A Pandemic Resurrected My Music

I'm really excited to release a "new" song to the public today, because of the story behind it. I hope you like it.

The Song That Slipped Away

In 1994, my good friend from college (Trevor Blanton) asked me to write an original song for him. He wanted to sing a song to his wife Karen at their wedding. It would be one of his first gifts to her; a song that no one had ever heard. I worked on it for weeks and created the original demo in my home studio - a simple 4-track cassette recorder and a few electronic keyboards.?

Trevor sang the song at his wedding. As time goes on, you lose things. We all lost touch with each other, except the occasional call or meet up over the years. Trevor lost the tape, and I had all my stuff packed up from several moves. The song was essentially lost, until the pandemic summer of 2020. I decided to unpack every box in my house and found all of my old 4-track cassettes. I wanted to convert every cassette to digital and be rid of tapes for good. I don't like tape. I know analog folks disagree, but I hate it. In the midst of doing this, I lived my life from 17 to 25 all over again listening through all of the songs I recorded on that pitiful 4-track setup. During this process, I found this wedding song, "Nothing Else Will Ever Do". I remembered Trevor.

My early dreams of being the next Mutt Lange (famous rock producer/engineer) faded as marriage and different ( i.e. safer) career choices were made. I actually did eventually move to Nashville and live there for 20 years. During my time in Nashvegas I tried to do a few musical things, but it never went anywhere. I played at the Bluebird cafe on songwriter night before the television show “Nashville” overhyped it. I recorded a few things at friends' home studios. I even built a pro-level recording studio in my home. It became the loneliest place in town because I never used it. I did eventually meet some fabulous people who were in the music industry that eventually became good friends, and this is where the story gets interesting.

Go Back, Jack. Do It Again

When I came across the original demo from 1994, I decided that I should redo the song properly - making it sound the way it did in my head. I didn't want to create a new, updated version. I wanted to sound like it would have in the early 90's - period accurate. My goal was to create a power ballad love song with influences of Chicago 17, Bryan Adams, and Toto from that same era. I reached out to several people from my Nashville network and before I knew it, I was on a major mission. I started recording in January 2021 with the help of Bill Vincent doing the initial keyboard track (using an original Yamaha DX7 keyboard). Bill and I worked at Deloitte together in Nashville when I was just a budding performance newbie. It was Bill’s new keyboard track that laid the foundation for the new version of the song.

?I handed it off the basic tracks to Sean Paddock, who performed the drums. Sean is not only a phenomenal drummer, but one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He just happens to play for Kenny Chesney too. His drum tracks were perfect for the song. It then went to another amazing musician - Blair Masters. Blair is a top tier Nashville studio cat who has played keyboards and programming for a wide range of artists including Garth Brooks, Casting Crowns, and Megadeth! Blair added the horns, strings, and brought out the "Chicago" in the song. For vocals, I picked Luke Brown (of The So Manys) to do the vocals because I knew he would nail it, and he did! Luke is a veteran session vocalist in Nashville. I've wanted to work with him for 10 years, so this was the perfect chance.??

I recorded the guitars at my new home studio in Florida. I placed the song in the care of my friend J.R. McNeely - who not only mixed the song, but added bass guitar, percussion, background vocals, and added some "Disney". Even before I knew J.R., he had worked on many of my favorite albums going back to the 90's. With hundreds of albums with his name on it, he's worked with artists like TobyMac, Skillet, Francesca Battistelli, and John Elephante.??

The last step in the process is having the song mastered. This is a crucial step in making the song sound professional for all formats that it will eventually be used for. I chose Brad Blackwood at Euphonic Masters in Nashville because he is the best. Period. You can see all of Brad’s credits on their web page, because they are just too many to list. I selected to have the song specially mastered for an iTunes release (intuitively called “Mastered for iTunes”) which Brad is one of the mastering studios that offers this service. In my opinion, mastering is vital if you really care about the final music product you are creating.

Thank You For The Music

All of these people were top level, amazing, and so easy to work with.? At a time when musicians weren't able to get out and play live and the studios were empty, they all made a way for this song to happen for me, and I am forever thankful. This is the song I had in my head back when I wrote it.?

Once the new song was completed and available for review, the first thing I did was contact my old college buddy Trevor. I sent him the song to listen and play once again for his wife, Karen. Now they have something they can keep forever. My 30th wedding anniversary is coming up and I plan to use this song when we renew our vows.??

Here Ya Go...

Now I present it to you. You can find the song "Nothing Else Will Ever Do" by Scott Moore on Apply iTunes/Music, Amazon, Spotify, and most places songs are found. If you like it, buy it, and let me know! Here are some links:

Buy and stream my song, “Nothing Else Will Ever Do”:

• iTunes link
• Apple Music link?
• Amazon Music ?
• Spotify???

Check Out My Friends Stuff Too...

?The other amazing musicians that helped me on this project deserve a plug:?

• Check out J.R. McNeelys one man band version of the Cars “Just What I Needed” ?
• Don’t miss Bill Vincent’s one man Elton John Tribute:
• Luke Brown - The So Many’s - “Keep Falling”
• Sean Paddock - Country Drummer of the Year: https://youtu.be/JJR0yA5xYy4?
• Blair Masters playing with Tim Akers & The Smoking Section. It’s the best cover of “Shake it Off!” I’ve ever heard.?