Freedom of Reach
Ted McCloskey and Veronica Auger
“Freedom of Reach” is the second single from Ted McCloskey and Veronica Auger. The song was originally written about government cuts to public media in 2025. The cuts contributed to large rural news deserts across the country. Currently, over 50 million citizens have no access to local news. The problem became a “freedom of reach” issue.
When I brought the song to Veronica, I edited the lyrics to reflect a more open ended and universal issue of losing access to something precious that was taken for granted.
For many years, listeners have come up to tell us how much Veronica’s voice reminded them of the great Natalie Merchant. We took the opportunity here to embrace the comparison by surrounding her voice with the jangly guitars and open chords so closely associated with her early work.
Static Doll
Ted McCloskey and Veronica Auger
“Static Doll” is now officially available wherever you stream music.
We are both really proud of this single. I think we really captured the freezing and fawning feelings of being put in a seemingly cornered position.
The response to this song has been overwhelming, so thank you.
Give it listen. Dance around your room to it. Sing it in your car. Put it on a playlist. And give a us a follow if you like what you hear.
August 8, 2025
Four More On The Floor
I wrote this record backwards. I challenged myself to work in the complete opposite order from how I normally put songs together. Usually, I compose the music and then painstakingly find lyrics that fit into the melody. This time I started with words. I wrote quite a bit of them. And after many, many edits I finally created the music beds for them to lie on. It was freeing. It’s good to push yourself out of your comfort zone and I am more than pleased with the results.
I also wanted to tip my hat to my formative music years. Bands like Depeche Mode, the Cure and New Order were just as much a part of my life as the Stones, Sly Stone, and Dylan were at that time. Even though playing guitar is my full-time job eight days a week (and I do play quite a bit of it on this release), it was quite refreshing to play in sounds I never thought were accessible when I was a teenager. This whole process was like being a kid again.
July 14, 2023
Behind the White Noise
“Behind the White Noise” is a very special record for me because it deals with mental health, something I’ve struggled with for most of my life.
The ten song collection features characters that are a composite of myself and people I have known. Each one is dealing with some sort of emotional trauma, overwhelming anxiety, body dysmorphia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, disassociation, or crippling depression.
Despite the subject matter, this record is not a compilation of slow tempo dirges. There are some rockers, some cool beats, some fun twists, and some nods to my influences.
Writing these songs and highlighting the struggles and bravery of these characters was very therapeutic for me. The album ends on neither a note of hopelessness or hope, but rather one of camaraderie. “Everyone is a soldier here.”
This record is dedicated to everyone bravely fighting their own war.
March 9, 2022
Welcome to the new site!
New live dates have been added along with a ton of new features and material. It's great to be back playing in front of live audiences again. Feel free to CONTACT US HERE for any information about bookings, music, film scoring, writing, production, private lessons, the weather, or anything else you may want to chat about.
I want to thank everyone for your support over the years and look forward to seeing you all in person sometime soon!
February 4, 2022
People have been asking me if and when I would have physical copies of “The Lost Season Sessions” records available and my answer has always been when I’m out playing again. Now that I am, I had to ask myself whether I had the financial means to release a 4 record set. The answer to that is clearly I don’t. However, the best idea I could come up with was to release a carefully curated 24 song collection from the whole series. Deciding on what songs would make this compilation was an insanely difficult process (like picking between your children) but all of these songs seemed to really flow together. I tried to get elements of all 4 records in the artwork and then package it as environmentally friendly as possible (kudus to the fine folks at @atomic.disc)
I hate to be self-reflecting (anyone that knows me knows that to be true) but I am insanely proud of this set of songs and the whole series. I somehow worked harder when I wasn’t working.
The record is now available at all shows or you can contact me here and I can hook you up.
July 9, 2021
“The Lost Season Sessions Vol.4: Let It Burn” is out now.
The whole concept of the “Lost Season Sessions” series was to release a new record for every season we were not playing out live. I might not have even started it if I knew I would be writing, recording, and releasing 4 records in a year. It’s a really insane idea when I look back at it, but it actually kept me sane through the last year.
This new volume, “Let It Burn”, deals with coming out of cold isolation and finally getting outside. However, the rush to go back out to everything we’ve been estranged from comes with a new set of problems. There’s trouble in the flora, fauna and lost souls that haunt the last, longest mile.
As with the entire Lost Season Sessions, I am incredibly proud to have made a cohesive, well-produced statement in such a short period of time.
You can listen HERE
February 5, 2021
“Waiting for the Cavalry” is the third and latest installment of the Lost Season Sessions. It's about eagerly awaiting an ending and the doubt and lack of patience that goes along with it. This six song set (an EP thanks to emergency surgery) is a little departure in sound from the last record. Lush, dreamlike backdrops blanket a harsh reality. Although the words seem firmly entrenched in the present, the themes (as with the other Lost Season Sessions records) are universal.
I am incredibly proud to have produced such a pretty record in such a short period of time. I'm just waiting for the cavalry.
You can listen to it HERE
December 4, 2020
I am extremly proud to present "Whispers and Waltzes"
I rarely listen to my own music after it’s released but given my extraordinary amount of unemployed free time, I went through my back catalogue and made notes of some songs that really seemed to compliment each other. After putting together a playlist that really flowed well, I went back and remixed and remastered every song to seamlessly fit into one cohesive product. I just love the result. A lot of people know me as a loud, rockin’ idiot but this set of songs shows a whole other side.
This compilation (songs dating from 2001-2018) is a great way to get into my back catalogue in one curated album. Even if you own the originals, these are updated versions and the setting and sequence completely changes the experience.They really sound like they should be on an album together.
The album is exclusviely avaiable on Bandcamp. Here's the LINK
October 2, 2020
“The Lost Season Sessions Vol. 2: Madness and Monotony” was written and recorded between mid-June and early September— the summer of discontent. Although the shock has dissipated, I continue to struggle with not being able to play live shows regularly (I’m used to playing roughly 275 gigs a year). These last 6 months have been a mental and financial strain on me as I am sure they have been for a lot of you. To distract myself and keep a lifeline to sanity, I am writing and recording for most of my waking hours.
Volume 2 deals with the madness and monotony of life amidst a global pandemic and a political dumpster fire. As the record states: “time moves slow then all at once.”
Once again, I am incredibly proud to have created a cohesive, well-produced statement in an even shorter time frame than Volume 1. In addition to the ten new tracks, I’ve included last year’s single “(No Parking) This Side of Temporary” on this record as it’s somber outlook on financial displacement takes on an even bigger meaning now. This is a guitar record and is meant to be played LOUD
Check it out HERE