I’m currently in the process of designing and naming my upcoming album – this isn’t easy. Yeah, I’m a bit OCD about the matter but when you think about it, it’s a decision I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life. The design and what I choose to name the project is nothing I take lightly because it will be published, cataloged, distributed and therefore, immortal.

I personally choose to draw my album titles from verbatim lyric within the album.

See That Gleam, for example, comes from the closing phrases of Cellophane: Look there, see that gleam? It’s the sun and your eyes the beam. My hope is that it becomes an “ahhh” factor when the listener hears the title they simply read before – it gives it weight and purpose.

Other Things I Consider When Naming an Album:

All of that said, the initial list was large and daunting; you can see all of the candidates below and judge for your self. Did you have any clue that this many options were in the running when considering an album title?

ALL POSSIBLE TITLES:

Might Leave Today
Scenery is Constant
Landscapes so Plain
Brave this New World
Outside Your Hand
A Shadow to You (Honey)
I’ll Be Changing
In Love with the Stars
Constant Constellations
Every Changing Space
A Color Against the Same
Heart Forgets the Beat
(It) Slows then Rushes
Every Single Word
Your Lip
Where I Need to Be
One Million Miles
How Well You’re Made
All I Need
Penned in that Sunset
Pretty, Pink & Violet
Walking With Me
No Day, No Night
Somewhere in Between
Dawn’s Haze & Dream
Trains in my Head
What Started as a Steady Hum
Wartime Drum
North and Southbound (Collide)
(Then) History Repeats
How Soft They Creep
The Wolves Are At My Door
The Wolves
If You Breathe
Your Memory is Soaked
Soaked in Wine
Bittersweet Parade
Days In Your Sunshine
This Great Timeline
Call This a Golden Day
We Lived to Tell
Like a Leaf
Somewhere in Between
Before the Earth Began Its Curve
To Feel a Resistance
Not a Bird
I Don’t Fly
A Dot On A Map
Tell Me I Am A Bird
Busy Towns
Going Over Numbers
Leaving in Your Eye
To the Bone
Knuckle’s Blood
That Red Piece of Me
Seasons Turn it Over
Different Words
What I Should Be Leaving
Same Old Suffocate
Bound to Build Up
No Doubt Colder
Long Before I Burn
Let the Insides Show
Crimson & Rose
And it Burns Your Eyes
Underneath Our Clothes
Heart and Bone
From the Inside We Grow Like Butterflies
Proof We’re Alive
We Are in Orbit
As Long As There Has Been A Song
Soldiers for the Muse
A Couple Grenades
On Any Given Time of Day
A Bridge in the Desert
The Notes Were Bright
To Hell With All the Grenades
Bring ‘Em Back Again
Explorers Tried to Explain
But the Beauty
Too Much to Write Down
Sunny Days Quickly Turn
Never Seen Such as Scene
Eden or His Dream
All the Years Hang on the Wind
Hear it Echo
Even Dust
Dust
Dust Can Be A King

However, by performing a litmus test against the elements above and bouncing the ideas off of my trusted friends and family, the ideas are now whittled into this top 16.

THE NOW TOP 16:

Bittersweet Parade
Eden or His Dream
This Great Timeline
Dawn’s Haze & Dream
Soaked in Wine
Heart & Bone
Brave this New World
Dust can be a King
Call This a Golden Day
How Soft They Creep
It Started as a Steady Hum
Busy Towns
Proof We’re Alive
All the Years Hang on the Wind
And it Burns Your Eyes
Then History Repeats

Wish me luck as I finalize such a major decision. I’m sure I don’t need to lose sleep over it, but rest assured, I will.

In honor of my new album Bittersweet Parade, I’ve decided to give away some of my older songs for FREE!!! 30 of my best songs from the past are now yours to download at no cost…

FREE MUSIC HERE: http://bit.ly/HqQaO or by clicking on the free music tab on the right.

I’ll be totally honest, this is a viral campaign: My goal is to have 10,000+ downloads by the time my new record is released in January 2010 and I’ll need your help to get there. That said, all I ask is that you forward this link to everyone you know and encourage them to do the same.

Spread the word; forward to co-workers, re-post, tweet, blog, forums … wild fire!!!

GET THE FREE MUSIC HERE: http://bit.ly/HqQaO

I found an article written by Pete Wright regarding our Acoustic Conversation Podcast from earlier this year. I hadn’t seen this before and upon reading it, I was honored to be taken so seriously. I had an amazing time doing the podcast with the Acoustic Conversation boys (Pete Write and Curt Siffert) and I’d be honored to do it again some day when I can report on my success since our last conversation.

To read the entire article, click here or on the image below.

To hear the podcast, click here.

tyler stenson on fifth and main

I have finally arrived in Nashville after a near week-long road trip with my pal Aaron Lutze. We left Portland, OR on Sunday September 27th and took the scenic route; landing us in Cincinnati, OH on Friday October 2nd. The video below is a montage of the road trip put to my new song Welcome the Change.

Welcome The Change from Aaron Lutze on Vimeo.

After spending one night in Cincinnati, I bid farewell to Aaron and continued my trip solo into Nashville, TN – that final leg of the trip was by far the most surreal and emotional because I was officially alone and far from home. That’s when it all hit me.

Upon arriving into Nashville, I had a fantastic first night. I went to a local sports bar and watched my Auburn Tigers beat the local favorite Tennessee Volunteers. After that, when the Ducks game came on, I think I was the only person in the place remotely interested. Regardless, I met tons of cool people and celebrated a bit excessively.

If you know me, I’m not one to complain but I’ll admit that my first few days in my new city have been rather defeating; I lost my phone, I had to get a $1,200 repair on my car from the road trip and to top it all off, yesterday I woke with the flu and spent the day curled up on the floor of my unfurnished apartment.

Rest assured, I’ve managed to keep a smile on my face and as soon as I’m feeling better, I’ll hit the ground running. I’m looking forward to this new adventure and my slow and steady rise.

I did a random vanity search on YouTube and found a handful of videos that people have compiled using my song as the soundtrack. This is totally random but I was happy to see that my music is out there and being appreciated.

MILES FROM BED (INSTRUMENTAL)

I MIGHT BE GONE

I MIGHT BE GONE

ALYCE SAYS

CANNONBALL