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Really good song, Herb.
Did AI write the melody and chord changes, or is there a way you can tell it what you want?
Nice job on the piano, and BIAB arrangement.
Enjoyed!
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I really like the lyrics! Thank you. I have always liked story songs that invoke images in the mind of the listener. Glad you enjoyed the trip.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Herb,
That is a great sounding country song! Your work with the synth voice is super! I agree about the Carrie Underwood comparison! Your piano playing is sounding pretty darn good btw!
Thanks, TB Much appreciated. I'll take a Carrie Underwood comparison.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Herb, classic country at it absolute best
This reminded me of Sammi Smith.
Outstanding synth vocal and arrangement
Loved that backing band and mix
Fantastic piano!
Loved it I'm glad you enjoyed it Mario. I appreciate you.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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When I see that you've posted, I'm usually hoping for a rocker, but this song was very, very sweet on the ears. It all came together really well, and the result stayed with me for quite a while. In fact, I listened, had dinner, then came back and listened again. It was that good. Great job with this! The next one I'm currently working on is a rocker of sorts.... well, closer to a rocker than this. Coming back for a second listen is a nice compliment. Thanks for listening.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I like it a lot. Has a late 70s to mid 80s sound to my ears. I agree with the several comments about this being a good fit for Carrie Underwood. But the first thought I had was Alison Krause. She occasionally does a straight country song. But, what do I know - just an old fart who still enjoys music - making and listening.
Great lyric and nice work with Synth vocal. That's a nice plug in for the vocal harmonies. Sounds terrific.
Take care,
Alan Alan, yeah I really like the older style country so I guess it shows up in my writings. AK is a favorite of mine. Thanks Herb, cool tune. Nicely programmed vocals and the band, including the piano, sound great. The instrumental breaks really flow well, too. You describe a lot of work, but this sounds quite effortless, and quite beautiful. Well done!
DC Ron It was a lot of work. The biggest part is in the DAW with the editing needed to pull it all together. Thanks My take on this: Get a decent MIDI keyboard (weighted or unweighted, it's up to you), Native Instruments "Kontakt" and a piano library of your choice.
There are even some free ones that are usable.
You don't have to sell your house to get a good piano sound.
BD Thomas I'm cheap..... I guess it all comes down to do I want a good sounding piano or not? Really good song, Herb.
Did AI write the melody and chord changes, or is there a way you can tell it what you want?
Nice job on the piano, and BIAB arrangement.
Enjoyed!
Dave With AI, the way it currently functions, you can kinda tell it what melody you want..... however, I have found that to be hit and miss. Some of them have an "upload audio" function but it only takes 60 seconds and it's really not going to faithfully reproduce the melody exactly. Same thing kind of applies to changing lyrics in AI and editing the song. It's a far cry from being perfect. It's still easier to work in a DAW. I know some folks who literally regenerate a song over 100 times because each time it does something different. One guy I know did around 140 generations before he got something he really liked. That is NOT how I do it. Since I use Synth V for my vocals on songs, I am able, in SV to edit the melody line, change lyrics easily, and adapt the vocal line/melody to what I want it to sing. Essentially, AI wrote a draft version based on the prompt I gave it...topic, things I wanted in the lyrics, etc. I then take it and recreate it in BB and rework the vocal in SV and put it together in my DAW and hope it sounds good. Thanks for the compliment on the music and the piano part. I am in the process of knocking the rust off my keyboard skills.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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You nailed the vibe perfectly. The song winds its way through the lyrics and melody like a meandering stream through backwoods country. Enjoyed it.
Mick
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Hi, Herb. Nice country song - the harmonization works well. Solaria is a good fit here. My first thought was it was that Solaria was a Suno vocal, so take that as the compliment it's intended to be. The lyrics are nice, and the mix is filled with nice touches as instruments weave in and out, or back out completely. The piano is country, but has a touch of harpsichord - cool. Nice work all around. 
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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What a great sound, Herb. Really enjoy the whole package. Excellent job on the synth vocal, too. Beautiful melody, and I like how you mix the various instruments to highlight certain parts. Everything sounds perfect to me, but then I'm getting carried away with all the goodness in the write and production.
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Herb,
Solid composition. I think it's the first time I hear you play piano. Fits very well, but I think darker tone would sound better, if it's midi obviously you can experiment. Myself, sometimes I would even double piano with a different brand VSTi. Tune listens and mixed very well, but to tell you the truth, I like your compositions with real vocals more. Thank you for sharing.
Misha.
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Hi Herb,
I really enjoyed this song! Solaria did a good job, but here it's the composer/musician (I mean you) who makes this song sound so great!
The piano was also good here. If you had given it more emphasis, it might have taken away the attention from Solaria and the text. And you don't want that...
But sometimes I wish I could hear your voice again on those country songs. In my memory it still sounds so good!
Hans
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You nailed the vibe perfectly. The song winds its way through the lyrics and melody like a meandering stream through backwoods country. Enjoyed it.
Mick Nice description of the song. Thanks for listening
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Hi, Herb. Nice country song - the harmonization works well. Solaria is a good fit here. My first thought was it was that Solaria was a Suno vocal, so take that as the compliment it's intended to be. The lyrics are nice, and the mix is filled with nice touches as instruments weave in and out, or back out completely. The piano is country, but has a touch of harpsichord - cool. Nice work all around. Thanks. I appreciate you taking the time to listen
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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What a great sound, Herb. Really enjoy the whole package. Excellent job on the synth vocal, too. Beautiful melody, and I like how you mix the various instruments to highlight certain parts. Everything sounds perfect to me, but then I'm getting carried away with all the goodness in the write and production. Thanks . I like to do hard editing of the parts. Only the underlying rhythm runs the whole way. It makes for a cleaner, better sounding mix when you hard edit. Less of a mess. No backing off, completely out. Thanks for listening.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Herb,
Solid composition. I think it's the first time I hear you play piano. Fits very well, but I think darker tone would sound better, if it's midi obviously you can experiment. Myself, sometimes I would even double piano with a different brand VSTi. Tune listens and mixed very well, but to tell you the truth, I like your compositions with real vocals more. Thank you for sharing.
Misha. I'm still playing with the tone of the piano. I actually started piano before I got a guitar. The guitar took over and I dropped the piano for a while. One of the bands I was in, we had a really good piano player but I took over on one song because he couldn't play in the key it was in. It was the only keyboard song I played. In recent years I've been getting back into the piano and shaking off the rust. Thanks for listening
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Hi Herb,
I really enjoyed this song! Solaria did a good job, but here it's the composer/musician (I mean you) who makes this song sound so great!
The piano was also good here. If you had given it more emphasis, it might have taken away the attention from Solaria and the text. And you don't want that...
But sometimes I wish I could hear your voice again on those country songs. In my memory it still sounds so good!
Hans You're correct. While I really want my guitar playing and piano playing to be heard clearly, it's more important that they support the song and that often means being in the background. I'll be doing a few things where I sing, and a few where my playing is definitely gonna be upfront. Thanks
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Hi Herb.
Your expertise is on full display with this creation.
I absolutely loved it.
If you hadn't had mentioned Solaria, I would never have known that this wasn't a live singer.
Quite honestly, I am in awe of your arrangement and production skills and your outstanding control of Synth V.
To my ears, this is first-class everything!
--Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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It sounds like all the effort and grey hairs were worth it, Herb. 😊
We agree with the Carrie Underwood comparisons too.
You and the wrecking crew worked well together.
Well done!
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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The synth voice does sound have a Carrie Underwood vibe but I think the song's vibe goes way further back in time than Carrie. Jean Sheppard or maybe even better, Lorie Morgan could have topped the charts with this one back in the day with Charlie Rich and Freddie Fender and their hits were blasting out of our car speakers.
The piano was good and fit into the song just fine. I'm not recommending you change anything, but a Floyd Cramer RealTrack (there are a few) would have worked well with the classic feel of this song.
The lyrics were good and cohesive with only a few lines and phrases where AI lyrically was not quite tweaked with how you usually write nor how this song would be written in the 70's. Two lines jump out to me and there's one phrase that particularly reminds me back to my very earliest song posts where you pointed out to me a writing habit I had at that time and here in this song, AI sneaked it into the lyrics. Those lyrics brought back memories of both the good advice from you that made my lyric writing better and some fun memories from my early posting days.
This is a very good song, arrangement, production and your precise editing and producing is top notch. Enjoyed my listen.
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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Hi Herb.
Your expertise is on full display with this creation.
I absolutely loved it.
If you hadn't had mentioned Solaria, I would never have known that this wasn't a live singer.
Quite honestly, I am in awe of your arrangement and production skills and your outstanding control of Synth V.
To my ears, this is first-class everything!
--Noel Thanks Noel. One of the things I decided when working with synth voices was it had to sound as realistic as possible. That was one of the reasons I never got into the vocaloids because they didn't sound real. It's all about the attention to detail. I appreciate your commentary.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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