Sonja Holmgren, Moorhead, Minn.
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This was a first effort with my son doing the recording; he's the computer expert in the house. Sonja's doing the singing and guitar playing. This was harder than expected!

Jeff Horwich, St. Paul
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This is recorded live and solo, in a single take, using a loop pedal to keep the whole mess going. Here's what's in there: Djembe, ocarina, jawharp, bass, tambourine, melodica, soprano saxophone, and an electric ukulele. Just taped the lyrics to the wall in the basement and started jamming.

There are so many lyrics, and the meter is so inconsistent, that it seemed to call for something that allowed for a lot of syncopation and flexibility. So (fresh from watching a documentary on the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars) I decided to mess around with an African kind of thing.

Sung Hwang, Shakopee, Minn.
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I wrote the music to this wonderful lyrics. I thank Stephen for the opportunity. I arranged and performed all instruments using some real and some nonreal (computer) instruments.

I like the casual, yet seemingly meaningful messages of the lyrics.

Sal Inski, Minneapolis, Minn.
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For this song project I thought Stephen Burt's poem "Afternoon Song" had great possibilities. I sat down with my guitar to see what might come together. After a bit of noodling I came back to a chord progression that I had come up with years ago and filed away in my brain. I could see right away it would work well for this song. I then worked the lyrics a bit to fit the rhythm and song structure of my old song. I most like the way the groove jumps out in the chorus.

I recorded this song over 4 days. I took a bit of time with the guitar lead at the end. I wanted it to flow naturally and kind of tumble around. Thanks to Mike Bethkey for coming over and laying down the banjo track.

Eric Kloss, Minneapolis
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I chose to present the lyrics completely as written, from beginning to end. It wouldn't be right to change anything without collaborating directly with the writer. So, as there are hitches that make the sections of the song differ, I wrote many slightly different musical parts to accompany these variations.

I decided to forgo any drum pattern and just present the song as an acoustic/folk/pop piece. The lyric seems very personal so the solo approach seemed best to me. Although it is augmented by a quiet solo guitar, and some background voices for a little depth to the sound.

Aaron Lacey, Alexandria, Va.
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The recording is an a cappella piece. I am performing all the parts, courtesy of a multi-track recorder. I read the poem several times through, then tried to think of a melody that captured what I felt to be the central emotion of the poem (being sort of laid back, happy feeling - like you get when you're driving down the road on a perfect day with the windows down).

At any rate, I laid down a bass line I thought was rythmically consistent with that feeling, then built the rest of the music on top of it. Because the song started as a poem, I wanted to really highlight the poetic elements, so I tried not to mess too much with the form, and did not mess at all with the words. It was lots of fun to do. This is a great idea.