Should Be Famous--the best music you've never heard » cdpixton

Episode 15: Down to Pray

cdpixton — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:09:04 +0000

I guess you’d say this podcast was recorded in the spirit of the Sabbath.

9/11 Song: New York Make-Believe

cdpixton — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 01:49:12 +0000

On this 10-year anniversary of one of the most horrific events in modern memory, I thought I’d offer, for anyone who might care to hear, a song I wrote about it.

I happened to be living in NY at the time and so got a strong taste of the whole thing, the smell of destruction and of smoke, the grey dusty war-zone feel of the streets near ground zero after the tragedy, the general feeling of soberness in the city, and yet the great strength and sense of community that occurred.

This song was written on a piano at NYU in a building that had overlooked the twin towers, and is a reflection of my own feelings.

Episode 14: Amazing Grace

cdpixton — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:11:17 +0000

Just saying hi and playing you something I did recently–an arrangement of Amazing Grace on guitar. It was for a church music night kind of thing. Singing with me is Aubrey Nielsen and Kimberly Barlow is on violin. Enjoy.

–Clayton

This is a video podcast too–video is below.

Episode 13: Sailing, by Christopher Cross

cdpixton — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 04:31:08 +0000

Last time I asked you to suggest a cover for me to do. You did, and here’s my rendition of Sailing, by Christopher Cross. Thanks for all the suggestions! Hope you like it.

–Clayton

This is a video podcast too–video is below.

Episode 12.5: Breezy and THE COVER CHALLENGE!!

cdpixton — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 03:30:10 +0000

Yea, that’s me, broadcasting from the great outdoors, or the outdoors anyway. They’re great just about wherever you are, really. I play you a ditty I did for a commercial (which, again, wasn’t picked, but is GOOD), talk about songs and tempos, Einstein and gravity/acceleration, and. . .

THE COVER CHALLENGE: Suggest a song you’d like to hear me cover for the next podcast. You know, cover as in sing a song that was written by a different artist. Leave your suggestion in the comments/Leave a Reply section below (shouldbefamous.com). I’ll pick one. Bring it on!!

This is a video podcast too–video is below.

Episode 12: Your 1st Music Purchases

cdpixton — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 01:48:38 +0000

This episode is the result of my last call for listener participation (on shouldbefamous.com), where I asked you to tell me the first music you actually purchased. Enjoy.

Next time (meaning next time we do a listener participation episode) we’ll do your favorite kid song. Whether as a kid or now or I might let you submit your own kid’s favorite if you think it’s good. I can probably play it so I’ll try to do some myself for the podcast.

More peace.

–Clayton

Talk to Me

cdpixton — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 14:07:42 +0000

Greetings, listeners of the Should Be Famous Podcast. It’s been TOO LONG since the last podcast, and I miss it deeply.

But I have an idea: I’d like to begin a new thing we’ll do periodically, where we talk about what YOU like.

So this time I want to know, what is the first CD (or tape, vinyl record, wax cylinder, MP3, whatever) you bought, and why. That’s it.

Please leave a comment and we’ll turn some of it into audio that others can hear. I look forward to hearing your replies, thanks for your participation!!

Clayton

Episode 11.5: Kyrstyn Pixton, a Commercial, Fur Owa, and Magnetism

cdpixton — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:45:03 +0000

Well greetings, podcast listeners. Tell me, why is nobody commenting and yet so many are downloading? You can’t possibly agree with me so perfectly on everything I say. Am I not provocative enough, in a good way, I mean?

In any case, I still love you and thank you for listening. And I invite your comments. The place to do that, of course, is shouldbefamous.com.

This (in-between) episode features a little ditty written by my sister Kyrstyn. Brilliant little thing she probably came up with one day when she was messing around, I’m sure. Also a couple other things, plus a thought or two on gravity, acceleration, and magnetism.

Peace.

–Clayton

Episode 11: Courtney Atack, Gravity, and Acceleration

cdpixton — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:38:06 +0000

Pretty exciting. This is the very first video podcast of the Should Be Famous Podcast. Boy are you in for a treat! (hee hee hee, ha ha ha, Oh HO HO HO!!!) Ok I can’t lie. You’re not really. But it does help me to explain gravity and acceleration (they’re the same thing).

And I threw in some other stuff as I played back some hot new recordings by my phenomenon of a sister, singer-songwriter/vocalist extraordinaire Courtney Atack.

The podcast is available in plain mp3 format as well (no video).

Episode 10.5: I Try

cdpixton — Mon, 17 May 2010 10:01:53 +0000

Heard of a guy who records a running podcast–while running. Never thought I’d actually do something similar!

Well I’m still alive, as you can see. Talk a little about the Mormon Potluck Podcast, TheMitchCast, creative outlets, a hymn I’m arranging called “Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire”, a song I wrote called “I Try”, and the equivalence theory of gravity and acceleration. Soak it all in, and enjoy!

Thanks for your recent feedback, by the way, we’ll get to that!

Episode 10: LDS Music–Burn it or Build it?

cdpixton — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:24:58 +0000

That is the question we seek to answer in this episode. We also try a little to get at the essence of LDS Music (music with an LDS (Mormon) theme, or even just any music by an LDS artist). We play some unfiltered examples.

Joining our discussion as an expert on the subject is Cherie Call, a popular and very involved LDS artist and all-around cool gal with some cool music herself. Her child also appears at moments, whining in the background (we think it’s charming).

For your benefit, here are some of Cherie’s recommendations, which you might check out if you’re interested, and which we may ourselves in a future podcast: Christian artists–Sara Groves, Nichole Nordeman, and Chris Rice. LDS artists–Scott Wiley hymn arrangements (esp ‘Nearer’), Michael McLean (Forgotten Carols), Kenneth Cope, Mindy Gledhill, EFY CDs, Dan Beck.

Episode 9.5: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Love Story, Abraham’s Blood, Thanksgiving Song I, and The Fox

cdpixton — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:57:55 +0000

I’m too generous. I really shouldn’t be giving you all this great music for free. I don’t know how to justify it, except maybe that it’s Thanksgiving and the recordings are pretty much one-takers. (All done in one take.)

Five fun recordings here: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Love Story (Taylor Swift), Abraham’s Blood (by me), Thanksgiving Song I (by Skye, Courtney, Me and cousin Gabe), and The Fox (a rockin’ arrangement inspired by Nickel Creek.)

And for the 1st time: Listener Mail.

Episode 9: Bob Walkenhorst

cdpixton — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:09:14 +0000

Front man to the famed 80′s/90′s band The Rainmakers, Bob is still a musical and creative genius pumping out catchy rootsy rock songs. He lives here in Kansas City and is an active performer and has a new album. Also has a lot of very loyal fans and friends. Get ready for some really catchy music and insightful comments from a guy who has experienced a great deal of success as a musician.

Episode 8.5:

cdpixton — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:00:05 +0000

Very possibly our most controversial and divisive podcast yet, we explore what to some (if there are any others like me) is beautiful and cool and to others may be absolutely hideous garbage: music played backwards and/or sped up just for the fun of it.

I specifically request your opinion on this one, so please leave a comment! And don’t just respond if you agree with me! My wife will be your friend if you don’t. (I will too, I promise.)

Episode 8: Fiddlesticks!

cdpixton — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:17:18 +0000

No, I’m not mad. I’m talking about the celtic-american-folk family group. I spoke with Dad Marco and one of the three daughters, Liz. Very interesting family and they’ve done some great things musically. And they’re actually pretty good about getting their music out there (unlike some people I know). Listen to this stuff. If you like, go to www.fiddle-sticks.com. They’re also on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, and Deseret Book.

At the very end that’s me imitating a song of theirs on piano.

Episode 7: R Ahrens

cdpixton — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:25:50 +0000

R Ahrens, currently a family man and an attorney living in New Jersey, had a band in college called the Ahrens Band. As it turns out, he’s the brother of my wife’s former missionary companion, so I feel we’re pretty close. Seriously, we’ve enjoyed his CD for many years and I regard him as a great songwriter. And very funny. See if you hear what I hear.

Episode 6.85: Tape Saturation

cdpixton — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 04:22:25 +0000

Me playing with a cassette tape deck, seeing what it does to the sound to overdrive it. Some of the distortion is from overdriving the input, probably, and some from analog tape saturation. Either way, it sounds coooool! I explain what’s going on in dumb-person terms.

I really do have some real podcast episodes coming up.

Ahem…uh, while we’re waiting…

cdpixton — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:30:40 +0000

…for a real episode, here’s a spontaneous recording of So Fine, an old Sibling Revelry classic, and one of the first songs I wrote, in a different feel than the original, which only exists on our first album, which was a tape, and which is a little hard to come by. Enjoy!

Episode 6.5: Aural Excitement!

cdpixton — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:28:04 +0000

It’s been a little while but it’s good to be back! This is another in-between episode where I basically play some neat music while playing with a toy I’m borrowing from the custodial manager guy I know from work called an Aural Exciter. I forgot to mention that plugin versions of exiters exist, some of them free (the free ones don’t sound as good as this hardware one, however–the non-free ones probably sound quite good, including one I’ve demo-ed, “Character”, by TC Electronics.) I also play a new recording of one of my songs. Enjoy!

Episode 6: Valentine’s Podcast

cdpixton — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:20:56 +0000

On this day of love, we explore some great love songs, some well-known and some never before heard until today! Have a great Valentine’s Day!

Episode 4.5: Fat Vocals, Overdriven Piano, and My New Favorite Song

cdpixton — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:35:39 +0000

Here’s another “in between” episode. I share a couple of nerdy engineer tricks. (1) How to fatten a vocal sound (one method), that I learned from the mixing engineer of InsideOut, and (2) Overdrive, on a piano. Also, my new favorite song, well, at least a catchy one I was listening to the other day–a remix of Umbrella, a song by Marie Digby. Enjoy!

–Clayton

Episode 3.5: Musical Interlude (Itsy Bitsy, If You’re Scared, and random guitar)

cdpixton — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:29:28 +0000

In between episodes sometimes I’d like to do what I’ve done here–post some music I or maybe Skye or somebody has done recently that’s neat, even if it isn’t a complete, polished recording. Here are a couple of kids’ songs I tailored for Halloween this year (sang them at a neighborhood Halloween party)–Itsy Bitsy Spider and If You’re Scared and You Know It. Also a cool thing on guitar in Open D tuning, and another guitar/voice thing I’ve meant to turn into a song. Enjoy, and tune in next time for InsideOut A Cappella Part 2!