{"id":7245,"date":"2018-06-07T14:07:12","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T19:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michaelgaither.com\/home\/?p=7245"},"modified":"2018-06-07T16:46:02","modified_gmt":"2018-06-07T21:46:02","slug":"behind-the-artwork-hey-karma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michaelgaither.com\/home\/behind-the-artwork-hey-karma\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Artwork: “Hey Karma”"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you gig long enough, you’re going to end up with a drawing (or three) of you playing onstage. It’s incredibly flattering. In the case of “Hey Karma,” it can spark an entire record.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Writing songs is easy. (Well, relatively.) But when do you know it’s time to record and collect them on a CD? For me, it takes a theme that ties them together. Back in 2012, I had a group of songs loosely inspired by my hometown. That became “Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night”<\/a> (with our town’s old drive-in theater prominently on the cover.) A couple of years back, I had a good pile of songs. But I needed something to tie them together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I was playing at Don Quixote’s in Felton CA, opening for my pal Michelle Chappel<\/a>. I noticed a guy drawing during my set. Afterwards, he handed me a fun sketch of me and my guitar, backed by mountains, and two road signs that hinted at my songs “Hang It Up<\/a>” and “Highway 17”<\/a>. The artist’s name is Michael Samuel<\/a>. He’s a rockstar designer (his card includes the logos for Sears and Animal Planet), and he was happy to redo the drawing to fit the songs I wanted to record.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>So…a new drawing came along, with zombies and angels on the roadsigns, and a handful of other graphics that namechecked some of the lyrics. We scattered those inside the CD jacket. A whole CD. Pretty much out of a drawing. (Well, that and just a *little* effort writing and recording ten new songs.)<\/p>\n

“Hey Karma” Update:<\/strong> The record (I’m old – I still call ’em “records”) just passed the one-year mark. It hit #37 in the Roots Music Report’s Best of 2017<\/a>, and is still on their Americana Country chart<\/a>. I’m way grateful for the airplay and support. Maybe there’s something to this karma thing after all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n