Our new album is being mixed at this very moment! Now, even though this is a very exciting time for us, it may be less exciting for you, as you don’t get to hear any of it yet. So in the meantime, I’ve been alone in my house, recording weird acoustic versions of very popular songs by very popular artists and posting them here every Sunday:

http://soundcloud.com/lennings/

I also post them on facebook, so if you have yet to click “like” on our facebook page, go ahead and do that right now. I’ll wait here.

This is from a secret show we played in a boat house out on the middle of a lake.  You could actually see the water through the floor boards.  Feet stomping on said floor boards caused some camera shakiness.  By the way, Karl (drummer) couldn’t make it to the show, so Ross (bassist) played cajon, and Virginia (bassist) played upright bass.

In case you’ve heard this song recently and are seeking info…

This is “You’re the One That I Want” from the movie/musical Grease, covered by Austin, TX indie folk band The Lennings.  Technically, it’s just by the singer of The Lennings, but when they play this song live, the whole band is involved.  “You’re The One That I Want” was featured on the show Parenthood on NBC in the episode entitled “Sore Loser”.

The Lennings’ Grease cover originally started out as a simple rainy day recording and youtube video of a pot of water slowly coming to a boil.  It was more or less an experiment to see if a song could actually make people put up with having to stare at a pot of boiling water…not to mention, proving that a watched pot does in fact boil.

Readers of Tolly Moseley’s blog “Austin Eavesdropper” seemed to like it and began sharing it far and wide.  It strangely started to be embraced not only by people who love the original song from Grease, but also by people who hate the original song from Grease.  Someone even said, “The Lennings’ cover of ‘You’re The One That I Want’ sounds like it should be the original version, and the original version sounds like how they would have covered it on the show Glee.”

Which brings us to the National Broadcasting Corporation. NBC eventually chose The Lennings’ sweet and heartfelt cover for a sweet and heartfelt scene in which two Parenthood characters have their first kiss.  The Lennings have a new album coming out this winter, and even though “You’re The One That I Want” is somewhat different from the majority of their other material, we here in LenningsLand are confident that NBC’s audience and the typical Lennings audience will somehow find a way to coexist.  Maybe they’ll have their first kiss too.

Our version of “You’re The One That I Want” will be on the NBC show Parenthood on November 15th.
Here are links to both:

We are pleased as punch to welcome Brandon Brown and many other horn players to sit in with us for this most special night. Collin Gilmore opens the show at 10:30, Moonlight Towers close it out at 12:30, and we’re smack in the middle. See you there!

Remember dressing like a mental patient and lumbering through that abandoned mental hospital for our “Section C” video? Well we’re doing another one. Different concept, same level of awesome. Pre-production is underway, and we’re looking at shooting sometime in October. If you and/or anyone you know would like to be in the video, email me at lenningsland@gmail.com.

Talk to you soon!
Jason

Here’s the scoop– present and future:

*  Karl’s baby has entered the world!  The beautiful Talulah Louise Lundin is on the scene!

* While Karl’s hands are full, the rhythm section will consist of Ross on drums and Virginia on bass, hearkening a Lennings of yesteryear.

*  We will be recording a lot this year–  some hi-fi, some lo-fi.  I would be doing so right now if I could breathe…alas, cedar fever has rendered me useless.  For two weeks now.  Help.

*  The hi-fi recordings will be done song by song, here and there, rather than recording one big collection.  The first of which (B-12) will be done later this month in order to shoot a video for it next month with our new friends at Shoot Good Media.

*  The North Texas Mini-tour 2011 should be happening in February!  If you or anyone you know lives in Denton, Grapevine, or Ft. Worth let us know so we can give you a heads-up.

Okay, that’s it for now.  Talk soon.