Hello friends, 

This past November 2017, Bob Dorough—of Schoolhouse Rock! and Miles Davis fame—and I wrote a song together and recorded it live with a band in his home over the course of an afternoon. The song is called "To Too Two (From Me To You)."

We had pieced together a small band for the session: Bob on piano and vocals, Dan Barman on drums, and me on guitar and vocals. As luck would have it, Bob's daughter and grandson just happened to be in town that day, so Aralee sang and Corin played bass. (I knew Corin would be great because he was wearing a Primus shirt.) There we had a full five-piece band tracking live with the help of engineer, Greg Tobler, and assistant engineer, Rosemary Minkler. 

Bob and I also recorded a duo version of a Future Hits song (“There/Their/They're Song")—the inspiration that led us to write and record a new song together in the first place. 

Here's a recap of how it all happened: 

In April 2016, a kind man and I had a brief conversation at KindieComm, the annual "Kids Musician Conference," at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. While perusing the breakfast buffet, we bonded over our mutual feelings about the food. A short while later, when he was introduced as the keynote speaker, I realized that I had been talking shop with Bob Dorough, arguably the most well-known songwriter of educational music for kids. 

We established a friendship at the conference and kept in touch over the next year via email, the occasional phone call and postcard. 

In March 2017, I was in New York for a slew of shows. I called Bob and asked if I could drive out to the Delaware Water Gap (where he lives) and visit him for lunch. We met and had a wonderful lunch and conversation. There I asked if I could play some of my songs for him. (I had brought my guitar with me with an intention to ask and was quite scared to do so.) Bob obliged, and we caravanned back to his place. 

I brought my iPad, projected my lyrics (to give him a feel of the Future Hits stage show), and sang him a few songs. I explained how I started Future Hits to teach English to non-native English-speaking students back in Chicago. The last song I played for him was "There/Their/They're Song." When I finished, he said he'd always wanted to write a song called "To Too Two," and that I could have the title and idea. I told him I'd write the song and call it "To Too Two (From Me To You)," since he had given the idea to me.

Fast forward to October 2017...

I received an invite (with less than a month's notice) to play a show in New York in early November. I accepted and then scrambled to schedule some other shows, to no avail. While contemplating what I should do, the thought came on a Sunday afternoon autumn drive from Chicago to (comparatively) hilly Wisconsin: What if I asked Bob to write and record a song with me? I was nervous, but I called him up, explained the idea, and told him the date that would work for me (November 2). He checked his calendar, and then said yes. I was thrilled! Next, I called Dan to secure his availability. Then, he put me in touch with Greg Tobler, mobile studio engineer extraordinaire. (Greg drove from Connecticut and set up a studio in Bob's house for the session.) It was quite a logistical ordeal, and it all worked out. 

Speaking of logistical ordeals, my car broke down shortly after the Bob call, and my fall drive plan was foiled. I digress... Now onto the New York trip: 

I thought it'd be simple to write the song with Bob, and that we could get it done while Greg set up the studio. I was planning to improvise, but the night before I jotted down some notes about the song, something like: "I want to go to the park / You can come too / We can bring two juice boxes." It wasn't much, but I had something. 

Dan picked me up on the morning of November 2 from my Harlem hotel, and we cruised west of the river, enjoying the quintessential fall day that lay before us. The drive was a nice treat considering I'd missed out on the fall drive I had planned a few weeks earlier, and everything felt like it came full circle in that moment, all the calls/emails/texts, etc. to make this day coalesce was actualized. 

When I got to Bob's, we hunkered down to write the song. He had some notes as well, and they looked nearly identical to mine! It was quite surreal how similar our lyric sketches were. I then played him chords and sang the hook/refrain that was in my head. He suggested a chord to begin the verse. Once we had some chordal structures, we focused on the lyrics, and decided to go to four places: the park, the beach, the library, and to town. 

Once Greg was set up, we began to hash out the song with the band. It took a few takes, but we nailed it live. As always, I wanted to go beyond what was initially discussed (one song) and try and squeeze in a mini-EP. We had discussed it in advance, but with the time constraints, it probably wasn't going to work. Because we had everything set up, though, and about a half hour before we were scheduled to wrap, we decided to give "There/Their/They're Song" a chance. Within our limited timeframe, we thought that we could get it if it was just Bob and me, so that's what we did. This felt even more full circle than the beautiful fall drive. The song and two people that propelled the whole day was how we ended it—a beautiful and memorable moment that's here for you to listen. 

I hope you enjoy the tunes. 

~Matt  

-------
From Bob:

"I usually go into the studio with a fully developed song and an arrangement that has been carefully written, so you can imagine my amazement when my friend, Matt Baron, proposed a visit to my home in order to collaborate on a song that we had earlier discussed. He wanted me to help him finish composing a song and then record it on the spot! Anyway, Matt had visited me before and so I agreed. On the designated day (Nov 2nd., 2017), he knocked on my door and introduced me to three other people I'd never met. It just happened that my daughter, Aralee, and her son, my grandson, Corin, were visiting me from Houston. We got everyone in on the act.

Before I knew it my dining room table had become a recording studio, with wires traveling into the studio where my Steinway stays. Two of the people Matt had brought took care of the recording equipment. The 3rd man was Matt's buddy, Dan, a drummer. Matt of course tuned up his guitar and, with me at the piano, we began working on the song while the engineers were getting set up.

Corin, aged 17, is a rock bass player and so he joined us. Wow! We had a quartet. As the song developed, Matt & I did the singing and Dan & Corin played the rhythm that they developed as we worked on the melody & words. It turned out there was a need for another voice and so Aralee, a professional flutist, took another microphone and supplied the commentaries.

Suddenly it took shape and we found ourselves enjoying it. After a few takes we had it and the four visitors went on their way, promising us a disc of the end result, after the editing and mixing, to be done on their own turf.

We hope you like it too. It's called, "To, Too, Two From Me to You."

Bob Dorough
-------