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After everything's set and it seems we're ready to begin recording, Monroe asks me to pray. But before I do I have to say something: "First I want to thank you guys for lending your time and talents to this record. Dan, Mark, you guys were on the last record, and I can't thank you enough for that. Gary, you're new to this little family. Thanks. I don't know what your thoughts are when you play on a record, but I want you to be free. I want us to forget about retailers and radio guys and just make music that fits the songs. I believe in these songs, and I just want each one to get the best treatment possible. I don't want it to sound like anything else, so if we find ourselves drifting into Sheryl Crow or Matchbox 20, we need to stop that. This is not about following the formula. It's about feelings. It's music. I want to make music without computers and vocal tuners and all the slickness that defines "pop" right now. So do what you think is best, and forget everybody else. Alright, let's pray."

And I did.

From then on the chords and melody of each song served as the rough outline, the "tape" as our canvas, and each of us as the artists. Guided by Monroe, enabled by Jim, we laid color after color in place. Every hue complementing the other. I wondered about some combinations—this color on that one won't work. And each time I was wrong. It's beautiful. Some mixtures I'd heard too many times. They were replaced by something more unique. At the end of each day I went home happy, knowing each song was painted with heart, passion, creativity. Nothing was done because it's always done that way. Nothing was run through a perfecting computer. We made honest music—four guys sitting in a room together playing their own instruments and loving it.

Back to those thin yellow boxes. When Monroe was a kid, he probably hated them: only 10 colors, cheap brushes, and too many lines on that canvas. No freedom. No heart. So when I show up to make a record I let him, for the most part, paint what he wants where he wants. We try to please ourselves first and worry about the rest of world another day—or maybe never. We're musicians not accountants.

And we made this record in a big house not a little box.

Click here to listen to an exclusive one-minute demo of Shaun's new song, "Twilight."
The Process: Making An Album, part one
The Process: Song Selection, part two

Stay tuned for part four of this series in late-May. In the meantime, you can read more about Shaun Groves by visiting our artist page for him, where you'll find previous installments in his "Process" series. Click here to read our review of Invitation to Eavesdrop, and pick up your own copy of it at Musicforce.com.

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