"Southern
Man"
original release date 10/10/2009
10 songs styled from Solo to Combo
arrangements
available in hard copy ( date T.B.A. soon )
&
in digital format at CD Baby, iTunes and other digital sales stores
administered by BMI -
unauthorized duplication is naughty
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SOUTHERN MAN Project
Notes: BY SONG
1) SOUTHERN MAN. A
young man's journey and perspective of his Father over time.
Basically
written from the heart, with very little revision ever done. The
child
simply enjoys life, oblivious of being protected and provided
for. The
coming of age green eyed dragon slayer is quick to find fault in the
adults, and knows how things could have been better, though never
having been in their shoes. The growing young adult begins to see
things differently as life slaps him around. In the end a new
appreciation is found for those going before; an honest
revelation
that they have done the best they could do with what they had.
2) STAY PUT (Foot in the Door) is a song that
started with just one
line. I was thinking about the music business, and how I may
never
make it Big. I've come to accept this fact, but have not stopped
trying to get my "Foot in the Door". This somehow turned into the
little humor about a relationship desired, found & regretted.
This
song has found great live response from day 1. I'm not going to
hold
my breadth, but do have hi hopes for this song. It very well may
have
increased my Lottery odds.
3) B RIFFED. This is just one of those -it
happened- songs. I was
messing with this RIFF that happened to be in the key of "B", and one
day decided to cut it on my 12 string Larrivee, put it on my mac book
in Garage Band, make a loop out of it, put that loop down, and then
build the song around it. So I did, and B RIFFED was the
result. I
got a gut feeling that some folks will really like this one.
Heck,
even my wife made good comment on it, and that only happens so
often.
I've been told by some that they like the bass guitar line. If I
ever
get to re-cut this one, I'll try and call in Jake Byers of Hayseed
Dixie. Jake and I worked together years ago in a little original
project in Nashville. To my joy, Jake and I hooked up recently on
FaceBook, and I was much surprised to find he was touring with a band
of whom I have admired much.
4) CROWN, WANNA WEAR THAT. A simple gospel
song, unlike anything I
have written in the past, that cuts straight to the heart of my faith,
hope & love. One day - no sorry and no pain - just hanging
out and
jamming with guitars, harp, tambourine, spirit, love, etc......
Christ
won't let me alone, and in this I have hope. I sometimes wonder
if
Jesus may have taken up guitar in the past 2000 years. This is
one of
those early morning songs, and 'coffee' has to get some of the
credit.
5) GO MAX GO is a song inspired by our miniature
dachshund Max.
When very young, he was in the living room one day and I was playing
some guitar. Susan was dusting the living room
table/floor/shelves and
organizing things (some basic OCD activities). So anyways, Max is
sitting there trying to get me to open one of the closed doors.
Our
living room/dining room/front door area has 3 doors. The one he
wanted
me to open went the same place as the one going into the other side of
the kitchen - and it was open. We are talking 12 feet here.
He could
go 12 feet and take the open door right to where he wanted to go, but
instead sat there wining for a long time (I think our cat was on the
other side of the door). He could have been to that place he
wanted to
be in 5 seconds simply by taking the "open door". I thought about
this, and how I do the same thing at times, and that's basically where
this song came from. And yes Beth R., I did eventually open the
door
for Max. I'm sure God has done the same for me more than I
realize.
6) ADAM AND EVE. This song was written in the
mid 90's. For some
reason I had never put it down on tape; only played it live here and
there. I played it live one day at a Rotary Club meeting.
You know
you've made it big, in your small town, when you get the Rotary Club
Special Guest gig. The local A.M. DJ Jerry Lousteau said to me,
"Have
you recorded that song? If not, you need to." Well I did
so. And
with fond memory, this is the only track to date where the drums were
literally placed in an old Cotton Gin (our family place New Paragon
Gin). The drummer was given just 2 microphones and let
loose. I hope
to do some more tracks like these, utilizing this huge space to create
feel and depth, that no reverb unit in the world can quite exactly
give. Jerry proceeded to play this recording of Adam & Eve
quite a
bit on our local radio station. Through this song I gained a new
respect from many local Gospel & Blues fans.
7) POOPIE IN THE POT is, at this point, the only
Potty Training
song I'll ever write. (never say ever?) My son Evan is probably
glad
this was not written many years ago for him. Instead this one was
written just a few years back and given to my niece Kimberly Taylor
Pratt for my great nephew Taylor, who was in that 1-3 year old Potty
stage. He, and a few other kids his age, got a Great Big Kick out
of
this song, as well as many adults. If you would please, tell
others
with "potty aged" kids about Poopie in the Pot. I would thank you
much, and those parents might also thank you.
8) IT'S A MYSTERY. I wrote this song for a
song writing club. The
club did not last that long, but it did motivate me to write in a
period when I was not writing at all. Thanks Adam. I wrote
this song
and recorded it for submission to the club. Not much time taken
on it,
but fun anyways, especially the electric guitar tracks utilizing a $99
retail zoom effects pedal. I have garnered some local fans on
this
recording. I can just hear Beth, Chandra & Susan goofing
around
and singing "It's a Mystery" in that hi pitched giddy, 'girls drinking
wine' voice. Problem is, that's the only lyric they can
remember.
Maybe if it's in with this batch of songs they will remember the words
a little better. Maybe? Not!
9) MISSISSIPPI (lost mix). I did not really
loose this mix, but it
got put aside for version 2 (found at CD Baby and iTunes on the 2006
release MISSISSIPPI - track #9). This particular recording is a
quick
mix done at the same location the first version tracks were cut, at
Lake Naomi just outside Canton MS. Chris Hall was on drums and
Tom
Atkinson on Bass. I never could get happy with this version, and
opted
for the finger picking electric guitar version on the MS CD. One
day
BRUCE (friend and repair person) heard this 1st version by accident and
said "I think that is really good". So, I decided to include it
on
this project. And speaking of other versions, this leads to the
last
song.
10) 20,000
REASONS (ver. 2 take 1). This is the first song I wrote after
moving
my business, SMALL TOWN MUSIC, down to the old family place in the
Holler. This songs' first inspiration was a vintage guitar I
ended up
selling for someone. Sale price was 13,900.00, and that was in
total
dogged condition. One a little nicer would have easily brought
20,000. This song will mostly be perceived as a male/female
relationship song, and I will confess that I did draw from such mental
images to help in the writing. This recording is totally
different
than the "as yet unreleased original version". Like totally
different
groove, chords and structure. The words are the same accept for
"so
many reasons, so many rhymes" tagged anew at the end of each
verse.
The original version had 6 chords and this version just 3. (yes
Derek
Hawkins, Frazier changed a song and took out the C chord).
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