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St. Louis Blues -- VIDEO Audio Only (Depending on the vagaries of website compression at any given time one of the above may have less artifacts, be hotter and/or just sound better.
Hi folks, this is our first song in three months. This year is flying by or as a friend of mine says "time flies like an arrow…fruit flies like a banana." 
As one of the most popular public domain* songs St Louis blues has been recorded by hundreds of artists with incredibly varied arrangements - many of great renown. We decided to do a boogie boogie version of it…one that we could imagine folks jitter bugging or lindy hopping to in the 1930’s and 40’s. Not to mention that we’ve wanted to use this piano midi super track for some time
We rewrote and tweaked some of the lyric to more reflect a woman’s perspective and to come up with a “cleaner” version than the original (trust me!). Interestingly this has got to be a very early appearance of the bridge.
We originally had rhythm guitars, bass and drum tracks but everything seemed to be competing with the piano. The piano “left hand” is really nailing a good bass line and without playing it myself I don’t think I could come with something that wouldn’t step on the piano. After removing the bass I decided to just go as basic as possible and kept removing. So imagine, say Marcia Ball, playing/singing and a fine country fiddler walks by and sees a light on…..
*Published in 1914 St. Louis Blues is firmly in the public domain even by the very strict US standards; consequently, we own all rights to this production.
Comments are always both welcomed and appreciated.
J&B
Vocal: Rodes NT1 mic > Focusrite Scarlett 212 > Logic Pro. Effects via Nectar 2
Piano: Midi Super Track 2067 Piano 40’s Boogie Rhythm. Rendered to midi/Logic Pro X Yamaha Grand sound/Alloy 2/EMT Plate Sim Reverb (minimalist solo comped from multiple generations of the rhythm track)
Fiddle: Solo 1872 Western Swing/ EMT Plate Sim Reverb
Fiddle R: 1115 Back ground country swing/ EMT Plate Sim Reverb
Mixed in Logic Pro X and mastered with Ozone 6.
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Hey there J&B
Fabulous.
I remember playing double bass to an instrumental version of that song in the school jazz band, never realising at the time how raunchy the lyrics were!
I love this minimalist version. The piano track is exactly right and gives Janice room to move. Some super blues timing and phrasing in there Janice.
Fiddle solo? Couldn't think of anything which would fit in better.
Oh, and great video too.
ROG.
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Very nice and groovy, this style is definitely your specialty. Top-notch vocals Janice!
We like the flipbook/pagecurl effect in the video, the retro wallpaper and the pictures that are nicely blended with it.
Good work (again/as always!)
Rob & Anne-Marie
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hoooooly mooooly... hard to imagine that the music from Prairie Home Companion probably made somebody rich even though they were much less talented than you two.
This is so well conceived, produced and packaged. I love the page turns and wallpaper notepad. The photos are perfect, you must have scoured the entire web to find enough pertinent photos that were also public domain. But your efforts paid off... It all works together so well
You must be absolutely maniacal about tweaking BIAB's output until it sounds live, because that's the telltale sign of your productions: the live sound.
Janice's voice is so fluid that she navigates the melody effortlessly, and even has a little lingual lilt left over to play with the melody.
The song is executed perfectly, and the accompanying video also shows a great deal of thought , research and visionary zeal.
I'm exhausted as I write this, so my ability to find words does not do justice to the magnitude of your project. But I really, really like it.
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Hey there J&B
Fabulous.
I remember playing double bass to an instrumental version of that song in the school jazz band, never realising at the time how raunchy the lyrics were!
I love this minimalist version. The piano track is exactly right and gives Janice room to move. Some super blues timing and phrasing in there Janice.
Fiddle solo? Couldn't think of anything which would fit in better.
Oh, and great video too.
ROG. Thanks ROG! Interesting about you playing bass on this tune as I came close to dusting off my upright bass for a track on it before deciding on the minimalist approach. We are glad you liked that. Also Janice much appreciates you mentioning her timing and phrasing on the vocal. She simply loves to sing this kind of tune. We felt pretty good about the piano and it's cool that you felt it worked! J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Apprentice
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Janice and Bud,
Good heavens,, isn’t this the way this song should always have been sung, it rollicked it rolled, it went deep, deep, south. It just had me going forward a few years as well, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, it became even more ageless for me. Janice you were in your vocal element there.
Paddy G
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Hi, Janice & Bud !
This song could have been written
for Janice ! She is so at home
with it ! I can´t recall having
heard anything better from you
two and this means that this will
be my fav J&B tune from now on !:))
This is simply great !!!
Cheers
Dani
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Janice & Bud
That is pretty much the definitive version of the song for me (I've heard it a few times now).
Superb vocal - it swings. Very nice evocative video & the audio version is beautifully recorded.
Brilliant.
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Hi Janice & Bud,
it's all been said. I can only line up in the praise for this song. Janice awesome es always. The piano track is great. Icing on the cake is the video.
I enjoyed it.
Guenter
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Very nice and groovy, this style is definitely your specialty. Top-notch vocals Janice!
We like the flipbook/pagecurl effect in the video, the retro wallpaper and the pictures that are nicely blended with it.
Good work (again/as always!)
Rob & Anne-Marie Glad you liked it and thanks for mentioning the video! J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Expert
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Wow ! This is top notch ! Excellent performed !
Forever Grateful, BUT, sometimes pissed of.  Trygve "Leo" Larsen BiaB 2020, Windows 8.1, Intel Core i5 CPU, 270GHz, 32 Gb RAM My OLD tracks on Soundcloud; https://soundcloud.com/trygve-larsen My NEW is unpublished The Universe = Uni-verse ie one song.
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Janice & Bud,
This is such a cool sound. Love the arrangement and the mix is outstanding. Janice as always is flawless and her phrasing is impeccable. Loved it!
Bob
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hoooooly mooooly... hard to imagine that the music from Prairie Home Companion probably made somebody rich even though they were much less talented than you two.
This is so well conceived, produced and packaged. I love the page turns and wallpaper notepad. The photos are perfect, you must have scoured the entire web to find enough pertinent photos that were also public domain. But your efforts paid off... It all works together so well
You must be absolutely maniacal about tweaking BIAB's output until it sounds live, because that's the telltale sign of your productions: the live sound.
Janice's voice is so fluid that she navigates the melody effortlessly, and even has a little lingual lilt left over to play with the melody.
The song is executed perfectly, and the accompanying video also shows a great deal of thought , research and visionary zeal.
I'm exhausted as I write this, so my ability to find words does not do justice to the magnitude of your project. But I really, really like it. Pat, reviews like this offer a validation to our efforts that is priceless. Every time we try something different it's a bit like stepping of a cliff. We are never sure if folks will enjoy it or not. And for this piano/fiddle thing we had a lot of doubts. So, thank you!! And we appreciate you commenting on the video. Yes, it took a while to find the PD photos. And they were not of high resolution so I had to create the collages which required a higher number of photos. The alternative would been to have used them individually and that would have meant a lot of dead border space. We appreciate your time to watch/listen, your time to respond and your support. J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Apprentice
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This song is really cool. Great vocals and I agree stripped back piano (esp when it is so busy) is a good way to go. Hard sometimes to strip instruments back but usually worth it. Well done!
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Pro all the way. Expect nothing less.
It is an accomplishment that "that line band sound" has become your signature (Bud) - everyone agrees and no one does it better.
The vocal on this (Janice) is as-good-as-it-gets... YOUR "signature" - because that is how all of your vocals are described.
The video is perfect for the song (can almost see those people moving), but the audio only link is worth everyone's attention - so you can listen - truly listen...
Love that piano bass line... we don't ever hear that... nice...
Stunning, y'all.
fj
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J&B, I could go on and on about Janice's fabulous vocal but in this case a simple " Don't get any betta than that" will have to do. The striking thing here is how good the piano and fiddle sound. The spread on the left and right hands is perfect and the Yamaha setting sounds awesome. Just the right touch of reverb. The production chops here are shining as well as an excellent video. Also superb editing on the solos. A superior version of a song that has been covered a jillion times. Quite an accomplishment. Tom
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Janice and Bud,
Good heavens,, isn’t this the way this song should always have been sung, it rollicked it rolled, it went deep, deep, south. It just had me going forward a few years as well, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, it became even more ageless for me. Janice you were in your vocal element there.
Paddy G
Thanks! Glad it rocked for you....yep, there is some Little Richard and Jerry Lee in there. Thanks for mentioning that. J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Expert
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Very pleasant listen. A super vocal and great background.
Nice song.
Sergio
Sergio
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Great foot stompin' fun!! Great job putting this together. The piano is awesome, as is the fiddle solo. AND Janice kills the vocal-exquisite timing with not one note a hair out of place! That girl can SANG!!!! Video is a lot of fun too! Great stuff guys!! Take care. Greg
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Hi, Janice & Bud !
This song could have been written
for Janice ! She is so at home
with it ! I can´t recall having
heard anything better from you
two and this means that this will
be my fav J&B tune from now on !:))
This is simply great !!!
Cheers
Dani
Thanks Dani. Yep Janice loves this kind of song...she sorta makes it up as she goes along through the song! Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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