GDP News Page

We have a new song we're taking into the studio. It's a new, socially conscious song advocating help and attention for battered women. The title of this song is Hope Shame & Fear, which is a motto heard while watching a PBS program. Can't share the moderator's name, but her words were striking...these words in particular...hope, shame, and fear.

These words describe the trap these scared, isolated women find themselves caught in with few options. Escaping such a prison is not so easy either. Unfortunately, the number of victims from abuse is rising, and as an issue, granted one of many, this one directly affects the lives of innumerable women, and sometimes their children may be victims as well. Truly, a person would have trouble understanding the complexity of such a relationship and its development if one had not experienced it first hand. This song is our attempt though, through the eyes of those who provide a safe haven for any abused woman. Getting a victim to even reach out to...anyone, even such organizations...demands extreme courage and determination. Find ways to support shelters for abused women. Such help would find its greater reward compared to, for instance, investing in Wall St.

Please listen to this meaningful song and maybe help out this and other organizations in some way!

We also recently completed another song, titled Talk To Me, which is a contemporary country song, with a strong blues influence. This song's sound is not as strong of blues as, say, Goin' Nowhere, but you can hear it. This song features strong vocals from Jen Boone, a local talent, and it stands as the 1st song that Pat Sheridan and Erik Nelson joined forces to compose for me. What an honor...2 uniquely creative and talented musicians. I am privileged to work with either of them....working with both together was unbelievable!! I sincerely thank them both!

We are preparing for future studio visits from a couple of outstanding performers, Lisa Perry and Chris Krause. Chris has been featured on several songs over the past year or so, and he is a pleasure to work with in the studio. Lisa recently sang on the song A Woman Knows, which we just released, and she did such a tremendous job on it that we are going to work with her on a couple of other songs. Lisa also wants to collaborate with us, so we plan to co-write a song in the near future. Can't wait!!!

We're now writing jingles. Our new customers are thrilled, and we have received a ton of positive feedback. We offer very creative jingles with strong lyrical and musical hooks. We offer very competitive prices, and we offer a 1st-time buyers discount. We offer jingles as buyouts or time payments. We can work with just about any budget, but in this weak economy, successful businesses will plant an advertising seed in the minds of potential shoppers. We'll have people humming your jingle as they walk in your door.

We were privileged to have our main singer in the studio recently. Ashleigh took a job out west, in Irvine, CA for her company. We are very sad to lose her awesome voice/talent and her charming presence in the studio. Her final session--for now-- was in October, and it was another super session. Ashleigh sang a song, This Puzzle, which Greg kind of wrote for her. She suggests that Greg was channeling her, after she read the lyric, and as usual, Patrik weaved together another excellent melody, with input from Erik Nelson, with whom Greg has written a few other songs, including A Woman Knows (see below) and I Love for This.

When we finished Ashleigh's session, though, we had lots of mixed emotions, but ultimately, we love Ashleigh, and this move is the right move at the right time of her life. We wish her peace, love, and fulfillment, and we will welcome her back into the studios, when she travels the 2,000 miles back here to Normal, IL. Yes, Normal. Go figure! BTW, Ashleigh's picture is featured on all of the songs she sings on www.reverbnation.com/gregoryputnam. If you access this site, hover your cursor, and you can read songs on which she's the vocalist!

We are pleased to announce that 2 singers we work with won awards at the North American Country Music Association International competition, held in late April. For the 2nd year in a row, Anjanel Folkens (http://www.anjanel.net) won the Rising Star Award for Female Entertainer of the Year in New/Modern Gospel. In addition, she won the Rising Star Award for Songwriter of the Year for her original song, Road Trip, which is on her CD with the same title. This award-winning song tells a story about a young woman just taking off with some friends and cruising along old Rt 66, and it has a nice twist. at the end. It's a fun song with plenty of energy and appeal. Her CD, Roadtrip (contemporary country), offers a variety of songs that take advantage of her unique delivery, with compelling vocals. You can feel her energy. Anjanel's versatile voice is truly showcased in this entertaining CD, which includes several of Anjanel's', along with four songs written by Pat and Greg. If you want a very entertaining variety of songs from a marvelous talent, please visit her web site and order one for you and maybe one for a close friend. This CD is great listening for your next road trip! We congratulate her for such an amazing accomplishment! Way to go, Anjanel!!

Janet also won top honors at this prestigious award ceremony. She won a prestigious award at the same competition. Janet won as Top Female Vocalist in Traditional Country. Janet blew away judges by her performance, in which she dressed up like a pregnant mom and sang her own original song, Behind That Smile. Janet delivered a tremendous performance, fully utilizing her tremendous voice, while putting together a very creative delivery. She is truly a talent and an angel! You can hear her on reverbnation, singing A Woman Knows, a heart-rendering ballad about falling out of love. This song is clearly radio-ready, as it has captured the attention of local radio djs. Check it out! Janet's convincing delivery really stands out! Kudos to Janet!!

Most of the songs we have listed on reverbnation (and on our www.2gdp.com web site) are co-written by the extremely talented Pat Sheridan. Pat has a gift for bringing life to lyrics through his music. Pat is an amazing talent on guitar, and he is extremely adept at creating powerful, new music. His creative energy provides us with a wide range of captivating songs. He has been a driving force in developing our catalog of songs--one we hope you'll enjoy. He never ceases to amaze. And, we have more coming...! In fact, if you scroll down to songs without genre and gender listed in the title, you'll hear songs we have in the works, with Pat singing them. He's actually pretty good, so if you want to hear how our songs start down the road to production, take a listen!

We have been working a lot with another rising star, singer Ashleigh Morrissey. Ashleigh performs on several of our songs, including You Ain't Sayin', Goin' Nowhere, Your Touch, Give Me a Kiss, and a duet, Tonight. Ashleigh is a wonder to work with in the studio, and as you can hear, her voice is packed with emotion and appeal. She can make your heart pound or your tears flow. She's that good! We are in the process of putting together an Ashleigh CD, mostly with our originals, along with a few "unplugged" covers. We'll keep you posted. Listen to any of the above songs on reverbnation.

Her picture displays with each of her songs on reverbnation, as do Anjanel's, Chris Krause's, and Pat's on songs they sing. Check out Ashleigh's pictures while you listen to her powerful delivery of these strong songs!

One additional note. We also want to thank the very best engineer and producer in Central IL, Erik Nelson, owner of Eclipse Studios (www.eclipsestudios.net) in Normal IL. This Gold Record owning songwriter has proven himself to be masterful at tapping into Pat's and Greg's ideas. He stands above any studio owner we've known, and we've known some pretty good ones in our time. Currently, Eric and Greg have been writing together...such as I Love for This. That is Erik singing a scratch vocal. He does a job! Additionally, he and his brother, Dave Nelson, are excellent musicians who play guitar, keyboards, drums, and bass. Dave also sings excellent background vocals with Chris Krause on A Test, Change Me, and with Brandon Howard's Sweet Tennessee.

Finally, if you want a copy of any song, please just write and ask. Dreams need believers! :]

Thank you all for listening and supporting us!!! We're thrilled to have you listening, and we welcome any feedback you may want to share!

We have been very busy recently. We are preparing for a run on studio dates. We have 12 songs in the studio now, with just what we call a basis, or foundation, which means that we have an acoustic/electric rhythm, a metronome, and a scratch vocal, sung by the illustrious Patrik Sheridan.

We are very excited about our new songs, which include Live Fit, No Einstein, Goin' Nowhere, and No One's Askin'. We also just wrote a song called You Ain't Sayin', a ballad we believe offers strong potential. Please access www.reverbnation.com/gregoryputnam, to see the a list of songs in various stages of development.

The top half of the list contains songs that have been produced, and each produced song can be identified when you hover your cursor over it. You will see the title, the genre, and the gender of the vocalist. For instance, if you hover over A Woman Knows (first song on the list), the hover displays "A Woman Knows - Country - Female." So, any song in the top half, which has been produced and sang by one of our awesome vocalists has this information.

The lower half of this list displays titles of songs too, but that's all it displays. There is no text for genre or gender. These songs typically consist of rhythm, metronome, and scratch vocals...usually Pat's rough vocals. We use this site to share songs with various singers and musicians, ones who are gonna come to the studio and perform. We find this approach to be very useful.

Industry News

We have recently been working with a music company out of Chicago, called Sweet Pickle Music. We are working with a very knowledgeable gentleman named Andrew, who is one of the creators of a band named Tin Horse, who will be appearing at various venues early next year, including a major event in Las Vegas, on January 05, 2008.

Andrew has selected a few of our songs to Tin Horse producers, which include Your Touch, Clean Sweep, and A Woman Knows. He also forwarded some songs to some other artists he's in touch with...mostly up-and-comers, but you may have heard of them. They are Fulton County Live, Hoosier Highway, and Highway 101, so keep your ears listening for some new songs from them.

A Woman Knows

While Greg works mainly with Pat Sheridan, he recently co-wrote a country ballad with Erik Nelson, owner of Eclipse Studios in Normal. Erik is a gifted keyboardist, a top engineer, an excellent producer, and an accomplished musician on several instruments. Together, they wrote a song called A Woman Knows, one that has received rave reviews from local audiences. A local DJ called the song "excellent," and we should be hearing it on 104 FM on your dial in Peoria, IL. You know the old saying, Will it play in Peoria? We'll find out soon enough.

This song is sung by local talent, Janet Durham, who also moderates a bi-weekly opry in Bible Grove, IL. What a great town name for a hub of country and gospel music. If you're ever in the area on a Saturday evening, stop in. You'll walk away having had a great time! Janet will be selling a 2-song cd with A Woman Knows and a song of her own, Behind That Smile. We look forward to that.

A Woman Knows has also been heard in Nashville by local performers. One called it a sure-fire Top 40. We believe this as well, and Erik will be taking this song to producers in Nashville in mid-November. Stay tuned!

Local Performances

Recently, Greg attended a local songwriters' night in Normal, IL, at local establishment, NV Lounge, where area songwriters gather and take turns performing their songs. Greg is a non-performing songwriter, and he was very please to hear 4 of his songs performed that night. In fact, these 4 songs were performed by 3 different performers, including Pat Sheridan, Ashleigh Morrissey, and Anjanel Folkens, who all performed well.

Pat did an acoustic solo of a new song, one we may have him sing in the studio, titled You Stop Talkin'. This song is a story about a struggling relationship, where the woman closes up to the man. It's his plea for her to let him back in.

Ashleigh sang 2 songs back-to-back, those songs being Your Touch and Tonight. The audience in this usually bustling lounge was clearly captivated by her brilliant performance. In fact, people gathered around to listen to the songs, as they did for Anjanel's strong performance of Clean Sweep. Anjanel's vocals and inflections grab listeners' attention. They all did a marvelous job. In fact, most songwriters that night stopped and talked to Greg, and 2 of them agreed to co-write a song each with Greg, so stay tuned for this advent.

All-in-all, it was a truly enjoyable night out in Normal.

NSAI

Erik Nelson is a recent member of NSAI, or Nashville Songwriters Association International, which is based out of Nashville, of course. We are entering A Woman Knows into a songwriting contest, which is sponsored by the NSAI in conjunction with CMA, the Country Music Association. Entries have to be submitted by Nov 15th, so we should hear how we fared later in the month. We'll post any news we receive.

Pat and Greg have decided to join the NSAI as well, as this opportunity provides them with increased market reach, and in the music industry, this reach is what it takes to succeed.

Upcoming Vocalists in the Studio

On Nov 14th, Chris Krause is honoring us by coming in to sing 2 new songs, License and Somethin's Missin'. License is more of a neo-traditional country song that evokes memories of a grandfather and grandson, living in a small, rural town. Somethin's Missin', on the other hand, is more of a contemporary country, if not an alternative country song. It is very different, and we're real excited to hear Chris' vocals on it. We already have great confidence in Chris' rich, deep vocals for License, and we're curious about how he'll sound in a different sub-genre, deviating from gospel and more traditional country songs. He is a supreme talent, which we believe will break through to the national market any day now.

Chris has also honored us with the last 2 songs he did with us, Hope You Know and There Is Here, both songs that fall somewhere between neo-traditional and contemporary country. You can hear both songs on his site (christopherkrause.com), on reverbnation, and on our www.2gdp.com web site. We hope you listen to them both, and we'll all appreciate any feedback.

Upcoming Songs

We have recording dates in Nov on the 14th, 15th, 21st, and 29th. In Dec, we'll be at Eclipse Studios on the 1st, 8th, and 15th. After that, we will stop recording at least until January, even though Pat and Greg are still coming out with new songs, nearly weekly, including You Ain't Sayin', No Einstein, No One's Askin', and Goin' Nowhere. We will also be re-doing 2 other songs, Give Me a Kiss and Semi Sweet Sam. Give Me a Kiss is a provocative song about falling in love, which will be performed by a very sexy, young singer, Ashleigh Morrissey, who has also sung some other hot tunes, including Your Touch (a real steamy song) and Tonight (a love song about taking advantage of love and the night).

We are also extremely honored to have another local talent join us in the studio in December. She is Karen Bair, lead singer of a talented local band called Biscuits n' Gravy. She's taken on a huge challenge with us--to sing a revved up song about a female truck driver, titled Semi Sweet Sam. Yes, this song is gonna gain attention, wait and see. Hopefully, Karen will join us on future endeavors, as she is another strong, superlative vocalist from Middle America. Please stayed tuned.

We will also be honored once again to have Brandon Howard join us in the studio on Dec 1st. Brandon, who has worked with us a couple of times in the past will join us again. This happy new father will join us for 2 new songs. Well, one of them is actually an older song that Pat has modified somewhat, and it is a song we believe will become popular quickly. It is titled, Come Dance, and just wait until you hear this new rendition. Brandon has also agreed to sing a new one titled Your Time, which is an ode to a mom's advice about slowing down. This captivating song has already drawn attention from listeners between Boston, MA and Portland, OR, so coast-to-coast, there are listeners eagerly awaiting these 2 songs.

Finally, Janet Durham, vocalist on A Woman Knows, has agreed to honor us with her singing a couple of new songs, including Ts and Oh So Casually, 2 songs that are different from the ballad, A Woman Knows. We can't wait for her return to the studio.

On the Road

A new, exciting Central Illinois band, FunKrazy, made their debut appearance recently in Peoria, IL. The band features Greg's co-writer, Pat Sheridan on electric guitar and Sandy Smith as lead singer. Sandy, who has a classically-trained, brilliant voice is featured on some of our songs on our site, including Losin' Today and Tonight.

Sandy will be joining us in the studio very soon to sing two illegally hot tunes, Your Touch and Smokin'. Both of these contemporary pop/rock songs will require you to have plenty of cold water and an emergency medical staff nearby. She's sizzlin' hot in these renditions, as you'll hear soon. If you want to join those fans who want to be notified when it's released, select Contact Us and send us an e-mail. We'll add your name to the list.

The band performs many dance-worthy covers, along with the songs mentioned above and other originals. Audiences have been very pleased, especially with the addition of another top female singer and sax player, Dianna Calvetti, rockin' bass player, Steve Hill, and Ian Sheridan, a gifted, young drummer and son of Pat Sheridan.

FunKrazy performs mainly in Illinois, but they also do some gigs in bordering states. Check them out: http://funkrazyband.com/index.cfm. It's worth the visit, and you can find booking information there.

We have had a busy month, as we’ve had some excellent talent in the studio with us. Here’s a rundown on these amazing performers:

Anjanel, winner of the prestigious 2007 CMA Horizon Award for both Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year in New/Contemporary Gospel, asked us to write some songs for her. These songs will be included on her upcoming CD, tentatively titled Road Trip, which features a draft version of the title song. Check it out on her web site (above link)! You will hear her amazing vocal talents and her excellent songwriting skills.

Anjanel’s upcoming CD has 10 songs on it, including 4 that she wrote, 4 from us, and 2 that her mom wrote. This CD contains quite a variety of songs, from country rock to contemporary country to gospel.

Anjanel’s songs on this CD include:

Anjanel selected 4 songs from gdp & co, and we are honored. Here is a list of those 4 songs:

Anjanel also added 2 gospel songs. The top song below, Lord's Mountain, is one Anjanel's mom wrote, and the 2nd song below, Be as One, is a collaboration with Anjanel, her mom, and her dad. It is a real family effort:

Anjanel has been an absolute charm to work with in the studio, and to just hang out with. She is as pretty as she is down-to-earth. She’s the artsy girl-next-door, and we predict a great future for her in country music. Anjanel’s powerful CD, Road Trip, is due for release in September.

Chris Krause http://cdbaby.com/cd/chriskrause

Chris Krause is another strong talent who has worked with us in the studio. Check out his CD (above link). This award winning artist is a singer and songwriter, who devotes his music to gospel and contemporary country. His voice has been likened to Randy Travis, Trace Adkins, and others. Some of Chris’ awards include the following recent ones:

Illinois Country Music Association

Earlier this year, Chris, who is a tremendous songwriter himself, joined us in the studio to perform 3 songs, which currently can be heard on our web site:

Recently, Chris came to Eclipse Studios to record 2 more of our songs, and he performed magnificently. Here are the titles for these songs, with a September 2007 release date:

We feel constantly impressed when working with Chris. He is a great singer and a wonderful person. Like Anjanel, he is a pleasure to work with and a joy to be around. We really appreciate the time and effort he’s shown, going to great lengths to travel over 100 miles to join us in the studio. He is simply amazing.

We think he is another artist destined for bigger things! Check out his newest CD, No Pain No Gain.

Brandon Howard http://www.last.fm/music/Brandon+Howard

Brandon Howard, is a local Missouri singer. He has performed live with Billy Yates. He released one album entitled, Static. It features 12 tracks, with 10 of the songs written by Brandon himself.

Brandon kindly agreed to join us in the studio recently, and he’ll be joining us again for an upcoming session. Brandon, who is another genuine person and an excellent vocalist, came into Eclipse Studio to sing a new gdp & co song:

This anthem to the beautiful home state of country music offers a unique, sing-along chorus, and Brandon’s delivery is superb, if not mesmerizing. His background harmonies are excellent, only surpassed by his hypnotic lead vocals.

In fact, we were so impressed with his background harmonies, we invited him back to join Anjanel in one of her new songs, Be as One. Brandon will join her as a duet for the choruses in this riveting gospel song. Brandon will also come in and sing Come Dance, with a modified arrangement.

We feel honored and privileged to have him in the studio with us.

Tim Harr

Tim is a very talented musician from Central Illinois. He knows country music, and he has added steel guitar to a couple of our songs, including Somewhere Inside and Superman. We plan on having him back to add steel guitar and electric lead on a couple of our newer songs.

Again, we’re working with another person who has excellent studio presence and is a great person to be around. Listen for his unique style that he’s adding to our songs!

For More Information Contact:

GDP & Co.
P.O. Box 333, Towanda, IL 61776
Tel:
FAX:
Internet: info@2gdp.com.com