James Neathery

Upon Letter A 

     Upon Letter A, originally titled "Upon The Letter A," began one night in a hotel room, November 2016. My commute at the time was a daily trek of approximately 160-miles round trip. Given the San Francisco Bay Area commute patterns, if unable to hit the road by a certain time, I would usually grab a hotel in the area to avoid the fuel expense and associated 2-1/2-hour minimum time on the road just to get home, basically go to bed and then repeat the process early the next day. After this became somewhat of my new norm, the lack of being able to work on music during personal time was beginning to weigh on my mind. So, a portable stage piano came along for the ride on one of those outings to relieve the angst. As it happened, that first time with the piano in the hotel coincided with a nasty storm that swept through town. 

     On that rainy evening, feeling a bit lost in thought, brooding over a number of issues both professionally and personally, and nursing a drink acquired at the hotel bar, the bass clef pattern of ULA came out. Very simplistic in that it is just a broken octave played in the key of A, the feeling conveyed seemed to fit my mood. Various melodies were played with and I began noodling as I usually do when wrestling with an idea. That was probably somewhere around eight or nine p.m. and before I knew it, the blue clock light was refracting off the empty glass and it was 1:30 a.m. Still raining but now, the basis for ULA had been born.  

    Many times I will get an idea and start crafting numerous instrument parts around it with a mental picture of the direction I am hoping the song takes, keeping in mind the overall vibe and inspiration guiding it. That doesn't always work out and often, I will think of something and simply not be able to play it due to limitation in ability. Upon Letter A was one case in which I wrote the entirety of the piano part as a standalone piece and no other instruments were even thought of. That said, it was also a little longer than the finished product, coming in at almost seven minutes, instead of the six minutes and nine seconds of the released version. Over the course of four-years, ULA underwent numerous changes in direction, composition, arrangement and probably other aspects that the names of are escaping me. Throughout it all though... one aspect remained unchanged. Not what inspired it but what the song represents. 

     Representing a foundational element needed to create or build something great from nothing, Upon Letter A is a metaphoric representation of thoughts and experiences--some occurring in my life during the writing. Examples could be starting a new career, a new relationship, constructing a dream home or the Eighth Wonder of The World, perhaps even just referring to the beginning of the English Alphabet... you need some kind of a solid foundation to build upon and in this case, it is the letter "a."  

      A number of "firsts" for me in both the songwriting and recording realm also play into the title and overall theme. It was the first song completed after upgrading my studio with some much-needed equipment in 2020. The first song, out of a large backlog, I had professionally mastered by Steve "Mr. Mig" Migliore in New Jersey. The first to be professionally released and subsequently garner radio attention, the first single coming from my latest project titled "A Mused Collection of Anecdotes" and the first to have a melody whose overall energy flows between melancholy and a more uplifting feel, inspired by a friend who was also contemplating numerous professional and personal issues at the time. And their name happens to start with the letter A. 

Production Credits 

Written, Arranged & Performed by James Neathery  
Recorded & Mixed by James Neathery  
Mastered by Steve "Mr. Mig" Migliore (via AirGigs services)  
Cover Artwork by James Neathery