You might remember when we wrote about David Haydn-Jones (arguably best-known for his role as Arthur Ketch on Supernatural) releasing his first single a few weeks ago.
David quietly dropped the single by adding the download link to his Twitter bio back on May 7, 2018. Since then, fans have been buying it and loving it, and David recently took to his social media pages to divulge a little bit more about the track.
On this post on Facebook, David explains in his own words how the entire idea of the song came about.
“It all started innocently enough. I was fortunate enough to be invited as a last minute replacement to a Supernatural Convention in Rome called Jus In Bello. It was a wonderful and wild surprise and I leaned in with giddy force.
“At one of my panels I was riffing on a nickname I had with my family and friends: “Captain Jingles”. Bestowed upon me for my annoying knack of singing little ditties that would linger and bore into the brains of said “victims”. To button up my story I ad-libbed a little tune. I sang a hook that accompanied my sometime-breakfast ritual, ‘Makin’ bacon, makin’ makin’ bacon!'”
That specific moment was shared so often so quickly on the internet that by the last day of the convention, David started his panel off with the audience singing the making bacon tune he had created just days earlier. David says he was plagued by requests from fans on social media for months afterwards asking him to record an official version of the song. He revealed that he had been thinking the idea over in his head for close to six months when it finally hit him.
“There were three meanings for “Makin’ Bacon”. Literal and two figurative. Perfect for three chapters of a story. After a night of tossing and turning I bolted awake at 4 AM and a “hurtin’ song”, about a single dad trying to rally and find love again came pouring out of me in under 45 minutes (pretty much the exact lyrics you hear today).”
With the anniversary of the convention where the tune originated approaching, he enlisted the help of friends of his, Lyman Medeiros and Vinnie Corbo. Lyman Medeiros is an L.A.-based bassist, who has toured with many notable musicians, including Canadian artist Michael Bublé in 2003. Lyman showed his support for David by posting on his Instagram:
We reached out to Lyman to talk to him about his experience working with David, and he had all great things to say. “Davey and I have been friends for a long, long time, but unless you count the numerous poker games we have played together, this is the first time we have worked together in a professional capacity. Knowing him as well as I do, his creative process did not surprise me at all. He had a clear vision of what he wanted his song to sound like but welcomed ideas from myself and our collaborators.”
Knowing that Lyman has plenty of experience working with many talented artists, we asked him how he felt about the single as it was released. Lyman told us, “I am quite happy with the finished project. We had an impressive team of musicians contributing, from the drummer to the sound engineer who mixed the tracks in to the final product.”
Because Lyman tours with Grammy Award-winning jazz singer Steve Tyrell and also leads his own band, Black Market Reverie, he told us he doesn’t often get a chance to produce. “Producing Makin’ Bacon was so satisfying creatively. Taking Davey’s original idea and melody and turning it into a fully arranged song was a phenomenal experience.”
According to David, Lyman and Vinnie helped him get a band together and they began to lay down the track, which was eventually mixed by the Grammy Award-winning Rich Breen. Rich was the engineer/mixer for the album Rebirth by Billy Childs which won the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album.
Supported by so much varied talent, David rose to the challenge and wrote the music and lyrics to the single Makin’ Bacon himself, which most of us now know and love! If you haven’t already downloaded your copy of the single, the best place to get it in order to optimally support the artists is on CD Baby.
David is donating a portion of the proceeds to The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America and will be giving quarterly updates about how much he’s raised on social media.
David also posted on Twitter about another idea he has cooking (pun intended) for upcoming Creation conventions:
https://twitter.com/DavidHaydnJones/status/998716849217941504
That could be interesting! Don’t forget to download your copy of Makin’ Bacon if you haven’t already so you can support a good cause and learn the words for the proposed Makin’ Bacon Challenge!