I'm doing the dissonant melody and the end solo. Kirk did some tasty drumming on this song. Again, Mark is ripping on the bass. Buy MP3
The Ascension
No guitars allowed. This is a haunting keyboard solo/intro to Louder Than Hell. It was used on a History Channel show about cryptozoology. Buy MP3
Louder Than Hell
Chad and I wrote this song. I did not use a harmonizer on the solo. It was recorded in two parts - melody then harmony. The second part of the solo is kind of a Joe Satriani going-crazy-pulling-the-strings-off-the-fretboard thing. Buy MP3
Keeping Your Eyes On Me
A friend brought me some lyrics and I put the music to them. The solo switches between normal and harmonized. I used a Digitech IPS-33 for the harmony. Chad's solo starts at the 4:05 mark. Buy MP3
The Way It Should Be
This is a Bill Rebsamen tune. Good melodies. Good vocals by Rodney and Kirk. This solo was done in two parts. Buy MP3
Look What You've Done
My final contribution to this album. Rodney wrote the lyrics. There are two different rhythms going on. The original rhythm is the Whitesnake sounding guitar. Later I added the picked chords as the other. It is reminiscent of Tony Palacios during his days with Guardian. Buy MP3
Reflections Of Psalms
Bill wrote this instrumental song for our second album, An Audience Of One. It shows a little of our jazz/fusion side. Buddy Ashcraft is doing all of the chorusy guitars. I'm doing the distorted rhythm and the melody lines with Bill. This was recorded live to a Minidisc. Buy MP3
Fill Me Up
This song was a total blast! My good friend Chuck Law wrote this song and asked me to play on it. He was going for a Phil Collins vibe so I did my best to play like Daryl Stuermer would. This is my Schon NS-6 through my Mesa-Boogie Mark III Combo.
Very Soon
This song was a lot of fun, too! I tried to channel my inner Carlos Santana on this one. Bill did the keyboard sax solo. Kirk did a great job on the drums. This was my 1983 Custom Strat and I don't remember what amp it was. Based on the tone I would say it was my Boogie.
The Heart Of God
This is one of my favorite solos I've ever done. The tone is not where I wanted it to be but I think that was the fault of the amp. I used my Custom Strat direct into the board for the clean rhythm and my Schon NS-6 for the rest. At the time I was using a Seymour Duncan Convertible amp that just didn't quite have enough gain for me. This solo is my tribute to my all-time favorite guitarist, Steve Lukather. No, I don't think it is as good as his solos but it is one of my best.
Stormy Monday
I was asked to sit in with Gary and the Grinders and I didn't even know it was being recorded. Gary Hutchison (now with Oreo Blue) is one of the best guitar players that has ever come out of Fort Smith. There isn't a blues player within 200 miles that can outplay him. So you can imagine I was more than a little nervous playing an old blues tune like Stormy Monday with him. It turned out pretty good though. He showed off his technical abilities and speed and I just kind of took the easy road so as not to make a fool of myself. The solos are in this order: Harmonica (Gary), Sax (Brian Crowne), Guitar at 3:17 (Gary), Guitar at 6:39 (me), Guitar at 8:01 (Duane Lee), Sax (Brian), Guitar at 9:24 (Gary). Yeah, it's a long jam.
Schizoid
Bill and I were just messing around one day and decided to record this. It's been so long I really don't remember what the mode is. I think it might be Dorian.
How Long
This tune was originally by a band called The Front which had guitarist Dann Huff and vocalist Tommy Funderburk in it. The band is Rediscover, the first band I was ever in. This concert was recorded in April 1986. I had been playing guitar for just over two years. The guitar I used was my 1983 Custom Strat. My amp at that time was a Fender London Reverb and I also used a Boss OD-1 Overdrive pedal and Boss chorus pedal. The guy who ran sound for us at this show was Bob Ketchum, a producer and owner of Mountain Crest Studios. Bob produced albums by Krokus and managed Fort Smith band Paperkid.