Hello world! Glad to have found this site with ya'll! The feedback is unreal, gives ya another much needed perspective on things. These days I do a whole lot more rec'ing and session gigs than running the interstates jammin. Might even live a little longer with the balance adjustment! Connie thinks so too. I run a small digital recording cave called Top Rail Rec which has given me more control over things than before, needless to say, but also the chance to see and hear what the actual "listeners" really think of what we do. I hope ya enjoy it as much as I enjoy tracking it all together. I do all the instruments and vocs myself cause thru the years, my rock n roll buds wouldnt touch this stuff! We laugh about it today more than ever. We as musicians , singers and writers love what we do, and having the listeners and audiences, the feedback and encouragement, is always a magical plus in the musical realm. So, thanks to you all, or how we say it down here in the south; we thank ya'll and the folks at Drooble for the op to show it off!!!
Wow... I know one thing, I feel blessed and incredibly grateful that HE thought me worthy enough to be a musician in the first place. I don't bother with those who don't realize or acknowledge, that being a person of melodic expression, hand in hand with the unimaginable potential of being either a positive or negative influence on the folks around us, is perhaps one of the heaviest responsibilities a music maker could have. Do we recognize " To Thine Own Self Be True"? Or sell out "cause we all know that singing about power and negativity sells a hell of a lot more noise pollution than long forgotten expressions of brotherhood and country. Music gives us crossroad types of choices throughout our lives. More than not, it also gave me the direction I was to head when they appeared. My friends and family will support me when i say that I have no medals for good conduct, but I'll never find satisfaction in putting anything thru a kids ear buds that could possibly be morbidly misinterpreted as dark or negative. Theres grossly enough of that as it is. I don't know what I might have been if I hadn't had the "Music". .When all is finally said and done, It will have been music that gave me the ability and confidence to simply be me and to feel that I belonged. Period. I had Mama's love and Dad's stern guidance to govern a much appreciated head start. Music gave me courage to take those steps farther outside of their visibility and influence. Courage to do things that others said I couldn't. And when the performance proved them wrong? Do ya think I thought twice about stopping there? Music gave me my beautiful wife. who somehow gave me the will to open a can whip ass on some pretty wicked adversaries in the past! I kinda believe that God gives us wings to eventually soar. I pretty convinced that Music is our launch pad.
I'd love to write a couple of songs that had an "EFFECT" on a bunch of folks like those timeless tunes and bands that before 18 yrs of age, we had bought and been thru at least 5 cassettes of each of them! Other than that, I've still got my sights on giving Connie the world. Work in progress ya understand...
lol! Nah, Im not EVEN gonna try to shuffle that one around fellas... Loyal followers of hypocrisy and contradiction will make it a point to shoot down anything that may resemble in the least , a possible solution to a restored sense of humanity and a laying down of arms in the name of unity. The one integrative attempt by ones self that might have a chance at encouraging the healing of "the family" and disintegration of global hatred is what our Grand Dads would say; Keep yur own front porch swept and help another when and where ya can. The unconscious deed is wonderfully infectious.
American Pie no doubt. I got my but reddened for takin my Dads cassette recorder out to the club house to record it off the radio one day!
There were the years of "finger growth" ! lol, At 5 yrs the ukulele was first. Then at around nine or ten, my hands were gripping barchords. Enter now my first six string hero, Jim croce. "round 16, the Beatles emphatically blew my mind and had control over most of the brain cells I was using back then. Hey, I had a tascam reel to reel 4-trac. I was the s#$@ on that 4-trac too!, or so i thought. That is until I heard Sgt Peppers LHCB and was enlightened on how George Martin fanagled musical miracles with their 4-trac! As a piano plunker I was all too familiar with the ladies reactions to a nicely timed love song, Barry Manilow, Billy Joel and Elton were my incentive to drink free in every Holiday Inn piano bar my friends would drive me to. But I'll gladly boast upon who thoroughly had my attention above most all others, The eagles. They did it right.
I'm not sure, but I think its right up there with "Grace" itself... Undeserved yet freely given by HIM. I know its a given thing of sorts because some have it and some just don't. I love my two brothers dearly but when these cats get all jovial around Christmas time and decide to vocaly express their joy while showering, the water cuts off! Then theres the profound thought processes that explains why a dog does what a dog is able to do... simply because he can. Further thought on the subject is NOT necessary !
Awe I dunno, maybe that its ok to feel. Maybe that showing a little more love and empathy and a little less abrasion wont in any way cause ya to break out in hives. ya....
Honestly?, like I'm standing on top of the world, its without a doubt the highest you'll ever feel and the most euphoric you'll ever remember... plenty enough to last ya till the next time...
Depends on who yur talkin to guys, improvement doesn't really play into, or along with the slowly depleting sense of morality and respect our Grand Pa used to reflect on. And believe me, as once standing in a pickett line in Nashville one year, griping about how electronics and digital tech were slowly putting the session musician out to pasture, I'm the wrong guy to ask. We play real instruments, not computers. We play real songs, that hopefully tend to make us smile, think about loved ones and how blessed we are to have what we have...
I just told my friend Jerry who happens to be enjoying the number one spot on the country charts today; how right on time Drooble and its concept is for so many musicians , singers and writers. Excellent format you guys have developed for us. Much thanks to you all, David Wayne
How one minute the G-string is so pleasing to the eye, and the next, its popped in the middle of a set or ya can't get it in tune!
I do, but in a very different way. When I went into recording with all its magic and taking pleasure in the fact that now I have control over how the mix and the mastering goes etc; I never forgot where I came from and the times I would've given my left... toe, to be able to record my songs in a professional setting finally. Normally I receive 45$ an hour for studio time. But first and foremost, I'm a musician, a session guy for 25 yrs on three instruments as well as a love for harmonies. If a fellow lover of the fever comes to me with the more times than not need for a bass and perhaps piano on his rhythm tracks, I wouldn't sleep worth a dam that night if I didn't at least offer to beef up his musical brain child when and where I could. And I would expect them to be accustomed to that in the future as well. We're musicians. We row the same boat, just on different seas sometimes. So, yes I tend to cater to the kids I meet, some at church, some thru friends, whos ambition and self confidence almost drips from their finger tips. I went and saw a guitar student that I had two yrs ago. I worked his tendons and fingers raw for a year and a half until he went back to school. At first he thought he was going to come in there and just lay his fingers on the frets for some "Smoke on the Water" or something. We put that P.O.S. squire in its case never to be opened again and handed him one of my acoustics. I explained to him that if he could beat a dash board, keep a beat, I could have him playing sooner than he thinks. First song I whipped on him was, "I got a Name" by Jim Croce. I let him hear what its suppose to sound like and we took it from there. After he started enjoying playing his second hurdle, Tequila Sunrise, I him to think of it like a stick shift. If you can respectfully play those two tunes, effectively, that he could play anything. Shy and unsure will never be descriptions of his persona ever again. I had my fun, its time to give back where we can.
Guts to try and a concrete refusal to take no for an answer.
Hmm, I'd be glad to. I have a friend I stay in touch with from high school. Mark Touche had fingers that would blur. Today he still repairs and teaches the neck in Baton Rouge at The Guitar Center. I'll tell him ya'll said hi! And thank you for that question!