I get it. I have no business asking you to listen to my songs. I’m an amateur musician after all.
But if you stream my latest records (all professionally mixed and mastered), I’m confident you’ll hear a handful of catchy melodies that could arguably air on popular radio.
Promise they don’t suck. Only one way to find out.
The Breakers (2023):
All songs written, recorded, and produced by Blake Snow. Co-production, mixing, and mastering by Adam Miele. Additional bass, guitar, and backing vocals by Derick Pulham. Additional drumming by Steve Hill.
Less Bad (2022):
All songs written, recorded, and produced by Blake Snow. Co-production, mixing, and mastering by Adam Miele. Continue reading…
I’m putting the finishing touches on my second album right now. I’m very excited to share it with the world in the coming weeks and months.
Until then, I wanted to look back at my first album, Mr. Mustache (streaming on your favorite music store) released last fall. While I believe every song should speak for itself, as a writer I’m also big on context, if not over explaining things until they are crystal clear.
To that end, here is why I wrote each of these songs, how they came to life, and what the recording process was like:
Continue reading…
My bassist and good friend Austin Birchett and I submitted one of my songs to the 2021 Tiny Desk Contest. You can see our entry here. Thanks for watching.
When a friend recently asked Blake Snow if he was quitting his day job to become a full-time musician, he answered “No.” But that doesn’t mean his debut album, Mr. Mustache, is a joke or something not worth supporting (or even touring). “It’s a synth-laden rock record that I take very seriously,” Snow says.
Written, recorded, and produced entirely in quarantine, Mr. Mustache is the public culmination of more than 25 years of homegrown songwriting, recording, and performing. “I wouldn’t say this record saved my life, but it definitely saved my sanity during lockdown,” Snow says. “I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I had making it.”
Standout tracks include the lead single, Turn A Corner, the moody Control What You Can, the playful Mr. Mustache, and Snow’s personal favorite, Shrug, which also happens to be his go-to coping mechanism for the current madness.
Listen to the full-length album now on:
Photo by my son, Max Snow
My first album, Mr. Mustache, was released on all major music stores today. I’m proud and excited to share the record with the world. Here are 10 things you should know:
- It’s streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music and more. Additionally you can purchase the album for download from iTunes or Amazon. I get like .00000001 of a penny every time you do.
- With exception to one song (“Show Me,” co-written by friend Chris Morell), the entire album was written, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by me in my home office. I even did the cover art. You can read the story behind all 12 songs here.
- I wrote and recorded 18 songs for the album, but shelved five and will re-record the sixth for a later release. The album was recorded in Garage Band on my Mac mini and distributed by Amuse.
- The record is 41 minutes long, which is the age I turned while finishing the record. I also had a near out-of-body experience while recording this song.
- It was produced entirely in quarantine. Although unwanted, “The Great Shutdown” proved to be the most musically inspiring event of my life so far.
- It took four months to complete, from pre-production songwriting and arranging, to recording and performing, and ultimately mixing and mastering.
- Not since college have I played this much music. Never in my life have I written this much music. I can’t tell you how wonderful it feels to make noise while the world sorts itself out.
- There are six synth pop songs on the 12 track record, plus two rock songs, two pop punk songs, and two ballads.
- My friend recently asked if I was quitting writing to become a full-time musician. I replied, “No,” but I plan to release several more albums in my spare time now as an unsigned artist.
- You can ask Alexa, OK Google, or Siri to “Play the latest Album by Blake Snow” and they will. Neat!
After my family played the record for this first time this morning, my wife asked in earnest, “Will you cut your mustache now?” I said, “Yes.” But only after my album release party tomorrow!
Thanks for listening and sharing with anyone who might like it.
PS—If you would review the album on your favorite music service, it would really help it reach more people. Thank you.
I was a mess the first two weeks of quarantine. My wife of 17 years said she had never seen me so stressed.
What did I do to cope?
I started writing music at a frantic pace and recorded 18 original songs in the first three months of shutdown. Twelve of those songs made it on my debut album that’s available for streaming and download on August 20.
One of the songs that really help me move from stress to at least some kind of clarity was called “Control What You Can.” With exception to the bridge, it ‘s only two chords and it has an uneasy feeling, the same feeling most of us felt when the world changed.
But in spite of the uneasy sound, I wrote the encouraging lyrics for myself, pleading to “control what I could” when there was so much I couldn’t control. It was a wonderful realization that help me turn a corner; from stress into action.
When I went to record the song, it was late at night. With my floor lamp and headphones on, I spent several hours on the production and immediately knew I had captured a special sound, arguably the most professional track on the the entire album. By the end, I recorded a simple but righteous guitar solo and sung my heart out during an extended outro.
This is that song. It’s pretty moody. And although the music doesn’t sound very uplifting, the lyrics completely are, which is a juxtaposition that I really like and hope you do to.
I’m incredibly proud of the album and what it did for me during quarantine. I hope you mark your calendars and enjoy as many songs as possible. Here is the track listing:
- Under Quarantine
- Turn A Corner
- Shrug
- Show Me
- Control What You Can
- Mr. Mustache
- No Longer The Same
- Victim
- Bad Friends
- Time Isn’t Money
- Going Up
- Minuteman
Thanks for giving it a chance. I know it seems weird to have a writer release an album, but I hope you take it as serious as I have. I think you’ll find there are some redeeming, heartfelt songs inside.
Like many of you reading this, the last four months have been the most eventful, strangest, and unsettling spring of my life. But it’s also been one of the best (i.e. bonding with family, completing my second book, starting a band).
In that time, I also wrote, produced, sung, and recorded 16 original songs. I just finished the last one this week and just need to make some finishing touches and final mastering before independently releasing the album to Spotify, Apple, and Amazon Music in the coming weeks.
I’m incredibly proud of the result and grateful for it helping me to cope with this fearful new, but still incredibly beautiful world. I can’t wait for you to hear the whole thing.
Until then, here is the “lead single” entitled Turn A Corner.
