Friday, May 22, 2015

Southern's Who I Am


Andrew Robert Allen album: Southern's Who I Am
Music has played an important role in my life for many years. Whether learning fundamentals through piano lessons, playing French Horn in middle school and high school symphonic band, studying music theory, taking and teaching guitar lessons, playing bass in the youth praise band at church, singing in the choir, playing in the church orchestra or for a dinner theater, leading worship as a summer missionary, busking on the sidewalk of Kansas City, Athens or Roswell, Georgia writing songs, playing in the worship band at church, or just enjoying others music, it has given me an outlet to express myself, create, have fun, and connect with God and others.

I've written quite a few songs throughout my life and in recent years I've written several in the country and southern rock genre. It's one thing to play a song you've written at home or for a few friends or family but to actually put production behind it with multiple parts and capture its full vision and potential is something that I've not often gotten to experience.

People talk about bucket lists and life goals and for me, recording a high quality album of my own songs has been on that list for a number of years. I had the blessing of living next door to an audio engineering student for a couple of years and he was extremely generous with his time and knowledge and assisted me in the process of recording and producing the songs on Southern's Who I Am.

Songs aren't necessarily autobiographical but elements of the songs are representative of who I am: Southern, drinker of sweet tea, enjoyment of clever wording, fun, pursuing God, and love of mama. One element of my heritage included in the album is the farm where my dad grew up which served as the backdrop for the photography.

The Bible talks about doing things as unto the Lord and we worked very hard to produce the album at an excellent level. While most of the songs are not overtly Christian or spiritual, there are overtones of God and Jesus woven throughout. My goal in recording the songs was to create a quality product that I would be proud of and enjoy and hopefully others would too.

I think a large part of being a creator is wanting others to listen to and experience your art. Though I don't always see the numbers or recognition that I might like, God keeps telling me to be faithful and pursue things as best I know how and He will work to accomplish what He wants to through it. I don't know if my music will go beyond a few friends and family members but it sure has been fun and I'm really happy with the result.

I'd love for you to check out the whole album or even a few songs. You can download the album on iTunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/southerns-who-i-am-ep/id978899270 It's also available on Amazon and Spotify if those are more your style.

I'd love to hear what you think of the songs. If you have a moment, check it out and drop a review on iTunes, Amazon, YouTube or even here on the blog; every review helps.

Here are a couple samples via YouTube.




In pursuit of His best,

Andrew
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