We all need to know!

We all need to know...

Neil Peart is a really incredible musician...and he is a Great Drummer to boot!

Having said that he like so many of his contemporaries are human aye! We all need to know at some point that what we are doing is on track. I'd say he is, I understand his means for the structure he places on his style...I like what he does.

Pete Townshend is another example of musicianship...back in 1971 when Quadrophenia was in it's infancy, Pete went at great length to try to explain the depth and the meaning behind it all...sometimes as I had read in interviews he had it didn't always pan out explaining it all away.

Music Critics can be either a blessing and a curse.

If you are less then conscious as a writer you might deserve bad press and just because you as a writer are prolific and seem to be in the stream of what's happening doesn't necessarily mean you are successful....it is a conundrum most creative people endure for the opportunity to express themselves.

So it is with all of us or most of us...we could hold up in our Studio's and never step out ( kind of like me ) but the problem with that is that it does nothing for my reasoning for doing what I do. Identifying with others about similar likes in music has always been a very important part of my life. To connect and have I suppose a relationship about something that excites the soul...that brings the spirits together.

But like Neil and Pete, I too am at a constant struggle within myself wondering and asking the question...am I good enough, does what I do have relevance?

The next thing that would come up and I have been ask this question many times...don't you like what you do, are you not happy, why do you need others to compliment what you do?

I suppose it's not really about greatness at all. If I were or anyone was that self centered I could see the issue but this is deeper then that.

It is an issue of relevance to why each of us feels the way we do about our craft. If no one else mattered we would not carry on these kinds of conversations. That is unless we were Mad as a Hatter.

Some Musicians don't require the attention...others can't get enough...all I want to know like so many others like me, is what I do in the bigger picture of things, does it make sense to you too?

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My Soul...

Red Canyon Sonata... New song release on ReverbNation August 30 2015

It is interesting to me why I continually am fascinated with subject matter that revolves around the natural environment and the history of our nation in...fact, fiction and music.

I was not born in the South...I was born about as far away from it as a soul could be born...but that is not a disqualifier for having attributes of that place I so often think of.

Next to Washington State the Oregon Coast is my go to feel good place but in my music and poetry places like the Southwest...New Mexico, Arizona, Texas...and to the east Arkansas, Florida and the Carolina's...Georgia and Alabama and Mississippi...there is something going on there that draws me near.

If you pressed me I could explain it all...I am kinda long winded that way but if you want to just experience a few of my songs in the period of those tracks playing you would know me better then perhaps you thought you did before. But you have to listen and pay attention and think while it's going on...that is the beauty of the gem in the rough sound I create. It is my soul.

If you have the chance, the first three songs in my line up are a fine example of what I am saying...

I hope you get the chance to meet me someday.

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Red Canyon Sonata...

Red Canyon Sonata...new Song Released August 30 2015...Now available for listing and downloading on ReverbNation and FaceBook, SoundCloud and Fandelism too!

One of the greatest things about Acoustic instrumentation is there remains an element of honest subtle energy that is and of it's self.

There is a song that Rick Medlocke's Album Blackfoot...'After The Reign' a song called "Bandelaro", an instrumental piece that speaks to me on so many levels...does just what I am saying.

There is a sense, a depth and spirit in an Acoustic driven song that sometimes a Hard Rockin Song takes in a different direction, similar but different.

Red Canyon Sonata...is ethereal, a bit Don Quixotesgue. As the title represents...'Sonata' the definition means..."Played, not sang" and that it is.

It breathes with the minds stretch of imagination of the places high up and in the valleys below...60's movie cultural sorts of things like the Spaghetti Westerns made famous by Clint Eastwood...

Like the hill tops of Machu Picchu...or the massive landscapes of the Southwest...and the cry of a Falcon...or the soaring visualization of a Condor gliding on the winds.

A Dream that will always take you away if only you will allow it!

You can listen to it now...it is free, no charge!

Thanks for your support!

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Just Released...Red Canyon Sonata.

This new song in recognition of my South American music friends I have come to know and respect and am a fan of their Andean sound... Quichua Mashis !

The influence of their sound is at the start of this Sonata and throughout, I used a 13 note mouth flute built in the Andean tradition...airy and mystical.

As I began today, writing, recording, producing and engineering this song...my thoughts were of simplistic and of deep seated feelings of freedom like being in the mountain air or traveling through the Southwestern deserts...taking in the open natural environment and the great expanse of our uncluttered wilderness.

I hope you will enjoy this song...Dedicated to Quichua Mashis!

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...Long Live Rock!

Why we do what we do...Part 2

Have you ever listened to any of your favorite Musicians...in interviews, talk about the why's and wherefores in the theory of their writing?

Some may think it boring perhaps...but in all things wonderment is what drives the creative soul.

I recently watched an interview with Jimmy Page where he went in introspective description on the making of Stairway To Heaven.

I will spare the details...you'll have to watch it yourself...the point though is about the depth of how an Artist thinks and quite honestly it enlightening to me for I am of that similar fabric.

Nothing is so simple as taking a breath of air...and in Music, Blues, Rock and the like...some will do their best to distort the values of the complex by turning conversations about such things into a mockery of the form just to create friction and intrigue but time comes when depth not fluff is what we all search for and the answers we seek sometimes just turn into more questions...

...so actually listening to Jimmy's explanations about the back ground, processes, his band mates, the place they recorded in, the soul of the whole thing is an amazing journey...takes on a whole new appreciation for the Art of Led Zeppelin.

Ok...I've gone off tangent a bit...this is more about me then you might imagine, because I too think very similar to the aforementioned.

As a Singer/Songwriter myself it is the background that matters as much as any finished creation. Without depth Art becomes only so much drivel...it can get easily dismissed.

Oh forsake the human soul...that I should be so conceded. I am but who I am and my importance is nil in the large scheme of things but for the here and now what I do does matters to me and so relatively speaking it matters.

Consequently and hopefully not on a bad note you might appreciate what I am going on about but...if that is incorrect...all I can do is say excuse me and wish for you a better day.

I love Rock Music incase you haven't figured that out...it is why I do what I do...for all the simplicity and complicated reasons...it is a means to an end with no end in sight...from a famous quote from one of my inspirations throughout the years, Pete Townshend...

"Rock is dead they say...Long Live Rock"

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Here it is...Somewhere Out There Rock Version!

Well Howdy folks...

Beautiful day in the Great Pacific Northwest, the weather forecast...

Sunny with a lot of ROCK!

So I know I am jumping the gun but if you had a chance to give my new song a listen I have a feeling you'd be Rocking just like I was as I was recording it...a great fun track to play and record.

Not intentional probably more subconscious then I would admit...a bit of a take off in general sound from a Band I have admired all these years lynyrd Skynyrd.

Now if you listen to the Blues version which follows this track on Reverb Nation...you will catch the atmosphere of a Ozark Southern kind of tone...at least that was my intent. I believe I pulled it off but then y'all will be the judge of that aye?

I have always been attracted to the two guitar sound of the earlier Rock sounds and so in that tradition this is what I created to make the passages power through like an old Locomotive rolling down the rails...

The other aspect of the track that I feel very good about is the syncopated Bass and Snare Drum sound that developed as I was working it out and of course on the last three measures the Cow Bell...along with the Bee Hive Lead Guitar Slide...that closes the song out with gusto.

All in all I feel very good about this project and hope you have the chance to feel it too...as I had mentioned in previous writings, this idea of taking a Blues track and turning it into a Rock song isn't a new approach just an attempt by me to carry on some kind of tradition in Rock with my own material...

So I will let go for now but I do hope you can have a listen to both songs ( Same title ) 2013 version and 2015 version...

Thanx for staying tuned in.

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Glory Day's

If you get a chance there is a song on BBM's( Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Gary Moore ) first LP titled 'Glory Days'. Today for me was a Glory Day!

In the world of music...ok Rock/Blues, there is little I vary from. Now that is my opinion, y'all will be the judge of that...but in my minds eye this is where everything I do comes from...

I have met some great peoples and musicians...most recently in a somewhat working relationship...by choice a Fellow named Victor Snow...

Victor has got his palate seeming uncluttered with any predetermine sound...He has great resources from his past but has stepped outside the box and been very creative and advent garde . I admire that but I have a tendency to stick to the ground work I am familiar with.

I will be honest I don't search out a lot of new music...I have become reclusive in that sense. Roger Waters recently made some comments on something similar to what I am saying...Eddie Van Halen has said similar things...

So for me I move forward through the veil of my favorite music sounds and memories and create from that base. Some might accuse me of plagiarism...I hope not because it is not as intentional as one might think. I don't copy anybody's material but in Rock and Roll...there is nothing new that has not been played before...it comes down to your personal signature and your effort/talent as to the somewhat authentic nature of what you do.

I do not profit in anyway monetarily...I do what I do as a free act of sharing with everyone. What I gain not including Money or gifts is the satisfaction of playing in my craft the way I enjoy...the way all musicians should have the opportunity to...it has always been about the emotion, energy, content, context...technic, revealing in the tradition of certain sounds and for me that has always been Rock.

As in like the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackfoot, The Outlaws, Foghat, Deep Purple, Humble Pie, Nazareth and so many more who's tradition of playing drew from earlier music in their early carriers...Delta Blues, Chicago Blues, Southwest Texas Boogie...Swamp Rock from Florida like in the instance of Muscle Shoals...everything from the old Bluesmen from the sharecropping days and days that brought the birth of a nation through suffering and the birth of Blues music and an honest direct approach to the struggles of everyday life...this is where my music comes from.

Out There Somewhere...is a song that developed from all these things to me. The original idea was me placing myself in that initial place of acoustic playing in open 'D' tuning...thinking about the Ozark Mountains...the slower way of life and nature all around...

Now this new development with 'Out There Somewhere' is a bit of Glory for me in another way...since I was very young in music I have always had an active mind...very visual in seeing my thoughts before me in a physical way...probably the one thing that pissed off a lot of my friends...and contemporaries and most likely the reason I am a soloist not a band member. I don't take no for an answer very easily. I am not always right...but when I know what I want I am a bit hard to recon with. I am sorry!

The song has come along very well...this evening I recorded the addition of a Tambourine and something I mentioned the other day that I would not say what it is...it will be a surprise. Glory Days indeed!

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Somewhere out there!

So I worked the last couple of evenings ( an hour or so ) On the recording that I have been going on about...Out There Somewhere.

Initially I felt pretty good going into it but after getting the Rhythm Guitar and basic Drum track completed My Fostex recorder started to malfunction.

I can't tell you the exasperation I was feeling ( been here before ) when this kind of technical problem occurs...I literally see all my work go up in digital smoke because the machine has paid it dues and now rebels when I push the buttons too quickly.

But...I was able to complete that mission and begin to record the Bass Guitar but alas the ghost in the machine resurfaced and threatened to cause my demise...but fear not...I was able to complete the Bass track too and it sounds really good.

As I had started it out my thought was to create a bit of a swampy thing kind of like one of the songs off of Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'TWENTY' LP and Rock it out as I had mentioned I would...well it is turning out the way I had hoped it would, very cool!

My next step is to either add the Slide Guitar I am thinking of...( similar to the slide in the original record ) which you can listen to here on my ReVerbNation channel or do some percussion work to shore up the rhythm tracks.

With crossed fingers and hope that the Fostex doesn't totally crash I would really like to see this one finished...I think you will like it too.

Nothing but good thoughts and positive reinforcement aye!

Rock and Roll!

Peace!

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About Bass Guitar...Bass Guitarist I am.

Something that I have had the opportunity to experience recording and producing my own music is the hands on working with all the eliment of the process. All my Bass Guitar tracks I record direct to the recorder. At least in this instance I can use the Bass Guitar control to adjust the tone more sucsessfully than if I were going through an Amp. Obviously I am doing 'Sound on Sound' recording which is quite different than recording a 'Live' group...so I have a bit more control and don't have to worry about microphone placement or room reflection, volumes and many other distractions...The coolest of the factors which some musicians sometimes overlook ( me included ) is that the controls of the instrument can give the texture of the sound so rich a flavor...The Jazz Bass has that capability...from low powerful tones to gritty and guitar like. Commonly I play traditionally by plucking the strings with my index, middle and ring figures... simular to Jack Bruce who later on mostly played with just his index figure...and like John Entwistle who like me occasionally plays with a pick, the aggressiveness of playing a more rythmic core sound can be achieved. I have alway's loved the look of the Gibson Basses and the low bottom end...and Hamer Basses with the inovative 8 and 12 string qualitys the Tom Petersson of Cheep Trick pioneered...but it seems that from the time I started leaning to play Bass back in the early 70's Fender Basses have alway been in the cards for me...My first Bass...a blue Fender Mustang 3/4 scale. I have from the beginning always used 'Rotosound Music Strings' Round wounds. The Best Bass Strings in the world. It is because of there Piano like tone and clarity.

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Out There Somewhere...

The fruit doesn't fall too far from the tree.

Kind of a funny saying don't you think, there is like a fable somewhere in that line, you know something from Aesop's Tales but there is a point to what I am eluding to here...

When I start off writing a song and I say song because no matter what you begin with...lyric, guitar, bass guitar or what ever it usually comes out in a song.

So I had been talking to you about my reworking the song 'Out there Somewhere'...you have to give a listen.

https://www.reverbnation.com/…/18742151-out-there-somewhere…

...as I was saying, I love the old Blues sound but my soul does not desire to revel in the slow meandering pace for very long. When I wrote and produced this track I was in a mind set...though I don't know if my good friend Tom Bukowski realized it the line " Like two old souls just sitting on the porch " was me lamenting in my mind about him and I jamming...but less I digress further this song is kinda like history happening all over.

Referencing a time in the Sixties when Robert Johnson was taken into the depths of bands like "Cream" and his song Crossroads Blues was forged into the song 'Crossroads' we all know so well.

It is the forging of an older song with a slower tempo like the aforementioned that drives me to convert my Blues track into a more up tempo Rocker for the benefit of accelerating the energy to a more contemporary Blues Rock sound.

I am making progress...what I am doing is working out the arrangement. it is one of those things that takes sometime. If I hand nothing but hours to play it would be done but I balance this between being in my family, working a full time professional automotive job and managing a life long affliction, Type one diabetes.

Not to fear...I am in good health!

Life is full I will admit and at times even though I feel I have a spare hour or two I am consumed...in a good way.

I will keep you posted as to my progress...currently I am just working on the electric rhythm guitar sequence...it will be the basis, foundation for the rest of the recording.

I am excited about the prospects of the final production...not a complicated song...the kind I like a Rock song...like the kind Duane Allman would refer to...

You know the old saying..."The Blues had a baby and Rock was born...

There is a new babe coming soon!

Peace!

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