A collection of my piano/vocal collaborations.  I've had the privilege of working with some amazing vocalists over the years - most of that time with Keir White (www.keirwhite.com).  Since joining the SoundCloud community I have been able to collaborate in a completely new way which has been an awesome experience.  All piano accompaniments arranged and performed by yours truly.  Thanks for listening.  Enjoy!

Accompaniments

Keir singing the John Denver classic "Annie's Song".

Annie's Song

Keir's rendition of a classic song from a timeless movie.

Over The Rainbow

This ballad is for anyone who has ever felt oppressed.  Find your voice!

I Will Be Heard

I am so grateful to Jimena for sharing her voice, words, heart and soul with me in creating this piece.  When she agreed to collaborate with me on this song I didn't know what the result would be but I knew it was going to be something really special.  

Piano & instrumental composition: Matthew Wilson (@matham-wilsoned)
Vocals and lyrics: Jimena Arroyo (@jimenaarroyo)

Jimena's Page

Ashes (Jimena Arroyo & Matthew Wilson)

I stumbled on this track while taking a needed break from the solo piano piece I had been working on for hours.  I had never heard this song before but loved it immediately so I decided to play along with it.  Of course, I had the song I was working on stuck firmly in my head so every time I started playing along my fingers would just instinctively gravitate to the melody and progression of my piece transposed into a different key - which was extremely annoying until I realized that it actually sounded great.  Then I listened more to the lyrics of the song which are not only beautiful but also hit me on a very personal level.  After a day of making some minor adjustments to match my phrasing with Mark's this was the result.  

The really interesting thing about this piece is that while I've covered and arranged lots of music before, I've never done it for a song which I had never heard with accompaniment.  I still have no idea what the traditional version (or any version with instrumentation).  

This was a LOT of fun to work on for many reasons.  I hope you all enjoy it and I hope I didn't accidentally bastardize the original song.  

Here is a link to Mark's original acapella recording which is beautiful on its own - which is extremely difficult to do acapella.  https://soundcloud.com/markjbennett/the-parting-glass-open-collaboration

Mark's Page

The Parting Glass - (Open Collaboration with Mark Bennett)

I wrote the music for this track a couple days after Jimena and I released our first collaboration, "Ashes" while visiting family back on the east coast.  The day before I was schedule to fly back to San Diego my computer was damaged and the track was lost for the better part of a year. 

Thankfully I was recently able to recover the file and as soon as I was  I reached out to Jimena to see if she was interested in collaborating with me again.  Thankfully she was and this is the result!

I am so grateful that I've had the opportunity to make music with and get to know Jimena over the last couple years here on SoundCloud.  I really can't say enough about the people and community that exists on here.

Also, a massive thank you goes out to Jonnie Cook (@jonnie-cook) who lent a lot of time, energy and patience to Jimena and I in mixing and producing this track.  Thank you Jonnie!!!!

Make sure to check out Jimena's page here on SoundCloud (@jimenaarroyo)
Or - Jimena is now on Spotify (https://play.spotify.com/artist/3E6ppgaxsmmEc2OTMnOqld)
OR - check her out and follow her on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfZHFEvIL2xCwIW9cAwTBow)

And, of course, feel free to stop by and visit and follow me on Spotify as well https://play.spotify.com/artist/0UZ3dcAcmNYNtkY9qIbPNl)

Credits:
Piano & instrumental composition: Matham Wilsoned (@matham-wilsoned)
Vocal composition & lyrics: Jimena Arroyo (@jimenaarroyo)
Mix & Production: Jonnie Cook (@jonnie-cook)


Lyrics: 
Why Did You Wake Me Up?

I try to think of what’s to come
And all I see is fuzzy, I’m numb
What’s left for me? What lies in store?
Can’t seem to emerge from the horrors of war

Why did you have to go?
And leave me defenseless once more, mmm
You took away my glow
And the dark is consuming me like never before

Chorus
Why did you wake me up
If you weren’t planning to let love grow?
Why did you shake me up?
If you would just let me sink so low?
No, you don’t have the right to do this

You come and go, you say you’re free
No-one can chain your soul forcefully
But you’re so wrong; love’s not a vault
If you’re afraid, well, that’s not my fault

Why did you have to return
When I thought I’d got over your leaving me?
I knew I’d had enough
But you seem to take pride in your powers on me

Why did you wake me up
To a life full of bliss and full of love?
Why did you shake my ground
To end up migrating like a dove?
All I see’s the debris of the walls around me

I know there will come a day
When I have the strength to walk right away
To leave you behind and then close the door
I will never let you hurt me again.

Why did you wake me up
If you weren’t planning to let love grow?
Why did you shake me up?
If you would just let me sink so low?
No, you don’t have the right to do this to me

No...

Why Did You Wake Me Up? (Jimena & Matham Wilsoned)

Music arranged and performed by Matham Wilsoned
Vocals by DLynn

I generally try to avoid covering songs with distinct piano parts - I like to put a little of my own personality in everything I do but I don't ever want to take anything away from the original composition.  That said,  there is something about Say Something that stuck in my head when I first heard it.  When I 'met' Debbie (DLynn) here on SoundCloud and she listed some songs for consideration, Say Something immediately jumped out to me.  

It was a lot of fun working with Debbie on this track!  Make sure to stop by her page to listen to her other work - she has been developing quite an extensive collection including covers that span many genres.  

DLynn's SoundCloud page:  https://soundcloud.com/user-736485108


====================================================
A little history on this song:

"Say Something" is a song by American indie pop duo A Great Big World from their debut album, Is There Anybody Out There? (2013). Written by the duo members—Ian Axel and Chad King—alongside Mike Campbell, the song was originally recorded by Axel for his solo album This Is the New Year (2011). It was later released as a single by the duo on September 3, 2013, by Epic Records. Following its usage on American reality TV show So You Think You Can Dance, the track gained attention from singer Christina Aguilera, who wanted to collaborate with A Great Big World on the song. Quickly afterwards, a re-recorded version of "Say Something" with Aguilera was released on November 4, 2013.

DLynn's Page

Say Something (Cover) - DLynn and Matham Wilsoned

"My Favorite Mistake" is my first collaboration with Roger/B-Train (@roger-b-train) and my 3rd collaboration with Jimena Arroyo (@jimenaarroyo).  I couldn't be happier to once again have a chance to work with Jimena,  especially considering how busy she is!  The woman is a songwriting machine and if you haven't checked out her cloud recently, I highly recommend you do!   Along with her numerous collaborations with some of the most talented individuals and bands here on SC, much of her time and musical energy has gone into her work with Jonnie Cook (@jonnie-cook) - the two of them having formed the up and coming duo Excorde (https://excordeofficial.wixsite.com/excorde)

"My Favorite Mistake" started as a personal challenge.  I came up with the main piano riff roughly a year ago and knew I wanted to write a song around it, but writing a song around a riff is not my usual songwriting process so I decided this was a good opportunity to develop some aspects of my songwriting which, up until that point, I had either not incorporated into my music or outsourced to a collaborator.  In particular, "My Favorite Mistake" is the first song for which I wrote my own bass line and beat. I've always struggled writing beats/creating drum tracks, so pushing myself to face that on this piece was definitely a little scary for me.  The other personal challenge I took on in writing this piece was in the production - especially with respect to the vocals.  I have very little experience mixing and producing vocals and I wanted to use this piece as an opportunity to learn and practice.  Of course, the more I fell in love with the song itself the more I wanted to change my mind and bring in a 'real' producer.  I have to thank both Jimena and Roger for their encouragement, feedback, advice and help which gave me the confidence to get it done.

What really brought this song together in the end was our (Jimena's and my) decision to invite a 3rd collaborator to join us.  I had been working on mixing/producing the 'final' version for quite a while, but it always felt like something was missing.  We decided that the solution might be to bring in one more person to join us.  After thinking about it independently for a bit, Jimena and I both came up with the same name - Roger/B-Train (@roger-b-train).   So, I emailed Roger, shared a couple versions of what we were working on and asked if he might be interested in joining us and to our excitement, he enthusiastically agreed!  What I love so much about Roger's contribution to the final recording is how he manages to compliment and enhance Jimena's voice - as emotive as Jimena is whenever she sings, Roger's guitar really brought out the emotion in her voice even more.  At the same time, he used and left just the right amount of space from start to finish - the result being a song that has a lot to appreciate - I particularly enjoy the interplay/dialogue between all 3 of as the song progresses - without ever feeling too crowded or busy.

Well, you're all here to listen to music, not to read an essay so I'm going to wrap this up.  To Jimena and Roger - it was wonderful working with both of you!  To everyone taking the time to listen - thank you so very much for spending your time with us!  We live in the most insanely busy and fast-paced time in history.  We also exist in a world that is flooded with talented and entertaining people.  To me, there really is no greater compliment than when someone chooses to spend some of their precious time listening to my/our music.

Credits:
Piano & instrumental composition: Matham Wilsoned (@matham-wilsoned)
Vocal composition & lyrics: Jimena Arroyo (@jimenaarroyo)
Guitar: Roger Chandler (@roger-b-train)

My Favorite Mistake (Jimena & Matham Wilsoned Ft. Roger B-Train)

http://www.mathamwilsoned.com

My piano is my voice.  I started recording these compositions and improvisations a few years ago when I wanted to tell someone how much I love them and no words were sufficient.  In the process of writing and recording that piece, I decided to start recording my random improvisations as well (which despite having played most of my life, I've never done before).  That was the beginning of my first set, "Words Fail Me" and this page.

Words Fail Me is available on Amazon, iTunes and Google Play!  It is also available for streaming on Spotify! 

Thanks to everyone who has listened, liked, reposted, commented - the fact that so many complete strangers have taken time out of their lives to experience a little of mine is crazy.  

I also love to accompany vocalists and work with other musicians:

https://soundcloud.com/matham-wilsoned/sets/accompaniments

Or take a minute to listen to the amazing voice of https://soundcloud.com/keir-patrick-white whom I had the privilege of working with for many years.