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Hello everyone,

This is our new song:

LITTLE YOUNG PRETTY featuring Floyd Jane

Rob proudly presented his first "real" country song to me.
I took a listen and liked the song very much, but... although the song indeed sounded very 'country' Rob's vocal didn't sound very 'country'.
So I said: "Why not let Floyd Jane have a go at it?"
So here's the collab, for which I did the backing vocals and made the video
Hope you like it. Any comments are welcome.

Style is =FLK_OTR.STY (FolkSwing w/ Trumpet (140 RT))
Style MIDI Instruments:
Acoustic String Bass Forte DXI
Acoustic guitar DVI Taylor Vsti
RealTracks:
530:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Hank Sw 085
1703:Guitar, Electric, Soloist Country12-8Brent Sw 065
627:Pedal Steel, Background 12-8 Crystal Sw 065
RealDrums: CountryShuffle128^1-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride

Little Young Pretty

All I hear is you, hidden inside, leading my way
All missing you
When I close my eyes, when I fear the lies

Hear my prayer Little Young Pretty
Given me all I could bear
Gave me no reason why
Now who will you run to now

All I fear is you, for holding me back,
for bringing me down
When I close my eyes for the hurt inside

Feel that love Little Young Pretty
You've given me all I could bear
You gave me no reason why
Now you're all that I'm praying for

Feel that love Little Young Pretty
You've given me all I could bear
Gave me no reason why
But you're all that I'm praying for

Feel the need Little Young Pretty
You know that I'm still around
Where will you run to now
'Cause you're all that I'm praying for

Anne-Marie

Great Sangin and Wordinatin!

Gorgeous video! very pretty melody, you're gonna make floyd an international singing star, great mix, nicely done, enjoyed.
Kenny

Very nice and a great collaboration. Enjoyed it a lot.

Charlie

Beautiful! Video, arrangement, vocals and song.
Rob's song with Floyd and Anne-Marie's vocals really add another dimension to the country sound.
Cheers.

Great collaboration! I enjoyed this one a lot! When I saw the title I could not help but think of "The Wizard of Oz" when the witch said "My Little Pretty" so I was very curious at to what I would be hearing and seeing. I can say that I am very pleased with all of it...the lyrics, production, choice of instruments, vocals and the video. Your choice of (models)for the video is outstanding. All of you captured the full essence of this song. Great song!
Sonny

Wow, you guys just keep delivering the most high-quality material.
What an absolutely fabulous collaborative effort.

The song-writing is top class.

Floyd has truly delivered a first class lead vocal, and Anne-Marie's vocal competence leaves nothing to be desired.

The song, style, presentation and everything is 1st class. Thank for the listen(s)

Hi Anne-Marie,

this is your usual high-quality standard.
A great collaboration,good song-writing.
Floyd's lead vocals and Anne-Marie's background
are awesome.
I enjoyed my listen and the video.

Guenter

Interesting video and good story throughout -- it is actually a pretty sad video. Of course, Floyd brings it home quite nicely. Pretty good first attempt at country!

floyd, Rob and Anne-Marie,

What an excellent colab, musically and vocally it is top notch
BUT the video just blew my socks off, a perfect match to the song.
Well done Anne-Marie for that excellent piece of work.

There sure are some high class writers and performers on this here forum.

Excellent all round.

Alyn

nothing to say, just to listen (and see...)

Sergio

A SUPER BIG +1

You all should be extremely proud of this one! This is a lot better then those songs they are playing on our so called country stations up here.

Thanks to all who mentioned the vocal....

All the credit, of course, belongs to Rob and Ann-Marie. The tracks on this are so very well done. The melody is so very haunting - I have been waking every morning singing this in my head since I recorded the vocal - it won't leave me alone.

Rob's original vocal was beautiful! Beautiful mix. Beautiful harmonies...


I'm just happy that they finally convinced my girlfriend to be in a video


floyd

Rob goes country and Floyd goes Orbison!! Really nice song, and what a delivery! Rob is an excellent singer but this one belongs to Floyd. I'm guessing Rob mixed it-a little more verb and a little more emphasis on the vocal. Great BGs by AM. The whole thing just works wonderfully well! Great job all! Take care. Greg

Thank you Tommy!




Thank you Kenny. Isn't Floyd an international singing star already?




Thank you Charlie!




Thank you Rich!



Thank you Sonny!
What you saw must have been quite a surprise then ey..?
It's always a challenge for me to create a video that matches the song!

Anne-Marie

That was professional in every way and beautifully presented.

Superb piece of work in every way.
And what a great guitar solo break!
Enjoyed it so much,
cheers
ian

I'm always extremely impressed by the level of quality in your video productions. In addition, you write good music and do the technicals on that very well also.



I have to agree with this assessment. A good first shot attempt at country music. Personally, I thought the song tended to be closer to MOR, Easy Listening or even Adult Contemporary as opposed to country. The chord progression and singing was leaning towards Roy Orbson's style in a few places. If the steel wasn't there, it would loose a lot of it's "slightly country" feel and no one would mistake this for a country song.

Part of that whole, "not feeling totally country" to my ears, came from the use of the key changes. You started in one key for the verses and modulated to a new one for the choruses and returned to the original key again. You gotta in mind when writing country music, that country music, for the most part, uses pretty basic chord progressions, and modulations tend to be 1/2 step or whole steps up, not back and forth. If the goal is to write a country song that sounds unmistakably country, the chords should be simple and adhere to the norm. I realize that by stating that you need to adhere to the "norm", a lot of people's hair just stood on end and veins are throbbing in their foreheads.... but.... I'm simply stating this as a point, not as a criticism of the chords you did choose to use.

The lyrics tended to be a bit on the esoteric side. Perhaps a bit too much for country but perfect for rock and other genres. Country likes to have answers and this lyric doesn't give much to the listener in regards to answers, leaving much to the listener to attempt to figure out. After listening a few times and reading the lyrics, and watching the video.... I'm still wondering myself what this is about and what is going on. Country lyrics would make it fairly clear in one way or another. Think of a typical country song as a 3 minute movie script. Introduction, characters, plot, resolution.

The vox were not as upfront and present as is normally heard in country or a FJ production for that matter. Still easily heard and understood. No big issues there.

My observations are not so much a critique of the song itself as it is guidance on how to improve your writing if you're trying to write a country song that passes muster as a genuine country song. In a genre other than country, this song works well just as it is.

Good song, great job by all.

Herb says; " In a genre other than country, this song works well just as it is. "

Which is true. But if you go back far enough into the history of country and change the instrumentation just a bit, to a song of the classic Nashville sound of lush backing with strings, I can imagine Eddie Arnold, Jim Reaves or Ray Price choosing and recording this song.

Rob, nice write and A-M great video. floyd nails the vocal and I really like the processing on it. It does sound very like 50's or early 60's country. Another fine production- very well put together and all the pieces fit. A super job by all three of you! Tom