The Original Song I Will Never Play Live
Hello All,
Today I’m releasing two tracks I recorded back in 2007. I think of them often around Halloween. The first one is a home studio recording that I won’t likely ever play out live, but the more I say that, the more I want to try.
Art by Sophia Burge
I Hope Fred Doesn’t Get Rabies (2007 Demo) (CLICK TO LISTEN)
This song was inspired by a group email I received from John Barnes. The lyrics are pretty much just me reading his email. John used to send some interesting emails, and I’m not sure if this is a true story or not, but my gut tells me it is. The subject of the email was “Should I Worry”? It’s the story of an old dog suddenly turning into a killer.
I first met John Barnes on University Avenue in Morgantown in front of the Sunnyside Superette. My good buddy Owen Davis introduced us by saying, “Todd is from Parkersburg”. I reached out my hand and asked John where he was from, and he said “Earth”.
The track is all played by me except for the drum machine. Jaw harp, harmonica, kazoo, cymbals, guitar. I had recently purchased a Zoom RhythmTrak RT-323 and was creating some demos with it for my upcoming album, My Lost and Found. I remember sitting with Tim O’Brien and David Ferguson at the Butcher Shoppe in Nashville, and Ferg asking me if I played pop or hip hop after hearing some of my demos. The answer was no, but I sure enjoyed the question.
Cover Artwork by Sophia Burge
My Kinda Town (2007) CLICK TO LISTEN
I believe I wrote this song back in ’91 or ’92. It was originally released on a compilation called New Music Feast, then later I made a new recording of it on my album Tin Since. This 2007 version was placed on my “best of” release entitled Most Requested (1989-2000), which is found only on my Bandcamp page. I felt like some of my older songs had developed and morphed into something new and I wanted to document it with this release.
I was once a suit salesman stuck in the body of a songwriter. First at JC Penny’s, then Stone and Thomas. I accidentally fell into this retail position after four years at WVU, getting signed to a record label, moving to San Francisco, going broke, moving back to WV. The lyrics were mostly written in the stockroom at Stone & Thomas during the holiday rush. In-between customers of course. I ran the suit department there for a while and wrote songs in my head the entire time.
I hope you enjoy these two songs.
Thank you for everything.
Love,
Todd
Please sign up for my newsletter at