New EP!

My new worship EP has dropped! If you're interested in buying an actual CD of this new 5-song worship project, go here: http://rosskingmusic.com/home_buy.htm.

If you want to download it, go here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/god-undefeatable-ep/id469947046. right now they have it priced too high, but it should be corrected within an hour or so. While you're waiting for the change (to $4.99), you can sample it and see what you think!

Thank you sir, may I have another!?!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Actually, I hope you're not actually spending today reading blogs, so ideally you're reading this at a time when it would make more sense for me to say "hope you had a great Thanksgiving."

Either way, I've got another video for you.

After watching the last one, I was thinking that maybe I did too much talking, and didn't get to the awesome-face-rocking soon enough. So I decided that this time I'd just upload the song without the "here's how I wrote it" stuff. If you really must hear me talk about these things, you're welcome to come see me play sometime soon. Info on upcoming shows can be found here and here.

Anyway, the new video is below. For some reason, if you watch it here on the blog, I'm like half out of the shot. It's framed better here.

A little bit of back story:
I actually didn't want to play this tune on my ukelele, but we were at Jeff's house, and my acoustic was locked up in a church building for a gig we were doing that evening, so I just went with the uke. It turned out pretty good anyway, and made for a nice, different-sounding arrangement.

Also, this arrangement is in A, while the version on the album is in Bflat. Again, that wasn't something we planned. It just turned out that we only had one capo, and I wanted it for the uke, since I can only play like 6-7 chords on it (mainly chords in D, G, and E), and Jeff didn't want to play acoustic in actual Bflat. I know, that's all terribly hacky, but there you go.

Having said all that, I think this turned out really good.

Enjoy, and please go buy and tell your friends!

Mo Vid Yo

Hello.

A quick update. The CD is selling great. I mean, it kind of has to sell great, because in about 40 days, sales will drop off like crazy. So it's good news that the CD is selling well. Thanks to everyone who bought it, and special thanks to anyone who told someone else to buy it or bought several to give away. If you have the project and like it, please tell your friends. You are my PR firm, people. The pay ain't great, but... well, the pay ain't great.

Secondly, I'm working like mad on a new website, and it's just taking longer than I'd hoped. The RK World Tour office is rather spartan in it's personnel, so it takes us a bit longer to roll out these big changes than it sometimes ought to. Hopefully I'll have it rolling the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Finally, in my continued efforts to drum up interest in the record, I've got another video to show you. Check it out and feel free to send your "I don't know if I want to buy another Christmas record, especially from some goober that I've never heard of" friends to it.

another fun video! it's like actual marketing.

Yep, here's something else for you to watch. I know I always love to have videos of me to watch, and if you're like me, then you do too.

Seriously, go watch this. My pal Andrew Kilzer shot and edited it.

A weekend of great causes

Hey! Quick Update!

The CD will be out this Friday. I'll be mailing them this weekend to anyone who has pre-ordered. If you want the pre-order price, you've got 3 days left!

Now, onto upcoming dates:

If you're in the Central TX area, there are two great opportunities this weekend to give your money, your time, and your ears.

First, this Friday, I'll be in Waco, joining Brett and Emily Mills and James Mark Gulley for a night of great music and powerful stories of redemption. Jesus Said Love is an amazing ministry, bringing light and hope to dark and hopeless places. All the info you need is here, and of course you can just email me or leave a comment on this post and if you want more info.

Second, this Saturday I'll be playing here in BCS for Hope Pregnancy, a wonderful group of folks who reach out to young women who find themselves unexpectedly with child. As an adoptive father, I am deeply grateful to ministries like this, because they play a huge part in the way that infertile couples get babies! That's obviously a self-centered way to look at it, I know, but there you go. They do lots of great stuff and they need money to do it. So come see us or, at the very least, go find a ministry like this and give them some of the money that you'd use to buy unnecessary stuff.

As always, I'm thankful to be playing music, especially for great causes like this. What a great job I have.

Vidyo.

Hey. Have you bought the Christmas album yet from Ross "talks about himself in the 3rd person" King? Well, you should.

But either way, watch the video below.

My good pal and resident idea-guy/consultant/creative genius Andrew Kilzer shot and edited the "bumper" thing at the beginning. We're still working out the kinks on it, but I thought it looked cool enought to try it out. It's not like I'm known for super-professional-looking videos.

Anyway, check it:

News and things of that nature

OK, first of all, a big thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered the new album. I’m so thankful to have your trust and, well, your money. For those of you who haven’t ordered yet, there’s still time. I’ll be doing pre-orders for another 7-10 days. Go here to order for a discount.

And of course, as most of you know, I’m running a sale right now on my back catalog. All of my older CD’s (except for the ones that are out of print), are $5 for a limited time. I’ll probably extend this sale for another 2-3 weeks. Go here to buy cheap stuff!

Barring any weird surprises, the new CD – The Christmas Stories – will release between Nov 11th and 15th. I will alert everyone as soon as I have them, so that you can have some idea of when to expect them in the mail.

The album should be available for download –on iTunes, Amazon, etc – a few days before the actual CD is released. Probably early next week.

Now some tour/concert news. Below you will find my travel calendar thru Christmas. All dates subject to change, but I doubt that will happen. All these are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Nov 6 – Kids’ concert in Houston, TX. I think this show is closed, but if you have questions, call me and I’ll see if I can get you in.
Nov 7 -- leading worship in The Woodlands, TX for this church.
Nov 12 – benefit concert for Jesus Said Love in Waco, TX. This show has a ticket price, but there are two other acts playing, and the proceeds go to fund an awesome ministry, so it’s worth it. More info here.
Nov 13 – benefit for Hope Pregnancy in Bryan, TX. This is the kind of ministry that, among other things, allows couples like me and Staci to get babies even though we can't make 'em the "normal" way. Support this!
Nov 14 -- leading worship in The Woodlands, TX for this church.
Nov 21 -- leading worship in The Woodlands, TX for this church.
Dec 3 – Christmas concert at The Village Café in Bryan.
Dec 4 – Christmas concert in Tyler, TX at this church.
Dec 5 – Leading worship in Tyler, TX at this church (same place as the night before).
Dec 8 – Christmas concert in Richardson, TX at this church.
Dec 10 – House concert in Arlington, TX.
Dec 12 -- Christmas concert for my peeps at Community Church in College Station, TX.
Dec 17 – Christmas concert in Houston, TX (details coming).
Dec 19 – leading worship, doing mini-concert in Arlington, TX for this church.

As always, if you have questions about any of these shows, leave a comment on the blog, email me, or contact me thru facebook or twitter or whatever.

If you’d like to host me for a house concert (or whatever) sometime in the next 2 months, please let me know. House concerts are free as long as you provide me some food and invite lots of friends!

Finally, my new website should be up around the time that the CD is released, if not sooner. Be on the lookout for that.

It's the "Ross Needs More Fans SALE!!!"

The Christmas record is pre-selling, at a discount, right here! Go buy it, please! And tell your friends.

Also, in celebration of the new project, I'm running a sale of my entire back catalog. Normally, my CD's are $12 at my online store ($10 plu $2 shipping), but for the next couple of weeks, I'm running a super-cheap sale. All my CD's will be $7 ($5 plus $2 shipping).

Not sure if you want to buy? Well, if you're brave enough to wade thru the retro-tastic and somewhat skank-nasty myspace waters, you can hear some samples here.

So, if you've got some friends that you want to turn into crazed, maniacal Ross King fans, this is your chance to do it at a discount. Got some family that only listen to old Carman records? This is your chance to blow their minds with musical awesomeness, while also making yourself look super-generous.

Or maybe you've got some friends who you want to fool into thinking that you're now really rich! I know I do. Well, go buy a boatload of CD's and then be all like, "yeah, it's no big deal. I just buy tons of CD's cause i'm rich." Ha! They won't know you spent 5 bucks a pop on 'em! Zing!

OK, seriously, go buy some stuff.

Oh, and I'm still working on the site, so be watching for a whole new look by the end of the week.

Thanks for your support!

Merry Christmas?

The CD is done. That’s the cover up above. Photo by the great Tim and Kristen Douglass of Fidelis Photography, and design by my pal and sometime drummer Michael Steele of The Bright Company.

As for the audio part (even though my 38-year-old hotness will surely compel many to buy, I still have to have some music on the CD as well), I will be sending it off to be mastered (a process not worth explaining to those who don’t know what it is) and then duplicated within the next few days. It will be ready for download on iTunes and Amazon by the end of the month, and the actual CD’s should be out the first week of November.

I’m very excited to show you these songs. I’ll probably try to put a few preview tracks up on myspace (just because it’s got a free music player) and/or somewhere else sometime early next week.

I’ll be posting more updates frequently, but for now, here’s what you need to know.

Pre-orders will begin next week. I’ll be making the CD significantly cheaper to anyone who pre-orders. In addition, I’m going to be running a HUGE SALE on my entire back catalog, probably running thru the rest of the year, or at least until Christmas.

Oh, and I’m in the middle of a website update. That should be up early next week as well.

Finally, I’ll be announcing a bunch of shows early next week. Mainly Houston and Dallas, but probably a few other places as well. If you’re interested in hosting or helping with a show, let me know!

Progress Report

The Christmas CD is nearing completion. Basically I’m now just listening thru all the tracks and making sure that everything sounds the way I want it to sound. For the first time in several projects, Keith (co-owner of The MixLab and good pal) won’t be mixing the record. I love Keith’s mixes, but he’s wanting a little break from mixing, and I’m fine with that. My old friend (and my original partner in engineering/producing) Jon Meyer is going to mix. I’ve already started sending him stuff.

Right now, it looks like I will have no problem getting the project ready for download (on iTunes, Amazon, etc) by November 1. The actual, physical CD’s may not be out until a few days after that. I’ll know more in a couple of weeks.

I’m currently putting together concerts for the release. Right now, I have 2-3 in DFW, 1 in Houston, and 1 in Tyler. I’ll keep everyone posted, but if you’re interested in me doing something (and if you’re in TX or pretty close), let me know asap.

I plan to do some pre-sales, as well as some giveaways as previews. Keep a lookout for that stuff.

New Christmas Project!!!

OK, I’m way behind with my updates, so I’ll try to catch you folks up just a bit.

The Christmas project, tentatively titled Christmas Stories, is well under way. Here is the song list. The first 4 on the list are the traditional/covers, and the other 7 are songs that I wrote:

The First Noel
Jingle Bells (a very fun duet with my wife!)
Joy to the World
Angels (this is a variation/re-work of “angels we have heard on high”)
Song of Gabriel
Bethlehem
Merry Christmas to All
Rise Up (co-written with Michael Farren of Pocket Full of Rocks)
My Christmas Eve (co-written with Jimmy Needham, and also a very fun duet with my wife!)
All Things New
Macy’s Parade (a very strange song which may end up being titled “Weird”)

Some of you may remember "Song of Gabriel" from way back when I had it for free download on my old site. And you may have heard "All Things New" here.

One thing that I'm really excited about is that, even on the songs that I didn't write, I added/wrote/re-worked something on the song to make it seem more personal and creative to me. Don't worry, I didn't ruin any classics (I don't think). I just did some fun little tweaks and additions that I think/hope people will enjoy.

I’m very, very excited about the record. I plan to release it on November 1. I’ll give more updates asap. Tell your friends!

But I will say that I’ve already got some Christmas concerts lined up, and I’ll be looking for more dates very soon. I’ll post about that asap.

That’s all for now. More updates soon!

Various Things!

Like the title says, here are some various things.

First, I meant to do this like 3-4 months ago, and I didn't, but it's not too late. My good pal Todd Wright is a fantastic songwriter. He consistently writes worship music that is singable, powerful, and has meaning. If you know anything about the "business" of worship music, you know that there's lots of fluff and "rock star" going on. That ain't Todd. He's the deal. If you don't have his All the Freed record from a few years back (which I had the honor of producing), go get it. It is, song for song, one of the top 5 worship CD's I own. No kidding.

But that's not what I want to tell you about. Go get this. It's a tune that Todd wrote a few months ago called "Maker of My Days." For some reason that completely escapes me, he decided to record it at some other studio instead of mine. In spite of that epic fail, the track turned out great. It's really a very, very good song and a great production. And hey, it's only 99 cents. I don't tell you folks to go out buy very many things (usually I tell you to buy things exclusively from me, because I am completely unfettered in my desire to pay my bills), but I feel confident about encouraging you to spend your money on this.

Second, if you haven't ever heard of these people, go read about them now. Moreover, get on their mailing list and let their powerful stories of real, on-the-edge ministry move you.

And even moreover to that first moreover (the public schools didn't teach me how to use multiple "moreovers"), find a way to support what they do. Here's just one example of the amazing stuff God is doing thru Brett and Emily.

And finally, in the least important news of the day, I really am going to do a Christmas CD. I've already scheduled the studio time. To promote the record, I'll be doing some Christmas-ish concerts in November and December. Mainly house stuff, but some bigger shows as well. If you're interested in hosting something, contact me directly at ross@rosskingmusic.com.

That's all for today.

Nice to meet you.

Yes, yes. I know. Where have I been, you say? The answer, for the most part, is that I've been writing songs. There's more to the story than that, of course, but most of the other stuff isn't all that interesting, so we can leave it at that.

I'll do my best to blog a little more in the coming days/weeks, but in the meantime, here are two things of import.

First, I am working on a Christmas CD. It will be mainly original songs that I've written about Christmas, and a few "standards." I know that no one on earth -- well, maybe my mom -- is dying to hear Ross King versions of holiday classics, so I won't fill the CD with too much of that. But I do have several new songs that I want to share, and I have some ideas for how to produce/arrange some of the familiar stuff as well.

So be looking for news on that. When I release it -- Lord willing, in late October or early November -- I'll be doing some concerts to promote it. Let me know if you're interested in hosting something in November or December.

Second, go watch this:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=535454070421&ref=mf.


I love it when real people act crazy and embarassing on video for the whole world to see, and I love it even more when they use my music as the soundtrack to their craziness.

And speaking of "Juicebox," who has ideas on how to get Juicy Juice to use my song as their jingle? How hard can it be?

4 out of 5 Big Mamas Recommend Juicebox

OK, OK ,I know it's been forever. I have excuses -- writing/producing/pitching/tweaking a jingle for a barbecue chain, preaching a church service and a wedding, numerous co-writing sessions and trips, etc -- but mainly I've just been lazy about blogging. I'm working on a big update and some concert/tour date info, but in the meantime, go read a new review of my kids' CD.

For reasons that completely escape me, some people still don't own Words That Rhyme with Orange. More specifically, almost everyone on earth has yet to buy it.

Allow me to explain. Ahem.

There are -- I've read -- approximately 8 billion people on the planet. If that data is correct -- and I got it on the internet, so you know it is -- then, using my mathamaticotious calculations as a proficient songwriter, I see that approximately 7,999,999,300 people still haven't purchased my CD. Now I know -- from my other readings on the internet (and in magazines when I am in the doctor's office and I'm trying to find something to do besides play games on my phone in front of people) -- that at least a billion or two of those people don't have CD players or (I'm not kidding about this) even iPods. So those people have an excuse. Someday, when all is made right with the world, this travesty will be corrected and shoeless children everywhere will have access to Kanye, Ne-Yo, and Taylor Swift. Until then, let's assume that I have maybe 5 billion potential buyers on the planet.

To be fair, at least a few hundred of those haven't learned English yet. Again, how we Americans can sleep at night knowing that so many in this world have yet to learn how to say brilliant things like "I'm drinking my drink until I've drunk all of it and then I'll be drunk" or, "I know, right?" is beyond me.

But this is getting too political, and I'm really just here to talk about juiceboxes and bacon and monkeys disguised as humans. I mean, no matter who we are, we can agree on those things.

So moving on, if you haven't bought the CD yet, and if you can afford it, and if you speak English, you should go read this, then go watch this, then go here and buy something.

Oh, and in caes you don't get sarcasm and you think I'm really a boneheaded, heartless American capitalist, go here, here and here to see what shoeless children really need.

MTV stands for Me Tele Vision

Hey peeps. At the bottom of this post, there's a cartoon music video for my song "happy to be me." Big thanks to the absolutely brilliant dudes at Phodder for their work on this.

OK, here's what I need. As good as the sales of the record have been so far, I'm still not really "breaking in" to the whole kids' music scene on any kind of national level. Maybe I never will, and that's fine. I'm not looking to get rich or become the next, er, I don't know who. But I would like to have reach more folks with my music and hopefully teach them about The Kingdom That Lasts Forever.

So, if you are a fan of my music and/or the kids' record and/or the video, PLEASE tell people about this video by linking to it on your Facebook, Twitter, blog, youtube page, etc.

Thanks, everyone, for your support. Enjoy the cartoon version of me, even though he only has four finger, and even though the real me is a better dancer.

Proof that I am, indeed, a cartoon!

OK, here is a sample of the thing I was talking about a few days ago. Basically, this is going to be a music video/iphone app (we may work some interactive game stuff into it as well) for my song "happy to be me" from the new record. It's just a fun little cartoon thing that hopefully will help kids to connect with the music a little more.

Big props to my friends at Phodder, who are working hard on this for me. Check back in the next 2 weeks for the final product. Come on, everybody loves cartoons, even when a big doofus like me is the star of them! Fun, huh?

He likes it!

Got another review of the CD. I sent one to this guy because I found him on the internet and saw that he was a cool, diserning dude who liked to review kids' music. He agreed to review it. Check it out. And thank him for listening!

Shameless.

Wanna hear me show off my jingle-writing chops? Wanna see cute pics of my kids? how about a look at the ukulele that my in-laws got me for Christmas? All that and more (well, there's actually not much more, that's pretty much it) if you watch the video below:

thoughts?

I did my best to make that pic cool and interesting, but instead it just came out creepy and odd and well, a little unsettling. Probably not the best way to market my kids' record, right? Funny you mentioned it, because that's the point of this post. Read on...

OK, some of you pre-order-ers may have already gotten the CD, and I know that it's been downloaded some as well. And many of you will get them tomorrow and Tuesday. So let's start getting some reviews. Here's all that I ask. If you like the CD, tell people about it!

Again, the Ross King World Tour Promotion Machine is kind of tiny and sad and pathetic, so I need your help to get the word out.

Here's what you can do. If you use twitter or facebook or myspace or if you blog or whatever, just go on the world wide internets and say "hey, I just got this new kids' CD and it's very, extremely (insert your own verbiage here) and you should go get it too." then you can link to iTunes or Amazon or my website or whatev (I've been hanging out with college students a lot, and they say stuff like "whatev.")

Of course if you don't like the CD very much, I suppose you could tell a bunch of people not to buy it, but that's just cruel. I mean, at least play it for some 5-year-olds and see if they like it before you make a judgment.

Anyway, I'd love to hear feedback from anyone who's got the record, and I'd very much appreciate your free PR help. Hey, I'm more than willing to come do a house concert for anybody who sells some of my music.

Thanks everyone. I hope to have a couple of other fun things up before Christmas. But either way, have a great holiday.

I leave you with a second attempt:

There. Is that better? No? Seriously, I need help here.

Drop.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/words-that-rhyme-with-orange/id345953572

go get it!

Check your mailboxes tomorrow and Monday if you pre-ordered!