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Hi Charlie ...

Alan here as Di takes a nap!

I played lead guitar in a country band for almost 45 years. Yep, I'm an old fart! I'll get to your questions before giving you a summary opinion. So, for what it's worth, here are my opinions.

It's a bit hard to really comment on the lyric and the prosody it has with the musical bed without having the lyric in front of me. The one thing that caught my ear, though, was the first two lines of the first verse... "Just finished college...Graduated this year". Most publishers and A&R folks are gonna tell you "They're redundant, find a fresh way to convey the message without saying, more or less, the same thing in back to back lines." I also feel they'd probably tell you " A daughter so dear" is to cliche and dated. A suggestion, but you can probably do better:

College in my rear view
Real life lingered near
Married my first love
A daughter the first year

In this example, you've said the same thing as in the original verse but in a fresher way with no redundancy. Also, the last line embellishes the theme (First Times)of the song line. I'm sure you could do better than that example, but feel free to use any part of it should you choose to.

I'd bring the drums down a wee bit. In modern country music, loud drums usually work fine. But, this is a retro country song, reflecting on an era in country music when drums were not so prevalent. Also, a little more reverb on the drums would soften them somewhat.

The lyric, with the exception I noted above, works for the era you're trying to recreate. The lyric is relatively simple, which fits the time period. It tells a story from beginning to end ... another important facet for that era of country music.

The fiddle and pedal steel are real nice fit! The fiddle reminded me somewhat of Johnny Gimble and the pedal steel reminded me of Lloyd Green. However, I think you need a guitar in the verses for the background. That's the only place I'd use it, though. You wouldn't want it competing with pedal steel and fiddle in other areas. I would use a guitar track with simple, single-string backing lead, somewhat in the style of Roy Nichols (Merle Haggard's guitarist in his early recordings). That would fill out the verses without making them cluttered.

One final thought ... retro/classic country is a very tough market in Nashville these days. There's not a lot of demand for it. There are very loyal listeners for the style, but they are small in number in the big picture. The folks who listen to it, for the most part, are not the folks who are out there spending their money on music. But, if Rudy is doing it as personal project without the blessings of Nash-Vegas, it might work for you (and him).

Overall, the concept is good, the musical bed is very good, with the exception of the back-up guitar part I mentioned. A lead singer with a strong voice and a harmony singer with a good high tenor would be a great fit for this. The chord pattern and arrangement are real nice ... liked that a lot!

It's a real nice song that needs a little polishing. Keep in mind that the demand for this type of music is not strong. But for those who enjoy this style of music (I do!), it's a niece piece that a lot of folks can relate to.

I hope my comments and observations were helpful. Good luck with it ... I enjoyed my listen! Best to ya.

Alan (and a sleeping Di)