Geryah Dingle and Top 20 Australian Country Music Charting Producer Steve Kinney Reunite for Emotional New Release "Simple Things"

Photo by Geryah Dingle

When I was just 16, I wrote this song as a reflection of my acute nostalgia for the daily moments I shared with my parents and family. I wanted to capture the beauty of everyday life and the importance of cherishing the simple moments we often take for granted.

When it came time to record the song, I knew I wanted to work with Steve Kinney, a top 20 Australian Country Music Charting producer who I knew would deliver the sound I was looking for. This was the second time we worked together, following the success of our previous collaboration on the song, “Starting Over.” Together, we recorded “Simple Things” remotely with the help of an all-star team of musicians.

As you listen to the song, you’ll hear a unique blend of pop-country and urban cowboy genres. The lyrics also touch on themes of family and motherhood, which highlights my personal connection to the song and the message it conveys. Additionally, the song boasts Americana sorta white-picket fence elements referencing the simple things in life, such as taking notice of the weather, kids laughing, coffee brewing, and stuff like that.

We wanted to capture the feeling of nostalgia and reflect that in the instrumentation and production. Steve and I started working on the production in November 2022 and finished in about 2 months. We worked fluidly, starting with just my iPhone demo recording, a couple reference tracks, and a brief LANDR Sessions call to communicate my vision and inspiration behind the song and discuss tempo and thoughts on instrumentation. In my mind, I was looking for the acoustic sound of Thank God by Kane Brown, blended with the light and bright engineering of Best Friend by Derek Kate, sprinkled with the drums of Morgan Wallen’s Chasin’ You.

We put the guide track down first and worked pretty heavily on the arrangement for the song and giving it a clear bridge to take the listener on the journey I had in mind. We landed on a BPM of 94 with a plan to double or even triple the harmonies throughout the song. I was super excited to team up with Brian Thompson at Thunder Studios who engineered my vocals.

For tracking, we A/B’d the API 500 series preamps with the Telefunken TF51 with the Neumann U87 going thru a Neve 1073 preamp. We landed on the U87-Neve combo and and my final vocal chain ended up being an XQP 2531 De-Esser into a Purple FET 1176 & finally into a Summit Audio TLA-50 - with a tad bit of EQ’ing via fab filter.. .the delays were via UAD Precision Delays and a room reverb that is barely noticeable but more “felt” than anything.

As far as players, back in Nashville at Gnome Recording Studios, we were able to incorporate both live and programmed drums, Percussion, Keys & Synth, bass, Electric Guitars, Acoustic, Steel & Banjo, along with the background vocal harmonies by Steve and I. Once I was complete with my parts, I sent the vocal takes to Steve, and he, once again worked his magic with all the Editing, Comp’ing, Tuning, Mixing, & Mastering.

It’s a song that speaks to the beauty of everyday life and the importance of cherishing the simple moments. I hope “Simple Things” speaks to you in the same way it spoke to me when I wrote it. It’s a song that reminds us to take a step back and appreciate the simple things in life. “For where your heart is, there your treasure will be also. “That’s Matthew 6: 21.

Listen to "Simple Things" on 24 February 2023 on all platforms.