Cold Reality

A few weeks ago I wrote a quick little ditty mainly for Janice to play around with some rock vocal chops. Her brother plays in a blues/rock band and she’s a fan of Johnny Winter’s Texas Blues style so she’s heard a lot of this style. The tune being a straight ahead 12 bar blues so she just “riff sang” this over one take. i.e., didn’t spend any time trying to create a specific melody. Often with her those first "sound check" takes are where she has the most fun.

Several days later I heard Tom’s (tommyad) Hurricane Blues and got to thinking about his fine blues playing…..so we contacted him and he graciously agreed to play on the tune.

We opted to each create our own mix and see how things evolved. The more we communicated the closer the mixes came….but ultimately we all three decided on Tom's mix as it was more gritty and seemed to better fit the harder edgy groove we were looking for. We’ve recorded a lot of blues tunes but they were more of the acoustic or softer electric feel with a more intimate vocal (as a friend said). However Janice wanted to rock out a bit (actually our first rock effort)….and I think she did!

Vocal: Janice via Rodes NT1/Blue Icicle USB
Lead Guitar: Check in with Tom!
RealTracks in song: 386:Bass, Electric, Blues Chuck Sw 102
RealTracks in song: 1591:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm TexasBluesRockShuffle Sw 130
RealTracks in song: 654:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm TexasBoogieShuffle Sw 140
RealTracks in song: 651:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm TexasBoogie Sw 140
RealDrums: RealDrums in Song: NashvilleShuffle^13-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride

Comments of any persuasion are welcomed! Thanks for listening. Rock on….

Cold Reality

Turn yourself  around and head in a new direction
Point yourself towards a brand new direction 
Find a place that's a little closer to redemption 

Sometimes all you need is to move on
Pick up the pieces and move on
Smell a proverbial rose, kick back in a new dawn

Quit all that worrying about tomorrow
Stop all your fretting over tomorrow
There's some things you'll just never know

Gotta stop 'em from messing up your dreams
nobody oughta mess round with your dreams
Set yourself free from their petty schemes

It seems your friends are letting you be
Yeah everybody’s decided to leave you be 
You don't need another dose of their cold reality 

Ha! Love it. 'Moo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooove on' Sweet!

Terrific work people. Dang.

(I need to get in on some of this collaboration.)

"...Smell a proverbial rose..."


First Blues I ever heard with such an esoteric phrase in it. Could this be a new genre? “Blues Literati”?


Let me see....Bluegrass....Blues......seems a likely progression. You guys booked down at the roadhouse?


Janice wailed on this one. Nice playing by Tommy too! Love it.


Regards,

Bob

Hi Janice & Bud,

nice that Janice goes on rocking.
Great voice.
And Tommy: great guitar and tight mix.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Guenter

Rock on indeed!!
Great vocal, Janice and that Tom bloke isnt too bad on the axe either.
Got me right in the mood for tonights Gig.
Gotta Fly!
Ian

I never heard the word MOVE sung with so many syllables before.. but I LIKED it!

Y'all sound better than most of the music on my MP3 player!

We need to find a commercial outlet for the talent on this forum... seems a shame to hog it all for ourselves when the whole world would like it too...

Another knockout number. Janice's vocal delivers a fantastic blues feel, together with beautiful clean phonetics.

No need to add anything about the arrangement. It's perfect...

Nice project, glad to see folks can work together and not have to worry about a bill.

That in your face sound blew my hair out of style:)


Keep on Rockin in the Free World!


DA...

sooo sweet! great colab!!!

definite Patsy Cline vibe in the vocals here!

much enjoyed!

Thanks! That phrase just happened. It surprised both of us....



"blues literati?" That's a good un!! I can see all those blues guys sitting around outside the coffee house discussing the latest esoterica.....glad you liked it.



Thanks Guenter. We always appreciate your comments!

Sounds like ya'll had a blast doing this and it was every bit as fun to listen to Janice and Tommy cutting loose.

Sounds great.


Josie

Thanks Ian. Hope that mood groove lasted!



Thanks Pat for those kind words. It's great to see you around again. Yeah she worked that word over quite well. I never know how she's gonna sing something until we turn the mic on....and never does she!

Holy Smokes...

Is this hot or what? And down right sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great vocals by Janice! Di is the same way in that her first take is almost always the best. You got some vocal chops, lady!

Tom, you be wailing, man! Roadhouse Blues and Swing Blues are my faves and this rocks the house down. Sweet licks and great tone.

And Bud, that lyric says everything it needs to and more.

Kudos to all concerned! Super great tune and performance! Best to you..

Al & Di

Janice, Bud and Tom,

Now THAT's the music I like.

Janice's voice is excellent, as usual. As I typed that she sang "set your self free-ee" YEH
First takes can be the best, with a good singer, as the vocal calisthenics are then spontaneous, as in "set yourself free"

and YEH Tom CAN rock, beautiful guitar work, beautiful. *shakes hand* The hands off fret slide at the end is a great way to end a rockin' song.

And I do wish I had a more extensive vocabulary to do that song justice.

EXCELLENT

Alyn

Been said!

Thanks! I thought she got the blues thing going and then with Tom's guitar it started cookin'


Thanks! Tom's mix was the big reason for your hair getting blown.....



Thanks Lawrence!

To all, Major fun here. What a blast to be able to work with two of the most creative and talented people I've met in a while. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments about the song. It was a privilege to be asked to work with Bud and Janice and to be able to get to know them a little better with regards to our personal lives. They both are extremely easy to work with and we managed to stay focused and on the same page throughout the process. Don't be surprised if we do another one. Thanks again to all our forum friends for checking this one out, we all three appreciate it. Tom

Hi, Janice & Bud & Tommy !

Little late as ususal
as I mostly spend the
weekends far away from my
computer !:)) .....
I liked your bluesy rock
really very much:))
It is easy to hear that
the feeling is right and
everyone´s having a good time,
so did I :))

Cheers
Dani

Yes it was fun! And Tommy sho nailed it. Thanks



Thank y'all! Those are some generous and kind remarks. Cool to hear that Di is a "first take lady" also. I think it was Roy Acuff that said you lose a little something each time after that first take....although it might improve technically I guess.

Janice, Bud, Tom...

Stellar!

"Find a place that's a little closer to redemption"

"You don't need another dose of their cold reality"

What great lines!

Everything about this is, well... excellent. The tracks are terrific. The mix is top-notch - pro. Tom, I can't imagine the lead guitars being done ANY better - bar none! In the pocket!

Janice - you know you are one of my favorite singers - and you just keep proving you are comfortable no matter the genre.. Awesome vocal!

All three of ya... HOW in the world do you expect to top THIS!!!???

floyd

As always Janice's vocal is superb. Mix is put together nicely. Love the guitar solo and the pumping piano. Thanks for sharing!

[

We appreciate all of that Alyn and yep, that ending was super cool. Thanks again!



Thanks Joanne!



Thanks Tom and back to ya on all you said! It was seriously fun.



Thanks Dani and, as you mentioned, we did have a good time.

Thanks!! Tom did a great job on the guitar and mix.




Thank you floyd very much for your continued support and thanks to everybody who took the time to listen to this fun project. I appreciate ALL of you.
Janice

Great vibe!! Little Bonnie Raitt in there, and gotta love the guitar licks!! Take care. Greg

Hi Janice, Bud and Tommy,

What can I say ...

AWESOME
AWESOME
AWESOME
AWESOME

For Janice's incredible vocals, for Tommy's magic guitar work and for Bud's outstanding production, this deserves nothing less than a standing ovation.



Music doesn't get any more enjoyable nor any more professional sounding than this! You're all incredible!

All the best,
Noel

hi guys great collab that's some good singing now great job guys nice chops eric

Thanks Greg!!!



You are way too generous Noel! But we love ya.... and thank you so much.




Thanks Eric! It was a fun collab for sure.

Whoa!

Everything you need to know can be found in my comments left on the SoundCloud track.

That Tommy!! - Can he tell the blooze or what?

Dean

Very cool! Great collab. As usual, Janice, you nailed the vocals. And Tommy's guitar just brings it all together. And another good write, Bud!

Steve

Boot scootin. Would get them dancing at the country music club.

Very cool song. Love this style of music. Excellent vocals and playing.

Thanks Dean - yeah Tom can play it. Thanks for the SC comments. We enjoyed them!



Thank you Steve -- we had a good time doing this!



Thanks Rich! My club days are long over but I'd like to think you are right!



Thanks Scott! Texas roadhouse blues is a thing to itself for sure.