Not quite sure what style to call this one. Jessie and I decided to have a go at Bluegrass, but we didn't have all the right instruments and my copy of BiaB pre-dates RTs. One of these days I'll have to save for the up-grade.

So what we ended up with is Piano, Hammond, Guitars, Bass and Drums all recorded in PowerTracks and something which we think might possibly be Country Pop. I'm sure you Country fans out there will be able to put us straight.

YOU MAKE ME SMILE
You know you make me smile
Babe you know you do
Well, you make me smile
Babe you know you do
And you know that it's true
Would I lie to you?

You know you make me laugh
With the things you do
Well, you make me laugh
With the things you do
And you know that it's true
Would I lie to you?

You know you make me fall
Fall in love with you
Yes you make me fall
Fall in love with you
And you know that it's true
What else could I do?

As usual, thanks for listening and all comments welcome. (As long as they're not rude.)

ROG and Jessie.

Hi ROG,



Wow that's good! To my ears, it sounded Country Rock/Pop'ish. Every time I hear something formulated on 12-bar blues, it's always very clear to me why the song form has stood the test of time. It's such a great format!

What stood out to me first of all was that you used the traditional 12-bar blues format for your lyrics. That is,


The above is sometimes regarded as a simple lyric format. I disagree. It takes great writing skill to get what amounts to two lines of lyrics resonating with meaning.

Using this lyric technique was a masterstroke. Also, to end the section with a question. How cool is that! As Pat Pattison regularly says, a change in grammatical form of a lyric (e.g. from statements to question) usually empowers the lyric. That was certainly true for me with these lyrics.

For what it's worth, if you ever decide to shorten the introduction but want to maintain the song's length, you could easily repeat Verse 1 as the final verse. To my way of thinking, framing the lyrics with verse 1 at start and end would make the final verse 1 lyrically powerful. It's also a technique sometimes used in traditional blues.

Anyway ... the above is just a bit of idle chit-chat. What I really, really want to compliment you on is the songwriting, the arrangement and the production. I cannot believe that you played so many instruments and put it all together so professionally. When most of us in this forum are relying on Realtracks and Realdrums, you are using playing skills, musicianship and experience. I'm blown away by how talented you are.

Lastly, Jessie and you sounded fantastic! I greatly admire her ability. Moreover, it continues to grow and grow.

In a word ... AWESOME

Best regards,
Noel

Noel, my friend, you are just too kind.

I wish I could say that I'd carefully considered the points you mentioned, but in truth it just sort of came together out of a bit of guitar practice. A country 12 bar at 180 bpm is a great way to smarten up your clean picking.

I played the basic tracks to Jess, who then confessed to being a fan of Bluegrass and so she wrote and sang the harmony in about ten minutes!

Sometimes you just need a bit of luck.

Many thanks for all the kind words.

ROG.

Sounds like the Beatles meet Nashvegas! Ready? Ok here is a new music genre . . . It is Rog Steady!

Fun listen.

Later,

Rog Steady? Yeah, I like that.

Thanks, Danny, pleased that you got some fun out of it.

ROG.

ROG,

This is so foot tapping feel good. I love the sound and the harmony is great. Would've liked to hear the chorus sung one more time but hey .... leave 'em wanting more. <grin>

ROG and Jessie,

Very well played. Some super guitar work there. And a terrific job of working to get that Country/BG feel.

However I'd say it sounded quite similar to the Beatles "playing Country". They were still the Beatles. And you are still ROG (and Jessie). A very cool sound. Excellent vocals. This actually sounded to me like a song that Ringo would sing. Quite enjoyable. I was sort of hoping it would finish the way those Ringo songs always did - a whole bunch of things happening at the end - lots of people singing and banging on stuff..

Cool.

floyd

ROG and Jessie make a mean combination!!

What else can I say? I'm a fan

keep 'em coming

Alyn

Hi, Rog and Jessie !

Have you ever sounded better ?
Your voices blend so superbly
on this one !:))I enjoyed
listening really very much !:))


Cheers
Dani

I tried to listen yesterday but somehow, soundcloud wasn't cooperating..... but it is today....

cool tune... I wouldn't call it country though... probably closer to some rock stuff from the 60's....

I like the song, and the instrumentation fits well.

Things are pretty heavy on the fx and obvious double tracking/cloning of the vox. The vox are "too perfect" to be double tracked, which has me thinking that you cloned them as opposed to recording the tracks multiple times. I hear comb filtering in places which leads me to believe you did clone the vox.

would I lie to you :57 and in the last verse.... listen to the highs and you can hear it in several places. Comb filtering is one of the things to be aware of when cloning and nudging tracks... it's most prevalent on the higher freqs.

Back to the tune.... I like the happy go lucky feel to this song. It put a smile on my face this morning. The instruments mix well.... although I thought the guitars were a bit busy in places. But that's just my opinion.

Hi Rog,

that's a feel good and fun song!
I like Jessie's harmonies.
And I like the expression Rog steady as well.

Guenter

Hi Herb.

A few things, here to be cleared up.



They are all tracked up - six tracks each for me and Jess. It just takes practice.



With twelve vox tracks running, using the same voices and panned hard left/right, you're always going to get some "comb sound" whether you clone or track-up. If the tracks were all cloned, as you suggest, then the phasing effect would be exactly the same throughout, not just in places as it is. Basically, the multi-voice effect is what we wanted for this song.



No effects other than compression on the vox tracks. A little stereo delay on the lead guitars. Tracked-up stereo on the rhythm guitar. Chorus on the piano.

Thanks for listening.

ROG.

Cool lyrics and very neat harmonies. Really enjoyed it

Josie - "Leave 'em wanting more" sounds like a good way to work.

Pleased it got your feet tapping.

Thanks, ROG.

Floyd

Thanks for the nice comments about the guitar. I decided to play the parts right through, rather than use any copy/paste sections, just to see if I could still do it! I'd forgotten how tiring the concentration is. Must practice more.

Always a Beatles fan, so a song Ringo would sing is a big complement, thanks.

ROG.

Alyn, Dani, Guenter, Scott.

Hey Guys, thanks for the listen and all the nice comments.

Glad you liked the harmonies. Credit must go to Jess for writing and singing the harmony part. It was only after she'd recorded her parts that I realized how appallingly flat I was and I had to re-do it! These girls are starting to show me up.

ROG.

Great toe-tapper, and solid harmonies. It got me smiling.

Add an accordion and you can call in Zydeco.

Great fun Rog!
This sounded just like Fleetwood Mac ('Rumours' era) jamming with The Travelling Wilburys! Very enjoyable, good work all round.

John

David - Pleased that it raised a smile! I need to up-grade my BiaB to a version with RTs so I can get the accordion and maybe even a fiddle into it.

John - Fleetwood and Wilburys? I'm a great big fan of both, so that was a huge complement. Many thanks.

ROG.

Hi Rog and Jesie
I havent dissected it, I havent bothered about combing anything (except whats left of my hair!), I havent even wondered if the guitar you are picking is your Tele (lol) - I just Listened to it and loved it.
Great lyrics and superb production all round.
cheers
Ian

I agree with floyd completely regarding the Beatles/country feel that it has a la some of Ringo's songs and other tunes like "Eight days a week." We used to do a bluegrass version of Ringo's "Don't Pass Me By" and it worked well. Janice says the guitar reminds her of some of Dicky Betts country picking. Bottom line, it all works and works well. We had fun listening....all four times!

Bud

Hi Ian.
Thanks for the listen and the positive comments. Yes, there is the Tele in there! What else could I use for music like this?

Janice and Bud.
Thanks for looking in. Yes, the more I listen to it, the more I can hear what you mean about the Beatles influence. I was a teenager in the sixties and grew up playing Beatles songs, so I'm flattered to receive any link to their music. Thanks for all four listens!

ROG.

Isn't it fun to experiment with different styles! I find that when I do it always comes out as me. And as you state in you original post I sometimes wind up with something I'm not sure what genre to call it. But a lot if great songs come out of blending backgrounds.

Much enjoyed!

hi rog I like your stuff really enjoyable everything fits together and mixed well reminded me of little feet some what well done eric