Opening still for the music video, one of the funnest projects I’ve done in recent memory.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to be caught up. I guess the artist is never caught up, but this is work that I should’ve completed last summer but couldn’t find a way to do it. Not an excuse, just an admittance that I dropped the ball and took some time off.

It’s fitting that the last song I need to write about from last year’s album, I Am Nowhere, I Am Everywhere is this one. I love playing this song, and a good friend recently told me it was his favorite song of mine. The reality of where the song sits in my cannon is that I’m still learning to play it comfortably live, and I think it (out of all the songs) captures the spirit or our live band. The video is also hilarous AF. It was hands down the most fun I’ve ever had making a music video, and it marks the direction that I’m going with the new space themed album.

Subscribe now

I clearly remember the first day we attempted it in the studio. My fingers wouldn’t work, it was an audible, a curveball thrown at the band for fun. As everyone in the band was plugged in, looked at the charts, we ran through the song structure for a bit then did two takes. We were already hot, because it was immediately after we recorded the takes that ended up being used for Listen to the Cold, the opening song from the album. Those are the best times to take risks, so it was no surprise when the band locked into the groove I was looking for. It was effortless, all I had to do was hold onto my seat and keep up with the rhythm section.

There’s a few things that I will skip over here, because this song was recorded in the same session as a few other songs off the album. I’ve already detailed alot from that session so I’d like to focus on this songs specifically. If you’d like more details about the instrumentation from that session, check this article I just wrote, or this one which talks about the writing process. Its all part of the same continuum, the same place I return to in making art and music. Year over year, I’ve simplified my process quite a bit, and try to remove as many unessary steps as possible. That being said, there were quite a few things unique about recording this song.

The first time I recorded the riff from the Moon’s Loving Light was back in 2012. I played in on my acoustic Takamine cedar top, which I was gigging with, and I overdubbed using my friends Danelectro Baritone guitar. The cuts came from an unreleased acoustic EP that I called “For Nothing“. It was a collection of lo-fi acoustic surf tunes. I remember like it was yesterday. Listening to the demos now, they still hold up. I’ll probably end up using the rest of the songs eventually.

I read once that David Bowie never threw a song or a piece of music away, he’d just put it back into the blender for later re-use. Part of me feels like I’m writing the same song over and over, which is in part true, there are chord changes, scales and melodies that I return to like a habit. As long as you are aware, this is not a problem. The analogy suits the artist, Pablo Picasso spent years doing variations on the same paintings, themes and topical matter. He was also never called an asshole. Love that song, do yourself a favor and listen to Bowie’s version (Pablo Picasso - David Bowie).

Getting back to my music. I think lyrically, the words came quickly to that song due to the fact that its just another song from my life. As soon as I had the first line and I could see the old house on 4 Tricor Ave, the rest of the song wrote itself. In hindsight, I may have been doing some emotional housecleaning. I could be wrong, but think the entire album was recorded to close a few doorways which looked back through the past, so that I could open new doors into the future. Looking at the album now, it’s a collection of songs of loss, of death, of eternity, of the inevitable cycle of change, of family, and of watching my children grow into adulthood.

The album is a mixture of 3 songs tracked by me solo, mixed with 6 songs recorded in a studio live setting. In the future, I’d like to only release studio live versions of all songs on the album. In the future, when I release the single, I will release the album version, with the original demo version as well as a live version. That worked well for me with the Space Cowboy Project release. Speaking of Space Cowboy, I’m now working on the rest of the album (no release date yet). I didn’t add Space Cowboy to this album due to the fact that it spiritually warranted its own album. I’ve come full circle so to speak with my work on Moon’s Loving Light, an earthly album, with a song that turns its gaze to the sky.

2025’s album also marked the last few songs that were recorded in those first studio live sessions. I don’t think the Moog was used on any of them, or the Nord Stage 4, I think all the keys were tracked using Mike Pritchard’s Nord Electro 6. Maybe Perpetual Change, I’m not 100% sure. Another line in the sand with this album was the professionalism of the music videos. I am very proud of every single one of them, regardless of how silly the Moon’s Loving Light’s video was. It was DIY creativity, I worked the camera, the fx, and editing of every music video. Each song became a short story in my collective narrative.

I have two large green screens that I am excited to get back to using. Over the past few years, I’ve started working on green screen projects, not to mention playing with dolls. Which is wrong in so many ways, but hilarous. I’m a huge fan of ILM’s work in the original Star Wars movies from the 70s. The At-At walkers in the Empire Strikes back are legendary. Of course I want to make music videos that nod to that era of film. For context, here is one of the GI Joe dolls I used for the video:

A collectible GI Joe space man I used, and will use for future projects.

Despite having never done it before, I photoshopped out the face of the doll and inserted my own face into the helmet when I was done lip-synching to the song. to clarify, I have made green screen videos and released them in the past, I’ve just never superimposed my face onto a space man doll. I plan on doing it more often just to see what happens.

To infinity and beyond. My ridiculous space man from the video.

The beauty of the entire excercise in making this video is that I want to make more of them, if not a full feature length visual album a la the 80s heavy metal film. The parts of the video that work the best in my eyes are the actual footage of the Moon, and the mountain footage I took from the gondola as I ascended to the top of Marmolada, in the Italian alps. Admittedly, the video can always be improved, but I love it as it is, which is why I released it. The Moon’s Loving Light works both as a concept song and as a video fits with the other songs on the album. I can say this stylistically, as well as the instrumentation. An argument can be almost made that it should have been included with this new material, but I decided to release it with the 2025 album. In closing, it’s fitting that my writings about my 2025 releases end here, with one of my most forward looking projects.

This is my last installment of Studio Notes until my next official release. When that happens depends on how productive the next few months end up being. I’m working with another local singer on the vocal arrangements, so I’ve very much looking forward to it. All posts from now on will revolve around new music which I will be releasing in the near future, no deadlines. My goal in 2026 is to complete a space odyssey which revolves around the song and visuals of Space Cowboy, and bring a far more sophisticated light show to our live performances. Wish me luck and perseverance, I’ll need it.

If I’ve been short in these last few installments from the album, understand that my mind is already recording vocal and guitar parts for the new album. I’m physically here, but my mind and heart are elsewhere. The good news is that this means I get to focus on finishing up all of my new demos, back to the drawing board.

LYRICS:
Open up the door
Let the summer wind blow in
Get our friends together
Let the evening start flowing

The clouds are parting ways
To let the moon shine through
And the moon’s loving light is on the likes of you

I can hear the music
Coming down from the mountain
Keeps on getting closer
Just a shaking up the ground and

Our favorite band is playing ‘till a quarter after two
And the moon’s loving light is on the likes of you

I can see my baby
Such a sweet little dancer
Moving with the music
How she weaves like a panther

The moon is drunk on whiskey
Don’t you know it’s true
And the moon’s loving light is on the likes of you

Load up the station wagon
Bars will soon be closing
Take a little drive up into the mountains

The moon is gonna shine
On your pretty birthday suit
And the moon’s loving light is on the likes of you

METADATA:
The Moon’s Loving Light
The Ram
UPC : QZHN52570340
Release date: April 18, 2025
ASCAP Work ID: T3308384654
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

ABOUT THE SONG:
In 1987 I began working on a Bachelors of Fine Art at SUNY New Paltz, a small gem of a town in the shadow of the Shwamangunk mountains an hour due north from NYC. The people I met in my time there set the stage for the rest of my life. Back in high school, I fugged up pretty bad and managed to get kicked out. Somehow, shortly after getting moved to a new high school in upstate NY, I began figural drawing and painting and was hooked. The tight community of artist, musicians, and writers I met in New Paltz from 1987-1991 set me on a path I continue on till this day. This song is for each and every one of them. The parties, the shared work, the trust instilled to complete the impossible, all happened while we became adults together. Far away from my own family, I found a new one.

Late one night after a party I looked up at the sky and was the full moon dancing between small clouds, lined up like a procession past the tree line. As I walked up to my studio late at night, I thought that the clouds were like the dreams of all the townspeople who had turned in for the night. The perfect companion for an artist about to open the door to his studio. The last line of the song is a nod to the culture of New Paltz, NY it’s a hippie town at least it was when I lived there. bars closed at 4pm in New York, still do. My friends and I had a habit of closing down the bars then heading up to the mountain lakes, waterfalls and streams to take a swim. There wasn’t a stitch of clothing involved in any one of those late night swims. Good times.

ABOUT THE RAM:
Mark “The Ram” O’Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

MORE INFO:
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

VIEW ON YOUTUBE:

Subscribe now

ABOUT THE SONG:
In 1987 I began working on a Bachelors of Fine Art at SUNY New Paltz, a small gem of a town in the shadow of the Shwamangunk mountains an hour due north from NYC. The people I met in my time there set the stage for the rest of my life. Back in high school, I fugged up pretty bad and managed to get kicked out. Somehow, shortly after getting moved to a new high school in upstate NY, I began figural drawing and painting and was hooked. The tight community of artist, musicians, and writers I met in New Paltz from 1987-1991 set me on a path I continue on till this day. This song is for each and every one of them. The parties, the shared work, the trust instilled to complete the impossible, all happened while we became adults together. Far away from my own family, I found a new one.

Late one night after a party I looked up at the sky and was the full moon dancing between small clouds, lined up like a procession past the tree line. As I walked up to my studio late at night, I thought that the clouds were like the dreams of all the townspeople who had turned in for the night. The perfect companion for an artist about to open the door to his studio. The last line of the song is a nod to the culture of New Paltz, NY it’s a hippie town at least it was when I lived there. bars closed at 4pm in New York, still do. My friends and I had a habit of closing down the bars then heading up to the mountain lakes, waterfalls and streams to take a swim. There wasn’t a stitch of clothing involved in any one of those late night swims. Good times.

LYRICS:
Open up the door
Let the summer wind blow in
Get our friends together
Let the evening start flowing

The clouds are parting ways
To let the moon shine through
And the moon’s loving light is on the likes of you

I can hear the music
Coming down from the mountain
Keeps on getting closer
Just a shaking up the ground and

Our favorite band is playing ‘till a quarter after two
And the moon’s loving light is on the likes of you

I can see my baby
Such a sweet little dancer
Moving with the music
How she weaves like a panther

The moon is drunk on whiskey
Don’t you know it’s true
And the moon’s loving light is on the likes of you

Load up the station wagon
Bars will soon be closing
Take a little drive up into the mountains

The moon is gonna shine
On your pretty birthday suit
And the moon’s loving light is on the likes of you

METADATA:
The Moon’s Loving Light
The Ram
UPC : QZHN52570340
Release date: April 18, 2025
ASCAP Work ID: T3308384654
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

ABOUT THE VIDEO:
In 2024 I made a music video for Space Cowboy using some experimental film techniques and having fun with a space man doll. It was more like a Stretch Armstrong. Had no clue I would get such a great response from both the songs and the visuals that went with the release. Even though this song is not going to be on the Space Cowboy album I’m working on for 2026, I’m already thinking about the new songs visually. My new album out next week, is already in my rearview mirror.

Footage was shot here at the home studio, in front of a makeshift greenscreen, set infront of film footage taken from trips to the Italian Alps, The crazy looking space base the astronaut comes out of is actually taken during the 3 cable car trek up to the Marmalade, a spectacular Mountain in the Dolomites. The moon itself is a light up plastic moon model. The space suits are collectible GI Joe dolls from Apollo II. I had a tremendous amount of fun figuring out how to fit my huge head into a space helmet of a doll, it wasn’t that hard after all few tries, I got it working perfectly. Reminds me of the early sci-fi movies from the 1980s, Star Wars ripoffs and campy visual FX.+

ABOUT THE RAM:
Mark “The Ram” O’Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

MORE INFO:
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

A still from the official video, walking with my brother to a cafe in Clifden, Ireland. The birthplace of my grandmother.

I just wrote the studio notes for the song Join Along, my approach to this song in the studio was virtually the same. Both songs were part of a “studio live” recording session we did for all the new material, as a session warm up. Why release something that’s already been released? Great question. Firstly, songs, music, are not static, they are living things. They evolve as the band breathes life into it, the meaning changes as the listener embraces the song. Secondly, I can honestly say about my early releases that I did not know what I was doing in the studio. My understanding of mixing and mastering was in its infancy.

In the end, each song changed substantially when the band translated it back to me. Over the course of a few years, both songs were key parts of our road tested set list. The resulting sound was far better than what I recorded during the initial demo for each song. In the past, my process was to release the demo as the single. Since then (2020), I’ve settled into the process of cutting a fully formed demo by myself in the studio, then presenting new material to my band and let the magic happen. The magic my friend, is in the rhythm section. No tethered click track, just a loose groove that feels like walking down the street with the crew. Nothing feels better.

As mentioned in a few of the other Studio Notes entries, we track everything here at the house with a fully mic-ed drum set, with guitar, keys, bass, and scratch vocals running silently into the computer interface. Overdubs are minimal, I have the band do 2 takes per song per session. Once that is done, the bass and drums are locked in and set as the foundation of the song. I will sometimes overlay a digital drum model over top to enhance the kick or snare, but I did not need to on these songs. The bass and drums were perfect, thus is the benefit of taking a live band into the studio. Having finished drums and bass makes life easy for me, it’s a clean process that works for us. We use our gigs to work out the kinks of any new material, or any changes, completing the hard work outside the recording studio sessions.

Here are the overdubs I usually do:
We have a Nord Stage 4 set up, along with a Moog Model D. Some sessions, when our keyboard player is absent, we track everything separately. Most times, he’s there and we recall the keyboard model he used, and do a few more takes of his solo on each song. I believe on one song I took two separate Rhodes solos and hard panned them left and right to amazing results. I’ve talked with Mike about this and his feedback is that I need to give him more time to work on the recordings. I’m cool with that, and will take that into consideration on future releases.

For guitars, I over dub a clean guitar tone later based on what keyboard model was used as well as the sounds of the drums, and bass. This brings me to a very important point. For my next album, I am going to record all of the songs on a single project in Logic Pro X. Another option is to simply record a live set either on my QSC Touchmix or my friend’s Midas console. No click, controlled sound separation, simplified production. I did that for about 80% of the I Am Nowhere, I Am Everywhere album, and was able to overdub every song in a few long takes, once I mixed one song, for the most part the entire set was mixed. Mixing and mastering are a huge part of recording and releasing material. Anything you can do as an artist to streamline these processes is worth its weight in gold.

The guitars themselves are pretty straightforward. Either my white Gibson ‘61 custom Les Paul SG, Sister Rosetta Sharpe’s classic axe, of my custom shop Fender Telecaster, tobacco burst. Those two are the standards and I run them through a Fender Chris Stapleton signature Princeton. On top of the Princeton is a Universal Audio OX.

I love everything about this SG, as seen here being played by one of the most bad assed blues singers of all time, Sister Rosetta Sharpe.

Its funny to talk about guitars and amps as I have so many of both, over the years I experimented with so many combinations, rigs, fx, and setups. Problem is, when playing live you need to keep it simple, and minimize the points of failure. In every situation the Princeton stood out both with tone and ease of use. Recording with the OX provides exceptional delay and reverb fx, and the tremolo on the Princeton is truly second to none. With the amp decided upon, guitars were a bit more difficult to narrow down. Both guitars have necks that are pure butter to play, both stay in tune nicely for shows and in the studio. Ha, this is funny. I should mention that on the Gibson ‘61 reissue, the Maestro Vibrola is a nightmare for tuning. Just do yourself a favor and buy the Mojo Axe VibroStop aftermarket kit and lock the entire bridge down. My bad for getting into the weeds, but this is studio notes, a place where I document my failures in the studio. To fail, is to learn. Moving on to the vocals.

Vocals are another animal entirely. That being said, running through all the songs on an album, at once, two takes a piece, just like it was a couple sets of a 2.5 hour show is a great way to take care of business. Rarely are my scratch tracks reusable at any audible volume because I will be whispering the lyrics in front of the drum set during our initial session. I’ll set up a vocal track stack in Logic, run through 2 to 3 times over both of the bands takes, do background singings, harmonize and double where needed, all through a Townsend Sphere 22 stereo mic.

My vocal takes used to suck, even if the performance was good. I used to have a few different mics in front of me during my takes, but a local mastering engineer, just told me the Townsend was so much better, that there was no need for any other additional mic tracks. The mic is that good, so good that Universal Audio bought the company I met years ago at NAMM in Anaheim, CA. Here it is here. Pretty cool tech that saves me and my engineering efforts hours in studio post production.

Given that I’m following these same procedures now, as I work on songs for my upcoming album, smells like progress. I am applying everything that I’ve learned, though at times, in the thick of it I may not realize it. A few things I am going to do differently with these new songs when it comes to vocals. Im going to work with a female backup singer and build out more of a traditional gospel approach to my singing. I look forward to sharing the results in a few months.

For now, I have one last song to write about from last years album, “The Moon’s Loving Light“. Talk soon.

LYRICS:
Take to the street to play music
Got my amplifier, open guitar case
All of the hookers and hustlers
Gonna make em move, where they congregate

Let me tell you
Prostitution’s illegal but ya’d never know by the look of this place
Mind you I’ve got no problem ‘cause I tell you LOVE, is a terrible thing to waste

Ask me where Im going, I’m going way down town
Ask me what I’ll be up to, said I’m a gonna spread a little love around
A little love around
Little love around
Little love around
Little love around

Playing myself some guitar, got a big old smile, right across my face
I’ve been out here for 3 hours, I think its about time, to smoke a jay
Inspiration she finds me, on a crowded sidewalk or just about any place
When I’m with her I hold her so closely ‘ cause I tell you love is a terrible thing to waste

Ask me where Im going, I’m going way down town
Ask me what I’ll be up to, said I’m a gonna spread a little love around
A little love around
Little love around
Little love around
Little love around

METADATA:
Love Is a Terrible Thing to Waste
The Ram
UPC: 199080246245
ISRC: QZHN52570341
Release date: April 18, 2025
ASCAP Work ID: T9275161847
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

ABOUT THE SONG:
There’s a few events that comes to mind when I think of this song, all the stories beckon back to some of my fondest memories while living as a broke artist in East Coast cities. I once knew NYC and Philadelphia like the back of my hand, but cities change. I’ve not lived there since the 1990s, which was a lifetime ago. When I lived in either city, I worked, but never had two pennies to rub together.

That was not a complaint, merely a statement about my income at the time, looking back, those were good times. It may be true that I’ve been robbed, ridiculed, beaten, and cheated, but never broken. These experiences made me who I am today: especially when I stood up for myself, and learned to recognize who my people were. My family, the creatives, the restaurant workers, the artists, the queers, the outcasts. With them I shared time with some of the most beautiful moments of my life. Many are gone, with respect to them, their memories, I wouldn’t change a thing. I know that each experience was a stepping stone to where ai am today.

I don’t know how I came out unscathed. I don’t wish on anyone the experience being chased down the street by an unsavory character in Camden, NJ, or doing the same in a Brooklyn subway, or on Fordham Ave in the Bronx on foot while buying weed. Nothing bad ever happened, I’ve gotten my ass kicked, but I never got stabbed or shot, and for that I consider myself lucky. Travel and life in our cities has taught me to love all people, be aware of your present surroundings, because tomorrow is not guaranteed. Nothing at all is guaranteed in life.

Check out all the other videos from the new album, “I Am Nowhere, I Am Everywhere” by the Ram out April 18, 2025.

ABOUT THE RAM:
Mark “The Ram” O’Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

MORE INFO:
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

VIEW ON YOUTUBE:

ABOUT THE SONG:
There’s a few events that comes to mind when I think of this song, all the stories beckon back to some of my fondest memories while living as a broke artist in East Coast cities. I once knew NYC and Philadelphia like the back of my hand, but cities change. I’ve not lived there since the 1990s, which was a lifetime ago. When I lived in either city, I worked, but never had two pennies to rub together.

That was not a complaint, merely a statement about my income at the time, looking back, those were good times. It may be true that I’ve been robbed, ridiculed, beaten, and cheated, but never broken. These experiences made me who I am today: especially when I stood up for myself, and learned to recognize who my people were. My family, the creatives, the restaurant workers, the artists, the queers, the outcasts. With them I shared time with some of the most beautiful moments of my life. Many are gone, with respect to them, their memories, I wouldn’t change a thing. I know that each experience was a stepping stone to where ai am today.

I don’t know how I came out unscathed. I don’t wish on anyone the experience being chased down the street by an unsavory character in Camden, NJ, or doing the same in a Brooklyn subway, or on Fordham Ave in the Bronx on foot while buying weed. Nothing bad ever happened, I’ve gotten my ass kicked, but I never got stabbed or shot, and for that I consider myself lucky. Travel and life in our cities has taught me to love all people, be aware of your present surroundings, because tomorrow is not guaranteed. Nothing at all is guaranteed in life.

LYRICS:
Take to the street to play music
Got my amplifier, open guitar case
All of the hookers and hustlers
Gonna make em move, where they congregate

Let me tell you
Prostitution’s illegal but ya’d never know by the look of this place
Mind you I’ve got no problem ‘cause I tell you LOVE, is a terrible thing to waste

Ask me where Im going, I’m going way down town
Ask me what I’ll be up to, said I’m a gonna spread a little love around
A little love around
Little love around
Little love around
Little love around

Playing myself some guitar, got a big old smile, right across my face
I’ve been out here for 3 hours, I think its about time, to smoke a jay
Inspiration she finds me, on a crowded sidewalk or just about any place
When I’m with her I hold her so closely ‘ cause I tell you love is a terrible thing to waste

Ask me where Im going, I’m going way down town
Ask me what I’ll be up to, said I’m a gonna spread a little love around
A little love around
Little love around
Little love around
Little love around

METADATA:
Love Is a Terrible Thing to Waste
The Ram
UPC: 199080246245
ISRC: QZHN52570341
Release date: April 18, 2025
ASCAP Work ID: T9275161847
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

ABOUT THE VIDEO:
A few years back I took my brother Tommy to the holy ground (Ireland) as a thank you for being my big brother. I was raised with a piece of sod from Clifden in a case sitting next to the History of the Irish Race, by Seumas MacManus. It was a piece of the holy land, at least that’s what those of Irish ancestry call it. The case with glass doors was right by the Telefunken (our stereo), which played nonstop albums by the Clancy Brothers, the Dubliners, the Wolfe Tones, and so many folk singers of the era. My father loved that music.

In the video you’ll meet my brother Tommy. Most people I’ve introduced him to will tell me after getting to know him, that I’m a dickhead in comparison. They only thought I was cool, until they met him, which is hilarious. So needless to say I feel like I’ve won the lottery with having him as a brother, and thought a trip to Ireland was a great way to say “thank you”. I thought about trying to shoot a video that’s true to the lyrics, busking on the streets of American cities, and all the colorful characters in the process, but this trip to Ireland seemed more fitting. Here’s why.

Once we agreed to go to Ireland, we also agreed that to avoid drinking too much, we’d bring guitars and try to play every pub we went to. It was a stroke of pure genius to plan on plying music in pubs to avoid drinking, that’s for sure. It sounded like a braggadocios pipe dream, but we soon found out that people there absolutely love American Music, especially early country and rock n’ roll. We ended up playing just about every pub we went to, because you simply just don’t walk into a bar in Ireland with guitars and not play. Hopefully someday I’ll finish the documentary “Ireland or Busk”, but this is a little past of the good times we had.

Check out all the other videos from the album, “I Am Nowhere, I Am Everywhere” by the Ram released April 18, 2025.

ABOUT THE RAM:
Mark “The Ram” O’Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

MORE INFO:
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

A still from the official video: Watching my good friend Kyle do a cutback while playing live on a stage overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Looking back to 2022, it was a good year in the studio. I had just started to dial in my live studio recording sound with the same people that now comprise my working band. It was the year the music industry started to come back to life after the long hiatus of the pandemic. On an experiment, I set up a live band room in the tall ceiling room in the front of my house. The drums were mic-ed properly and all of the other instruments ran silently into a Universal Audio Apollo x8p to ensure the drum tracking was flawless. Everything was setup for overdubbing, but we found the drums and bass never needed more than 2 takes. Compared to this method, the initial recording was little more than a demo.

The initial recording was a throwback to a time when I thought of myself more of an Astral Weeks era Van Morrison, who smoked way too much weed. I wasn’t that good as a performer yet, and I still used to get crippling stage fright leading up to every gig. Funny, now that I dont smoke as much weed, I think i enjoy perfoming a lot more. Perhaps its because I practice more. As much as I’d like to, I have no right to blame anything on the herbstalk.

Here is the original acoustic version of the release:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/join-along-single/1644013308

The released version of the song was good enough. In retrospect, I may have released it to close the door on that creative period and start something new. At the time I may have not been aware of it, but everything around me was starting to move fast. Looking back , it was a great time in my life. I wrote so many songs that I’m still releasing songs from that prolific period. There was a time when most new songs I’d try out at local open mic nights. I often played with an acoustic bass, using a dobro as my go to axe, but a few things made me change direction. My friend Marco was an amazing upright player, and he played electric with us a bunch when we first started out. What an amazing musician. I think by mid summer Marco had moved from San Diego, so I had to figure out a replacement. I tried in the studio, but I could not make the upright bass translate to my larger electric band. I had to adapt a new sound to what my new band members were brining to the gigs each week. The addition of a keyboard alone demanded an instrument that could tonally compliment the sophisticated sound of a Rhodes, Hammond or Clavinova. Shortly after I recorded those last few demos with upright bass and acoustic, I started playing regularly with a new band line up at a friends local venue. Lucky for me one of the coolest human beings on the planet, my friend Dan Greenbaum, rips at bass and just about any instrument he touches.

Within about a year, my new place to showcase new material was accross the street from my house, overlooking my home surf break. Things progressed quickly thanks to the demands of local music scene, we had already built a fanbase of friends, neighbirs, and family. At the beginning of 2022 we were playing on the sidewalk ( Do It Right ), but by the end of the Spring we had a stage.

May 21, 2022 the first time the stage was installed at the Camp Store. Initially the stage was built of 6 panels, and did not have the last row in the back. I requested a bigger stage to fit a 5 piece band. Ask and ye shall receive.

By the end of that summer, the new band was firing on all cylinders both on the stage and in the home studio. All the fun we had improvising on stage in 2022 reshaped my ideas of what recording meant to me. Every show, I taped religiously both video and tracked audio, what I saw was pure magic. I studied the recordings to see where I could improve both as a muscian and performer. In the studio, I wanted to match the groove we locked into on stage so it changed my entire approach to tracking. I started falling into a process where all the recordings I worked on the previous year, was mixed mastered and released the following year. 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 were perfect examples of that process. two albums came from that era: Songs of Wanderlust and I am Nowhere, I am Everywhere.

If I learned anything since 2022, it’s that if you take the time to record every live show you do, you have more than enough collateral to work with for you social and marketing efforts. I makes life easy, because with minimal effort, stills from recorded videos can be saved out for posters or album covers. I also learned that using 2 seperate iphones in tandem is the easiest way to shoot concert footage. What does this have to do with the studio? Once i had a demo mixed or mastered, I never had a shortage of media to use for the release of the single or album. When traveling, I not only recorded my band, but recorded everything interesting in the world around me.

I think it’s fair to say that there was a time that I sucked both as a producer, and as a videographer. We’ve all been there. The best way to improve in anything, is to simply do it. Release your art to the public, so that you can move on and not be held hostage by a single piece of art, or period of influence . There’s always something you could’ve done better in retrospect, know that. Making art has never been about perfection, only the forward movement and the search for continuous improvement. Often, when I talk about the recording process, I understand its so naturally dynamic that by the time I release an album or a single, I’ve moved onto new material.

It’s good to look back to see the road traveled. I have a few more of these to do to cover the work I did in 2025, I want to have an official video and “Studio Notes“ written from all of the songs from the album, I have two remaining so once those are done, I’ll continue my work on the new album. I keep coming back to this footage from the first time we played Join Along to a live audience. I had been working on the vocal tracking so much that we performed the song almost verbatim, thats why even though the lyrics aren’t perfectly synced, they’re damn close. Close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades.

On September 25, 2022 the band is doing a sound check , the same show we used footage of for the Join Along music video.

It was also a perfect night, a friend send me a recording of the sunset that night which i used in the intro, you can see here from this picture, just what kind of night we are talking about.

The same sunset from the music video, just across the street.

The instrumentation of the recording, I believe was from the same recording sessions that we recorded the Do It Right release. No click track. I initially had our piano player do a take on electric piano, then another one on a Rhodes or Whirly. There was one take where he began the song on piano then switched as the song picked up momentum. I thought that was brilliant so I kept it. I still remember the feeling of listening to our first studio live recording here at the house.

This article describes that session in depth:

Click tracks? Music only started using click tracks in the 1980s, plenty of good music has an organic tempo that ebbs and flows. If Elvin Jones was still alive, do you think a producer would make him play to a click track? Nope. If you’re Intrested, Logic Pro X has a feature that analyzes adapts the project tempo to the instruments being recorded live. As the song progresses, you can see the slight variation in tempo as we move from verse, to chorus, to bridge, and so on. I believe the feature is called Smart Tempo or Adaptive Tempo, I’ve found it to be reliable except for when I try to synch with a video of the same performance.

The reason I’m referencing the older article, is it talks about the decisive time when I moved away from the click track. I still record demos and songs to a click track, but I firmly believe that our true sound is outside the click track. Our drummer has recorded with a click, he can, but that’s not what we are looking for. My goal in all of my future recordings is to have our album versions of each song to be recorded without a click track, using our “studio live“ method of recording which we are still perfecting.

There’s not much more to the recording of the song. It was very easy. Almost too easy because I had already released the song as a single and was adding it to my set list. There’s something about the chord changes that make it a pleasure to both listen to, and perform live. Until next time…

LYRICS:
She stepped right off of the train,
Headed straight across the platform
Behold, such a beautiful face, (she came up to me)
Asked me for a lighter, you got one

Let me see the moonlight in your eyes
Let me see the New York City lights
Let us smoke some incense and fill the air
Baby don’t you know that we’re almost there

Because!

Tonight it’s only rock and roll, babe
You can have it any way we want, or else waltz away
Madison Square, walk right inside
We’re gonna dance to our favorite songs all night
Gonna get crazy, have ourselves a hell of a time

If you want a right place,
If you want a piece of the action, action
The whole, such a sweet embrace
Always amplifies attraction

Let me see the moonlight in your eyes
Let me see the New York City lights
Let us smoke some incense and fill the air
Baby don’t you know that we’re almost there

Because!

Tonight it’s only rock and roll, babe
You can have it any way we want, or else waltz away
Madison Square, walk right inside
We’re gonna dance to our favorite songs all night
Gonna get crazy, have ourselves a hell of a time

When we missed the last train home
Camped out for Letterman tickets but got none
Floated through outer space
Rockefeller Center and then some

Let me see the moonlight in your eyes
Let me see the New York City lights
Let us smoke some incense and fill the air
Baby don’t you know that we’re almost there

Because!

Tonight it’s only rock and roll, babe
You can have it any way we want, or else waltz away
Madison Square, walk right inside
We’re gonna dance to our favorite songs all night
Gonna get crazy, have ourselves a hell of a time

METADATA:
Join Along
The Ram
UPC :197146039459
Release date: September 23, 2022
ASCAP Work ID: 920728999
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

ABOUT THE SONG:
The story behind this song takes us back to September 15-20 1987, not sure which night it was my guess it was either a Friday or a Saturday given that I was going to school. I was a freshman in college at SUNY New Paltz and went down to NYC to see the Grateful Dead, take a listen and hear what went down. Join Along is a melodic homage to an incident that happened after a Madison Square Garden Grateful Dead show. My friends and I ended up stranded in NYC late nite after missing the last train north on the Hudson line. We ended up cruising up to Radio City, Rockefeller Plaza to camp out for David Letterman tickets. 6 country kids, very high on acid, safe on the marble floors of NBC in the 80s.

About the Ram
Mark “The Ram” O’Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

This is the official music video for the song, Join Along by the Southern California rock band the Ram taken from the EP/album, I Am Nowhere I Am Everywhere (released April 18, 2025). The single and album are out now on all streaming platforms.

ABOUT THE SONG:
The story behind this song takes us back to September 15-20 1987, not sure which night it was my guess it was either a Friday or a Saturday given that I was going to school. I was a freshman in college at SUNY New Paltz and went down to NYC to see the Grateful Dead, take a listen and hear what went down. Join Along is a melodic homage to an incident that happened after a Madison Square Garden Grateful Dead show. My friends and I ended up stranded in NYC late nite after missing the last train north on the Hudson line. We ended up cruising up to Radio City, Rockefeller Plaza to camp out for David Letterman tickets. 6 country kids, very high on acid, safe on the marble floors of NBC in the 80s.

LYRICS:
She stepped right off of the train,
Headed straight across the platform
Behold, such a beautiful face, (she came up to me)
Asked me for a lighter, you got one

Let me see the moonlight in your eyes
Let me see the New York City lights
Let us smoke some incense and fill the air
Baby don’t you know that we’re almost there

Because!

Tonight it’s only rock and roll, babe
You can have it any way we want, or else waltz away
Madison Square, walk right inside
We’re gonna dance to our favorite songs all night
Gonna get crazy, have ourselves a hell of a time

If you want a right place,
If you want a piece of the action, action
The whole, such a sweet embrace
Always amplifies attraction

Let me see the moonlight in your eyes
Let me see the New York City lights
Let us smoke some incense and fill the air
Baby don’t you know that we’re almost there

Because!

Tonight it’s only rock and roll, babe
You can have it any way we want, or else waltz away
Madison Square, walk right inside
We’re gonna dance to our favorite songs all night
Gonna get crazy, have ourselves a hell of a time

When we missed the last train home
Camped out for Letterman tickets but got none
Floated through outer space
Rockefeller Center and then some

Let me see the moonlight in your eyes
Let me see the New York City lights
Let us smoke some incense and fill the air
Baby don’t you know that we’re almost there

Because!

Tonight it’s only rock and roll, babe
You can have it any way we want, or else waltz away
Madison Square, walk right inside
We’re gonna dance to our favorite songs all night
Gonna get crazy, have ourselves a hell of a time

METADATA:
Join Along
The Ram
UPC :197146039459
Release date: September 23, 2022
ASCAP Work ID: 920728999
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

ABOUT THE VIDEO:
The fundemental aspect of songwirting, for me at least, is perfoming new music to my local audience. Friends and family always A big part of my music is the first time I perform a new song to my friends and family. The album and single release art is from a show at my local venue, The Camp Store in Carlsbad, CA on the first night I publicly played the song. This is a still from the video recording. It means so much to me, the local surfers, our community who all shares our lives around such a spectacular beach.

In my official music video, I’ve synched surf footage from the trips I’ve been on with friends, to coaster rides looking at local surf breaks to the boys and I first playing this new song. I hope you like it when it comes out this Friday June 14th.

Check out all the other videos from the new album, “I Am Nowhere, I Am Everywhere” by the Ram out April 18, 2025.

About the Ram
Mark “The Ram” O’Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

• Chris Flores

• Mark ODonnell

• Mike Pritchard

• Marco Savoia

Lyrics
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?
Get up, get out, get out of the door
You're playin' cold music on the barroom floor
Drowned in your laughter and dead to the core
There's a dragon with matches that's loose on the town
Takes a whole pa…

Read more

• Chris Flores

• Mark ODonnell

• Mike Pritchard

• Marco Savoia

Lyrics

Some say that the love of the wanderlust
Is just a life that won’t amount to much
A man born with rambling shoes
Is just another man born to loose
I want to set the record straight
Before I hit the road today

Got a ragtop car
Enough gas to take us far
Eno…

Read more

• Chris Flores

• Mark ODonnell

• Mike Pritchard

• Marco Savoia

Lyrics
No sight of the man on the interstate
Spent a mess of time trucking on the road today
I got a one-way ticket babe the diesel down
And I’m blowing off some doors as I pass each town
As I pass each town, lord I pass each town
As I pass each town, laying…

Read more

• Chris Flores

• Mark ODonnell

• Mike Pritchard

• Marco Savoia

Lyrics
No sight of the man on the interstate
Spent a mess of time trucking on the road today
I got a one-way ticket babe the diesel down
And I’m blowing off some doors as I pass each town
As I pass each town, lord I pass each town
As I pass each town, laying…

Read more

• Chris Flores

• Mark ODonnell

• Mike Pritchard

• Marco Savoia

Lyrics
No sight of the man on the interstate
Spent a mess of time trucking on the road today
I got a one-way ticket babe the diesel down
And I’m blowing off some doors as I pass each town
As I pass each town, lord I pass each town
As I pass each town, laying…

Read more

• Chris Flores

• Mark ODonnell

• Mike Pritchard

• Marco Savoia

Lyrics
I got an itch I got a feeling, wanna meet in the street tomorrow
Had ENOUGH, being Locked up IN-SIDE today
Let the golden sun shine down, cast our shadows
You want anything, babe, you can have your way

And as we wade into the evening city lights are g…

Read more

2025 was a stark reminder of how important family is, at any time our loved ones can be gone in an instant. For the longest time I didn’t know how to proceed, then I read a Bob Weir interview where he spoke about dealing with the death of Jerry Garcia. Although he was devastated he never stopped playing music. Jerry would have wanted it that way.

Stu was about as good a friend as one could ask for, and I know he would’ve wanted me to keep creating art and music. I’ve learned so much by having a mentor like Stu in my life. I was one of his biggest fans, my family loved him. When I think about it, most of the songs I’ve written about my youth, he was either there, or close by. When I released “I Am Nowhere, I Am Everywhere” on April 18, 2025, the work was done months in advance. It was mastered, pressed onto red vinyl, the album cover art, the sleeve, the liner notes, lyrics, and credits were all designed by hand earlier that year. With all of the work done, I began to plan out the fun part - the roll out.

I envisioned how April 2025 was going to kick off musical celebrations lasting through the entirety of the summer, deep into the fall. I had all the shows lined up and was stoked to take my band to the next level with the new material. Life had other plans. As news of a Stu’s health struggles reached me in California, I swore to myself to visit the east more frequently. Plans were made to visit home, but they were too little, too late. As I boarded a plane to go to Banff, Canada for a week of snowboarding, I received news of Stu’s passing.

When it hit me, something inside just went black. Beneath the ski goggles were bloodshot battered eyes soaked with tears. It felt like fire was coming out of my eye sockets, and my body ached like I had a bad fever which refused to pass. My mind bent to a useless blank. It felt like my central nervous system short circuited itself. At 57 years old, I’ve seen my fair share of funerals. Once again, our mortal clocks sounded off in a deafening manner.

Subscribe now

What I’ve learned about these moments in life, is that they bring clarity to everything else. I found myself in Canada, asking myself every difficult question in the book. If a message were distilled, it said how fortunate we are to make human connections such as these, even if they are lost with time. Stu lived life in a way which was larger than life to those of us lucky enough to call him a friend. Painful as it was, I felt surrounded by him. It was poetic to see my friend manifested in the untamed ruggedness that is the Canadian Rockies.

The burden of death is never easily manged alone. Together, as a family, our loved ones help shoulder such burdens. Family teaches us how to be there for one another. Unwritten rules dictate that you have to show up. There is no phoning it in. On that trip to Canada, hats off to my wife and cousin’s family for putting up with me. I was a mess. That whole trip would find me silently shaking and crying uncontrollably. Beneath all those winter layers was a heart, shattered to pieces.

To process everything, I did something that was pure Stu. I wrote a sonnet (14 lines, 10 sylables each line ). I did my best to put it down into words.

The Best of Us

What happens when the best of us is gone?
Incomprehensibly left on our own?

Once laughter filled eyes eternally closed
His sweet words silenced, and spoken no more
I’d give anything, to embrace him again
And forever hold, that bright burning sun

It never stops hurting, this I’ll tell you
Alone, by ourselves, we will face such hard truths
As cold mountain water cuts deep in stone
No shoulders can bear this great weight alone

Gather together and remember his name
Sing his favorite songs, I’ll do the same
Close your eyes with me, remember his voice
Such beautiful moments bring him in close

After this poem was put to pen, my creative machines stopped in their tracks. I became distant, shell shocked. This screenshot to my phone sums up everything.

I was going to give Stu a few tickets to see Dead & Company at the Sphere, in Vegas, he could not go. I planned to go out in a few weeks with a guitar and play Grateful Dead songs for him in the hospital. If you look at the timestamps, everything happened too fast to process. Within a very short timeframe a diagnosis escalated into the unimaginable.

In the early 2000s I lost touch with nearly everyone due to the fact that I was married to my young family and my burgeoning career. Everything changed 7 years ago when Stu and I attended the 50th birthday of a mutual friend of ours: the bombastic Steve Bohn. I met both Steve and Stu during freshman orientation at SUNY New Paltz in August 1987. I heard through another mutual friend (Charlie Fetherolf), who I had commissioned to make some art for an earlier project, about Steve’s birthday party. On a whim I flew out and my brother picked up up from the airport at 6:30am and we set off for a weekend in upstate NY.

My brother Tommy is the world’s best traveling companion. For my entire life, I’ve chosen friends based on whether they reminded me of my brother Tommy or my sister Maura. When we arrived to see my college friends, the old fire was rekindled. No one had changed, they were all funny as ever and every single one appreciated being able to see one another. The sun came up too fast. There’s a story from that night that I would laugh with for years every time I talked with Stu (a story for another time). The entire group that night reconnected with a vengeance.

Part of me had forgotten how much I loved these friends. Steve’s birthday party cemented in my mind how important it was for me to visit the East Coast more regularly. Shortly afterwards, every time I went home, Stu who lived in Brattleboro, VT was always close by. Brattleboro is about a 45 minute drive from where I finished high shcool (my aunt and uncles house in Shushan, NY). The following summer, we hit the Outlaw Music Festival at SPAC.

Shortly after that we hired my high school friend’s band, Full Tilt, to play our 4th of July river rafting party on the Battenkill river in upstate NY. Let me tell you, my family loved that man as much as I did. Looking at these pictures now, all I wish is that I could walk into the picture frame and embrace Stu once more, just like in the poem. The common thread of all of these photos taken from the many, is pure laughter and the feeling of being at home with our friends. That is what music is to me.

To be a friend of Stu’s is to love performed music, dance, poetry, and theater. Stu taught me deep appreciation for live music, he was the embodiment of what I wanted out of music. He was the type of person who I wrote music for. It’s no wonder he fit so well and appreciated my family. If you ask my friends and family, they’ll say the loss of Stu left a crater in our world. All of us still think about Stu often, in our surroundings, in the weight of our decision making.

Then something inexplicable happened…

Stu’s guidance is now and forever: just like my father’s, my grandparents and the rest of my ancestors. I can still hear his voice as clear as day. Within a few months of his passing, Stu’s voice told me to give one of my guitars to a local musician in Carlsbad, CA ( my friend Josh Steely). It was his voice clear as day, “Do it, Mark. Give it to him”. To explain, when musicians give another one of their prized instruments, it’s like a spiritual supernova. Every guitar I’ve been given has special place in my life, all of the guitars I own are totems. I hadn’t seen Josh in close to 20 years, but I was a huge fan of Sandjacket, his band from Carlsbad, CA who I saw as much as I could in the late 90s early 2000s. Josh and I were at a mutual friend, Dave Kimmel’s 60th birthday party.

At the party, we started talking about recording, and I explained how I was having a tough time looking at a guitar since I lost my good friend Stu. Because, making art and music is such a shared experience, musicians are often able to have tough conversations with one another to find common guidance. It’s normal for a musician to become estranged from music. Talking with Josh made me realize all that I had given up when i stopped playing music. Of all people, Stu would be pissed if he knew I stopped playing. Just like Bob Weir knew that Jerry would want him to play when he passed. The best path forward, and the best way to pay tribute to my late friend was to tell his story, and to do it through song.

Josh, his son and I played well into the night at the party, and when it was time to head home, Josh was particularly enamored with my guitar: a red Gretsch acoustic that had a bigsby trem installed on it. Perfect action and after I replaced the stock pickup with a Brian Setzer signature, the thing was a beauty. I played the hell out of that guitar for years. “I love this guitar man… it’s yours my friend.” As easy as that. I could feel Stu’s hand on my shoulder when the words were spoken.

Art and music can handle anything you throw at it

2025 has taught me some hard earned lessons. The best way to process something as heavy as loss, is to use art and music as a doorway to pass through. Songwriting is a natural extension of storytelling for me, and the only reason my songs are even remotely listenable is because I’ve led an interesting life. Good friends are proof of a good life. For any artist, the creative process is a machine that needs to be kept in motion. When I stopped playing, writing, documenting, working, keeping myself busy, the wheels fell off and I ended up lost with no direction. Lucky for me, I have friends who remind me regularly how important and transient a life in art is.

About the Ram
Mark “The Ram” O’Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

The Ram: Saltwater & Music is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The road to Benton Hot Springs from Mammoth Lakes, CA

Listen to the cold was one of the 4 songs off the new album which was recorded in a single session here at the home studio in Carlsbad, CA. I recorded a demo version of the song during Christmas break while visiting family back east, if I recall correctly, it was written in Downingtown, PA, filmed in the Mammoth Lakes region, & recorded again in the Carlsbad, CA home studio.

This song more than anything else I’ve written comes close to the sound I’m going for as a live band, once the band cut the song in the home studio, nailed it on the first take, I knew something special happened. Before I even added the finishing touches, the layered vocals, and the spaghetti western guitars, I knew the rhythm section of the band created something timeless. These factors compelled me to press the album to vinyl, which as we all know, is a huge undertaking.

Baby Listen to the cold as it blows
Blowing through the window panes
Hand blown glass warp my vision
Looking though the wooden frame

There’s a front room in my parent’s farmhouse that I often write songs in when I visit home. The glass on the window is from the 1800s, the frame itself lets the cold wind through without resistance. Through that window, I could see when my father was waving us out to help in the field across the street. I could see when a guest arrived, when a family member came home from school, when our cousins came to visit. Like so many of those old memories, those lyrics could only have been written in that room, in that house, on that red velvet loveseat.

The front room in Downingtown, PA. My place to write.

The house is an old log cabin with wood siding and old newspaper insulation. It was purchased by an ancestor in 1868. He fought for the Union in the Civil War and purchased the land with his soldier wages. Generations later, my father’s father moved his young family onto the farm with his older cousins, to help take care of the land. Another generation later, from Pittsburg, my family moved in with my father’s widowed mother, when I was in preschool. The memories of my youth swim in and around that family farm.

Hear the floorboards speak in the morning
Footsteps 'fore the break of day
Always caught him in those in between hours
Always coming home after working late

There’s not much to that old house, those floors creak and squeak, the windows let in the wind, whatever the temperature. It was tiny, when there was a fight or an argument there was no place to hide in the house, we’d always have to take things outdoors. We’d play football or whatever sport we felt like playing on any given day. A big reason my family has been so close over the years, has something to do with that tiny house, and the family magic created under that roof. As I’ve said before, I don’t even have to try, songs just write themselves and freely flow when I’m visiting home.

Street view from Gallagherville Road, the small curb by the road was dug and poured by brothers and I under guidance from my father.

It’s interesting to come home and visit a place that, when I was younger, I could’t wait to leave. I knew early that farm life was not something I ever wanted for myself. During harvest, it’s hard, backbreaking work, from sun up till sundown. In such a setting, wanderlust came easy for me. I daydreamed regularly about anyplace outside our farm.

Perhaps the reason I miss it so much is that my dad loved it, his spirit is still very much part of that land. That farm was my dad. I often get homesick, it has nothing to do with a house or a location, but has everything to do with my friends and family who’ve passed. It’s not easy to write and perform songs written about loved ones who are gone, but those are the ones we have to sing.

Buzzy on top of the old International Harvester Farmall C from the 1940s.

Songwriting and performing demands the uncanny ability to recall the specifics of any time or place, at any given time, at a moments notice. Recalled both from the artist’s own life experience, and from the collective human experience of humanity. Singing about my father, is important for many reasons, mainly his is a song that needs to be sung. He was a damn good human being. Many still miss him profoundly. Singing about him, both re-opens the wound of loosing him, while acknowledging how important it is to memorialize our ancestors.

When I told him I was leaving
He said, just I know that I love you
God's speed on your way
Now that he's gone I come back home
To the memories of this old place

That specific conversation happened many times. When I first moved to New York City in my early 20s, when I fell in love with my wife and moved to San Diego, CA in my late 20s, when we began to have kids. Any major decision I made, his guidance and blessing were there. It was a family mandate, because his advice was universal, his trust in us to do the right thing and succeed was limitless. He always let us know that if it didn’t work out, we’d always be welcomed back under his roof. His roof was big as the sky above, as was his heart.

Lyrics:

Baby Listen to the cold as it blows
Blowing through the window panes
Hand blown glass warp my vision
Looking though the wooden frame
Hear the floorboards speak in the morning
Footsteps 'fore the break of day
Always caught him in those in between hours
Always coming home after working late
Always coming home after working late
Always coming home after working late
Late

Beneath wooden beams my childhood dreams
All the good times coming back to me
Nothing like the sound of that Farmall C
When you're sitting on top of that tractor seat
When you're sitting on top of that tractor seat
You can hear in the fields such a beautiful sound
Music to the hand that holds the plow
Dinner bell rings call me back to the house
On the harvest evening when the sun go down
Yeah when the sun go down

I used to look out in the evenings
Dream of rambling
Moving lights on the old highway
Dreaming of the places they were off to
On a wide open interstate
When I told him I was set on leaving
He said, just I know that I love you
God's speed on your way
Now that he's gone I come back home
To the memories of this old place
To the memories of this old place
To the memories of this old place
To the memories

Beneath wooden beams my childhood dreams
All the good times coming back to me
Nothing like the sound of that Farmall C
When you're sitting on top of that tractor seat
When you're sitting on top of that tractor seat
You can hear in the fields such a beautiful sound
Music to the hand that holds the plow
Dinner bell rings call me back to the house
On the harvest evening when the sun go down
Yeah, when the sun go down
Down, down, down
Down, down
Sun go down
Down
Down
Down

This wasn’t the only song written that day, if you want some insight on another songs written with similar lyrics, read this article about another song off the album:

Warmth of the Fire is a related song written at the same time

About the Ram
Mark "The Ram" O'Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

Song Metadata

Listen to the Cold
The Ram
UPC: 199080246245
ISRC: QZHN52570339
Release date: April 18, 2025
ASCAP Work ID: T3242510818
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

Subscribe now

This is the official music video for Listen to the Cold by the Ram taken from the album, I Am Nowhere I Am Everywhere (release date is April 18, 2025). The single is out now on all streaming platforms.

ABOUT THE SONG:

There are wounds in life which are never meant to heal, eventually they evolve into the same scars we wear with pride and dignity. Watching our parents' generation disappear back into the dust creates such wounds. The houses I was raised in hold the warmth of ancestry, the family farm in Downingtown, PA, my godfather's house in Shushan, NY, there are countless dreams and memories. There's a room in the old farmhouse with red velvet loveseats, where I write music. The same place where the Christmas tree stood, where we listened to music. I've looked out that window millions of times. I've listened to the floorboards and the ceiling creak in the middle of the night when my father was getting up for work, or his mother was getting up to start the day.

When I told him I was set on leaving he said, just I know that I love you
God's speed on your way
Now that he's gone I come back home, to the memories of this old place

I wish more than anything, that my kids got to know their grandfather. It's been close to 20 years that he's been gone, but it still feels like yesterday that he was by my side. Whenever I swim through the waves to get out to the surf, whenever I walk the mountains to gather my thoughts, he surrounds me. His voice, loud and clear in guidance, his hand, steadfast to pick me back up whenI fall. If this song is anything, it's a prayer to him and a reminder to myself that I have huge shoes to fill.

LYRICS:
Baby Listen to the cold as it blows
Blowing through the window panes
Hand blown glass warp my vision
Looking though the wooden frame
Hear the floorboards speak in the morning
Footsteps 'fore the break of day
Always caught him in those in between hours
Always coming home after working late
Always coming home after working late
Always coming home after working late
Late

Beneath wooden beams my childhood dreams
All the good times coming back to me
Nothing like the sound of that Farmall C
When you're sitting on top of that tractor seat
When you're sitting on top of that tractor seat
You can hear in the fields such a beautiful sound
Music to the hand that holds the plow
Dinner bell rings call me back to the house
On the harvest evening when the sun go down
Yeah when the sun go down

I used to look out in the evenings
Dream of rambling
Moving lights on the old highway
Dreaming of the places they were off to
On a wide open interstate
When I told him I was set on leaving
He said, just I know that I love you
God's speed on your way
Now that he's gone I come back home
To the memories of this old place
To the memories of this old place
To the memories of this old place
To the memories

Beneath wooden beams my childhood dreams
All the good times coming back to me
Nothing like the sound of that Farmall C
When you're sitting on top of that tractor seat
When you're sitting on top of that tractor seat
You can hear in the fields such a beautiful sound
Music to the hand that holds the plow
Dinner bell rings call me back to the house
Harvest evening when the sun go down
Yeah, when the sun go down
Down, down, down
Down, down
Sun go down
Down
Down
Down

METADATA:
Listen to the Cold
The Ram
UPC: 199080246245
ISRC: QZHN52570339
Release date: April 4, 2025
ASCAP Work ID: T3242510818
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

ABOUT THE VIDEO:
Years ago, my wife fell in love with Mammoth Lakes, California. Getting to know the Eastern Sierras opened a new chapter in my life. Up until then everything was coastal and revolved around the ocean, the mountains were somewhat of a stranger to me. On a drive from Lake Tahoe to San Diego, we spend the night in Mammoth. It was love at first site. Around that same time, I traveled so much for work, I began to loose myself. The mountains reminded me where my roots are and always have been. Once I'm submersed in those mountains, the floodgates open and the memories of youth are brought back to life. The stars, inter-connected constellations of my own ancestry and mythology. The night sky in the Sierra Nevadas is a true mirror to the soul. The footage was taken after I returned to California from a surf trip to Indonesia. In the mountains and the open ocean, my heart returns to my loved ones who are no longer with us.

Check out all the other videos from the new album, "I Am Nowhere, I Am Everywhere" by the Ram out April 18, 2025.

About the Ram
Mark "The Ram" O'Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

I sit at this desk every day, making art, editing videos, doing voice-overs, tracking the new material, & mixing the old from the archives. On the painting to the left, that’s Kerouac in the corner, from The Subterraneans.

We never shut off writing. It’s an open spigot that flows 24/7. It’s a choice, the very way we looking at the world around us. The choice to translate/document what we see. Certain times throughout the calendar year, my focus instinctually returns to the conception poin of the creative process. Beforehand, I need to complete whatever outstanding work I can, and remove all unwanted distractions from my immediate surroundings. Those distractions, to me, represent the death of spontanaity, the pinwheel of death, endless procrastination. Armed with only a notebook, mechanical pencil, nothing else. OK, (too much) an iPhone for the video camera to capture BPM and chord changes on the neck of the guitar. But be warned, the iPhone can also be a path to endless distractions.

The humor of it all is right here in front of me. It’s truly ironic, even now, when I’m writing an entry in Substack instead of a song.

“Perhaps, I can make this part of the songwriting process as well.” said the master of procrastination

I’ve said it before, I use Substack to help stay organized. I have a pile of notebooks, as disorganized and non chronological as one could imagine. The only way for me to tell how old each one is, is by looking at the wear and tear of the cover. The oldest, clearly beat to all hell, the youngest, save for a few stickers, fresh off the shelves of a drug store office supply isle. I’ve separated them into full and empty stacks. Going all the way back to the roots, the first lyric notebook, all part of the continuum.

Rarely do I start anything from scratch, and looking at my disorganized notebooks, it’s clear that the task at hand has been locked away in my memories. I need to remember where I last left off. Most notes lead back to the songs that never made it on my “To Love a Wild Fire Album“ (released 2020). That album represents a solid 2-4 years of home recording. Many got thrown into an album pile that were supposed to be called “Black Sheep“. What a shite name, and masterclass in procrastination. I even went so far as to make the album cover first, a huge rookie mistake. You don’t make the art before the final mixes are done. You just don’t.

What a horrible name for an album. This was using the same Adobe Photoshop template as my first album. The only songs released on this collection are Join Along and Perpetual Change.

As I was looking for the art for the above album, I just remembered, it wasn’t just one album. There was another group of songs called “Roots Back East“. These are great songs and I need to complete this album. Funky beats, Marco Savoia on bass, old 50s Gibson ES125, keys played on my guitar (using midi), a nod to my love of jazz, and my East Coast roots. Ancient recordings.

“Roots Back East“. I love this pic, the day I bought my black hat strolling around Philly when we went to our 20th year reunion at the University of Pennsylvania. Oh look, Perpetual Change made it’s way onto this album cover as well.

Let’s take a look at the notebooks. You can see below how many times I’ve written and rewritten song lists across various notebooks in my collection. A few of those songs just refuse to get finished. Time to put an end to it and wrangle these songs back in line.

Looking at the names of the recordings, I can see that I have about 15-20 songs to complete before the end of the winter in 2025. That’s a lot of work.

Most of these recordings happened before the covid lockdown. Both albums keep nagging me. What hurts most about these incomplete works boils down to the failure to finish, all artists know what I’m talking about. I should have fished these songs years ago while the fire was hot, but I didn’t. Every time I look at these incomplete songs, I think to myself how much of a failure I am. That being said, there’s always a path to redemption. Write the lyrics, cut the vocals, then move on. The only thing missing from many of these recordings are finished vocal tracks and finalized lyrics. Half of them have skat tracks and scratch vocal takes. Just a bit more work to add them to the release calendar.

Releasing is an altogether different matter. It may be even more convoluted than my notebooks, but this year I came up with a fix. In the past, I made a demo and released it. This year, I made a demo, played it for the band, and re-recorded the single as part of a studio live session here at the house. Going forward, I’ll release the demo version with each single, but the album songs will be taken from a consolidated recording with members of my current band. I used the old jazz session recording method, 1 session (with the same personnel) produces 1-2 albums of material. The Miles method. If I need to change the people or the instruments, that’s another session, and a different album.

Releasing as an album means also you need to fit the songs on an album side. Even for the most recent album (“I Am Nowhere, I Am Everywhere” - releasing in 2025), I could only fit 8 songs based on the vinyl 22min per side allotment. Quite a few songs didn’t make it on the album, which is fine, choosing a cohesive group of songs is part of the process. Another consideration is to they collectively tell a story, one of the reasons I’ve decided that my single Space Cowboy deserves its own concept album and short film. Why not explore a surfing spaceman who loves psilocybin and mushrooms? That one will be a passion project, for sure.

The only way to get to making the Space Cowboy epic is through the back catalog. I need to force myself to finish the Black Sheep and Roots Back East songs. It’s the only way. Innovation is renovation. Now I think I see that path forward.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Now that I’ve beaten myself up, it’s time to get to work. True, it’s difficult to focus on just one thing as a DIY musician, but it’s not impossible. You can never predict when the lightning’s going to strike, but you can get yourself into a mental space that sets the stage for it to happen. Think of it as a self fulfilling prophecy. At times we can just WILL something to happen, I’m not sure how else to describe it. It’s the same thing you have to do when dropping into a good wave, if you’re not fully committed you’re going to get rolled, maybe even hurt yourself. It’s a mindset where failure isn’t an option, so it shouldn't even be on the table. I’m talking about picking up a guitar, and not putting it down until the rudimentary parts of a song is complete.

By the way, there’s no such thing as writer’s block.
I know my old friend procrastination all too well. Just ask him to leave.

Whenever the songs come, they come. Setting time aside for writing is more about getting rid of the daily distractions that get in the way of completing songs than anything else. My goal for the 2024-2025 season, is to write lyrics, and at the very least complete a single demo for every single one of my incomplete back catalog (which grew enormously during the pandemic). It’s easily three to four albums worth of material. A worthy adversary. Come April I’ll know if I’m just Bullshitting myself. Now that I made it through the 2024 holidays, and into 2025, it was a good run, but it’s time to get back to work.

To appreciate work, you need to remember to stop and breathe. I have always liked taking a break every now and then. Times where I don’t even pick up a guitar if I don’t have to. I have plenty of other things to keep me busy. This past Saturday I was reminded how much I love local music when I saw a few friends sitting in with a local trio at the Camp Store. The next day my son’s friends asked if I could set up the drum set and amps for them to jam. Once I had the studio set up for the kids, I invited my own band over.

I forgot how to play many of my own songs. :)

As expected, my fingers didn’t remember where to go whenever I gave them the reigns. It happens every time I take a break. making matters worse, some of the songs I forgot how to sing properly to boot. Apologizing to my friends on bass and drums, one just said, “hey man, don’t beat yourself up, that’s just how memory works.” Within a month, I know I’ll have them back in order, after endless wood shedding. Every year after writing and recording new songs, I have to re-learn how to play them with a band. It’s not that big of a deal.

To any of you that’s writing, I wish you a productive year. Now, I’d like to excuse myself to the task at hand. Time to get to work.

About the Ram
Mark "The Ram" O'Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

Subscribe now

Opening: Be Good to One Another

I shouldn’t have to tell anyone to behave themselves, but I will. Myself included. Willie said it best when he said, “Don’t start no shit, won’t be no shit.“ I’m a firm believer in Willie’s approach to a good life. We’ve got a good thing going & we’re lucky to be sharing it with each other. It’s important to understand how lucky we are to do what we do & have good people to share it with. In the water, on the mountain, on the street, just have fun. Bringing out the best in each other is a conscious choice. We’ll all be out in full force on the highways & airports together, LFG & be safe out there

Connecting With My Muse

A few years back we had an atmospheric river flowing through California, more snow than I’d ever seen in my life. The rain came, & it came on the heels of a 10 year drought. That year I began the tradition of singling out a few winter months to cut down the live shows & focus on recording. Ha, I guess I should just come clean & admit that I pissed off to the mountains and snowboarded my ass off. Or I could just say my muse lives up in the mountains, wouldn’t be far from the truth.

Watching the full moon rise out my bedroom window in Mammoth Lakes, CA.

It’s healthy to mix it up every couple months. I look at performing & recording as two complimentary sides of the same coin. The recording machine can be a bitch to get rolling, but once it’s moving you’d better get the hell out of the way. I look at performing as the fun you can indulge in once the work (recording/releasing) is complete. Playing live to an audience is also the best way to showcase new music to your local crew. This winter I need to catch up big time.

I have so much material in the backlog that needs to be taken care of. This winter, I hope to finish at least 2 of the albums that remain on my back burner. Complete the old so that I can write new material. Committing to finish something is usually the toughest part, taking the first step. The work is the easy part, especially if you commit to having fun.

I’ve found that spending 2 months out of the year tracking new material, & finishing old material is a healthy song-writing practice.

Visiting friends & family brings out the music & songs. Another tradition forged a few years ago was writing songs in the old family living room while home over Christmas. I come from a big family, & when we get together, stories flow. One winter I wrote a song every time I sat on those red couches by the front porch window. Lucky for me, my brother Tommy always left a guitar at the house for me while I’m visiting. Now I know all I have to do is sit down on that same couch with a guitar & hold onto my seat.

2024 in the Rearview Mirror

Hindsight isn’t always crystal clear. Quite the opposite for me, it’s at times a blur. This is one of the reasons I’ve embraced writing, it allows me to focus on what happened, what went right, what went wrong, & what I learned. 2024 went by way too fast, that much is true. There were times I was firing on all cylinders, other times spent daydreaming on the other side of the planet. I put more work into the music & videos than ever. 5 singles released with music videos & design libraries of rich collateral. A handful of live shows filmed & recorded to weigh our live sound with our recorded sound. A tremendous amount of work & a great learning experience.

Here are the singles:

• Everything

• Warmth of the Fire

• Space Cowboy

• Perpetual Change

• Unbound

Delegation was big part of these releases. I opened up my ears to peer feedback, to see where I could improve my art. I’ve always been open to music ideas, but visual art I’m more set in my opinions. I’m a stubborn SOB, so at first it wasn’t easy. There were 10 revisions of the Everything music video. I think the first version I did was best, I did 10 & was editing right up until the go live date. I’m glad I went through that with the first video, because it made all the other videos easy.  

By late spring, the music for each release was completed, mixed/mastered, & scheduled in the distribution systems, and content management systems due to the fact that I was going to be gone traveling for the better part of the summer. All the collateral, the press, scheduled & automated. My job when traveling was only to take footage to be used in the next videos, to relax, & stay inspired.

A Format I Can Lean Into & Grow From

As previously mentioned, I’m blown away by how this Substack site came together this year. With a little elbow grease, this site is moving along nicely, & I think I can follow this format for a few years. Archiving live performances and releases has proved to be a valuable exercise. Just within this timeframe, I’ve seen growth, & feel that seeing and hearing each show helps me both improving live sound & each performance. The platform is both easy to use, and is well organized. I even think Substack looks good compared to most video archiving systems. Speaking as a designer, Substack is tight. It easily looks as good as, or better than Spotify, & unlike YouTube it’s ad free.

A screenshot of my Substack site, clean AF. I think it’s a spectacular way to archive live concert footage and release collateral.

If I look back to this time last year, I know for a fact that everything accross the board has improved. The recording process is getting faster. I know that the music videos are slowly getting better. I’ve made some bad ones over the years. I guess you could say I’ve learned from my mistakes, & I kept open ears. Some of the earliest feedback I got from early live concert footage I presented was you need at least 2 camera angles, at first I thought it was too much work, but next show, I had two cameras. Same thing goes for when I first started recording our live shows through the PA. All I do now is press the red record button, this was not without a huge amount of work and planning. Most importantly, the band’s shit hot, & we love playing together. Which brings me to the upcoming music in 2025.

I Am Nowhere, I Am Everywhere Coming in 2025

I’m working on a vinyl pressing of the singles I released this year. Also included will be 4 new singles. I spent a lot of time selecting songs that represent a cohesive snapshot of the band, and our live sound. I think you’re all are going to like what we’re throwing down. Where Side B is mainly a collection of 2024’s single releases Side A is from a single home studio recording session.

A sneak peek of the new vinyl album jacket. Album name taken from the chorus of Unbound, the cover from the Unbound music video, the graphics on the back, a still from the Everything video.

I am so stoked to share this new work with you. Especially the first song on Side A, Listen to the Cold. There’s a line in it that flashed me back to talking to my father in the dark-thirty hours when he was going to work and I was just coming home. Another line is me dreaming out the window looking at cars going by, imagining a way off the family farm. It’s the first time I’ve committed to making a vinyl pressing in 5 years. So much work left to completion, but I’m close. The hard work is done, I need to remind myself to have fun and not blow it in the final stretch of the project.

Love & Respect to You & Yours
- Ram

About the Ram
Mark "The Ram" O'Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

A still from the newly released official music video. Taken from a sunset time-lapse recording a few years ago visiting Benton Hot Springs, CA USA.

Friday is here once again, this week blew by. I may or may not be already en route to Mammoth Mountain for the first snowboarding trip of the season. Like all these posts, I do them in the evenings, then schedule them to be released a few weeks out. On December 6th, I released an updated version of “Unbound“, which is the last song I’ll be releasing in the 2024 calendar year. Currently, I’m mixing and mastering this song and 7 others to release on vinyl in 2025. It will be the first vinyl print I’ve done since 2020, so I’m looking forward to it, and I’m very excited to start promoting the album when it starts to warm back up. If you’d like to see a few live performances of the song as well as the Official Music Video, links are below…

Subscribe now

Let’s talk about Unbound.

We can start with the origin story, writing this song started during the pandemic. Years later, on happenstance, I came accross the iPhone video recording of me just ad-libbing with a guitar in hand, to those that don’t know me, that’s my first step in the recording process. I record the guitar neck so I can see what chords I’m playing and I skat. The lenses on my iPhone camera were cracked, as was the world around me. When I finally rewatched the recording, I had no doubt about the song. Sometimes that’s how it works, one lyric and a chorus later, the song was complete. A day later, the rest of the lyrics were written as fast as I could write.

Unbound was first recorded March 14, 2020 at 8:19pm PST, as an iPhone sketch.

Unbound tells an interesting story, interesting because it bends time & reality. It lives in a place where a contradiction, can also be a scientific fact. Writing it, was what I’d imaging getting struck by lightning feels like, it was both immediate and years in the making, which takes us back to spring 2020. Musically I was a conflagration. A few months before, I had just released my first album, “To Love a Wild Fire“, I had put a band together to support the booked spring and summer shows which were to start in April, then it all turned upside-down. Interestingly enough, it wouldn’t be until December 31, 2021 when the song was initially released on a studio-live album called “Sessions”.

Sessions album cover photo was taken by Daniel Hernandez, at my birthday party Aquarius Bar 7 Grill Ocean Beach, CA USA. A full moon that night.

Sessions was the first time my current band tracked songs for release here at the home studio. I had just gotten a Universal Audio Apollo x8p audio interface, along with one of their OX cab simulators, the idea was to track drums with the entire band, while the keys, bass, guitar, and vocals were recorded silently. It worked like a charm. So well, I bought another x8p and barring a few engineering changed followed the exact same procedures we started that day. Each song gets two takes, that’s it. One straight through, minimal solos, on the second take, the boys get to stretch their legs a bit and jam the songs out. I had charts made out for everyone, made sure all the signals were in the green, and pressed the record button in Logic Pro X. Listening to that first recording, it’s clear I didn’t know what I was going. If I’m honest, the EP should have just been a single release for the song “So Lucky“.

I mention this backstory only to give you all context as to why an artist would ever re-release a song.

Unbound is not an ordinary song. I did not know how to perform the song until we put it in front of a live audience. There, on stage, the song shows its teeth and turns into raw power. To the listener, the lyrics of the song ask as many questions as they answer. When I sing the song, the lyrics and message flow through me in what I’d imaging getting struck by lightning is like. Remember the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark when the Ark is opened? Where Nazi faces get melted, and it becomes a chain lightning bbq? That’s what it feels like to play the song live. Writing the song was just as cool, like swimming in the ocean of the collective human soul. because of this, nothing that I can say about this song makes a difference, for it stands on its own two feet and speaks for itself.

I am nowhere, I am everywhere
I am free, I’m unbound
I am emotion, I am instinct
I am music, I am sound

“Unbound” is the voice of all things uncontrollable, the timber of nature personified. The forces locked up inside the human spirit, embattled in a continuous effort to free themselves.

Lyrics
You ain’t ever baby gonna find me
You ain’t never gonna track me down
Heard it said you want a piece of the action- gimme action
Heard it said you trying to take me down- don’t bring me down

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

No one ever said it was gonna be easy
You ain’t prepared to bleed? Just wasting time
We pay our dues and maybe baby then some
When the Hurricane comes, look ‘em right in the eyes

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

Ain’t no need to go and get religion
Don’t waste time with people that’ll put you down
You’re cash money babe, you just can’t see it
Take my word ‘cause I’ve been around

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

Never, never, ever settle for a substitution
My fire burns bright, & lasts twice as long
Nows your chance to get a taste of the real thing
Step right up in here where you belong

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

About the Official Music Video:
Originally I was supposed to head home to make a ZZ Top type music video with my brother, and My Uncle Tommy’s Black 57 Chevy. The summer went way too fast, and it looks like Im going to have to have it done this spring and that video is going to have to be set to a different song. That’s the last song of the set. What a great show, and what a great weekend. I hope you all had a great 2024 Thanksgiving weekend. This concert was released in support of the new single “Perpetual Change” (released on November 8, 2024). We started video taping and recording our live shows consistently in 2023, when I took over the live sound. Prior to that the recording sound quality was a bit spotty.

Related stories tied to the December 6, “Unbound” release:
Unbound: Official Music Video
Unbound: Studio Notes
Live Performance of Unbound, First Time We Played It at the Camp Store

About the Ram
Mark "The Ram" O'Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

Song Metadata

Unbound
The Ram
UPC: 198886813057
IRSC: QZWFG2478193
Release date: December 6, 2024
ASCAP Work ID: 914765056
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

SESSIONS
Unbound
The Ram
UPC: 196512176866
IRSC: QZNWZ2192499
Release date: December 31, 2021
ASCAP Work ID: 914765056
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

Subscribe now

Lyrics
You ain’t ever baby gonna find me
You ain’t never gonna track me down
Heard it said you want a piece of the action- gimme action
Heard it said you trying to take me down- don’t bring me down

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

No one ever said it was gonna be easy
You ain’t prepared to bleed? Just wasting time
We pay our dues and maybe baby then some
When the Hurricane comes, look ‘em right in the eyes

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

Ain’t no need to go and get religion
Don’t waste time with people that’ll put you down
You’re cash money babe, you just can’t see it
Take my word ‘cause I’ve been around

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

Never, never, ever settle for a substitution
My fire burns bright, & lasts twice as long
Nows your chance to get a taste of the real thing
Step right up in here where you belong

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

About the Song
The lyrics and message flowed through me like getting struck by lightning. It was like swimming in the ocean of the collective human soul. Nothing that I can say about this song makes a difference, for it stands on its own two feet and speaks for itself. “Unbound” is the voice of all things uncontrollable, the timber of nature personified. The forces locked up inside the human spirit, embattled in a continuous effort to free themselves.

I am nowhere, I am everywhere
I am free, I’m unbound
I am emotion, I am instinct
I am music, I am sound

Writing this song started during the pandemic. On happenstance, I came accross the video recording of me just ad-libbing with a guitar in hand. The lenses on my iPhone camera were cracked, as was the world around me. When I rewatched the recording, I had no doubt the song was complete, the rest of the lyrics were written as fast as I could write. Sometimes that’s how it works.

About the Video:
Originally I was supposed to head home to make a ZZ Top type music video with my brother, and My Uncle Tommy’s Black 57 Chevy. The summer went way too fast, and it looks like Im going to have to have it done this spring and that video is going to have to be set to a different song. That’s the last song of the set. What a great show, and what a great weekend. I hope you all had a great 2024 Thanksgiving weekend. This concert was released in support of the new single “Perpetual Change” (released on November 8, 2024). We started video taping and recording our live shows consistently in 2023, when I took over the live sound. Prior to that the recording sound quality was a bit spotty.

Related stories tied to the December 6, “Unbound” release:
Unbound: Official Music Video
Unbound: Studio Notes
Live Performance of Unbound, First Time We Played It at the Camp Store

About the Ram
Mark "The Ram" O'Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

Song Metadata

Unbound
The Ram
UPC: 198886813057
IRSC: QZWFG2478193
Release date: December 6, 2024
ASCAP Work ID: 914765056
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

SESSIONS
Unbound
The Ram
UPC: 196512176866
IRSC: QZNWZ2192499
Release date: December 31, 2021
ASCAP Work ID: 914765056
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment

• Dan Greenbaum

• Mike Hunt

• Mark ODonnell

• Mike Pritchard

• Jay Phillips

Subscribe now

Lyrics
You ain’t ever baby gonna find me
You ain’t never gonna track me down
Heard it said you want a piece of the action- gimme action
Heard it said you trying to take me down- don’t bring me down

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

No one ever said it was gonna be easy
You ain’t prepared to bleed? Just wasting time
We pay our dues and maybe baby then some
When the Hurricane comes, look ‘em right in the eyes

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

Ain’t no need to go and get religion
Don’t waste time with people that’ll put you down
You’re cash money babe, you just can’t see it
Take my word ‘cause I’ve been around

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

Never, never, ever settle for a substitution
My fire burns bright, & lasts twice as long
Nows your chance to get a taste of the real thing
Step right up in here where you belong

I am nowhere I am everywhere
I am free I’m unbound
I’m emotion I am instinct
I am music I am sound

About the Song
You tell me what this song means, because it makes no difference what I say.

I am nowhere, I am everywhere
I am free, I’m unbound
I am emotion, I am instinct
I am music, I am sound

The lyrics and message flowed through me like getting struck by lightning. It was like swimming in the ocean of the collective human soul. Nothing needs to be said about this song, for it stands on its own two feet and speaks for itself. “Unbound” speaks on behalf of all things uncontrollable in our surroundings. The singer becomes the forces of nature personified. Those same forces locked up inside the human spirit, embattled in a continuous effort to free themselves.

Writing this song started during the pandemic. On happenstance, I came accross the video recording of me just ad-libbing with a guitar in hand. The lenses on my iPhone camera were cracked, as was the world around me. When I rewatched the recording, I had no doubt the song was complete, the rest of the lyrics were written as fast as I could write. Sometimes that’s how it works.

About the Live Video:
That’s the last song of the set. What a great show, and what a great weekend. I hope you all had a great 2024 Thanksgiving weekend. This concert was released in support of the new single “Perpetual Change” (released on November 8, 2024). We started video taping and recording our live shows consistently in 2023, when I took over the live sound. Prior to that the recording sound quality was a bit spotty.

Related stories tied to the November 8, “Perpetual Change” release:

Perpetual Change: Official Music Video
Perpetual Change: Studio Notes
Live Performance of Perpetual Change, First Time We Played It at the Camp Store

About the Ram
Mark "The Ram" O'Donnell is an independent American composer and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired, West Coast rock-and-roll.

For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com

Song Metadata
Unbound
The Ram
UPC: 196512176866
IRSC: QZNWZ2192499
Release date: December 31, 2021
ASCAP Work ID: 914765056
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159

More Information
I currently use DistroKid to get everything out to the streaming platforms, Disco for all sync requests, Bands In Town to list live shows, and Substack for just about everything else.

Share The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow

The Ram: Art, Music, Saltwater, & Snow, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Leave a comment