"The Ballad of Bruce" written, performed and recorded by Greg Whitehead.
Just sit back and let me tell you a little story of Bruce "Ash" Campbell and his attempts to deal with all of his complicated problems, when all he wants is just to take some time off to enjoy the simpler things in life.
This synthpop song was inspired by the events of "The Army of Darkness" coupled with some of my favorite late 80s synth-based bands such as Underworld (mk 1), Stan Ridgeway, and even Martini Ranch. It also includes the debut of my first acoustic instrument, the jaw-harp.

Greg Whitehead - The Ballad Of Bruce

"Don't Want A Love Song" written and performed by Greg Whitehead.

This song was actually written with a backing track created in 1993, unfortunately, I never had the ability to record vocals so it was never finished until now.  I used to perform it acoustically with just me and a piano back when I was in a band in the mid-90s, usually in the middle of the set while the rest of the band took a break.  

I've never been a big fan of "love songs" so this was my way of writing a love song without technically writing one since it was about not wanting a love song.  Yeah, I know, confusing.

The piano and harpsichord were recorded on my Roland FP-9 digital piano.  Most of the rest of the sounds come from my Korg R3.

Greg Whitehead - Don't Want A Love Song

"Goodbye Today" written, recorded, and performed by Greg Whitehead.

This track was inspired by the era of 60's vocal pop bands such as The Association, Mamas and Papas, The Monkees, The Partridge Family, Zombies, Harper's Bazaar, and Fifth Dimension.  Sometimes known as Sunshine Pop and/or Baroque Pop.

The melody originally came from a Christmas piano medley I did a few years ago of "The Coventry Carol" ("Lully Lullay") and "Bring A Torch Jeanette Isabella" (Link to that song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2DNaqvp8Io ) I began playing with the tune, changing the time signature and rhythm and this 60's-style song emerged.  It inspired me to try to capture the same feel from that era with the harpsichords, horns, strings, and heavily reverbed harmonies.  All the instrumental sounds that appear on this track were recorded through virtual instruments using Garageband on my iPhone.

Download my previous album, "Another Fine Mess" here: http://gregwhitehead.bandcamp.com

Greg Whitehead - Goodbye Today

"Apricot Jam" written, recorded, and performed by Greg Whitehead.

September 20, 2014.  This is an instrumental track inspired by the band Air and classic 70s funk.

I recently had to replace my digital piano at home.  It was getting old and the interior hammers kept breaking.  So after a lot of research, I ended up acquiring a Korg SV-1.  (SV stands for Stage Vintage.)  Besides acoustic pianos, it also recreates vintage keyboard sounds like the Rhodes, Wurlitzer, electric Clavinet, and Hammond organ, among others.  It also has lots of cool effects and amp modeling to recreate sounds from so many cool songs from the 60s through the 80s.  I needed to put some music together to jam to with my new keyboard.  

The basic groove and most of the keyboard effects were done through GarageBand on my iPhone.  The electric piano and clav were recorded directly from the SV-1.  I'm particularly pleased that most of the SV-1 playing was done live with no post-"fixing" like I normally do with most of my playing.

The title comes from my favorite type of jam that I grew up with.  It just seemed to fit with the style of the music.  Enjoy!

Download my previous album, "Another Fine Mess" here: http://gregwhitehead.bandcamp.com


Greg Whitehead - Apricot Jam

"The Rain" written, recorded, and performed by Greg Whitehead.  October 18, 2014.

This is a little piece I've had mulling over in my head for some time.  It's origins were inspired purely by my favorite band Jellyfish.  You can probably hear some musical elements in this song linking directly back to tracks like "New Mistake," "Bye, Bye, Bye," and "He's My Best Friend," as well as bits from their lesser known tracks like "Ignorance is Bliss" and their Harry Nilsson cover, "Think About Your Troubles."  

I also wanted to make an attempt to try to play more with my lyrics, inspired by a lot of the imagery and word-play that Andy Sturmer often used in Jellyfish songs.  In the end, it's still my own original piece rather than a pure Jellyfish homage, but the roots are there.  For one, I can't begin to sing like Andy; however, if you listen closely, you can hear my attempt at a pretty good Roger Manning impression in a couple moments in the song.

The instrumental portion of this song was once again created entirely within Garageband on my phone, with a few bits and pieces added in once I transferred it to my computer to add the vocals.  

Download my previous album, "Another Fine Mess" here: http://gregwhitehead.bandcamp.com


Greg Whitehead - The Rain

Medley of three level themes from the 80s arcade game "Marble Madness."  Arranged and performed by Greg "GWGumby" Whitehead.  All sounds from the Korg R3 except for percussion from Sonar software synths.

GWGumby - Marble Madness Medley

Piano arrangement/medley of the "Coventry Carol" (Lully Lullay) and "Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella." Arrangement and performance by Greg Whitehead.

This was a piece I put together for our church's 2011 musical Christmas program.

Greg Whitehead - Coventry Carol/Bring a Torch

"Again Tomorrow" written, recorded, and performed by Greg Whitehead.

A song about a day's job well done, that will have to be done again tomorrow and again and again after that.  This was my first track using the iPhone's GarageBand app.  The sound and feel are inspired a bit by ELO, Supertramp, and Münchener Freiheit.

Greg Whitehead - Again Tomorrow

"Eric The Song" - written, performed, and recorded by Greg Whitehead

This is one of the oldest instrumental pieces I wrote about 20 years ago in college.  The name derives itself from my love of Monty Python and a particular sketch where a man has multiple animals all called Eric.  From that I started naming all my things Eric such as "Eric the Computer," "Eric the Backpack" and this was "Eric the Song."  The melody itself reminds me of a nice old-fashioned country drive.

Musically this reminds of a bit of the instrumental work from Billy Joel, Ben Folds Five, and Mannheim Steamroller.

The piano was recorded from my Roland FP-9 Digital Piano, all backing instruments from Garageband on iPhone except for the drums which came from a virtual PC plug-in (VST).



Greg Whitehead - Eric The Song

"Today's The Day" written, performed and recorded by Greg Whitehead.

Just a nice little hopeful synth song to trip out to.  Enjoy.

Greg Whitehead - Today's The Day

"Turn Your Back On The World" written and performed by Greg Whitehead. 
This is an instrumental piece that I started writing around 15 years ago or so. I had intended it to become a full song, but never had the capability to make it so (until recently). I continued to flesh it out over the years as a piano piece, but now finally added a fuller sound that I always intended. 
This is an instrumental inspired by some of the great 70s album instrumentals from artists like Genesis, Elton John, ELO, Styx, and others, merged with more modern synth artists like Air, Roger Joseph Manning Jr., and Chateau Marmont.

GWGumby

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