The First Real "Album"

I have been writing songs since I was a freshman in High School. Let's see, that was 1994, so my songwriting years total about 13 years. In that span of time, I have recorded a CD with a high school band Pleasure A, a 6-track demo with a college band Small Fry Stu, and oodles of song ideas, some of which are being posted now on jTunes¹.

But my dream, especially as it's developed in the past 2 or 3 years, is to record a professionally-produced, 12-track album of songs about my faith, and it's finally coming true. Last month I found an investor to fund half of the production costs, and immediately called up David Smith of Icon Music Studio² to share my excitement. We put together a game plan, and it basically consists of two action items:

1. Produce, record, mix and master a full-length album by June 1, and
2. Pray for the remaining production funds, more or less due by June 1.

So, here it goes! God-willing, we'll complete the project in time for the YFE³ this summer (there are rumors that I'll be performing there — yet to be confirmed). In a few weeks I travel to northern Indiana for our first session, where we will hash out a direction for each of the songs, polish the lyrics, and perhaps record the first vocal tracks.

Still pending further consideration...

• Sequencing. The order of the tracks is a very fine art.
• Album artwork. Photos, or illustration. A picture of me, a nature scene, or some indeciferable collage. So many choices!
• Album title. Do I title it with a hit song from the CD, or look for a theme among the songs? Or how about just calling it "Joel Stein: Joel Stein"?

If you have any great ideas, I'd love to seem them below. :) Thanks in advance for all your prayers toward the success of this project. My goal is that people who enjoy hearing songs about their faith will have a top-quality CD to pop in their CD players. Sounds easy enough, eh?