#367 - I Walk the Line

Song - I Walk the Line
Artist - Johnny Cash
Guest - Nathan

This song was a blast to do with Nathan!  This is my favorite karaoke song to hear him sing and we have talked about doing a song together forever.  So glad to finally get the chance to sing with this great, southern gentleman!

#366 - If I had a Boat

Song - If I had a Boat
Artist - Lyle Lovett
Guest artist(s) - John on guitar, Dan on spoons, Larry on mandolin and Debbie behind the camera.

I've been thinking of ways to take this blog in a different direction for a while (you might have noticed that I haven't posted anything since December!)  I really enjoy playing with friends and family so it seems a natural progression that this project would eventually involve more musicians to collaborate with.  My goal is to play songs with the people I care about and embrace our mutual love of music.  I hope to play music with people of all skill levels; from those who have never played an instrument and only sing in the privacy of their shower to people like John who have been playing for longer than I've been alive and I have so much to learn from.  A lot of folks have expressed interest in the project, so I'm hoping that I'm able to do some great collaborations!

This was a great group to kick off this project with!  We made this video at my mom's birthday over the weekend which was so much fun!  Any time I play with this amazing group of musicians I learn so much and grow just a little bit which each tune we play.  This is a song my dad's band (the Brownsmead Flats) used to play when I was a kid.  I heard it recently and decided that, yep, just like I remembered, John did it better and I requested that he play it at the cabin.  Thanks John for playing one of my favorites!

#365 - Blue Christmas

One of my favorite Christmas tunes, happy holidays!

#364 - Pecan Pie

Song - Pecan Pie
Artist - Billy Bones!
A song by Mr Billy Bones! Special appearance by Yagi! And the debate continues, is it pronounced "pee-CAN" or "pee- CAHN".

#363 - No Turkey for Me

Song - No Turkey for Me
Artist - Me!

This one is for all you vegetarians/vegans out there on Thanksgiving this year! Share this video to get ahead of the "why-don't-you-want-any-turkey??" conversation.
Have a great holiday, no matter you eat!

#362 - The Bitter End

Hey wow, an original! I haven't done one of those in forever! This one has been kicking around for a while, I was happy to finally get it done!

#361 - Pack up your sorrows

Just realized I never posted this! This was our go-to song in Ireland (or at least I made it our go to!).

#360 - We Belong

Song - We Belong
Artist - Pat Benatar
Chord Source

I don't know that anyone loves 80's music more than my friend Mini. She tears it up at karaoke on the regular, but it was lovely to hear her sweet voice stand alone. So much fun!

#359 - Your Cheatin' Heart

Song - Your Cheatin' Heart
Artist - Hank Williams
Chord Source

Working on my Travis picking! Picking while playing is still a little like rubbin' my head and pattin' my belly at this point, but I'm working on it!

#358 - You Really Got a Hold on Me

Song - You Really Got a Hold on Me
Artist - Smokey Robinson
Chord Source

Thank you for your patience while we get settled in our new place and I find time and space to work on music stuff! As you can tell I'm a little rusty, but I'm ready to get back to it!

To change things up a bit and keep the content on the blog current, I've decided to open ukudaily up for contributions! Songs don't have to be done on a ukulele, any instrument is great, but I would like to try to keep it to a similar style of video that we have here currently: one to a few people with focus on acoustic covers and originals. If you are interested leave a comment or send me a message and I'll write up a fun introduction for you.

Stay tuned for fun changes on ukudaily!

#357 - How Much is that Yagi in the Window

Introducing.....Yagi!! He's our wonderful dog we adopted a few days ago! He is just the best and will even put up with me playing a ukulele while he's sitting on my lap, there seems to be no end to his patience and sweetness. He has a touch of kennel cough, so you will hear a little hacking, but it's already getting better. You may also notice a new background, that's because we are in our new house! So many new wonderful things in our lives, now just need to carve out some time for more ukulele playin :)

#356 - Against the Grain

Song - Against the Grain
Artist - City and Colour
Chord source

#355 - Hey Good Lookin'

Song - Hey Good Lookin
Artist - Hank Williams
Chord source

I'm loving this new Outdoor Ukulele!  It's durable as all heck, made in Oregon and has a lovely, bright sound.  I'm excited to take it out and about this summer without worrying about it getting beat up and tossed around.  I've seen them around in Portland, give one a try!

#354 - Stubborn Love

Song - Stubborn Love
Artist - The Lumineers
Chord source - http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/l/lumineers/stubborn_love_ver3_crd.htm

For my friend Shauna, who loves this song and is having a hard week.

#353 - It's only a paper moon

Song - It's only a paper moon
Artist - Harold Arlen

The past few weeks I've been taking a really fantastic uke class at Artichoke music! It's been a fantastic experience; I've learned a lot and enjoyed meeting other ukulele enthusiasts. I take away so much knew knowledge from each class that I need to practice a lot more in order to retain it all. This is one of my favorite new songs that I have taken with me from our weekly classes!

#352 - The First Day of my Life

Song - The First Day of my Life
Artist - Bright Eyes
Chord source

This song was a little low for me, but I decided to just go with it to challenge myself.

#351 - Sweet Thang

Song - Sweet Thang
Artist Nat Stuckey

Thanks for singin' this one with me Billy Bones, you're always good for an excellent honky tonk tune!

#350 - The Average Song

Song - The Average Song
Artist - ME!
Chords - If you really want to know them just ask!


I've been tweaking this song for a little while now, I'm pretty happy with where it is finally! This song was inspired by a conversation I had with my friend Jaime. We were noticing how there are only songs written for the very heights and depths of emotion, but never day to day life. Songs are about the overwhelming feelings around love, joy, grief, loss, and sorrow. We thought how funny it would be to hear a song on the radio that was like, "Yeah, that's me! I'm pretty darn average and ok with that!!" I think the result was pretty funny!

*note that my life is actually pretty awesome and the dark parts of this song were added for comedic reasons only :)

#349 - Ukudaily's first open mic!

Huge thanks to everyone who sent supporting thoughts my way and came out for this first open mic performance. It's only 3 songs, but it was a big step for me, I really want to get over my nerves when it comes to performing in front of real humans. I didn't realize how much sitting behind a computer was going to become a crutch for me but it has. It allows me to control ever aspect of a performance and that's just not something that I can maintain if I want to grow as a musician. This open mic was great and I plan to return with regularity, very support, small group of talented musicians and supporters. I have a lot to learn and watching this video is a little cringy for me, but I'm glad I finally took the plunge and moved out from behind the keyboard!

#348 - Open up your heart

Song - Open up your heart
Artist - Buck Owens


Nothing like singing with my best bud Chuck!