First Take Friday - Episode #25
Uncle Lloyd's Farm
Written by Jonathan Brader

Tale of the Tune:
My great uncle had a huge farm in Odessa, MO when we were growing up.  It was over 1,000 acres if I recall correctly.  We always had a blast there. The house had a wonderful smell to it. Pickin’ the mustard and feeding the pigs, a verse I left out of this version, which I will add to another version of this song that I hope to record when I have more time, was only of fraction of the fun times we had there. It was a beautiful place.
 
I wrote this song back in 2003 soon after I heard the news that my uncle had passed away. He was a good man.  I wish you all could have heard the stories he told my dad, my brother and me (I’m sure my mom and sister heard the stories too), but I remember some stories that he told only me, my dad and brother.  Hope you enjoy!

First Take Friday - Episode #24
Sugar
Written by Jonathan Brader

Tale of the Tune:
I’ve had a super busy week with the day job, so I did not have time to write a new song this week. This one is an oldie, but a goodie.

I wrote this tune back in 2004 as a joke. It was written about a dream girl back then. A fantasy. A girl that didn't exist. Too sweet.

Then I met my wife, and I realized that this song was about her. Yep, I’ve been dreaming about her since forever apparently. Well, at least since 2004. I'm not surprised though because she is dreamy! Check out my 2014 playlist on youtube and you can hear a slightly different version of this song. Which one do you like better? This First Take Friday version was recorded at 5:35pm on Thursday, March 15, 2018 after a long and exhausting day at the day job.  I think I was taking out some of my stress on the vocals.

First Take Friday - Episode #23
Firefly Mason Jar
Written by Jonathan Brader

Tale of the Tune:
I haven’t written a song about my wife in a while, so I came up with this last night.

She is amazing!

When was the last time you saw a firefly (also known as a lightning bug)?  I saw a few last summer, but they were sparse around Missouri.  When we were kids they were everywhere!   We used to catch them and put them in mason jars so we would have a nice little lantern.  I think we probably killed a lot of fireflies. I would imagine that may be why we don’t see them that often anymore.  I hope that’s not the case. Hopefully they are just migrating in and out of different parts of the country.  

I hope you have someone to dance with under the moon and stars tonight. If not, dance by yourself like no one is watching.

First Take Friday - Episode #22
America
Written by Jonathan Brader

Tale of the Tune:
I had a very difficult time writing a song this week. I started about 4 songs, but somehow this one came to the forefront. I’ve never written a political song and I’ve never had a desire to, so this is pretty shocking to me. 
 
I consider myself to be right in the middle when it comes to politics, but the corruption in our government is unbelievable.  Our elected officials are more interested in keeping themselves in office than they are in representing their constituents and that has to stop.  I really do think the best thing to do would be to vote in new representatives who will vow to never take a dime in contributions from PACs or lobbyists, but that is never going to happen because in order to win an election they have to advertise.  Career politicians were never part of the original plan.  The whole thing is FUBAR.  It depresses me.

Thankfully, I've already thought of a number of edits to this, but I ran out time to implement them before I recorded this one.  You can hear when I try to slam as many words into the 4th verse as I possibly can!  Time is of the essence.