Hi Friends, hope you are all hanging in there and are staying healthy. Thank you all for the birthday wishes, I had a lovely day spent listening to records and cooking my favorite meal. Recently I’ve been re-listening to David Bowie’s 1982 record “Let’s Dance.” Somehow I didn’t remember the track “Without You,” from the same album, and have been completely obsessed with it lately. If you don’t know it click here.
My producer John and myself have been making lots of progress on my new single, and I’m excited to say the rest of the tracking should be finished very soon. Between sessions on my original material I have been enjoying reinterpreting some of my favorite songs for fun. Most of these performances have been very raw, and the production kept very minimal. My latest quick take has been a cover of Jackson Browne’s “Somebody’s Baby.” I’ve always loved this song and found it could be slowed down and sung with a different intent.
For those interested - the main track is one microphone capturing me singing and playing the song in one take all the way through. After recording this, I went back and recorded a second acoustic guitar part over the main track. I then tuned my guitar down a half step and played another guitar track from a different position. This allowed for some different chord voicings that I think play off each other very nicely. I also recorded an organ track which is mixed very low - as well as some wurlitzer for those high tingles. Oh - and a bass track. But that’s it! Let me know if you like it! (also, if you’d like to download this track you can for free on the soundcloud website).
I was saddened to hear that our friend Tuff Blanton passed away last month. Tuff was a wonderful human and talented musician based in Charlotte, NC. I spent countless formative nights at Lucky Lou’s listening to him play with FairPlay. Those guys have to been so kind to me and even let me play with them from time to time. Tuff was an original member of The Entertainers, played with Unknown Hinson and in The Embers - just to name a few. He will be missed. I’m sure I am just one of many that am thankful to have known him. Tuff’s obituary can be found here.
Thank you for listening. Take care of each other!