After friends asked him for a recording of his music, Jud Caswell '94 decided to make a record of all the songs he has been playing around campus for three years.
Caswell, a veteran of Hovey's and a regular at the Lone Pine Tavern, is in the final stages of putting together his first album that he will sell and send off to various music labels.
The album, currently slated for release at the end of the summer, is currently a mix of 12 songs the music major wrote while he was at Dartmouth.
"I didn't have anything of good quality around," he said in an interview while fiddling with his acoustic guitar on his lap. "I wanted to have something of good quality just for the people who have come to the shows I have done in the past."
On the solo record, Caswell sings and plays his bass, guitar and saxophone. He said he played the sax in a band at Dartmouth, but played solo for the majority of his time at the College.
He said he is taking it one step at a time and is not having dreams of becoming the next James Taylor -- at least for now. He said he is in the process of designing the cover to the album.
Caswell said he is currently cutting the hour of songs down to 45 minutes to give it a "tighter and normal feel."
He said many of the songs are new ones which he wrote, but there are some old songs from his sophomore year and his junior fall.
"I did the album to bring a sense of closure to a product," he said. "I was a music major and many of the professors encouraged me to do it. I guess it was kind of natural to do it."
Caswell said overall he is having a great time making the album despite the enormous amount of work.
"It's a lot of work," he said. "Recording the album itself isn't exactly fun by any stretch of the imagination."
He said there were only a couple of songs that came out well after one or two recordings.
Caswell, who lives in Norwich, Vt. said he will send the tape to different recording studios when it is complete. He added he will go on tour on the New England circuit beginning in September playing his guitar at different places and "crashing on couches."
He said he will sell the album on campus and hopefully at the Dartmouth Bookstore, Topside and Wheelock Books.
