Mornin' Guys and Gals:

I appreciate all your responses. I plan to take Mason's advice and wait until the "Jam" in Shreveport coming up in January. Unfortunately, it seems that most of the real good "Keyboard Stores" are located on either the East or the West Coasts. George Kaye is a legend here and I scoop up every word he says as though it is the absolute gospel... LOL! He really is a marvelous resource.

Someone asked about my budget for a new (or used) board. Simple answer... as cheap as I can find one that meets my needs. Most of you may (or may not) know how difficult it is for a songwriter to crack the doors open in Nashville, LA or NYC. There are so many artists out there writing their own songs to cut out the middleman (me) and keep the income stream for themselves. Besides, I am located out in the "hinterlands" and in reality, just a nobody.

I could buy just about any arranger available but, as a businessman, it would be difficult to justify one of the high-end units financially because of the anticipated return at this stage of my songwriting career.

Diki... you are right on about "overproduced" demos. I try to achieve a balance depending upon my target artist or market. (They are gonna do the song the way they want it anyway!) Some artists have no musical imagination and others can hear a song played on a kazoo and recognize a potential hit.

Thanks to all of you who took the time to listen to my songs. Maybe someday you'll hear old George Strait belting one out over the airwaves... LOL!