"How do you pick the songs for the soundtrack?"
That's tough to answer as well, but to tell you the truth, the songs kind of fell in my lap.
Over the years I've written many songs, and I wrote those songs as I was writing The Mahogany Door, the first book in a series of fantasy-adventure books for young readers. But I never had the idea of putting the soundtrack together until late in 2009. (That's right. We've been working on the CD since October of that year).
The first bit of music I put together for the actual book was a small piano riff that was playing for my under-construction website at the time. It was called "It's Our Time," I still like the song, but I've never completely finished it. Maybe later.
The idea to do a complete soundtrack for the book popped in my head while I was riding around Greenville, NC, one day with my brother-in-law, Scott. We both were pretty psyched about the idea, but then realized we had no idea what kind of music we would put on it. The idea started with a song per chapter - not a good plan as there are 29 chapters, which would means 29 songs. And really, the nine we will have on the final CD were hard enough to create as it was.
Enter Katie Basden. Katie is a former student of my wife's choral program. Through the years, while Katie was in high school, her mom, Anne, and my wife not only shared a common bond with Katie but a common bond with music. Anne helped my wife tremendously with the choral program by playing the piano at shows and doing all kinds of other things. Naturally, a friendship started between the two, which is not at all surprising considering the fact that, if you ever meet my wife, she'll know everything about you by the end of the conversation.
Some time before that, Katie decided she wanted to be a songwriter. Many of her heroes are not just good singers, but they are also great songwriters. I found this out.
Thirteen years ago, I wrote a song called, "Goodbyes" after some pretty bad things happened in my life. My sister is a natural poet, so, as the story goes, I snuck around her in diary and found this poem called, "Goodbyes." It was very emotional, and it captured everything I was feeling at that time. I'd bought an old guitar from a pawn shop some years before so I started fiddling around with some chords and finger picking. I think I put together a pretty good song. I really liked it but I never sang it to anyone.
One afternoon as I was deciding what songs to put on the soundtrack, I realized I really wanted to include "Goodbyes." It fits nicely with a scene at the end of the book. The problem: I can't sing. (Never let my wife try to convince you that I can. She had a Freudian slip one day and said, "Yes Mark, you can sing, but it should never be recorded." Thanks.)
So I needed a singer, and Katie was the first person I thought of. Her voice is something that has to be heard to be believed, and since she wants to be a country singer I thought she might like to sing "Goodbyes." She could add it to her catalog.
Nervously, I played -- and sang -- the song for her one afternoon. Lucky for me, she liked it and went home to practice it. The same afternoon, she played a song for me called "Rear View Mirror." I was blown away. Right then I asked if I could use it for The Mahogany Door soundtrack. She said yes. I was elated! The problem was, I didn't know if it would fit the book. I read through some chapters and found one scene that the song could possibly fit with, but I wasn't sure. So I changed the book to make the song would fit because I simply love the song. And it makes my story better.
So that's where picking the songs came into play. I pulled some old songs I had been messing around with out of my head and started putting some other stuff together. Then my brother-in-law Scott jumped into the fray and it went from there. He added to the music the only way he knows how.
When I woke up on Christmas morning in 2009, I discovered that my wife had bought me a beautiful Fender acoustic guitar. "If you are going to be playing around here writing songs, you need to throw that old guitar out," she said matter-of-factly. "It sounds like crap."
There are more stories like this for the other songs, and I will be posting those as we go along here and on the website at www.JMarkBoliek.com. (The website isn't quite completed, but hopefully will be ready soon.)
It's been pretty cool to have watched the songs progress from very rough to almost perfect polished. April 12th is the date it should all be mastered and ready to go. One pretty special thing about the soundtrack that I'm really appreciating is that it is a very eclectic mix of styles: country, pop, rock, and even a bit of classical thrown in.
Oh yeah - I do play the Fender on "Goodbyes" on the soundtrack f you were wondering. But you will never hear my voice.
Talk to you later!
Mark
Chapter 7 Illustration copyright Lauren Gallegos Illustrations 2011
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