About This Blog


Trebling Developments is an arbitrary, subjective, and unnecessary music blog established by Patrick Finnegan for both rational and irrational reasons. Patrick is an amateur musician and music enthusiast residing in Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A. He is a guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist (in that order). He is one-half of the alt. folk-rock duo Eager Anxiety; one half of the alt. folk-rock duo Dangerously Competent; and a "friend" in the Chord City & Friends lineup.

Patrick has been an avid music fan for as long as he can remember and, musically speaking, was probably born 25 years too late. While his tastes are rooted in 1960s and ‘70s folk and rock, Patrick’s appreciation is not confined solely to those years or genres. He enjoys discovering new acts, especially since many of his early favorites are retired, near retirement, or dead.

Here, Patrick writes about the creation, performance, and appreciation of music from his own point of view. The opinions expressed on this blog do not represent those of any of his past or present employers, clients, contractors, or cats. His cats would consider it particularly presumptuous of him to speak on their behalf and would be compelled to swift legal action.

When not doing musical things, Patrick is a husband; dad; writer, editor, and researcher in human rights and public policy; Chief Writer and Analyst at FinneComm; an adequate hiker and biker; an ever-aspiring Francophone; cat butler; nerd; traveler (but not as often as he’d like); and absurdist.

Popular posts from this blog

This Old Guitar

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There are three main reasons that I play guitar.  Two of them are Gordon Lightfoot and The Moody Blues, respectively.  The most important reason is my dad.  As a child, I remember hearing and watching him play his 12-string guitar.  When he and his college friends/bandmates (including my uncle) reunited for a church fundraiser in 1989, I was mesmerized.  In family videos of that show, you can see this little kid in a bowl cut and a "Moos Brothers" sweatshirt (cow-based pun on the Blues Brothers) wandering around in front of the stage, staring up at dad & co.  Guess who. My dad has been a skilled finger-picker as long as I can remember.  He could really make that 12-string jangle as he played old folk tunes.  When I was 10, I decided that I wanted to start guitar lessons.  On the night of my first guitar lesson, my dad let me try out his guitar before we left.  It was enormous and I could barely get my arms around the body.  Over the years, I have developed a deep lo
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One of My Favorite Albums Turns 50 This Year

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Sometimes I am still startled by the rocket blast.  I've listened to this album hundreds of times.  I know it's coming.  And yet I still sometimes jump at the sudden white-noise cacophony.  An organ cries briefly through the roar, then a wall-of-sound vocal chant emerges, reaching a crescendo before the guitars and bass fade in to take over.  It's so delightfully late '60s. So begins "To Our Children's Children's Children" by the Moody Blues, one of my favorite albums.  From time to time, I will put it on, turn out all the lights, put aside any potential distractions (except maybe a glass of wine), and just let it wash over me.  I sing a number of tracks from the album to my toddler as lullabies. December of this year marks the 50th anniversary of "Children's Children"; the Moody Blues produced two albums in 1969 and this one is the second.*  Two albums in one year is a tall order, but the band and their producer, inspired
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Musicians I Know: Nathan Griner

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The new Nathan Griner album, This Road. Nathan Griner is a singer-songwriter and guitarist based in Hastings, Minnesota. But he has guitar and will travel , often playing venues in the Twin Cities metro area and "up north," as we say in Minnesota. I would describe his style as boot-stomp alt.-country folk, influenced by the Lumineers and Neil Young (when Neil's in an acoustic mood). Nate sings with soul, feeling, and an underlying joy for music. His originals are earnest and heartfelt, and he's always down for some crowd-pleasing covers too.    I first met Nate about five-and-half years ago at a family-and-friends bonfire at my aunt and uncle's place in Nisswa, Minnesota. My uncle had instructed me to bring my guitar so I could play along with Nate. I dutifully obliged, but hadn't really been a "campfire musician" before and so was unsure as to what to expect. The bonfire wasn't Nate's first rodeo, however, and he had his music binder
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