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Journeyman
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Journeyman
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I wanted to write a song about my oldest sister Julia before she lost her battle with cancer. I spent a couple of hours with her asking a lot of questions about her past to try and come up with an idea. After our conversation I realized that her happiest time in life appeared to be her teen years. This inspired me to write about her senior year in high school when she and a friend spent some time decorating the gym for their senior prom dance. I started writing the song in November 2014 and I was glad that I had finished the complete song by the end of November for Julia died the week after Christmas 2014. I have attached her senior year picture taken in 1957. 1957 Julia arrived at the gymnasium
Wearing a blue and black skirt
Smiling and laughing with Peggy Walters
Knowing all the boys will flirt
Everyone there was decorating
Soon there would be lots of romance
There was so much anticipation
For the 1957 prom dance
The night was young and everyone was leaving
Excitement was everywhere
The girls drove Love and Main street
And cruised the Varsity
With Elvis singing on the air
When they had parked and ordered
The girls then started to dream
Of all the hairdos and the dresses
The 1947 prom would bring
The night was young and everyone was leaving
Excitement was everywhere
The girls drove Love and Main street
And cruised the Varsity
With Elvis singing on the air
Although it’s Julia reminiscing
Of times that she felt were so sane
Looking back at all those memories
Helps her to ease the pain
Style - c_conway.sty conway-classic Drums - Nashville 128 - Brian Fuller Bass - 532 - acoustic - Byron House Tenor Sax - 403 - motown - Jack Stafford Guitar - 1570 - high back beat 60’s - Sandy Williams Piano 1 - midi hq grand Piano 2 - 895 - pop slow - Miles Black Strings - 1543 - PopBelieve - Blair Masters HP AMD Athlon(tm)II B28 processor with 3.4 GHz 16GB ram - Mixcraft 6 DAW with Waves Diamond effects - 32" Westinghouse flat screen monitor - Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 interface - Studio Projects B1 mic - Sony HDR 7506 and Sennheiser HD 202 headphones - 2014 BIAB.
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Beautiful tribute Sonny!! You really nailed the sound of the era. Are all the BGs your son? They sound great. This is a classy production all the way around. Wonderful!! Take care. Greg
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The instrumentation, sound and feel are very authentic to the time but the BGV's steal the show for me on this one. The lead vocal is right in the pocket. Seems to be a minor timing glitch just after a minute into the song. Other than that small nit, this is a good production. A great song to honor your sister.
Charlie
BIAB 2026:RB 2026, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.
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Expert
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Excellent tune for your sister. You captured that 50's vibe, for sure. I enjoyed my listen. Well done. Yea, the bgv's are pretty cool. You worked that sax in just right.
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Very nicely done Sonny. Love the BGV's, and the feel on this one.
Your sister Julia was a beautiful girl. I love old photos - they freeze time, and preserve our fondest memories.
Regards,
Bob
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What a great tribute, and total capture of the period music. Really nice. Fantastic sax work.
Great work.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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A very nice tribute, Sonny. Captured the era perfectly.
Those BGVs, as others have said, are incredible. We need some RealTracks that do that!
The piano is perfect. I never check the all MIDI styles - so miss things like that... had to go find that to listen to (thanks for posting that info).
Thanks for a terrific listen!
floyd
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Hi Sonny,
what a nice tribute! The background vocals are
phenomenal. Who did them? The sound of that era is
very authentic.
Thanks a lot for the touching background story.
I enjoyed my listen very much.
Guenter
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Hi Sonny,
Sorry to hear about your sister.
The song definitely captures that 50s feel!
Real American sounding too.
Great job!
Rob and Anne-Marie
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Good one Sonny! The sax into really got my attention and the song held it throughout. Great use of that sax RT.
Wonderful vibe all round. Takes me back. Cheers.
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Sonny,
A beautifully sad song, a good memory.
The sax is perfect for the song.
Daniel's vocals are perfect.
Wonderful
Alyn
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Journeyman
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Thanks Greg. All the vocals are done by my good friend Daniel Hensley. I cannot say enough about Daniel myself...he is so good.
Sonny
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Charlie I appreciate your critique and yes I agree the bgv's added so much to the overall sound. I hear it in my mind and try to communicate what I want to Daniel and he always does a wonderful job of getting it just right. Thanks Charlie!
Sonny
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Kevin I am glad that you enjoyed the song...that is it what it is all about. Thanks for listening and giving me your comments.
Sonny
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Thanks Bob for your comment on my sister Julia...I will let the family know what you said...they will be pleased as I am.
Sonny
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What a great tribute, and total capture of the period music. Really nice. Fantastic sax work.
Great work. Thanks for dropping by and sharing your comment. I do appreciate it very much! Sonny
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Thanks Floyd for listening and giving me your thoughts. I am glad that I was able to help with the midi piano...I do not know about you, but I find it very time consuming sometimes to get just what I want searching BIAB. I will tell Daniel that he should make a user track of his BGV's (lol)...then I would not need him any more (just kidding).
Thanks Floyd!
Sonny
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Hi Guenter,
Daniel Hensley did all the vocals on this song. He is a good friend of mine who has given a lot of his time to my cause.
You have really encouraged me with your comments and I am glad that you let me know.
Thanks,
Sonny
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Thanks Rob and Anne-Marie for your kind words. From what I have heard so far, you guys always produce some very fine music. I look forward to hearing more from you.
Sonny
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Good one Sonny! The sax intro really got my attention and the song held it throughout. Great use of that sax RT.
Wonderful vibe all round. Takes me back. Cheers. Thanks Rich...the sax was a big part of what I was trying to accomplish and in my mind it had to be just right. I am glad that you liked it. Sonny
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