He had just received new music software that he liked experimenting with.
Jaxson Deno, a Franklin Community High School senior, had spent his childhood singing and playing the guitar. Now came an idea: record an album.
A few weeks ago, 250 copies of his debut album “Take One,” were released, with friends, family, parishioners of a church he used to go to and neighbors receiving an album that in essence was a lifetime in the making.
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“For a few years I wanted to record something,” he said. “The thought of recording an album seemed fun.”
He started his eight-track album in January. What started as a five-song project morphed into almost double that as the teen kept finding additional songs he wanted to cover and add his own flare to, he said.
“There were so many other songs I had fun with recently,” Deno said.
Deno has played the guitar since he was 2 years old when a relative bought him a cheap, plastic toy guitar for Christmas, Lisa Deno, his mother, said.
He wanted more than what the plastic toy could give him and begged for lessons, she said.
She relented and that turned into a decade of guitar lessons. He also became proficient in playing the drums, bass, ukuelele, mandolin and piano.
Deno decided that he would play the instruments for all of his songs and sing. His idea was that he could just hit “record,” on the software and the rest would take care of itself, he said.
Most of the recording went well, although his plans changed a few times in the months since he started the album, he said.
He stuck with it and recorded the eight songs. Then his mom found out that they would have to pay for copyrights for each of the eight song covers he included. They decided on 250 copies of the CD. That meant they had to buy the rights to each song 250 times.
The copyright issue has precluded them from some marketing, such as posting videos of Jaxson playing cover songs on YouTube and other social media sites, Lisa said.
She knew the hundreds of dollars spent on Jaxson’s hobby was worth it for him to be able to use his gift, she said.
“I really think God put a hand on him and gifted him,” she said.
They will recoup some of the money with the sales of the CDs. They sold 50 to friends, family, former teachers and Bible teachers from sixth grade.
Family and friends reached out and decided to buy a CD to help the project. They sold another 37 at a launch party for family and friends in late May. To date, they have sold almost half of the original 250 produced.
Now he is looking to his future in music. He can be booked to play a gig in the area, and he is already preparing for an auditions for Disney Cruise Lines next year.
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Jaxson Deno is selling copies of his album, “Take One,” which features the following cover songs:
- “The City”
- “Holding on to You”
- “Angel”
- “Ivy”
- “Playing with Fire”
- “No. 29 Strafford APTS.”
- “Same Drugs”
- “You Need Me. I Don’t Need You.”
To order an album, call 317-695-5477
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