RETRO SERIES:
Presented in round-robin fashion, ten local songwriters are challenged to write one ORIGINAL and perform on COVER song for the winter holiday season.  The 2010 goal for this concert benefiting 88.1FM WYCE was for the artists to “get the audience to sing as much as the writers.  Shirey, being quite busy with recording, mixing and creating artwork for the upcoming “Oh, to Know!” found himself taking on quite an intense writing challenge with a quickly approaching deadline.

Although his 2008 song for the project, “Bird in the Hand” had come pretty quickly, musically and lyrically, he found himself changing direction a bit in consideration of the “sing along” demands.  For his cover, Shirey chose, “There’s Always Tomorrow from the iconic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer animated cartoon.  Reportedly, it had come to him in the shower, having always loved the song.  It was a nice simple melody for the audience to sing.

After tossing around many chord progressions from the stock pile, he found a melody within a few chords and began working around one topic.  “2010 was the first year for the smoking ban in Michigan and that December had given the smokers their first taste of having to stand outside in the cold.  It felt like one of those moments where you have your finger on the pulse, but I wanted to make sure to connect it to a broader issue.  This eventually brought forth the main phrase of ‘Another wintertime has arrive/but I’m just trying to roll with the times.’  From there, I plugged in the positives of meeting new people in the ‘smokers’ tents’ and a few other references to heat bills and paying them with postage.  The slow death of the post office was another big issue at the time.”  The song also included a few key changes, harmonica and Shirey performing it while playing guitar and harmonica, singing and playing a kick drum and hi-hat with his feet.  It had become his staple from his previous year’s performance.

At the concert, “There’s Always Tomorrow” went over quite well with the crowd.  Shirey kept things very sweet, quiet and lighthearted for this one.  A great majority of the audience sang and clapped along at the request of Shirey for the last chorus while he dropped out to just the hi-hat.  It was a pretty sound and the song ended abruptly, leading into a rather loud applause.  Once the round came back through again, Shirey performed his original song, named on the spot as “Roll with the Times.”  It dove right in with much laughter from the crowd throughout with lyrics as follows:

All the winters that I’ve ever seen
Have all come to pass eventually
And when springtime came to be
It made summer seems so sweet

So I’ve got heat bills comin’ out my sleeves
But I’m keeping the post office alive at the very least
Oh, I like to save a few trees, yes, I like to right
But I gotta drag at least one pine inside and dress it with lights

A little good with the bad
A little wrong with the right
Another wintertime has arrived
But I’m just trying to roll with the times
Yeah, you’ve got to roll with the times

So, all of the smokers will be freezing this year
Cast out from the bars and away from their beers
But it’s bringing together with each cigarette
All of the people who otherwise never would have met

So offer a light to miss right
Lend a smoke to a bloke
Lend an ear and then get back to the cheery folks with the rum and Coke

We’re just trying to stay warm
But you gotta stay cool
Another wintertime has arrived
But I’m just trying to roll with the times
Yeah, you’ve got to roll with the times

Wintertime to Springtime
Summer into Fall
Oh, you gotta make a change
Nothing stays the same at all
Yeah, you’ve got to roll with the times

Other performers included Daniel Bracken, JimmieLee Danger (of Dangerville!), Gabrial James, Cole Lesinski, Susan Picking, Joleene Rumsy, Ben Scott-Brandt, Jane Stancil, Brent Shirey, and Casey Stratton. Shirey returned to the microphone during Susan Picking’s cover to play drums and also Ben Scott-Bradt’s original song to play lead guitar and sing harmonies.  The performance was recorded in both audio and video formats by WYCE and the Wealthy Theater.  Afterward, the entire production staff as well as the artists met up at Mangiamo! for a feast and jam session.  Shirey contributed both “Jingle Bell Rock” and his own “Goodbyes in the Wind” only previously released as a B-side on the “Leaving Town” single.

Watch the entire show including Shirey’s performances here:  http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11274852
In addition, Terry Johnston snapped a lot of great photos that can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=342785&id=739558851

A big thanks goes out to WYCE, Wealthy Theater and, of course, J. Oscar Bittinger and his wife who have organized AND hosted the event for 14 straight years.  Shirey will be recording and contributing his track “Roll with the Times” to the AWT 15th Anniversary CD and will also make an appearance at this year’s 15th Anniversary Cavelcade of AWT Stars.