First Take Friday - Episode #3
A Little Country, A Little Rock 'n' Roll
Written by Jonathan Brader, Tony Esterly, Dustin Sollars and Chris Allen

Tale of the Tune:
My buddy Tony and I played at a winery in Holts Summit, Missouri, every Sunday back in the summer of 2004. It was awesome.  I'd drive from St. Louis to Jefferson City, crash at Tony's parent's house and we'd have fun weekends, every weekend. It was great. Tony, thanks again for inviting me every weekend and sharing your gig with me. I would not have started this journey without you (or Chuck, Rita, and Lil A).

This song was born one Saturday morning on Tony's back patio. Dustin, Chris, Tony and I had just woken up, a bit hungover, from a night on the town in Jefferson City. We were shocked by just how much fun we'd had. As a result, this song was born. We all contributed and Tony and I played it that afternoon at the winery.  This is the most popular song that I've co-written. It definitely would not have come about without all of the circumstances that led to that morning on the patio.  Enjoy. Thank you for checking it out!

I also recorded a video of this song back in 2014. You can see that below. Back then I was playing in a band with some friends who were in the St. Louis Symphony and local jazz players in a band called The Lateral Masses. We recorded a totally different version of this tune on an album called Red Murder. You can check it out here: https://itunes.apple.com/tt/album/red-murder/id488865483

First Take Friday - Episode #2
Love Song
Written by Jonathan Brader

Tale of the Tune:
I wrote this song for my wife back in July. We actually danced to this at our wedding and that is the reason that I wrote it.  My friend and groomsman, Tony Esterly, wrote a song for his first dance with his wife 10-ish years ago and I wanted to do the same for my lady (thanks for the inspiration, Tony!).

This tune basically tells the story of how we met. It was love at first sight for me. When I wrote it I was in my basement and I was trying to keep it a surprise, but she was living with me and I couldn't keep it a secret if I wanted it to be finished by the time we got married, so I had to let the cat out of the bag. It was a hit at the wedding and with my wife. We danced the night away.

As you can see I messed up the guitar part a bit. Recording in one take is, unfortunately, the only way I can do these because I'm so busy with life, so please forgive the errors. It will be perfect for the studio album. I promise. Thank you for reading this!

I wrote a song for my wife back in July. Since I met her, I've been bursting with creativity that I've been needing to let out. I couldn't contain it, so I decided to abandon all of my fears and start sharing my music. I've been playing in bars/restaurants/camp sites/country clubs - pretty much anywhere I could - for a long time and my set lists consisted mostly of covers with a few originals thrown in here and there. It was fun. Really fun actually. The most fun I've ever had performing has been playing covers, but playing covers gets old.

With the help of prayer, the internet, and a few inspirational people (The Rock, Joe Rogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, David Goggins, Dan Buettner, Tom Shadyac, and most importantly, my wife and God), I decided to let it rip. Why not!? What if!?  If you have a dream, chase it. Don't let anyone stop you. None of us are getting out of here alive, so we might as well do what we enjoy. At least that was my thought process for starting this.

I'd never really given up on my dream of making music, but I let it get to the back burner for sure. I needed to eat, but I also made a ton of excuses too. Granted, as a full time professional artist, you don't make much money unless you hit it big, and I wanted to have a life. I got a day job and did music on the side. The side kept getting farther and farther away. I couldn't live with myself knowing that I was wasting the talent that God has given me, so here we are.

Additionally, I've always loved hearing the stories of why, how and when songs were written. Storytellers, the show on VH1, was always a favorite of mine, but the artists they showcased were always telling stories about songs that were already super popular, which was great, but I always wanted to see a song get started and see where it went. No one has done this as far as I could tell, so I decided to do it. I hope you enjoy everything that is coming up, and I hope to continue doing this for as long as I am able to.  Thank you for reading this.

First Take Friday - Episode #1
Wishin' You Were Here
Written by Jonathan Brader

Tale of the Tune:
I wrote this song back in 2002. When I wrote this tune it was raining. I was inside a house I shared with two of my friends and they listened to me work this out that evening. It is definitely my most popular song to date, so that is why it is the first episode. It is a love song about a guy who is missing his girl. I wrote this for a girl that I'd recently broken up with. A sweet song. Hope you enjoy it.