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When I was in the hospital, my uncle came and repeated part of the 23rd Psalm to me, "He maketh me lay in green pastures". My mystery illness was later diagnosed as cancer. It was the beginning of a long, tough period. I contemplated that scripture and others, and how they applied to my circumstances. Out of that came the ideas for this song. I was hoping for something that sounded a little more old-fashioned gospel - we'll see.

https://soundcloud.com/user-722422510/shelter-and-shield Shelter And Shield

He’s my Hope. He’s my fortress. He’s my rock, my shelter and shield.
And he’s the one that I can lean on with the power to make me feel
such peace, and such joy and a love so true and real,
‘cause he’s my hope. He’s my fortress. He’s my rock, my shelter and shield.

Well, the Lord provides a guiding light so I won’t stumble in the dark of night,
and I’ve learned to walk by faith, not sight, even when it’s all up hill.
And when the road I’m on is hard and long he’s my fortress, safe and strong.
He’s the rock that I can lean upon to keep me safe inside his will.
And when I’m ill at ease he fills my heart with peace. He makes me lie in fields of green
where the waters run still and deep and my cup is overfilled.

He’s my Hope. He’s my fortress. He’s my rock, my shelter and shield.
And he’s the one that I can lean on with the power to make me feel
such peace, and such joy and a love so true and real,
‘cause he’s my hope. He’s my fortress. He’s my rock, my shelter and shield.

He’s the hope of my salvation. He’s the fortress for my soul.
He’s my rock and my foundation. He’s the one who makes me whole.
He’s my shield and expectation, and my shelter from the cold.
He’s the power of peace deep inside of me. He’s the joy that lasts for eternity,
he has the kind of love that never lets me go. And

He’s my Hope. He’s my fortress. He’s my rock, my shelter and shield.
And he’s the one that I can lean on with the power to make me feel
such peace, and such joy and a love so true and real,
‘cause he’s my hope. He’s my fortress. He’s my rock, my shelter and shield.
He’s my hope. He’s my fortress. He’s my rock, my shelter and shield.



This was one of my first attempts at using Biab, so I may have put in a little much. I'm sure I would have mixed it differently if I'd been on this forum and got all the feed back I have now, but when my hard drive broke this is what I was left with. I'm playing the guitars (Gretch and Breedlove), the bass (Ibanez) and the drums were the easiest of all - just snapping my fingers into the mic! I'm also doing all the voices, including the bass. I was actually just putting down a scratch track to show a friend of mine who has a very deep, rich voice what I was thinking of him doing - only much better. But alas, the hard drive again! The Harmonica (TJ Klay) and fiddle (Rob Hajacos) are both done through Biab.

All comments are welcome. I appreciate the feedback on the other posts as well.

Brad

Good country praise and worship song.

I like the finger snaps, and like your bass and guitar work. Also like your vocal tracks.

Mix wise it seems you have everything pretty much straight down the middle, would be nice to get some stereo separation.

I read that you lost the hard drive with the source files, why not just redo the song? It's a good song, might be worth the effort?

Brad,

This is nicely done. A lot of good stuff going on.

Vocals are nice. Harmonies, too.
Good job on guitar and bass (the bass gets a bit repetitive, but that's Country for ya...)
Nice snaps.
A good mix.

A couple of suggestions -
The harp and fiddle are good additions, but... they are both "busy" tracks - so the combination of the two gets really "busy" (and get-in-the-way of the vocal at times). Having them alternate turns would take care of most of the busy-ness (but you might still want to drop them - or at least parts - when the vocals are happening).
The snaps are nice, but I thought the song was beggin' for a drum track to join in later in the song. Could be just the last verse (stick) and chorus (snare) - the Nashville Even 8 would be the obvious choice.
Again... just opinions.

Keep 'em coming.

fj

Great song with a message.. nice g-tar playin'.

Good song, good singing. Interesting arrangements, especially the finger snaps.

I'll leave the helpful comments to those who know better than me.

I enjoyed the song!

Good song Brad, well sung.
Nice finger snapping, really adds something.
We also like the fiddle very much.

Wishing you all the best!

Rob and Anne-Marie

i found this a very clever catchy song.
liked those finger cliks....
and those clean geetar sounds.
clever lyrics.

very good song.
om

We think you met your goal with the old fashioned gospel feel, Brad. It reminded me (Janice) of the old song, "When God dipped his pen of love in my heart."

Very good vocal arrangement and performances on your part.

We agree that maybe some stereo panning would help the mix to open up.

Well done,

J&B

Hope your doing better now.

Everyone need some motivation to create music, looks like you found yours.

moto

Hi Brad,

Quite a story! But it lead to a good song.
I'm not religious, but I imagine you can become that when such problems arise.
So I have no comment on the lyrics, but you have a very good, convincing voice for singing them!

I like the intro and (like everyone here) the fingersnaps.
I agree with Floyd, your songs 'screams' for some percussion and a more noticeable bass guitar.
But beside that, when your solo part starts at 2:00 with the fiddle, I think it could use more volume. The song gets in a 'dip' around 2:17, where it needs a bit more power. At least, that's what I would do.

Very nice song though!
Hans

Thanks for the advise all. I hope to be able to put it all to good use when I get started recording/mixing again. I like listening to your stuff, so it's clear that you know what you're talking about.

Brad, first of all I'm glad that you are a fellow BIG C survivor.

Second this is a great song

Super vocal and lyrics

Good backing band. I agree that the fiddle and blues harp get in the way of the vocal. I also agree about the lack of stereo spread.

Personally I like the finger snaps and the lack of any drums. Excellent job on that.

Brad...another really good one brother...I love the old time feeling of this one...it's got that camp meeting, shaped note, southern gospel convention feel...it was this style of music that won my heart and made me want to sing and write gospel songs when I was a young man...and that's been a while back.

I like Floyd's thoughts on the mix and arrangement...maybe claps instead of a drum beat in the latter part of the song to really give it that old time revival feel...or not...it's standing pretty good just as it is...every word is true!

Cool intro. Finger snaps were a cool add. Super vocal and lyric. Excellent guitar work. Well done..

Brad

Good song, and some good suggestions from forum members.

Enjoyed the song and finger snaps!

Peter

Heartfelt, good vocal performance. Definitely a catchy song!

Brad,

Really like this one—terrific write and great feel out of the gate. A real foot-tapper. The finger snap works really well. A nice mix of live playing with the BIAB real tracks. Really well done praise tune. This will go over well in that genre. Nice work!

P.S. Just reading through the comments, I’m not sure about the drums, though certainly worth trying to see how much they add. I do think a stronger bass line would make it pop a bit more.

All my best to you,

Deej

How did you do that?

Rock and roll originally came from a blend of blues, country and gospel. You managed to blend the three seamlessly while each element retained its original character. to me, the harmonica sounds pure blues, the guitar pure country and the vocals pure gospel. And they each blend together perfectly with one another

Brad,

Amen and amen to every word in this great tune! I loved the sparse instrumentation at the beginning! The vocals are perfect! It's got that old-timey feel that really works! The finger snaps? are the only percussive sounds needed! Enjoyed it! Thanks, Torrey