2011 was GREAT for me in the world of drumming. I got to work with many talented and wonderful people these last twelve months, and I found myself doing mostly sessions. Many thanks to my artist and producer friends (old and new) who chose to work with me this year!

My most common response to the question of, "How was the Andrew Peterson Christmas tour?" is, "It was easy." I enjoy Andrew's music, the crowds were responsive, we had a nice bus, and it was a great community of people to be around. Besides just doing our nightly job of performing a show, we would make a concentrated effort to spend time together: playing games, having outdoor recreation time, and enjoying movies.

One of those movies that we watched was "Troll 2". It has been called "the worst movie ever made", and that quality made it fun to watch. We also watched a documentary about "Troll 2" called "Best Worst Movie". The documentary follows George Hardy (one of the lead actors) as he travels around the country and the world visiting the other cast members and attending screenings of the film. Since we liked "Troll 2" so much, and we liked the kind of person we saw George to be, we tracked him down and invited him to one of our shows. To our surprise, he ended up accepting our invitation and came see one of the concerts near his home town! He hung out with us that evening and answered all of our "Troll 2" questions in depth.

For players in the music industry, there's good music, good pay, and good people. They say that you're doing pretty well if you can get two out of those three factors. This month's Andrew Peterson Christmas tour was all three. It was easy. I was very happy to be included.

I first met Scott Bernard (far left in the group picture) several years ago on the very day that I was to fill in on drums--playing for Mark Schultz. It wasn't ideal for me: I had to get the drums AND my tracks rig set up on stage...within only a few minutes (because we were playing at a festival)...and then perform in front of tens of thousands of people...without a rehearsal. No pressure. Backstage before our set, Scott (guitar), Mark, Danny Myrick (bass) and I talked through the intros and outros to the songs, but when some unexpected turns in the songs happened while we were stage, I was thankful that Scott was right nearby the drum riser, prompting me through the ever-changing arrangements. I later became first call for Mark, and continued to tour with those guys for awhile. I remember us laughing together a lot!

Scott is an excellent player. He can take several guitar parts from a recording, and wonderfully translate them for a live performance, somehow making his one guitar fill all those areas that need to be covered in the song. He's a great singer too. Lately, he's been playing, writing and recording with Kenny Loggins. Kenny's a lucky guy.

And I must mention that Scott's a great guy who loves his family. Once during a tour, we were gone from home for three weeks straight. I remember that I would look over and almost always see him staring at his phone that had pictures of his wife and daughter on it...he was moping really. It was something to see: what love does to a person.

A few weeks ago Scott came over to the house and had me play drums on his new single "Crazy Christmas". It's crazy energetic which reflects the sometimes-crazy days around Christmastime.

Another front-runner for nicest artist I've ever worked for is Tony and Emmy-award winner Kristin Chenoweth. I played a show with her recently, benefitting the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's educational and cultural programming. She's a really sweet person. Her musical director from New York, Mary-Mitchell Campbell (pictured far right), is a pro, and was a pleasure to work with. I got to know Adrian Walther (the bass player du jour, pictured far left) while we were on a tour years ago, and I'm glad that we finally got to work together again after all this time. And our excellent guitar players rounding out the band were my friend Chris Alaways (second from right), and Rob McNelley (second from left), who I worked with for the first time.

Load in / set up was at noon, followed by a couple run-throughs of the songs. We decided to kill some time lunching at Jack's Bar-B-Que while waiting for Kristin's flight to arrive. Rehearsal was easy: Kristin has a remarkable voice with a great vocal range, and Mary-Mitchell coached the band through the material quickly. Music was made, lots of laughs were had. Overall, it was a nice way to spend the day working. It didn't feel like work.

I am pretty low key when it comes to working for an artist that I've just met. Not knowing what their personality is like, I won't know how friendly they will act, or how intensely they will want to work, so I'll let them set the overall vibe, and set the pace for the rehearsals (and subsequent one-off/run/tour) that we're doing so that they'll feel comfortable.

Recently I was asked to play drums for Kimberley Locke for the first time. Everyone else in the band had previously worked for her, but I didn't know anything firsthand about her--I've only known about her work through radio and TV. When she arrived at rehearsal, she was warm and social with everyone, and she greeted me with a friendly hug. For two days we rehearsed the songs, crafted arrangements and refined parts--really wanting to put an excellent performance together. Though we worked hard, it was all within a context of an easy-going atmosphere. Both the music and the people were really fun. My thanks goes out to the whole group, especially Jackson Eppley and Matt Heasley for bringing me in.

It's been awhile since I've recorded onto analog tape. The quality and depth of the sound is beautiful, and it often demands that you make artistic and engineering decisions right there on the spot--there aren't countless tracks and takes. Tape is what we tracked on when I played some percussion overdubs on "My Man", the B side of Lanie Lane's single which is released today on Third Man Records. This song has an old school feel...I love it. Produced by Jack White III.

I tracked some overdubs with Jack White last month. I loved his studio setup, and it was cool to see how much of a true artist he is. I'll post the link to this recording that he produced once it's released.

Thanks to producer Stephen Gause for bringing me in to play on Jim Cole's latest project. I know that Jim has released several albums over the years, so I wanted to make sure that my parts were just what he wanted. He was pleased--and after hearing the CD that he just dropped off in my mailbox, I'm happy with how it came out too!

Sometimes you get a call out of the blue from someone you haven't met who wants to hire you for a last-minute session. I got to play on Jenny and Tyler's single "This Is Just So Beautiful". What a nice couple, and what a good afternoon that turned out to be!

Jason LeVasseur just released his latest album "In Another Life". For three days at my studio we worked hard AND had fun laying down the basic tracks. Thanks to Brian Oaks for including me on this project, and thanks to bassist Matt Pierson for being my rhythmic brother.

Jaron and Katherine Kamin recently took several ancient hymn texts and put new music to them for their album "Here among Us". I was given some creative freedom when I laid down the drum tracks for it, and when I got Vance Powell's final mixes, I loved hearing the result. This is another project on which musician Ron Block and I both appear, yet we were never in the studio together. I'm looking for a way to fix that!

The Kicks just released "Double Single Vol.2" this week. I was called in to do percussion overdubs on one of the tunes, "Let Me Love You". The music is rocking, and these are great guys to hang with.

Nick Flora's project "Hello Stranger" is now out. I really enjoyed tracking this one. The music was sometimes quirky, sometimes soothing, and always enjoyable. I was even asked to be overly self-indulgent on some songs. It is good fun stuff.

Unexpectedly, I spent more time in Nashville than on the road in 2010. Thanks to all of my friends and coworkers who made it a successful year. I'm looking forward to what 2011 holds!

I feel blessed to be on the Andrew Peterson Christmas tour this month. These are not only inspirational songs, but this a really nice group of artists, players and crew. Come out and see a show!

You can see yours truly in Whitney Duncan's new video "Right Road Now". It's the title track to her new album that is just released today.

Many thanks to those who hired me for sessions and shows this past year-- I enjoyed the time behind the drum kit, making good music. Thank you also to the people at Gretsch, Paiste, and Regal Tip for their excellent products, and for including me on their teams. I'm looking forward to what 2010 will bring!

Thank you Tim McGraw for having Whitney Duncan open your recent California show. We had a blast!

Andrew Peterson's album "Resurrection Letters, Volume II" is now out. I loved being a part of that project because of both the songs and the people involved. I'll get to spend a little more time with Andrew and company while I'm out doing a handful of shows with him this Spring.

A single that I played on was just released. Whitney Duncan's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is available today on iTunes.

Did a couple of recording sessions for Whitney Duncan recently. Derek Bason engineered some great sounds, and I enjoyed getting to work with Mark Bright for the first time--not only a talented producer, but an all-around nice guy too. One of the songs is a Christmas cover (more details later).

This Spring, I started drumming for a new Warner Brothers Records Nashville artist named Whitney Duncan. I really enjoy playing her music, and she is so nice to work with. It seems like everybody I am meeting in this camp is very talented at what they do...the rest of the band, her producer, management, label, booking...(the list goes on). Her first single "When I Said I Would" was released on iTunes in June, and was downloaded close to 343,000 times in just the first week! In May, me and the rest of Whitney's band shot two videos with her for the first two singles. I've seen some initial edits of the videos, and they are looking great.

We started tracking the new Andrew Peterson album at my studio recently. Some of the usual suspects are playing on this recording: Matt Pierson, Andy Gullahorn, and Ben Shive. Great music and much laughter happen when this group gets together.

You should know that I really enjoy Derek Webb’s music. It was a treat to be able to do some shows with him this Spring following the Mark Schultz tour. Check out his album “The Ringing Bell”.

The Mark Schultz “Broken and Beautiful” tour was a big success. 60 shows across the United States with good music, good production, good times. The guys in Big Daddy Weave (the openers) were a nice bunch to hang with. Thanks to the many that came out to see the concerts!

I visited many cities this Fall on the Mark Schultz "Broken and Beautiful" tour. Everyone on the tour had a good time. We met many kind people who treated us so nicely. Thanks to everyone who came out to the shows!

My schedule was pretty crazy leading up to Andrew Osenga’s recent show in Nashville. I was scheduled to play drums for his CD release concert on Tuesday of last week, and I didn't have too much time to really think about the event beforehand. During sound check that evening, I began to realize that something remarkable was about to happen: great music with good friends. Several of us in the band also played for Matthew Perryman Jones, and his music gave the evening a beautiful start. I began to feel a deep joy as we were playing that night. Perhaps it came from the well-crafted songs; maybe it was from being creative with my drum parts. (Frank made my drums sound great in the house by the way.) Maybe the deep joy came from the freedom that we felt as a band, leading us to play dynamically. I did enjoy all of these things, but I felt it was a very special evening mostly due to the fact that this music was created within the presence of this community of people. I highly recommend both Andrew's and Mattew's music, and I count myself blessed to be a co-worker, friend, and spiritual brother.

So the Jars of Clay guys asked me to play drums for a show that took place last weekend. It was a “There’s no rehearsal but here’s a board tape” show…which was fine. Not ideal, but fine. It was a new set for them, and I had never played the songs. We thought that we would at least have a little time during our afternoon sound check to run over any songs that needed more attention. The morning of the show, I flew in from Pittsburgh, where I had played for Chris Rice the night before. (Have I mentioned that everyone in Chris’ camp are great people?) Jars were bussing in from Nashville that day. After I landed, I learned that their bus broke down on the way to the show, but that they would be coming in later that day…which turned out to be several hours later. They finally pulled up in another bus only twenty minutes before our show time. We quickly unloaded and set up our gear. We (briefly) made sure that we could (generally) hear each instrument in the monitors, then we just started the set. And we rocked…thank God for board tapes. How great it was to work with these guys who I’ve been in Nashville with for years.

Last Friday I went to North Carolina with Chris Rice and the rest of his band to do a show. Since this was my first time working with Chris, I really wanted to play well and make a good first impression. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed much preparation time for this show: I didn’t receive any board tapes, and his studio recordings arrived in my mailbox at noon only the day before the show (an already busy day for me). I was able to start working on the songs that night at 7pm. Though I was prepared by the next day, I quickly realized that I didn’t have to be so anxious, as everyone in the group was very easy going about the show, and very helpful about the intros and outros. It really made making music that day FUN…who knew that this could be fun? Thanks guys!

I went to Sweden last week to do several shows for Andrew Peterson with Ben Shive and Andrew’s wife Jamie. Sweden is a wonderful place with many generous people. Many thanks to our hosts Kaj and Samuel who showed us around the beautiful snow-covered country.

Happy New Year, and thank you to all of the producers and artists who have asked me to contribute to their projects in 2005. It was a pleasure.

I finished building a sound isolated studio in my home this past year. As more of the music industry is spending less money on expensive recording studios, I thought it would be a good decision to offer drum and percussion tracks while providing savings which a huge facility could not offer. It was, in fact, a good decision. When not working at another studio, or playing on the road, it is wonderful to be able to work from home.

I’m excited to see what will come to pass in 2006.

My phone rang at 9:00pm recently. You need to know that sometimes a producer just has to have a tambourine pass at 9:00pm. The one track of tambourine led to more tambourine on other tracks, which led to a shaker here, and then a hand drum there, and some timbales there. These were percussion overdubs for Andrew Peterson's new project "The Far Country". Andrew and co-producer Ben Shive were great to work with. The other day Andrew gave me a copy of the mastered mixes, and I've been thoroughly enjoying them. I think it should be available late Summer.

I toured Canada last week with Amy Grant and band. It wasn't all work--we got to spend some time almost every day biking around the great white north. The Canadian landscape was beautiful!

I had an excellent time in Seaside, Florida a week ago. It was there that I had the pleasure of playing drums for Amy Grant alongside some other great musicians for a great cause. The concert was a benefit for The Lighthouse Family Retreat. Their mission is to serve children with cancer and their families at a seaside retreat and help them to laugh, restore family relationships, and find hope in God. I know that there are many wonderful people in and around this organization.

Had a good time on the road this past month with Owsley. We hit many cities that are playing the single “Be with You”. Thanks to all of you that came out to the shows. What a treat to have a great start in my home town of Minneapolis! Another packed room I remember fondly was found in Akron, Ohio. The evening went so well that we even tried out songs we had never rehearsed together! And thanks to Boston for being Boston: what a great town that is. Next time we’ll have to stay longer. And though Portland, Maine's weather was a cold and rainy end to this tour, we’ll remember the warmth of WCLZ's radio support.

THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the Owsley shows the past few days. I had a blast in Nashville at 12th & Porter and at the Mercury Lounge in New York with Will, Millard, and Jonathan. Thanks to Scot and everyone at Lakeview Entertainment!

All in all, it has been a very decent 2003. I continued to make music with many old friends this year, and got to work with some new ones, including Rachael Lampa--so charming, and such a talented singer. We did several concerts this Fall with Geoff Moore, promoting Compassion International. Geoff is a fun person to work with—he's always positive. And thanks to Mark Schultz and his band, for making me feel welcome when I filled in on drums a couple of times these past months. I’m looking forward to a wonderful 2004.

This Autumn, I spent a week in Phoenix, Arizona with my former bandmate Patrick Andrew, working on his new solo project. It was a long week of having a great time making music. We spent a decent amount of time getting some different drums sounds, and got all of basic tracks completed in a short amount of time. I think all of the long hours will pay off--I'm really looking forward to hearing the final product. It was a great time of creativity, and it was good to laugh and hang out together again.

Welcome to pauleckberg.com! Here you can get a glimpse into the professional area of my life via resumes and photos, and you'll be linked to other artists who I've worked with and resources that I've found useful. Thanks for visiting.