“we’re caught up in the cadence but we’ll take our time”
Well, we’re in the home stretch now. It’s hard to believe that it’s fall already and that we’re nearing the end of this project. My thanks to those who have been visiting the site, commenting, or making donations. Your support means the world to me.
October’s song was a really enjoyable piece to put together. The melody came early in the month after thumbing through a chord book and messing about with some suspended chords on my guitar. I liked the melody so much that I set to work on the music before even writing a single lyric, deciding that my non-sense syllables might tell me what they wanted to say later in the month.
While the song is in B flat, I am playing out of the G position on the third fret. The song is built on top of a drum loop that I made from a discarded recording by my folk-trio Bonnett House, from the sessions for our debut album. The acoustic guitar I used on this track is a new-to-me Alvarez AD60K that has a very even string balance and a strong mid-range presence perfect for sitting in with other instruments. I coupled the acoustic guitar part with a banjo before adding some drone with an autoharp played with an e-bow, through ridiculous amounts of reverb and delay. I added some percussive accents with my Roland R-5 drum machine before overdubbing some cymbals at my friend Bill Preeper’s studio in Hampton. While I was at Bill’s I took advantage of his talent and had him record an electric guitar part that suits the song perfectly. That same evening, our bandmate Sandy MacKay played a beautiful piano part and some upright bass that pulled the whole thing together.
(I love that a song built from a discarded Bonnett House piece ended up with the members of Bonnett House performing it. There’s something poetic in that).
The only thing left to do to complete the track was to write some lyrics and record the vocals. I admit I may have gone overboard with the musical metaphors in this piece, but I am pleased with the words overall. I had initially intended to have Sandy sing a vocal harmony but because of a delay from being sick, I had to rely on technology to play that role, and ended using some Roland VS20 effects to enhance the vocals in the chorus (thanks Roland!)
As always, this song was mixed by the uber-talented Sean Boyer at his home studio. Sean has been my partner in this from the get-go and I owe him a debt of gratitude for his dedication to the project. Thank you, brother.
So without further delay, I present to you….
The Turnaround
(to download, right click and select “save as”)
My sincerest gratitude to my bandmates Bill Preeper and Sandy MacKay for lending their talents.
Note: This song is also available in both .WAV and FLAC formats. If you’d like a copy in either format, please write to clintoncca@gmail.com