This is where the music lives.

Doctor Phlogiston, aka JW Kennedy, is a multi-instrumentalist DIY recording alchemist. What exactly does this mean? Well, it means I, I mean he .. no, I mean I play all the instruments myself, and I sing, and I lay it all down with a digital multitrack recorder. This lets me overdub myself playing each part so it winds up sounding like a whole band. Ain't technology great? I am actually very good at this. My stuff sounds more like a real band than many other one-man acts out there. I used to use a lot of MIDI sequencing but now with digital technology I have lots of tracks, so I started using real instruments instead. It takes longer, but it sounds SO much better.

Why "Phlogiston?"

The word Phlogiston comes from alchemy. Before the discovery of oxygen, it was believed that some invisible vapor had to be present in order for combustion to occur. This is easily proven by covering a candle with a glass jar. The flame goes out, because it uses up all the phlogiston in the jar! Therefore, Phlogiston is known as the spiritual essence of fire. A cool word for a cool concept. I used it as a title for one of my cassette tape compilations in the 1990s. On a long road trip with some friends, we listened to this tape. I happened to be wearing a lab coat, and one of my traveling companions dubbed me "Doctor Phlogiston." I liked the name so much I kept it.

Did you know I've got a MySpace page?

It's true. You can get there to see some other stuff about me, as well as listen to some extra tracks that aren't available on the widget, right here: www.myspace.com/drphlogiston.

Attempted music for TV commercials

I tried submitting some music for use in commercials. I might try again sometime, because there's money galore if the ad agency likes your stuff. Sadly, the agency didn't like my stuff. Listen to these tracks and tell me what's wrong with them. I have opted to make them downloadable instead of streaming, so when you click the link, your browser should launch iTunes or Media Player or whatever mp3 player you have installed. (If this doesn't work, don't email me, because I don't know how to fix it.) If it does work, then you've got a copy of the file on your computer. Hooray! Free Music which you can put in your iPod or share it, or whatever. All I ask is that you don't sell it, and for heaven's sake don't use it in a commercial. At least, not without paying me...

This first one is about a minute long. It's acoustic, Americana, very emotional. I thought it was awesome and really tugged at the heartstrings. Nope. Try clicking to listen.

Here's another one, sort of quirky with melodica and ukulele and brushed drums. It's about 30 seconds long.

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Contents copyright 1994-2009 by JW Kennedy.