Well I finally got up the nerve to put myself in front of my webcam, press record and then share it with you (took me awhile). It isn’t much BUT it is a start – babysteps as they say. Check it out!

OK, I’ve been screwing around way too long trying to get my CD finished. Now that it is, it is time to get out and play some music and have some fun with you guys.

Here are the next four chance for me to have a drink with you:

• 04/03/10 Winona at Wellington’s Pub And Grill (Doc and I for the Matt Wicka Memorial Post Party)
• 04/14/10 LaCrosse, WI at Flipsides Pub And Grill (Dan Bergers Songwriters Corner)
• 04/15/10 Rochester, MN at Rochester Civic Theatre (Lobby – Americana Showcase)
• 04/17/10 Minnesota City, MN at L-Cove (Doc and I for the Flood Run)

I really can’t wait to get back onstage. Alright, so mark your calenders and we’ll see you at the show.

P.S. if you are reading this via email or RSS feed. Stop by and check out my new website design and let me know what you think.

I am very excited to announce the release of my very first cd album “Never Too Late.” And I am equally excited to hear what you think.

Go hear all the songs and get your copy by clicking on the image to the right or by visiting my Music Page. The album is available as a download (in pretty much any format you can think of) as well as a physical CD or download.

Click Here To Check It Out!

Have you heard of Winona360.com? It not, here is what it is in their own words;

“Winona360 is a community news and information site for the Upper Mississippi River Valley region, produced by the Winona State Mass Communication Department as a laboratory for students and faculty to learn and teach emerging media that serves our community and the world.”

So, why am I telling you this?

Well, I’m not sure what they were thinking but they were kind enough to let me write an article for the site and I figured that maybe you would like to read it.

The title of the article is “Live Performances Relate To Everyday Life.” Basically I give an example of how what I’ve learned about putting on a good live show could be used by you and I to help make our relationships better.

Go read it now here and see what you think -

http://bit.ly/are4eJ

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of being on the Cubanarama Show over on BlogTalkRadio.

The host of the show, Marta Sosa, was extremely fun to talk to and I really think you will enjoy listening to her. She has a great spirit and can easily brighten up the room and put a smile on your face.

Aside from me spilling my guts on everything from past relationships to where the songs come from and growing up in Minnesota, you’ll learn why everyone outside of the midwest just doesn’t understand the concept of “hot dish” (go figure!).

Go listen to Corey Koehler on Cubanarama now.

For the past few days everyone has been slamming Taylor Swift for her lack of singing skills. In case you were out of the loop, here’s a great compilation; Bob Lefsetz – More Taylor Swift

Yeah, I found myself shaking my head in agreement with most of it. Hell, I participated in a little chatter the last few days as well as over the course of the past past year (i.e. the “Pour Some Sugar On Me” she did with Def Leppard on an award show last year was arguably worse than this one).

But something happened tonight that makes me feel that maybe I – along with a few others – are getting a little out of hand with the slamming. Especailly with something so trivial.

The Big Melt

My 6 year old son asked me “who won the Grammy’s daddy” (since he had to go to bed before it was over).  I explained to him there are many different awards but most people would consider the album of the year the biggest of them and that Taylor Swift won that. Then he asked to see the video and I played it for him.

My 3 year old daughter joined in on the viewing and immediately started to smile and sing along. Then during the “You Belong To Me” portion of the medley she said something that changed my whole perspective on the ordeal. With the biggest, starry-eyed smile she said, “daddy, this is my favorite song.”

Whoa!

She didn’t care about the singing she just knew that this is a song that makes her feel good and that she can sing along with. Who in their right mind is gonna argue with that?

Another Man’s Trash

This reminded me of how bad Axl Rose sucked when I saw him in Alpine Valley on the Use Your Illusion tour. His voice was completely shot after about 3 songs and I didn’t get the version of “Mr. Brownstone” that I came to hear. I was kind of annoyed but one of my buddies – who happens to worship the guy – didn’t hear it.

So, no matter how much you, I or anyone thinks a song or performance sucks, there will always be someone else who loved it. Why should I be pissing on their parade?

Hell, I can think of a bunch of shows that I went to where multi-platinum artists didn’t perform the best. But, it doesn’t mean I don’t like their music any less. It just means I might not spend the cash to go see them live next time.

Bottom Line

Taylor is not my thing and she didn’t perform the greatest on one of the biggest stages. But when I think about it, why should you or I care. As long as her fans are happy – and I’m sure they are – it doesn’t matter what any of the rest of us think.

I’m gonna shut up now and start thinking about things that really matter like how to nurture and encourage that feeling my daughter gets when she listens to Taylor Swift. Then maybe someday she’ll get the chance to make other people smile with music of her own.

What do you think?

This Sunday afternoon Doc and I will have the honor of donating our time and abilities to a good cause by performing on the KTTC Eagles Cancer Telethon. I can’t wait.

To be honest, I didn’t put much thought into the whole thing other than the fact that it is a great opportunity to put myself out there while at the same time, giving back.

But as the telethon gets closer, the weight of the event is really starting to sink in. I keep thinking about how cancer not only effected my life but the lives of my family and friends as well.

Both my grandma and grandpa Koehler both passed as a result of the disease. I was much younger with my grandpa but I remember the trips to the old VA hospital. I remember watching him – a strong proud man – whither away over the course of a year while at the same time watching my grandma slowly lose the love of her life, and my dad, aunts and uncles deal with the loss of their father.

Years later my grandma had a very aggresive style of cancer – pancreatic I think. She selflessly refused the chemo because she didn’t want to put the family through the same year long meatgrinder that everyone endured with my grandpa.

My wife has had four very close relatives who have been effected deeply by cancer. I am glad to say three of the four have either beaten it or are in the process of beating it.

One of my longest and closest friends just lost his father – another strong and proud man – to it last summer. I have co-workers that have been battled the disease. And unfortunately, if I really thought about it, I could go on.

Bottom line, this disease has effected a lot of lives and taken some damn good people. It will continue to do so until somebody much smarter than I can figure something out. All I can do, other than make a donation myself, is show up, play a tune and hope that someone like yourself watches long enough to consider picking up the phone and making a donation too.

So if you are around the TV or internet at all this weekend, flip on channel 10 or KTTC.com and check out some of the acts and seriously consider making a donation.

Chances are you will be helping out a close friend or relative.

Join Doc and I at around 1:16 pm on Sunday afternoon to here us performing a song called “Minnesota Got Colder” (you can hear the demo below).

The song is a result of all of the seemingly endless amount of funerals I was attending over the course of last year. I walked through a lot of lines and all I could say to these friends and relatives was “sorry for your loss.” I felt I need to offer something more, something that could possibly provide some piece of mind. So I wrote the song. I hope that it is good enough to provide comfort to anyone else dealing with loss.

Press play to listen now.

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For more information about the telethon please visit KTTC.com.

Well I’ve tossed it around for months and I have finally decided that I am going to name my first CD. For a long time I thought about just having it self-titled because everything I was coming up with was either cheesy or risky. But in a flash of inspiration the other day, I decided on “Never Too Late” (for the record, that is “not” the cover up above).

Not only does it have a certain ring to it but it explains circumstance behind the recording of the CD ( that is, my musical pursuits at age 37). Also, and more importantly, I feel that it is a great message to rally behind and one that I passionately support, want to encourage and shout from the rooftops.

What do you think about the title? Let me know in the comments below.

The CD

Oh! And about the CD itself, I have all my parts laid down and most of the lead stuff – that Doc and Tom Moncrieff are helping with.

Now it is just a matter of going through everything and doing some what I call “redlining” to make sure everything is the way we want it. Stuff like fixing errors, determining order of the songs, tweaking audio levels, some other techy stuff I don’t understand and adding some purcusssion in certain areas to dress it all up a bit.

That said, I hoping to have something in your hands by early to mid February.

Thank You

I have had the good fortune of having some very good crowds at my last few shows. I want to thank all of you for coming, showing your support and singing along. It is fun partying with all of you and it is way cool hearing the whole bar sing stuff back at us.

I also want to thank EB’s, Ed’s no Name, Twin Bluffs, and the Hei n Low for putting us on over the past month. And Puff out at the L-Cove for letting me Hi-jack the PA to play a few impromptu tunes a few weeks back for Levi’s Birthday party.

Overall, it has been unbelievable meeting so many new people, all from different walks of life. That is one aspect that I didn’t expect – and really enjoy – when I started this whole trip. Good stuff.

Be on the look out for some more shows coming. I’ve been chit chatting with a bunch of local venues and may have an opportunity down the road in LaCrosse for some of you in that area.

Have a good one!

Today I rolled into work and there was a quote in our daily in/out email. It really got me thinking and I wanted to see if it would do the same for you. Here it is.

“The more you seek security, the less of it you have. But the more you seek opportunity, the more likely it is that you will achieve the security that you desire.” – Brian Tracy (Personal And Professional Development Author and Speaker)

It really made me think about how I’ve been playing it pretty safe for most of my life with “security” as an excuse. The few exception being joining the National Guard and quitting a foundry job to go back to school while working another job for a lot less pay – both of which, by the way, turned out to be some of the most fulfilling, cherished and “alive” feeling periods in my life.

Stagefright

My most recent flirtation, with things not associated with security, would have to be the exploration of my musical side. For years I dodged it because I was scared. Scared of what people would think. Scared of getting up in front of people. Scared of letting people know what is going on in my head via the songs I write. Scared if my thinning hair line was gleaming in the limelight and on and on. I was just scared.

Other than this inner knowing that I needed to do something greater than just waste away in a cubicle during the day and in front of the TV at night, I also thought about my kids.  I looked at them and thought about the future. I feel that being scared is no way for a father to act. I mean how am I supposed to tell them to follow their heart and block out all of the noise if I can’t do it myself? That is not the example I want to set for them (and for the record I am deathly afraid of being a hypocrite and – to keep my honest – you are welcome to call me on it any time).

Out Of Thin Air

Now since I’ve been implementing this type of thinking, I notice a  funny thing happening. When I started looking at music as being an opportunity, things started to fall in place and continue to do so. For instance, places that I’d like to play at became available, old friends come back into my life and offer their support, I meet other artists and industry people who answer questions and provide guidance, I find all the resources necessary to help me record my CD, and I could go on and on!

The other thing I noticed was that the work I do (write and perform music) is about as fulfilling as anything I’ve ever experienced. It is so freakin cool to have people come up to me and tell me about how a tune of mine made them feel better about something, made them think a little more about a subject or just helped make their day better.

It is double freakin awesome to see the community that is slowly starting to arise around the music. When I play live it is  surreal to be able to look out into the crowd and see old fiends, new friends and family all gathered in the same place, interacting with each other and having a good time. What more could I person want?

The Rewards

Bottom line, if I had stuck with the security of playing my guitar and singing my songs behind closed doors, I would not know any of this.  I may not have met a good guy like Ray “Yeah Baby” Roberts. I never would have known what old friends Stacy and Marcy were up to these days. I might not know how dedicated my brother Troy,  sister Heather and the rest of my family are to going above and beyond helping me out. I might never know what a great excuse playing live is to go out and party with my friends all without my wife getting mad (had to throw that in). And again, I could go on.

What a boring waste of life it would have been to have not known any of these things.

So ask yourself this “Am I playing safe in some part of my life?” And then ask yourself, “what could I be missing out on because of it?”