News
David Elon Preston
New Song Collaboration Climbs to #1
May 18, 2006 This just in: A brand new song, "You Are The Music In My Heart" is currently holding down the number ONE spot on Song Ramp's "Hot 100" list. Fellow Rampers, Trudi Cross and Jeff Southerland wrote some pretty nice lyrics and asked me if I would put them to music. It seems as though people like it.
You can hear it HERE. Happy listening!
Spring Update
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April 12, 2006 It�s been a while since the last update. January found me writing one of my best songs, at least I think it�s pretty good. I�ve always struggled with getting what resides in my brain to come out of my mouth in some type of intelligent format. Often I find my self sounding like a bumbling idiot. I�ve always had this fantasy where I�d know the right thing to say at all times. I think I�d be quite charming, and people would listen to me. Well, my fantasy hasn�t come true but that didn�t stop me from writing a song about it. I wrote and recorded �In My Fantasy Life� on January 12th. I had trouble getting the guitar to sound right, so I asked my daughter, Katie to whip up a piano accompaniment to it. She did, and it sounds great. You can listen to it here.
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While that song was rattling around in my brain, another song was forming. I had watched the tragedy of the West Virginia mine disasters unfold after New Years and wanted to write something peaceful in memory of the victims. The resulting piece, �Sago� chronicles the last moments of the last miner to die. I really wanted some heaven - like back ground vocals for the song, so I asked Anne Cozean and her sister Marty Ross Vining from SongRamp.com to help me. They did, and their harmonies were perfect! You can listen to Sago here.
After Sago I needed to write something silly. So, for St. Patrick�s Day, I recorded this little ditty.
Later in March I got to spend the larger part of a Sunday with David LaMotte. David is a very talented singer/songwriter/guitarist from North Carolina. He�s played all over the world. He was in Germany three days before coming to our little town to put on a workshop and sing at our local college. I had a great time getting to know him and listening to him perform. We even "hung out" together in the Acoustic Room at the Rochester Guitar Center. How cool is that!
In other news, the band I play rhythm guitar with, the Misfit Toys, played their first gig with new lead guitarist, Kenny Sheehan, in January. The photo above was taken by Paul Schwartz, a friend of our bass player, Dick Detwiller, and a professional photographer, who just happened to be at the gig that night! The twins (scroll down below) turned ONE in February and my countdown to the day where I can quite my day job has fallen below the 500 mark! Also, I've been working on the layout of this site. I've changed the "Lyrics" page to "Songs" and I've been updating each page to include a little back ground about how I came to write each tune and a link to a place where it can be heard.
Hope to have some new songs for you to listen to shortly, including a collaboration on SongRamp! Thanks for checking in,
Dave
Famous Singer/Songwriter Announces New Recordings
November 12, 2005 Vacationing singer-songwriter, Dave Preston, set out to write and record a new song a day this past week and came ever so close to reaching his goal. Falling leaves slowed the famous artist somewhat, but not before an impressive varity of new material hit the airwaves .. er, internet. Between Monday and Friday Preston composed and recorded: "A Little Bit Slow" a satire on how people think; "Holly" a tribute to his golden retriever; "Tonight" a romantic love ballad; and "Leonard Wood", a thought provoking piece on the war in Iraq.
Reached at his Clarkson estate, Preston had this to say: "Jeepers, I had fun this week creating new stuff! I raked a ton of leaves too!!!" All four songs are currently available at dmusic.com as well as other quality music sites.
A Katie Preston Recording for Your Listening Pleasure
June 10, 2005 Click here to hear my awesome daughter doing a cover of the great Beatles tune, "Two of Us". To make a long story short, my wife (Debbie, of "Come Fly Away With Me" fame) wanted the song, "Two of Us" in her third grade, end of the year play, but the Beatles do it in a key that doesn't work well for kids. So she asked Katie and I to record something that kids can sing along with. Katie transposed it in her head twice to get key that sounded best for kids. The whole process took less than 45 minutes, including setting up the recorder and mic.
Katie plays piano on the recording and I'm on the guitar. I thought about adding a harmony voice but decided it would detract from Katie's clear vocal line. She doesn't think much of this recording, but I think it's great!
Dave Preston: Singer...Songwriter...Grandfather!
February 17, 2005. Today, a date that will forever be etched in my little memory banks, I crossed over to the land of grandparenthood. Aidan Christopher (5lbs 14oz) and Gabriel Jacob (5lbs 11oz) entered our world a couple of minutes apart just a few minutes before 5pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
My son, Chris, and his lovely wife, Stasha are the proud parents. Stasha's parents, TJ and Mary, and my lovely wife, Debbie, were the only visitors allowed immediately following the birth. Aidan and Gabe came out screaming, which leads me to believe they may have some singer blood in them. Time, of course, will tell.
Did I mention we have TWINS! Babies and mom and dad (and Grandpa Dave) are all doing well.......
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