A few months ago, we decided to record a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s song The Sound of Silence. We had some friends over to sing and play. Paul Zimmerman-Clayton laid down some trumpet parts. Bruno Jones of the Vespers (who are also releasing a new full length album on April 3rd!) tracked upright bass. Jake Ousley, Anson Bouillon, Jill Altum, Julie Martin, and Katie Gordon became the choir.
Jenny sat first chair for clarinet her freshman year of high school in Delaware and ended up becoming drum major of her Mississippi marching band Senior year. When I met Jenny in college about 7 years ago, she had almost given up the clarinet completely. Knowing of her hidden talents and really wanting to hear how good she was, I started asking her to pick it up from time to time. She probably did so about once or twice a year. Long story short, this is the first track we’ve released that has Jenny playing clarinet on it! I think you’ll be impressed. I’m a proud husband.
Jenny and I, with the engineering help of Paul Zimmerman-Clayton, tracked the rest of the recording: vocals; guitar; mandolin; snare; suitcase kick. The reverb for the snare in our bathroom seemed right, so we put a snare on the toilet and recorded it that way. Here’s a picture of that.
After a few weeks of putting all the tracks together, we sent it to Shane D. Wilson for mixing and Matt Odmark for mastering.
Jenny and I were thinking and praying about what to do with this song, so we decided that all the proceeds would go to organizations that fight human trafficking. One organization came to mind in particular. Because of the law, we’re unable to publicly announce that specific organization without filing a paper in every state – or so we’re told. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t tell you if you ask; just shoot us an email at jennyandtyler@gmail.com if you have any questions about the organization(s), how the money works, etc.
We just released The Sound of Silence on iTunes a few weeks ago and already we’ve seen some good response. We’d really appreciate any help you can give in spreading the word about it, whether it be an email, tweet, facebook post, blog, or something else. Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/xLV8X4 Thanks in advance for that.
Tyler (& Jenny)
Reblogged this on The Contrary Woman and commented:
This is incredible and their music is pretty awesome too. Check out their new album coming out in three weeks.
So did the snare sound better with the lid up?
Lovely cover. It takes guts to do a song as iconic as “The Sound of Silence”, but there’s enough love for the original and a distinct sound to this take to make it a good one. And for a good cause, too.
Damn, when that choir kicks in, it makes my heart beat faster.
Just gorgeous music.
I wrote a review of your “The Sounds of Silence” cover. If you like it, please feel free to repost it at your leisure (as long as it links back to the original article).
http://michaelperera.suite101.com/jenny–tyler-the-sound-of-silence-single-review-a405105
thanks michael!
Hello Jenny and Tyler! I am passing on the “Liebster Blog award” to you! You two are so talented and I am quite excited for the release of your new album! God has blessed you with incredible talent, and it’s wonderful that you’ve chosen to use it for His glory! Apparently you are supposed to pass it on to five bloggers that you enjoy, so you can find the rules and the award on my newest post so you can pass it along as well! Thanks 🙂