ChatGPT Likes It!
Asked the beta of ChatGPT to write a blog post about my new album which drops Friday. Here's the query and the response. Crazy!
Me: Write a blog post about Ed Gumbrecht’s new album release, Enter the Muses
ChatGPT: Ed Gumbrecht, a talented singer-songwriter, has released his much-anticipated album titled "Enter the Muses". This album marks a new chapter in his musical career, showcasing his growth as a musician and songwriter.
The album features eight tracks, each telling a unique story through Gumbrecht's soulful vocals and creative arrangements. From the opening track "Enter the Muses" to the closing track “Air", the album takes listeners on a journey through various emotions and experiences.
One standout track is "Love Will Make Us Wise", which features Gumbrecht's raw and emotional lyrics about the struggles and challenges of life. The song swells to an uplifting chorus, with the guitar and vocal coming together to create a resonant musical moment.
Another notable track is "Walking Backward", which showcases Gumbrecht's ability to craft beautiful melodies and poignant lyrics. The song's delicate instrumentation and haunting vocals create an atmosphere of introspection and reflection.
Throughout the album, Gumbrecht's talent for storytelling is on full display. Whether he's singing about heartbreak, love, or the search for meaning in life, his lyrics are relatable and heartfelt.
"Enter the Muses" is not just an album, but a reflection of Gumbrecht's musical growth. The album marks a departure from his previous work, with more complex arrangements and a deeper exploration of themes.
Gumbrecht has also taken risks in his songwriting, experimenting with new sounds and styles. This willingness to push boundaries is what sets "Enter the Muses" apart from other albums in the singer-songwriter genre.
Overall, "Enter the Muses" is a must-listen for anyone who appreciates thoughtful and introspective music. Gumbrecht's ability to weave together beautiful melodies and heartfelt lyrics is truly a gift, and this album is a testament to his talent as a musician and songwriter.
A year ago today Colorshow was released into the streaming wilds…
It was a fun idea: pluck a bunch of original tunes from old laptops, phones, tapes and paper — re-record them with help of talented musicians and stitch them into a modern digital album. It was retro and current from the start. A project that appealed to my musical tastes…but would anyone listen? How does a song or a batch of them find an audience these days?
Here’s what happened.
On the day of the release, I sent texts to family and friends, asking them to pass the word. That gang, without any social media help, generated over a thousand streams in the first hours. And it could have ended there - a tight circle of friends who knew the music and liked the message streaming on their phones — but over the next weeks some good reviews, inclusion in playlists, and a spin on NY’s WFUV radio had tracks like One and Only expanding the bubble of listeners.
In spring we built a little website and launched on social media, not really knowing how to create a meta-network (or sure if we wanted to). For me, that process was clunky — a distraction rather than a channel for the music. However, I saw that whether we posted or not, the streams increased, the range expanded, and the feedback grew, primarily through Spotify, YouTube and Apple.
Playlists, some professionally curated and some compiled by individual music-lovers, moved Colorshow’s songs across the globe. On Spotify-for-Artists” I was able to track geographic and demographic flow. I saw how a media review in Brazil spiked listenership there, and how Germany and Holland launched a wave of European streams. In January, Finland found it. It now streams in over forty countries on six continents! The most popular track is Sand, thanks to the Whiskey and Blues playlist that featured it. The coolest discovery is that the music appeals to people of all genders and cultures. FVMusicBlog called it “a catchy release with driving instrumentation, charming vocals and an inviting vibe.”
Back in autumn we pre-released some songs from an upcoming album, and that gave Colorshow a boost. At year-end monthly streams were climbing nicely. By February, a year after its release, Colorshow’s monthly listeners numbered 5,000. Now, the songs been streamed or downloaded 50,000 times! That’s not rockstar status, but it’s a nice debut.
This is encouraging on the eve of our next release, Enter the Muses! This music has found it’s way and we’ve connected with people the world over who like the sound and the message!
Many many thanks to all the friends behind the flow of music, especially to Eric M. Lichter and Guido Falivene at Dirt Floor, and Claire Marie who will contribute her dulcet vocals again on the next album. Happy Anniversary, Colorshow. We’re only getting started!
Where’s the Stuff?
Ambitious me. Naive me. Almost a year ago I launched edgumbrecht.com with the simple intention of uploading songs and prose from my “archives”. That’s a gloss on the heaps of stuff accumulated over years on old hard drives, flash drives, CDs, tapes and papyrus! I thought, first to do the songs. Many, many songs. I thought, not just lyrics and notation, but recordings, as rough as they mostly are. Polish them and post ‘em up. Then after the music, I planned to hang my sketches, short stories, screenplays and poems on the site. And if anyone was still interested, finally, I’d reposit my novels-in-the-rough: Shadow of a Mouse, the Adjusters, and Silt. That was my grand idea.
Reality check: today I have precisely sixteen songs recorded and only eleven released. The site lacks prose and verse and any other objects d’art. It boasts about a dozen posts on the process of releasing music.
Truth is, the old songs and stories are hard to get too, need scrubbing, and distract from the good new ones that keep rolling in…
It’s time to rethink my plan.
Q: Why did I start the site in the first place?
A: Um, well, I hoped (still do) that some people will connect with and enjoy what’s there.
Alright then, as my partner and zen-master buddy, Carolyn, says, progress is progress and two albums is “not nothing.” She makes me think maybe I should just start posting stuff “without being precious about it.” I tend to agree. Simple is almost always better.
So what next?
As for recorded music: The second album will be done with mix/mastering any day. Then the streaming services will take a few weeks to pick it up. I expect the release to be in February. Meanwhile, I have started recording the third group of songs under the working title: The Devil You Know. Title track is a song about Finn McCool, Benandonner, and the magic of beer. While that’s brewing, I’m going to begin sharing the gnarly-cuts and snippets of originals I have on hand.
As for the writing: I have copyrights filed now for most of the songs/poems and several of the stories. I’m going to begin putting them up in batches over the next few months along with an index. Nothing too dense.
I like to think now the website, like it’s namesake, will begin to focus on both the journey and the destination.
As always, I’d like to thank friends for checking in and checking out my stuff. Thanks for streaming the initial songs from Apple, Spotify, Deezer, YouTube and Amazon nearly 30,000 times! That’s not nothing.
Please keep sharing the music, the stories, and the journey with anyone you feel will enjoy them.
We Bid Adieu to 2022
Dropping this single to finish the year of new music and in advance of the new album’s release in January (I hope). Here’s a link to the media release of today’s date:
https://www.newswire.com/news/upbeat-new-release-bids-goodbye-to-2022-with-a-wink-and-a-tear-21906035
How Long Do You Bake a Record?
In business I’m particular about deadlines, promises and commitments. It’s a matter of pride and reputation. I imagine those disciplines can also help in artistic endeavors, but I’m learning that albums just take their own sweet time. Never mind that I planned to release Enter the Muses this November. The record is almost, but not…quite…baked.
So, in the meantime, I’m going to drop another single, and this one is nudging back in the direction of happy – don’t let its title fool you.
Cry a Little Longer has an interesting back-story. I wrote a song for my daughters that was full of dad-advise (d)advise, which sounded fine with my solo guitar, but in the studio the lyrics were swallowed by the band. I liked the new sound but it needed another message, so I wrote a soaring lyric called Wheels Up, but I overshot the landing. That was in the spring, and I put the song on the back burner to focus on other stuff. Over the course of a month or two, I came up with a counterbalanced lyric to the upbeat melody. Cry a Little Longer was born. Who said something about wishing on stars!
The new single will be out as soon as the streaming services can process it. Let me know what you think! Your feedback is more than helpful – it directs the music.
And soon the album, Enter the Muses, will arrive – in a few weeks, I hope. Music takes time. I surrender to the Muses.
Make Us Wise: a note of explanation about the new song release
My usual muses are a cheerful lot and my music tends to be upbeat. I expect there will be some surprise about my choice of the first single out in advance of the soon-to-be-released album, Enter the Muses. Make Us Wise, the new song, will be available on all streaming services beginning at 12:01 am on 10/29 (the album which will be out in November). The track is more soulful than happy. For me, that feels right in this moment.
I mean, it’s been a wearying year, with crisis and war and societal worry. Back in May when my dad’s voice left the planet too early, my usual inspirations sat down. Unexpectedly then, other voices piped up. Over the last months new songs and stories kind-of poured into the world. The new album reflects their varied voices.
Now, in the midst of Autumn with its holidays of remembrance and gratitude, I’m serving-up Make Us Wise. I mean to encourage…but I’m really only hoping…
Summer, Friends, Weeds, Playlists
I’m off my plan. I intended to post regularly for anyone curious about where songs and stories go once you send them into the world. But these are unusual times. The world is wobbly, and I recently lost one of my close friends — my Dad. He left in May. Life was better because of him and it feels askew now. Still, he’s showing up in songs, and in my current project, Enter the Muses.
There’s a lyric he once gave me to put to music, a poem called Consider the Seed, about a bright plant that bursts into the air and doesn’t care if it just might turn out to be a weed.
He was amused by such thoughts. His poem became a nice song, literally, a weed song. He laughed.
Well, whether my Dad’s song or any other of these tunes and stories turn out to be weeds or blooms or mushrooms or forests, it’s time to get back to dropping seeds and seeing what becomes of them.
Here’s what’s happened since the last post…
The songs are finding their way onto influencer playlists. In the streaming world, playlists are like eddies, and some playlists — compiled by professionals — are like rip currents. In the last few weeks a handful of the Colorshow songs (One and Only, Be With You and Indian summer) have been incorporated into popular playlists with over a million followers. That bodes well for the songs going forward.
At the same time, new listeners have been sharing feedback: #VFame (with a quarter of a million followers) thought the vocal on Indian Summer was “a voice with a very striking husky point” and liked the song’s melody, rhythm and production. #DaniloDiaz said of One and Only, “Thank you for releasing this amazing song! I loved it. It has a nice and engaging sound along with beautiful musical instruments.” And mystery writer #AnnAugustine said, “I absolutely love Be With You! The music and writing is fresh and inspiring.”
Just when this old world starts getting you down, people lift you up! Many thanks to all who are listening and commenting and forwarding the songs to others. That’s how they have found their way to seventeen counties on four continents.
Coming up: Soon, links will post to a batch of short stories on https://www.edgumbrecht.com. Before year end we’ll also post links to the fiction books, Shadow of a Mouse, The Adjusters, and Silt.
In the Fall, album #2, Enter the Muses will be released. We’ll preview some of the tunes here in the weeks ahead.
And anyone interested in learning about an amazing man, Don Gumbrecht, get inspired here: https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/24993326/donald-gumbrecht/huntington-station/new-york/m-a-connell-funeral-home. Miss you, Pops.
Enjoy your summer everybody.
What They Heard in Kalush
I recently witnessed the compassion and bravery of my friend Dr. @HowieKatz as he travelled to Poland to provide medical service to Ukrainian refugees. He is more than just a special giving soul — he puts his values into action and makes the world better.
Been thinking about that idea these days more than ever: How to live by right values and act with generosity in these strange and challenging times!
I’m curious what you all are seeing and thinking. I received this “Godwink” (my daughter’s term for the little signs and encouragements that the universe gives you from time to time). This week I was with my dad who is in the hospital recovering from a viral pneumonia, a new health challenge to top off his running tab. We put on some music on my phone, and I got a note from iTunes — their weekly report of where the songs I release are streaming. (They have an app that tracks these things for songwriters). The message said that my tune, Be With You, was streaming in Kalush.
Where?
Maps showed us the small town in central Ukraine where the song played. In the midst of a war, someone had accessed the song.
I wonder, did its English title intrigue someone with its message of solidarity?
I hope so. And I hope it somehow gave solace.
This all reminds me that whether writ large (what Howie did) or very small, the way forward in these crazy times is to simply encourage and celebrate humanity.
What’s Going On…
For years a new one arrived each day: verse, chorus and melody. They were stories about people and tunes about the stuff going on. I jotted them down — good habit. Then I’d come back to them and tweak them, rearrange them, try them out on the friendly ears of family members and buddies.
Songs. There are thousands now. Some are nearly as old as I am. They say things I believe and hope. They laugh and joke around a lot.
So, last summer, I began to record them and this spring I began to stream them. The spigot (so to speak) is here:
Apple:
http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1607315638?ls=1&app=itunes
And here:
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/77H0KMoYQFbmKuB9N5HWTm
And here:
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tee9i1knWls&list=OLAK5uy_l8j9DfzLnvo5WhzrcAkiAJAa3BV9E2zKA&index=5
https://music.youtube.com/search?q=ed+gumbrecht
And also here:
Today the first batch are in the cloud and in places unexpected: NY radio and playlists in Europe and streams across North America. They travel in cars, play in a classroom, and roll like water…
It’s good to be a song nowadays and it’s fun to be a songwriter!
If you don’t mind, give the music a listen, and pass it along to people you know with varied musical tastes. Maybe they’ll share some feedback and influence the new music on the way.
A Great NY Slice and Approaching 10,000 Song Streams
It’s almost six weeks since Colorshow’s release. Part of the fun in releasing music digitally these days is that metadata will show all kinds of surprising aspects of where the tunes are flowing. A few weeks ago, it was cool to see Mexico and Canada were listening. This week, France and Ireland have joined the party.
On Friday, One and Only, featuring Claire Marie, was played/promoted on the NY Slice segment of NYC WFUV radio. We love WFUV and how it supports independent artists. It was great to become part of their tradition celebrating new music. Thanks to them and to the friends who listen live and stream their playlists!
Also thanks to a certain classroom out in East Setauket, NY. (Teacher Kate Hunter rocks) for jamming to the tunes.
Years Later, A Summer Love Song Returns
EINPRESSWIRE MEDIA RELEASE
WASHINGTON DC, March 30, 2022 -- Popular new album includes timeless song from the early 1980’s.
Since its debut in February, Colorshow is finding a growing audience across the US, Mexico and Canada, with music well suited to the era of feel-good playlists and curated streams. Its upbeat mix of rock ballads and lyrical song/stories by Ed Gumbrecht is both fresh and familiar.
One of its most popular tracks, a dark horse for inclusion on the album, is celebrating a milestone this month – its fortieth birthday!
Love Will Return, an end-of-summer-romance song, harkens to another era of popular music. Gumbrecht, wrote the song as a 19 year-old at the end of March of 1982. “The Doobie Brothers had just announced their breakup, and I imagined it wasn’t really over. I wrote a song about the endurance of love.” He considered the song ‘vintage’ even then. “It’s a nod to that great genre of ‘love conquers distance’ songs,” says Gumbrecht who now writes music at home studios in CT and in the Adams Morgan section of DC, just footsteps from where jazz greats Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald plied their craft.
Gumbrecht wasn’t sure the chestnut belonged in this year’s collection of original compositions, but Guido Falivene, Master Sound Engineer at Dirt Floor Recording and Production advocated for it. “We recorded ‘Return last summer and it reminded me of classic songs from an era I love. It has a bit of Henley’s Boys of Summer, with a touch of Derek and the Dominoes. It belongs on the record.”
The song and another written at the same time, One and Only, sung by artist Claire Marie, are among the album’s most streamed tracks. The older compositions bring a quality of agelessness to the album which distinguishes it from the sampled electronic feel of other new releases. Executive Producer, Eric Michael Lichter, who has played with classic rock artists from Carly Simon to Susanna Hoffs, agrees the older compositions add character to the album. “The melody lines and lyrics are bright and move the songs in satisfying directions. Ed tells stories with his music that are optimistic and relatable.”
And Love Will Return is like a warm sweater. Its sudden popularity after forty years reminds us that in trying times good music will help us through.
Colorshow is the first of several scheduled album releases by Gumbrecht. A portion of proceeds support marine conservation organizations in New England, the Chesapeake and across the U.S. His next project, Enter the Muses, will be out in October of 2022.
Colorshow is now available on all streaming services, music stores and web radio outlets.
2500+ views and climbing.
Colorshow surpasses 1000+ streams.
https://www.newswire.com/news/debut-album-release-colorshow-ushers-in-a-springtide-of-new-music-for-21639638
Colorshow Album Debuts February 24
New album debuts 2/24 featuring nine original songs.
“Light on the water is a colorshow below…”
The lead track of Colorshow invites listeners to come inside and swim along. “Seashine” with its sparkling acoustic guitars and smooth conga rhythms promises a warm ride, and sets a tone for all nine original songs on the album. The music evokes ocean waves, rising tides and reminds us that “all the shimmer in the sea holds the world together.”
Singer/songwriter Ed Gumbrecht shares a range of voices and stories with rolling melodies and singable choruses. He presents wistful ex-lovers (Annie), wandering dreamers (Big Sky), hesitant choosers (Every Honest Decision) and introduces us to the lovely voice of his daughter, Claire Gumbrecht, on One and Only.
Produced by Eric Lichter at Dirt Floor Studios, Colorshow is a shining example of good taut songwriting at its best.