We went to Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival on June 26th.  We all had a fantastic time with the exception of Lillie, who was bored out of her skull.  Tom loved it.  Mary and I have had enough Blues for the rest of our lives so when Vince Gill came out with James Burton and Albert Lee we were thrilled.  Hearing James Burton play Mystery Train was the thrill of a lifetime.  Jeff Beck was great and easily stole the show.  Clapton was boring until Winwood joined him.  They played Glad, some Blind Faith song, Dear Mr Fantasy, Voodoo Chile which cooked and ended with Cocaine, which was hilarious with female backing vocals.

John Mayer was the big surprise, in a good way.  He played with Pino Palladino (third time Mary and I have seen him) and Steve Jordan.  They were second to Beck for best in show.  I was ready to poo-poo his performance big time.  Apparently he’s one of those musicians with the radio friendly songs to get airplay but live he kills with the other material.  I’ve only heard the XRT songs and consider them lightweight.

ZZ Top were dependable and played exactly what you wanted (Have Mercy into Jesus Just Left Chicago, some song I don’t remember and La Grange).  Robert Cray was okay.  Ronnie Wood was a surprise with Buddy Guy and Johnnie Lang.  They were enjoyable enough.  Johnny Winter will not be with us much longer.  He butchered Red House but given his health, he was completely forgiven.  We left after Clapton/Winwood so we missed BB King and the Finale but from what I’ve read it was just as well.

Sonny Landreth was a great opener.  Robert Randolph band was as good as they needed to be.  Doyle Bramhall II and Sheryl Crow and the Derek Trucks and Susan Tadeski Band were yawn inducing.  At least Trucks was a last minute fill in for the Allman Bros so he had an excuse.

Bill Murray was a great MC.  Earl Klugh played a nice 15 minute set of what Lillie called Elevator Music.  Given the time of day, we called it dinner music.  It was also a treat to see Bert Jansch.

Clapton said he had so much fun that there will be another.  We would go again, sans Lillie.

We were in the stands.  Section 109 Row 5.  Pretty far away from the stage but they would have been good soccer seats.

Very hot but tolerable once the sun went behind the roof.

So the week that saw several strong, damaging storms, a 10+ game win streak for the left for dead White Sox, wonderful Lillie's 11th birthday and the start of dismantling the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks because of the salary cap winds up with The Crossroads Guitar Festival.  As June has been, there are storms forecasted for this afternoon and tonight.  Argh. 

Guitars and Lightning don't mix.  We have the sunscreen and emergency ponchos so we're prepared for any weather event.

The Year project continues with the slightly delayed release of May's song Waterslide.  The backing tracks were completed in May but we just recorded the vocals tonight.  In continued "The family that plays together, stays together" fashion, another member of the family shines on this track. 

Lillie takes the lead vocal on this tribute to one of our favorite summertime traditions, the waterslide.  It's an upbeat little rocker with plenty of pogo-osity. 

Enjoy.

Waterslide

I have been listening to the solo debut of Sigur Ros lead singer Jonsi entitled Go. Sigor Ros is an Icelandic band that writes very melodic, epic songs.  Their lead singer, Jonsi, has a tenor voice that he uses to very interesting and at times beautiful effect.

Singing in both English and Icelandic, the album is a treat for the ears.  The songs Boy Lilikoy and Go Do stand out as the album's strongest cuts.

Mary and I finally accomplished what we have been attempting to do for 22 years.  We wrote and recorded a song together.  It is a simple acoustic guitar song that we've called On The Moon.  When I hear it it sounds to me like a good end of the album track.  I can hear it being sung around the campfire. 

The song starts out with a didgeridoo to set the mood that this is going to be something to bring a smile and not taken too seriously.  It is basically two lovers singing together as the lay together on a blanket on a Summer's night while looking up at the Moon above.

I'm not completely happy with my vocal, yet.  I'm still learning the ins and outs of Mixcraft and it sometimes stutters and throws off the timing of said track.  I will get the hang of it, I promise.

Mary sounds wonderful.  It was her first recorded lead vocal and understandably she was very nervous.  As all of us who have been in her shoes know, it gets easier and with repetition, second nature.

On The Moon

And the hits keep coming.    Mary got me the best birthday present a guitar player could ask for.  You guessed it, a new guitar.  I have only had my Les Paul kit guitar that I built back in the early 1980s.  Don't get me wrong, it is a wonderful guitar.  It has served me well and I love it.

I have wanted a Stratocaster for some time.  It has a glassy, slinky sound that my Les Paul does not.  The Strat has a very different feel than the Les Paul.  The Les Paul is a heavy, meaty guitar with a wonderful thick and powerful sound.  

I was so inspired by the guitar that I started recording about 9pm last night and didn't stop until 3:00am.  I then woke up at 9:00 am, had breakfast and resumed.  Twenty tracks later, I have the latest song from the album Year, See Me Now.  Don't ask we what it's about, it is what the listener hears it to be.  I like it and have had a lot of excellent input from Mary.  She is my muse and an excellent musical consultant. 

UPDATE: I spent a decent part of 4/3 tweaking parts of the song at the suggestion of my friend, Archie Waugh.  I brought the vocals up in the mix, added another guitar at the end, put repeating echo on the last "Real McCoy" and now fade it just prior to the guitar at the very end.  Next up... more vocals (this time female).

UPDATE 2:It now has harmonies on the choruses and last verse. I like it better and it may yet have more voices.

See Me Now

And here is the Red Tornado.

I am a lucky man.  I love music.  I have surrounded myself with friends who also love music.  We make music, we study music and most importantly, we listen to music.  We always have and likely always will.  We still go to concerts and have become the old people we used to see at concerts when we were younger and hope we would become in our older years.

It is for albums like Fang Island's eponymous second album released a few weeks ago that I am glad this is the case.  My friend Bob was good enough to turn us on to their video for the song Daisy.  He said if you were depressed to watch the video to cure yourself of said depression.  He was right.  The video is a happy romp to a happy song.  The lyrics are sparse.  In fact, they are more woah-woah's than lyrics.

I have been listening to this album for three days now and have fallen in love with it.  It starts off with the instrumental Dreams of Dreams accompanied by the sound of fireworks.  Who doesn't become instantly happy around fireworks?  No one, that's who.

Aside from Daisy, the album's fist single and tour de-force, the songs Davey Crockett, The Illinois and The Welcome Wagon prove especially satisfying.  Fang Island is only 10 songs and 31 minutes but it packs quite a wallup in it's short running time.

Fang Island are currently on tour including three shows this weekend at SXSW.  I hope their live show is as impressive as their recorded work.  I hope to find out first hand.

I give Fang Island Four Billys

I have finished my latest composition and it is called Mary.  As I was listening to the backing tracks and trying out melodies, I came up with a melody for the chorus that I liked.  I was trying think of words that fit the melody and lo and behold I started singing Mary.  Fortunately, this gave me instant inspiration for the rest of the lyrics.

Then came time for the guitar solo.  The software I have has build in effects.  I like most of them but don't care for the amp emulators.  They all sound very much like 80's hairbands in the distortion department.  Instead, I plug into my small Marshall Amp when I want a good distortion sound. When I combined that with some chorus, delay and sustain effects, I was very pleased with the sound for the solo guitars.

I'm very happy with the song.  I just home my beloved Mary is as happy with it.  She gives me inspiration in so many ways.

Mary

Things have been a bit quiet on the blog.  It's not because I don't care.  It's because I've been recording.  The latest song is coming along nicely.  I'm almost at the point when I will record the final vocals and guitar solo. 

I have finally set up the ART Tube MP and used it to record the bass, guitars and guide vocals.  It provides a warm signal that sounds so much better than a direct patch into the M-Audio Delta LT100.  Add a new Audio-Technica M4000S microphone and it sounds so much better.

I've got a first take at the lyrics written but think they still need refining.  I like teh chorus but some of the verse lines could be stronger.

The song will be posted to the site as soon as it is ready.

I have started writing and recording a follow up to Open Up.  The working title is Falling Up... hmmm... is there an UP theme in my mind?  I unfortunately tried recording at the same time Little Shop of Horrors was showing on the Home Theater.  I tried recording the bass about 10 times and thought I had it until I recorded the rhythm guitar.  That's when I realized the bass fell out of time with the drums in the second half of the song.

So that brings me to where I am right now.  I will re-record the instruments when I have some silence in the room and can hear the drums while recording.  Until then, here's take one of Falling Up.

Falling Up