BOTTOMLAND

I recently both created a video for and remastered this song that I originally posted last summer. We were delighted at the time and remain so that it resulted in floyd jane’s forum lead guitar debut. Thank you mr jane!

We always welcome your comments and observations and appreciate you taking the time to look and listen.

Vocal: Janice
Lead Guitar: floyd jane
Drums: RD Blues Rock
Bass: RT 564 Set 30
Rhythm Guitar: RT 566
Arrangement/Audio & video production: Bud
Mixing/Ozone 6 and Nectar 2 plug-ins via Logic Pro X
Rodes NT1 mic/Blue Icicle USB Interface
Photographs: All public domain with my effects via Pixelmator, Snapseed, Paint Pad and PicMonkey.
Video: Wondershare’s Video Editor 3.

A few notes.

Tom was on vacation last summer and floyd offered to try a lead for the tune. As he said in the first post:

“…I originally did this for practice - to see if I could record a lead guitar that might fit in a mix. Never done this before. First real lead I've ever done.”

Pat asked in the thread what the backstory was on the song and I wrote:

“I was thinking of oppression in general and how many millions cannot escape from it. The imagery just comes from my life’s experiences. Jerusalem Ridge is the title of my favorite bluegrass fiddle instrumental. It’s up tempo but ethereal and a bit spooky in melody. The sunken graves and the field stone — Janice and I are history nuts and bike, drive and hike around the countryside frequently. We often find old cemeteries for which the graves have sunken in and are marked, if at all, with flat field stones.

The heritage/lineage and the blood feud lines were to reinforce the oppressive conditions that the song’s subject was living. It brought to mind images of worldwide conflicts and strife and generational/cultural/religious/tribal issues, etc…Appalachia would be a good fit metaphorically. The last verse speaks to how in America for many, but certainly not all, situations you do have an option of leaving. ‘Stick out a thumb.’ It may not be a great option but you likely will not die for trying it.”


J&B
www.janiceandbud.com

Janice, Bud, Floyd,
Great sultry sounding blues. Excellent lyrics as well. Really meaningful stuff.
SD

As usual, amazing singing over well-produced tracks.

floyd's guitar solo is appropriate for the song, but uncomfortable for me to listen to - none of the phrases resolve!

Good stuff.

Wow! Eerie stuff, smells of bootlegging, lynching and dark vendettas in a misty dawn.
Loved it. The guitar fit perfectly for my ears, added to the feel of hopelessness and gloom.

Hi J&B + Floyd.

Very dramatic and well produced, but not an easy watch for a Monday morning!

But then, that's not what you were aiming for. I think the whole package is extremely powerful, both the song and the images and you've done well to match the two. Of course, Janice's vocal is superb.

Now I need to go and watch "Walking On Sunshine"!

ROG.

Brilliant song, Great singing, its good to do stuff about the not so pleasant things in life, makes us sit up and take notice.

Good playing from Floyd as well, for some reason the lead guitar sound makes me think of "Free as a bird" by the beatles.

The video adds a nice touch too.
Great production overall, Janice sure knows how to interpret a song.

Musiclover

Hi J&B and Floyd,

Nice production, pretty sad imagery and lyrics though......
Good to hear Floyd playing the lead!
We are familiar with Wondershare Video editor, we got it for free with Giveaway of the Day

Wonderful vocals as always and ditto production!

Rob and Anne-Marie

I'd forgotten how much I liked this! Also forgot what a cool lead FJ played! Enjoyed the video. Great song! Thanks for bringing it back. Take care. Greg

Hi Janice & Bud,

I listened to the old version, too. Can't find a difference in the mix. But the song, Janice's voice and Floyd's lead are as good as they were a year ago.
The video adds a lot to the message. Well done.

Guenter

We appreciate that!

J&B



Thanks for the kind remarks! Yup, those guitar lines definitely built the tension and attributed to establishing the unresolved state of her life that I attempted to write about. I'll leave any further guitar response to floyd :-)

Thanks again,

J&B

+1 to what ROG said and the color scheme really fit the mood.

Most of my adjectives have been taken.

Janice' voice was sultry and spot on.

Floyd's playing was very haunting and mysterious.

The lyrics and chording drew me into the storyline exactly as they should.

Very well done in every respect.

Thanks all.

As usual Janice brilliant vocal, love the edge on the guitar, outstanding picking. Thanks for sharing!

Glad you liked it. And that description us very cool. Thanks!

J&B



We appreciate those comments very much. BTW I had to look up Walking on Sunshine. Now that is the polar opposite for sure!

J&B

WOW that is one dark video!! And then the combo of floyd on guitar and Janice on vocals really set the scene.

And as Sinbad said " Eerie stuff, smells of bootlegging, lynching and dark vendettas in a misty dawn.
Loved it. The guitar fit perfectly for my ears, added to the feel of hopelessness and gloom."
Sadly it also is a perfect background to recent events in gibso-land.

Still my little sun-trap outside my back door records 41C at the moment, but only 25 in the front so that'll burn the gloom away.

You all should be proud of this.

Alyn

Janice & Bud, I like this now even more than the first time. This was a great write rounded out with the perfect vocal and just the right feeling lead guitar. Now the very well done accompanying video makes it a full on sensory experience. Kudos to the three of you. Tom

Wow...

The lyrics, music and video all convey the feeling of the person living through an awful stage in their lives. Trifecta achieved. The icing on the cake for me is how well this is mixed. I love it when I can crank a song to 11 and hear everything perfectly. This is sweet! Great job.

Thanks. My video skills are rudimentary but from the time we wrote the song I always had some images in my head that I thought would work with the song. Fortunately there are tons of photos available in the public domain. Glad you liked it!

J&B

Hi everyone involved !

I thought I had
commented on this
absolutely supreme
tune so sublimely
played and sung, but
to my dismay I just
noted I had missed this
masterpiece BUT....that
is corrected now and, boy,
what a tune and voice !!!!

Cheers
Dani

Hey J&B and floyd.
This is a great haunting bluesy tune.
Very thought provoking.
Excellent on all aspects.
Rob

Everything that I wanted to say already has been said!

All I can add is WOW and all three of you should be super proud of this one!

I love the blues and this is some of the best blues that I have heard in quite a while. This went into my keeper folder so fast that it left skid marks on my monitor!

Hello,

great blues sound, great voice as usual and great guitar work.
I enjoyed.

Hello.

Thanks y'all! I got the editor free also and prefer it's simplicity over iMovie that comes on the Mac.



Thank you Guenter. I replaced the soundcloud file with the new master so that may be why you didn't hear the difference unless you had a download. Thanks for mentioning the video!


J&B

This is such a terrific write - especially for a blues song!...

The video is very well done.

I enjoyed having a small part in this - and appreciate all the comments regarding that...

I get lost in that vocal.... phenomenal...

floyd

Thanks Greg. Yep, the lead was indeed cool!

J&B



Thanks Josie. I spent a fair amount of time trying to tint the photos with the blood red color!

J&B



We thank you for mentioning all those aspects because that is exactly what we were attempting to accomplish. We appreciate it!

J&B




Thank you so much. That is kind of you!

J&B

Loved it. Very heartfelt vocal, Excellent guitar work. One of my favorites

Floyd Jane on lead guitar! well allright
Bluesy Gospel smoke filled bar fine feeling groove.
So good
Logic Pro is an awesome DAW to work with,
Enjoyed.

Kenny

We appreciate that Alyn. Hope the doom and gloom got sufficiently burned off!

J&B





Thanks Tom. Cool that you thought the vid added to it!

J&B

Thank you! And we really do appreciate you mentioning the mix. My old ears don't allow "11" anymore so it is cool that it held together when you did that.

J&B




Thanks Dani. We always appreciate your comments.

J&B




Thanks Rob! Seems like we have fallen into the bluesy realm over the last year or so.

J&B



Thanks! Hope those monitor marks clean up

J&B

Thanks Sergio!!

J&B



Hearing mr jane refer to our song as a "terrific write" is enough to make my day, week, month and year. And your part was way more than small. The vocal/guitar feel makes the song. Thanks!

J&B



Thanks! We are happy to make a fav list.

J&B



Thanks Kenny. Logic has been a learning curve for me and I
only use a small amount of its capabilities but it does work
well for us. Thanks for the remarks!

J&B

Hi Janice and Bud,

I really like your lyric videos. They are always captivating and always manage to enhance a song's presentation. This one is no exception. I remember this work from last time around and it's just as enjoyable this time, too.

As great as the video is, I have to say that no-one sings blues like Janice. Absolutely outstanding vocals! The clarity of the production is also spectacular. You certainly know how to turn out top notch material (and also how to get Youtube co-operate and not downgrade the quality).

All the best,
Noel

P.S. I thought the lead guitar was a Realtrack! Then I did a quick re-check of the post's subject! It was definitely floyd. Excellent blues!

• a recent song: Just A Little After Midnight

Ooohh...my goodness! I thought that statement needed to be bolded!

HA!

This is a powerful, moody song. The imagery and colors in the video along with Floyd's "RealTrack" guitar definitely complement the lyric and the evocative vocals, although I'd be willing to bet that Janice could sing this a capella and it would still be powerful. Excellent job!

Ron

Thank you Noel. I try and only use HD quality photos cropped to 16:9 and follow all of Youtube's recommendations for settings. The hardest thing is finding public domain photos that work with the message and are of high enough quality. I'm glad you like it and Janice most appreciates you commenting on her vocal. And from the comment I see that mr "realtrack" jane is pleased with your remarks -- as he well should be!

J&B





Double haha!!

J&B




That is very kind of you to say that Ron. That put a big smile on Janice!!

J&B

I really liked the vocal. I also liked the way the two guitars worked together. Easy song to listen too.

I would love to have a vocalist like you sing on one of my tunes. Great voice.

Keep up the good work.


Best regards,


Billy

+100

Sweet and soulful job, guys.

Bravo!

Thanks for the music,
Dan

Thanks Billy! We appreciate you listening and taking the time to comment.




Thanks Dan. Glad it worked for you!

J&B

Plus one to what Greg says but also, I've listened to this several times since you posted and I've forgotten each time to make a comment.

This is a song I just hit play, close my eyes and watch the visions swirl by. This one seemed to push a button in my head. It's not so much that I like the song, performance, the choice of instruments and Floyd's lead guitar, which I do, or how well Janice hits just the right feel with her vocals, which she does; this song is kind of an 'experience' to listen to for me.

Enjoyed it from start to finish.

Charlie