THEY DON'T MAKE 'EM LIKE THEY USED TO

This is a song written by Floyd about his wife’s grandfather. We had corresponded via email and he was interested in seeing what we could do with a bluegrass interpretation of the tune. Janice really liked the lyrics/melody and after her 91 year old mother heard it and said “it just gets right in you,” we knew we had to give it our best shot. Floyd set the bar high with a really cool demo that he sent us. I stole a couple of his ideas and then ran it through our "bluegrass filter" and this is the result (chords based on his SGU file). It’s all been said but Floyd writes some fine songs.

Instruments: All bluegrass RealTracks.
Vocal lead and harmony: Janice via USB Blue Mic

Mixing and effects: GarageBand and BIAB interface.

I love Collabs. You put all the bits in, shake 'em all up and you never know what is coming out the other end.
Excellent in every way, Floyds expert writing,a great Bluegrass style (I'm beginning to like this Bluegrass material!!), Janice's honeyed singing voice and a radio-ready Mix too.
I dont think you should have faded it. If you hang on you can hear Janice actually finishing the song off. I think it would have been better kept.
Just my two pennysworth.
Great Stuff.
cheers
ian

Sweeeeeeeet! I love everything about this project, you guys make a heck of a team.

Keep'm Coming,

Hi, everyone involved !:)

There´s just one word for this: wonderful !:)


Cheers
Dani

I love it. Lyrics, tune, performance, arrangement well done. The harmony really makes the chorus shine. My only nit and it is a small one is the fade - I'd rather a real ending - but that's just me.

Great job.

Great vocals as always.
Everything else fits together flawlessly.

Guenter

Very nice guys. Good song, mix and performance.



Regards,


Bob

Thanks y'all! We actually did three endings. One ended with a "shot" chord setting for all instruments with the vocal continuing for a measure. Another ended with a "rest" chord ending with the exception of the fiddle that continued with the vocal....and the third was what's here. With the fade we attempted to give a sliding back into time with grampa groove. But as I say, mixing is never finished -- just abandoned. I'll play around with it a little more. Thanks for the input!

BTW, Floyd sent me a harmony part today and now we have a cool trio on the choruses. I'll sub it for the existing version on Soundcloud and update the thread when it's available. He and Janice blend really well.

Excellent lyrics and vocals, music is exceptional as well! Thanks for sharing!



My Tunes

Hi Janice, Bud and Floyd,

My keyboard is speechless. It has no idea what to type. This is a FANTASTIC song, BRILLIANT production and arrangement and OUTSTANDING VOCALS! Congratulations to everyone on crafting such a super track. This is as professional sounding as anything I've ever heard on CD or radio. Looks like the proverbial bar has been raised yet again. Who'd have thought it was possible!

Really excellent work!
Noel

Hi guys. This is really fantastic. Floyd's great writing with Janice's vocals and bud's mixing. Great combo!

Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Very smooth production and a good mix. I have to go with those who said an ending might have been better than the fade, but that's just being really picky.

Good to see another collaboration working so well.

ROG.

Thanks folks! The soundcloud files is now updated with Floyd's harmony on the verses. Plus he has graciously offered to provide some harmony on a few other cuts. Nothing like a male harmony voice to round things out with Janice's two parts. Fun.

Updated: The Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

Nice job guys!

Thanks Peter for everything y'all do and thanks again for awarding us the Everything Pak. We're having a large time with it and are currently writing a tune to experiment with the TexMex tracks. PG Music has allowed us to explore more genres than our previous bands would ever have put up with!

Just wanted to say "Thanks" to Bud and Janice for doing such an incredible job on this song.

I was working up a version myself, using the bluegrass RealTracks for the first time, and it occurred to me that I had never actually done a bluegrass production and perhaps I should ask Bud's help (who better?). Then it occurred to me that it would be cool to hear them do a version of it. I am a big fan of Bud's production and mixes. His tracks always sound like "the right guys got together in the studio and sat around a couple of mics". And I have become a HUGE fan of Janice's vocals. I love to listen to her sing.

So I was quite pleased when they decided to have a go at this. It could not have come out any better.

They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To... but, I'm sure glad they made 'em like Bud and Janice at least once.

Thanks guys.

floyd

Great collaboration guys...keep it up...you got something special going on there!

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I love it. Lyrics, tune, performance, arrangement well done. The harmony really makes the chorus shine. My only nit and it is a small one is the fade - I'd rather a real ending - but that's just me.

Great job.

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yeah, fades are for top 40 radio... bluegrass is best when it's served up live on stage, and in that environment you never ever hear a song fade out.

having said that, this is yet another excellent song from all the participants!