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The re-write ("At Sea")

Welcome to the fourth of five entries where I tell you the secrets behind the songs on the new EP… Today, I’ve got the juicy details behind the song “At Sea,” the banjo instrumental and the fourth track on the project. This song began in March as I was figuratively digging out of the depressing winter months and more literally recovering from some self-inflicted drama in my life. For sometime this song had lyrics as well, which is actually where the title for this song came

When song prompts get twisted ("Bigger Prize")

Last fall, I was invited to participate in an in-the-round with a handful of other performers at a cute new venue in the 'burbs of Boston. I really love in-the-rounds, where you have 3 or more different songwriters (in our case it was 5) on the stage and you go around in circles sharing stories and songs... There was a little catch for this show: each of us songwriters had to write a song inspired by a particular prompt that was chosen by the audience during the previous perf

The Ex ("So Long")

This week's edition of the story behind the song is brought to you by... your ex-partner/girlfriend/boyfriend/lover/friend/soulmate and it's called "So Long" - no, like really, please leave. Oh, you're not going to leave, then I'm going to kick you out... it's that kind of song. To be honest, I'm not really sure that I've had a "crazy ex"... I mean, slightly unstable? yes. Makes you want to want to pull your hair out sometimes? well sure. There are many people that I love,

Oh, the things your parents say ("Words of Wisdom")

I thought it might be fun to write a bit about the songs on the new EP (Broken Record), just to give you folks a little background in how each song came to be or something unique about the song itself... So first up is "Words of Wisdom" the first track on the EP!! This song started from a prompt that I gave myself after the North East Regional Folk Alliance meeting last November during a workshop session entitled "Wisdom of the Elders." Upon reflecting on the things that I

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Bethel's desK

Bethel Steele

americana song-slinger