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The Crazybrave Songwriter Podcast
The Crazybrave Songwriter Podcast celebrates exceptional songwriting at its best. Songwriters share - from the ground up - their personal songwriting stories, important advice on maintaining a balanced mental outlook and some real DIY marketing strategies to keep the music moving. This podcast is curated by Lisa M. Arreguin as songs are chosen for their song integrity, storyline and superior craftsmanship. Episodes are published once or twice a month.
The Crazybrave Songwriter Podcast
The Making of an Album | Artist: Jim Rojas | Song: "Jimmy's Here"
This week I’m happy to bring you the music of Jim Rojas (jimrojas.net) and the song "Jimmy's Here". I guarantee that his new Latin album called “Can you Play Latin?” making its landfall at the top of 2023 (March 10, 2023) will put a smile on your face and a mark on the musical landscape for years to come.
The full album is highlighted by great songwriting, on every cut, and an overall stellar production of original songs brought together by some of the biggest and brightest Latin musicians in the business.
I wanted to sit down with Jim and his producer Joey, to discuss the making of the albums first single appropriately entitled “Jimmy’s Here”. Delivered with a level of passion and heart, I wanted to know how the song was written, the story behind the arrangement and how they managed to capture Jim’s fun personality in the playful and catchy melody of the song.
Discover Jim's music on Spotify
Discover Jim's music on Apple Music
Host Lisa M Arreguin
Podcast Music: Joey Arreguin
Sound Engineer: Andrew Kim
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Host: Lisa M Arreguin @ LivingCrazybrave.com
Recorded @ LoveandLaughterMusicGroup.com
Podcast Music: Joey Arreguin
Music bong: Andrew Kim
Engineering & Sound Design: Michael Jennings
You are listening to the Crazy Brave Songwriter Podcast. This is a podcast about the magic of making music one song at a time. The artists on the show talk about the creative process, what moves them, and why they have chosen music as their means of expression. My name is Lisa m, songwriter, author, and studio owner of Love and Laughter music group, a family business that lives by its name. I'm happy to be your host for today. This week I'm happy to bring you the music of Jim Rojas. You may not have heard of bassist and songwriter Jim Rojas just yet, but I guarantee that his new album called Humorously Can You Play Latin, making Its Landfall at the top of 2023 will put a smile on your face and a mark on the musical landscape for years to come. The full album is highlighted by great songwriting on every cut, and an overall stellar production of original songs brought together by some of the biggest and brightest Latin musicians in the business. I wanted to sit down with Jim and his producer Joey, to discuss the making of the album's first single appropriately entitled, Jimmy's Here Delivered with a Level of Passion and Heart. I wanted to know how the song was written, the story behind the arrangement, and how they managed to capture Jim's fun personality in the playful and catchy melody of the song.
Speaker 2:Check one, two, check one, two. Testing, testing.
Speaker 3:Well, originally I had, uh, scent Joey an idea about blending both Brazilian and Afro-Cuban styles of music into one tune. And it was inspired by another artist that I had seen on YouTube and, and was really pretty awesome, and I thought I'd like to do something like that. And I, all I did was to send that link to Joey. Then Joey took off with it, and then he composed Jimmy's here.
Speaker 4:Jimmy's here for me was, uh, a lot of fun because Jimmy and I go way back when we were very young and our families have known each other for such a long time, our parents and even Jimmy's grandparents. Uh, so being able to collaborate with Jimmy on this entire project was so special to me because we've been friends for decades and decades, but also, uh, our roots go very deep, uh, back into generations. So I wanted to give Jimmy a song<laugh> as a tribute to his project, to his endeavor, to his writing, to his thoughts musically and to the focus of what the entire album was gonna be and sound like. So Jimmy's here was basically a Ben blend of some Brazilian rhythms, along with some just Latin overall Latin rhythms and overall just trying to communicate what I felt was my image of who Jimmy is. And Jimmy has always been a kid at heart. Unless you know Jimmy, You don't realize his unique sense of humor.<laugh>, he definitely has a very unique sense of humor and it's contagious, I must say it, cuz once he gets going, then I have to jump in as well. And, uh, throughout our years together, playing in various bands and, and ensembles together, uh, that sense of humor has never really ended. It's always been the same. And so it's that kid in him that I think we all love and I certainly love about Jimmy is he's knows how to really make a crowd laugh by his, his humor. Sometimes it's just sarcastic, sometimes has double meaning. He's trying to, he's saying one thing, and unless you know Jimmy, you have to understand that it becomes very contagious once you jump on board and want to join him in all his humor. Sometimes it's pretty raw humor, but if you understand where it's coming from, then you can't help but start laughing because you know what's going on in his heart. And in his heart. He, he's never changed, and I love that about him.
Speaker 3:Other people might, might constru misconstrue that as immaturity and<laugh>. That's okay,<laugh>, that's okay.
Speaker 4:Because I already knew in my head that I wanted to write a song just for him, that it was going to reflect some of the motifs ideas, malady lines and rhythms that I knew Jimmy was intending for the project. So as I began to sit down at the keyboard and began to outline the melody line, I really wanted to be something happy and joyful, as I mentioned. So I began just basically with the general melody line, and I also wanted the song to be simple. I didn't want it to get too complicated, but more than anything else, I wanted to be something that had a, a strong catchy melody motif. And so we used a flute as the main melody, but that is on top of Jimmy playing bass melody and also a acoustic guitar playing the melody along with it. So throughout the song you're gonna hear these layers, but more anything else. I wanted Jimmy to feature his own style. So it was my way of, of creating a catchy melody that then he could play over, not just the malady, but also with the other instruments. And then he could solo on as well.
Speaker 3:Jimmy Braley was probably the, my most requested drummer. I had heard him before and I said, I have got to have this guy play, uh, his Cuban roots, uh, his excellence, the pocket that he provides. I call him the Cuban, Jeff Poro, the famous drummer from Toto, just an amazing player. And then the other guys, joy Le Leon on percussion, uh, was another person that I, I didn't know him personally beforehand, but he's an, he turned out to be just an amazing, amazing musician. A machine in the studio, uh, Francisco Lo, who had been Luis Miguel's MD for many, many years, came in, uh, tore it up, absolutely tore it up. And then Ricky Zha, who, because his name is so long, we call him Ricky Z, it's like the Swiss army knife of stringed instruments. And so that became the core of most of the songs,
Speaker 1:And now the song Jimmy's Here played in its entirety. This is Lisa again, and I wanna take this moment to applaud the team at love and laughter music group.com, a safe and knowledgeable spot for musicians who wish to learn more about writing songs and recording great music. This episode is a product of living crazy brave.com, another hub where musicians can cultivate new awareness about what it takes to honor the sacred art of making honest music. I encourage you to listen and purchase Jim Rojas's album. Can you play Latin as soon as it's available at the top of 2023? Sign up on his website to get the official release date. Let me leave you with this. Making a musical album at this caliber with award-winning musicians is not an easy feat. But aren't you happy for people like Jimmy who set out to create something beautiful and do it with excellence, who pull out all the stops, who see it to the finish line, and who will settle for nothing but the best? We celebrate and admire creative people like that because we secretly know what it takes to do it. What we admire in them, we also admire in ourselves too. So as a creative human being, put your head down and get that dream done. You know what it takes to do it, and you know exactly what you need to do.
