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A Songwriting Podcast hosted by @muhammadseven

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“The Messiah Retires” (original) by Muhammad Seven

#americana #folk (full video on YouYube)

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My guest on @wfotppod this month is @winterkendl of @thelowestpair!

#banjo #olympia #americana #songwriting #interview

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I spent the last 15 years as a garbageman and I have a master’s degree from Harvard. Now I know bragging about your Harvard degree is frowned upon, but I got that degree over a period of 10 years, while working full time and raising a child, AND battling a chronic illness - and I did it all for free (as an employee of the university), it cost me $400 in course books and photocopier fees. So yeah, I’m’a brag about it. I spent my days going toe to toe with the university as our union steward, fighting for worker’s rights, and my nights holed up in the fanciest libraries you ever saw, writing papers. Ten years earlier I had worked on a carpentry crew hanging sheet rock in one of the libraries where I later did research. Baby powder on my arms to keep the insulation from itching. My new song has a line that repeats, “I don’t think you understand….you’re messin’ with the wrong man.” It sums up my attitude as a blue collar scholar.

Speaking of sums, “Blue Collar Math” is streaming everywhere.

Find it on your favorite player (paid and free options), 🔗 under bio

The whole record is for sale on vinyl, 🔗 under bio

Check out Facebook for the longer version of this post.

Who worked on this track, you ask? @jerkburger on guitar, @kellyjoreed on harmonies, @clfrecordings on drums, @theotrey on bass and @samkassirer at the keys. Produced and mixed by Colin Lester Fleming at Great North Sound Society, engineered by @jbmoney33, mastered by Derek Blackburn @quiethouserecording.

Enjoy!

#bluecollar #workingclass #americana #solidarity
M7

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I really enjoyed this interview with @wfotppod! We talked about songwriting, politics, and their intersection. Full episode is out today, link in their bio.

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“Artless” by Brenda Shaughnessy

#brendashaughnessy #love #poetry #songwriting

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The 6th single from our new album is called “Elements” and it’s out today!

You can listen to it for free or pay (it’s everywhere), 🔗 under bio

All track credits here: https://www.muhammadseven.com/tooj-credits

Here’s the first verse of “Elements”:

I live life in elements
Every word has resonance
Every sound has measurements
Every soul since genesis

This song a little out of the box for me, a straighter kind of rock song but with the vivid lyricism that’s become my signature style. It’s about the building blocks of life, the things that help me try to puzzle over how it’s all put together.

I really love Pat’s guitar work on this one, from the rhyth-melodic lick that carries the song to his solo near the end. It’s not like any guitar work I’ve ever heard, it’s sort of part guitar god / part funk rhythm, with a great driving tone. More powerful harmonies from Kelly Jo on this one, and the rhythm section (Colin Fleming on drums / Theo Brierley on bass) cradles the song’s epic foundation in it’s sinewed arms (insert flexing emoji here).

I actually remember exactly where I was when I wrote this one - in the car, on the way home from a gig with the live band (Pat, Valerie, Clark and Jose). I think it was our packed show at Dedham Square Coffeehouse and we really had everything humming that night. I felt like the instruments had all transported me down into the cellular level, like that Martin Short movie “interspace” from 1987 (or maybe Magic School Bus if you’re younger than me?). I started writing this song that was sort of a celebration of what we were doing, but also an investigation into what happens when you break the stuff of life into it’s elemental parts.

THE WHOLE ALBUM IS OUT in advance on vinyl! You can hear “Elements” and the other 11 tracks in sweet, sweet analogue sound, for sale in the store at https://www.muhammadseven.com/shop

The whole album was produced by @clfrecordings , Engineered by @jbmoney33 and Mastered by Dereck Blackburn at @quiethouserecording.

#muhammadseven #templesoutofjoy #newmusic #americana #folkmusic #iran #vinylcollector #harmony #songwriter #love #roots #homeland

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“Poetry” by Pablo Neruda

#neruda #poetry #songwriting #muhammadseven #monday

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My first single of the new year is the acoustic guitar - driven “The Moon”.

You can listen to it everywhere, for free or pay, 🔗 under bio

It started as a rumination on my desire to leave the city and became an exploration of the idea of home - something I’ve written many songs about. It’s interesting how many of these songs have analogues from the last album; “Bittersweet” is about addiction and might be a sort of update to 2009’s “Gambler’s Crutch”; in a similar vein, “The Moon” might be an update to “Gone So Long”.

It’s got sick slide work from @jerkburger, gorgeous harmony vocals from @kellyjoreed, an epic @clfrecordings drum part and the usual excellent stand up base from @theotrey.

All track credits here: https://www.muhammadseven.com/tooj-credits

The whole album is out now on vinyl! You can hear “The Moon” and 11 other tracks tracks in sweet, sweet analogue sound, for sale in the store, 🔗 under bio

#muhammadseven #templesoutofjoy #newmusic #americana #folkmusic #iran #vinylcollector #harmony #songwriter #love #roots #homeland

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Bandanas are in! Made of 100% cotton (nice and soft after one wash), silk screened in navy or royal blue, $15 each. They make a nice cat blanket. Or you can wear them.

You can buy them on my website, https://www.muhammadseven.com/shop and 🔗 under bio.

#bandana #merch #americana #iran

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“Temples Out Of Joy” is 15% off til the new year! It’s pressed on black deluxe weight vinyl, with gorgeous full color jackets and center labels. The full album is available on vinyl only until I release it all on streaming in August, 2024.

You can buy on my website, https://www.muhammadseven.com/shop and 🔗 under bio.

#newmusic #americana #vinyl #folk #rock #iran

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“Temples Out Of Joy” is out on vinyl only! The full album drops digitally summer 2024, but you can get it eary (now!) on gorgeous deluxe weight vinyl. M7’s store is at muhammadseven.com/shop or 🔗 under bio. #vinyl #americana #folk #rock #singersongwriter #iran

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This month’s single is titled “Medicine” and I think it’s an unusual entry into my catalogue in a number of ways.

“Medicine” is streaming everywhere (🔗 under bio).

First off, I almost always start writing a song from words, and this one started with the acoustic guitar riff you hear at the beginning and throughout the song - at first blush it sounded sort of Cat Stephens inspired to me and I liked it. Then, lyrically I was going through a period of wanting to write about love and joy, and I think this is my most joyful song to date. It’s about really living, really enjoying the simple things in life:

“All I want’s the sun in my face
Ay Yai Yai…
Lay on down and stare into space
Ay Yai Yai…
Unplug the clocks and get lost in my thoughts
With no destination in mind…”

But there’s another dimension to the song, which is the way that my family history helps me know who I am, and how knowing who I am allows me to celebrate my own existence and enjoy the world, imperfect as it is. I think that’s what the chorus is about:
“I don’t need much of anything
Just the love of my friends
And the poems my ancestors
Wrote out like medicine
all over my skin”

This is a full band track (track credits here https://www.muhammadseven.com/tooj-credits) and I hope you enjoy it.

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