Todd Kessler

“Good As Gold” is out! This song represents a new approach to songwriting and production for me and I’m really proud of how it came out. If you want to know more about that then keep reading, if not, click the link, enjoy, and share with your friends. I’ll be releasing a lyric video next week so stay tuned for that. Thanks for listening. - Todd

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“Good As Gold” came about in two phases. I originally wrote this song back in early 2015 after returning from The Durango Songwriters Expo. That was such an inspiring experience and when I got home I started writing a song every day, determined to put all that I had learned to good use. Whether or not I completed a song every day wasn’t the point, but for a few months I was able to at least start a song every day…and then my second son was born. As you can imagine things tapered off for a while, but by the time I was emerging out of the new baby haze around six months later I was already in the early stages of planning for my 2017 album “About Memory”. I was writing a lot again and when it was time to send my producer, Marc Nelson, the songs I had been working on I went back through the songs I started back in early 2015 to. “Good As Gold” was put forward as a possible track for the album but at that point it only had one verse and one chorus, and more than anything it didn’t really fit with the vibe that we were going for, so I shelved it. Fast forward to Fall 2018. “About Memory” had been out for a while and my newest single “Meet You There” was just released so it was time to start thinking about what was next. Between 2015 and 2018 I had come back to “Good As Gold” a few times, sat down with it for an hour or so here and there but for what every reason I could never finish it. But I kept coming back to it. This time something clicked. The Bridge/Pre-Chorus quickly emerged one day and the code had been cracked. It was done.

But now the looming question was how to approach the production? I’ve approached recording many ways throughout my career, so much so that the last 4 things I have released have all been made differently, from bringing fully formed songs to a producer and building it layer by layer just the two of us, to writing the songs in the studio with my band, to going in with just an idea for a vibe and some session players. They all have their rewards and challenges. But there was another approach I wanted to try. I’ve always loved collaboration and have found the making of music to be most fulfilling while doing so. With that in my mind I sent a message to my friend and recent collaborator on “About Memory” and “Meet You There”, Ryan Herma, that said “Can I send you something? I’ve got an idea”. I sent him the voice memo of my first pass at “Good As Gold” and told him I wanted him to produce the track. After a few edits back and forth I sent him a voice memo of the vocals for him to use as a scratch track and waited. He knew what I was going for sonically and I trust him as a producer and musician so I wasn’t worried that I wouldn’t like it, but still, the waiting. Luckily, Ryan is pretty quick and soon enough he sent the track. I was floored. It was exactly what I was going for. Now it was time for vocals. I ended up recording the vocals twice, the first time I was so exhausted from a crazy run of gigs that it ended up sounding forced so we cut it. After the second vocal session and some extra layers it was off to Marc for mixing and mastering. And now it’s here.

It’s always exciting to release new music but this one feels a little different for me. Being a Singer/Songwriter I have the ability to try new things, new approaches, new sounds, and it can be exciting and terrifying at the same time. Will people like it? I don’t know. Do I hope they do? Yes. Does it matter if they don’t? No. But I hope they will. And I hope you’ll like it too.

"Old Fashioned Way" Featured on MTV's Teen Mom OG

 I had three songs placed in the first two episodes of Teen Mom OG on MTV! "One More Note", "Meet You There" and  "Old Fashioned Way", which was featured prominently during a pivotal scene. 

***NEW PODCAST***

My monthly series Todd Kessler presents: Songwriters In The Round at Hey Nonny has been such a fun project that now I've decided to make it into a podcast! I'll be uploading a new episode every month to my SoundCloud Page. Click HERE to check out the most recent episode!