Fire The Next Time
© 2020 Trad Arr Bud Merritt, Janice Merritt & Peter Fulham

We arranged the lyric based, in large part, on three 19th century African-American Spirituals, “God gave Noah the rainbow sign,” “I’ve got a home in that rock,” and “Mary, don’t you weep.” Much later gospel and folk music can be readily traced to tunes like these with a little research - a debt that is frequently not credited.

Our title is taken from “no more water, the fire next time” a line found in some versions of these old songs. And, more significantly, James Baldwin used it as the title of his civil rights book “The Fire Next Time” published in 1963. BTW, The phrase “...home in that rock” may reference “honey in the rock” that is traditionally thought to mean there’s some good in the toughest of places.

This is a completely new production retaining only the lyric from an acoustic version we posted seven years ago. A big shout-out to Peter for the guitar tracks/arrangement input and to PG Music for their products and this community.

As always your comments are welcome and appreciated.

Be safe.

Janice: vocal, melody and arrangement
Peter: guitar solos and fills
Bud: lyric compilation, tech stuff and arrangement

Vocal: Rodes NT1 mic > Scarlett 212 > Logic Pro X > Logic EQ > Waves CLA Vocals
Guitar (Peter): solos, fills including wah wah fill
Drums: RD BluesRockSlowEv^1-a:SideStick , b:Snare > Waves CLA Drums
Conga: RD CongasEv8 Waves > CLA Drums
Gongs: EMT Plate Reverb sim (thanks to Peter for samples)
Rhythm guitar: RT 3164 Baritone Electric > Waves CLA Guitar
Bass: RT 2903 Acoustic > Waves Bass Rider > Neutron 3
Piano: MIDI SuperTrack 3004: Piano, ElectricVintage > Logic Pro X Wurlitzer Classic sound
(Neutron’s “anti-masking” used on most tracks)

Mastering: Ozone EQ > Ozone Dynamics > Ozone Imager > Ozone Maximizer > Ozone Tonal Balance > Logic Pro X Loudness Meter

I always love everything you guys do. But this one is special. The purity and simplicity of the arrangement it stunning. It gives ample space for Janice's vocals to shine (like they always do). And Peter, amazing job on the guitar work. Everything is in its place. Again, all your songs are good, to me. But I think this one is a new favorite for me!

Well done, my friends!

Steve

You three always raise the bar here and this I believe is your best to date. The perfect background was set for Janice's, as usual, outstanding vocal. Peter's guitar is icing on the cake.

Thank you Steve. We were aiming for a simple arrangement and chord structure to hint at the songs from which this was derived. And we agree for sure on your comment about Peter’s guitar. Thanks for your continued support!

J&B

Quite simply, superb.
Regards,
Leon

Greetings To All Three Of You ..

An excellent song any way you want to slice and dice it. Yes ... simplicity can be elegant. A wonderful arrangement and superb performance by all three of you. If you folks keep raising the bar like this, I'm gonna need an oxygen mask just to see it.

Sweet!!!!!!!

Wishing all of you the best. Please be safe ...

Alan

It works so well when sign is sung in a sigh.
Excellent ensemble piece.
Great parts and greater than them too.
That voice!

Pure perfection!

The stripped down arrangement allows both Janice and Peter to shine, excellent performance from both!

Mix sounds great though both the 'phones and the KRK's.

Love the fake ending!

Nice one you three, enjoyed.

Thanks for the listen and comments!

J&B

Thanks Steve - Bud certainly has a knack of bringing the best out in the mix.

Peter

Good work on all sides.

You guys have that blues thing together.

I enjoyed it.

Thank you Leon!

J&B

Wow, this is just a very good song. And the mix - and especially the balance between the vocal and the rest of the band - is outstanding well done.

I really enjoyed this song!

Thanks for sharing!
Will

The understated arrangement works well, and I also got caught by the false ending!

Thanks also for the details - I'm not really familiar with spirituals, so it's nice to get filled in on the background.

Thanks Al! Y’all take care and hope the house building is going well.

J&B

Hi Janice, Bud and Peter.
What a nice blues between Africa and America, somewhere on a secret island !
Everything is so well done.
The arrangements and Bud's mix are top notch, Peter's guitar is magic and Janice's voice is a gift from Heaven.
Thanks for sharing. Christian

AS. GOOD. AS. IT. GETS.

Period.

LOVE this BAND.

THE tastiest guitar Peter has ever played. Perfect.

Janice - At The Top Of Her Game. It is a CRIME that you are not a SuperStar.

The mix is GORGEOUS.

I would buy an album based on this one song (hoping the rest of it was THIS good).

Your BEST. Ever. THAT is a high bar.

(Deb says "I love it!)
("It's really good!")
("It's super good!")
...she just keeps talking about it.

Great album cover, too.


DAMN this is good!!!

fj

You guys are my favorite group. Seriously. Everything you do, and how you do it, is outstanding. Right from your germ of an idea, through the mention of overdue credit, and then to the real jackpot. What a wonderful song with the perfect lyrics and feel. Excellent choices on instruments, especially that guitarist. Janice's voice is so engaging with a magnetic feeling. Bud, Janice & Peter, thanks you.

Thank you Ray. Cool that you noted the way Janice sang that. She appreciates your mention!

J&B

Great, great, great as always. What a trio of talent. Inspirational for the rest of us here trying to find our way!

Appreciate the kind words Mario.
Peter

Hi there again, J&B + Peter.

You can't beat a good twelve-bar and this one really takes some beating!
A fabulous groove right from the off and a perfect vehicle for both Janice
and Peter to shine through.

A brilliant performance from Janice, even by her usual high standard and probably
the best guitar I've ever heard Peter play.

Can't fault the mix - totally pro throughout.

Loved it.

ROG.

Love when you guys play the blues. Very cool vocal Janice. Peters guitar was awesome. Loved the bakc track and production. Should be on the radio. Well done

hi guys and gals most excellent song and vocal love the arrangement perfect guitar chops in the right place so sweet thanks eric

Thanks Dave and we appreciate you mentioning the fake ending. Janice and I were watching an episode of Live at Daryl's where a band used something like that so we decided to try it. Peter very much helped embellish it!

J&B

Thanks Alan
Peter

This is four minutes and eight seconds of BLISS!
Janice's vocals, Bud's production, the PG Music band and Peter's tasty guitar work are top-shelf.
Thanks guys,
Mike

AWESOME!!! Between Janice's vocal, a fine arrangement, and some tasty guitar from Peter, you guys have delivered as soulful a version as I imagine has ever been done!!! A REAL TREAT!!! Take care. Greg

Thanks Ray.
Peter

Wow! THAT note on the second "rock and roll" ... WOW!!! And the ACCENT on the first "rock" :-)

What singing. Janice excels here, she really does. The colour in her voice ... the accents (another one on the word "awful" !!!). The band, too, is absolutely tight rhythmically ... a joy to listen to. Hats off, everyone involved.

Wish I was a fly on the wall when these things get produced ... I always used to dream, when younger, of being "part of the band" or something when top artists recorded (I'd be the conductor, haha!) - and THIS makes me wish I could have been part of it, somehow. Again, hats off to the ground.

Thanks for listening Herb. Lawd knows we do try!

J&B

J&B and Peter; I'm not known for big words and eloquence, so I'm just going to say...what a job! Nothing less than a masterpiece to be expected from you guys.

Mike B.

Janice & Bud,

Really soulful blues accentuated by a great vocal. Love the subdued backing on this song, letting Janice’s vocal really shine. Just the right measured touch on the lead guitar. Terrific tune . . . real smooth, real professional. Outstanding!

All my best,

Deej

Cool song. I like how you traced the roots back. Great arrangement. Love that electric guitar. Full, rich vocals. Nice job to all.

Wow, outstanding song. Love the vibe, and the guitar. Vocals are superb. What kind of guitar is used in the solo?

Thanks so much for the background info for this song.

I have to say this ranks as one of my favorites from you guys (or youz guys if you're from Michigan's U.P.

Peter: awesome guitar...adds the right amount of spice to the song without being overpowering.

Singing is flawless.

Thanks Will and we appreciate you mentioning the mix.

J&B

P,B &J, this is a fine example of a modern take on roots influences. The vocal and the guitar are perfectly executed. The mix is clear crisp and separated. The write is in the pocket without getting in the way of itself. I seriously cannot think of one thing that would make this better. As good as it gets, Tom

Hi Janice and Bud,

Well... I can't beat the others with all their nice compliments. I can only admit you fully earned them!
You made a wonderful 'simple' song with such interesting lyrics (and the way you put them together in this song).

I had to smile when reading these lines:
"Well Mister Satan he got real mad
That ole devil got awful mad
Missed those souls he thought he had..."

I only want to lift out one thing; the vocals. Janice, you sang wonderful!

Stay safe,
Hans

J&B+P
Excellent rendition of spirituals. I guess some of the best blues is derived from spirituals. It feels as you put a lot in this one! Solid teamwork. Janice is A+!

P.S. “...home in that rock” may reference “honey in the rock” - interesting.

Thank you for sharing!
Misha.

Thanks David. Glad that false ending caught ya!

There are a LOT of blues and early folks songs that are derivatives of African-American spirituals. The Carter Family was shameless in ripping them off. We appreciate the listen.

J&B

Thank you Chris. Those are very thoughtful and kind comments and we all appreciate it.

Nice day on the secret island!

J&B

Impeccable composition than usual. You are true biab pros and you know how to get the most out of it.

Friendly

Dero alias JaniJackFlash

Speechless, gobsmacked and all the synonyms.

This made us want to retrace every move we made for future reference Really.

If you were to, and we hope not, never review another tune of ours we could coast
on this post for years.

Thank you!!!

J&B

J&B & Peter,
This is a genre I know little about - the lyrics are a cool mix of light and dark told in down home language. Wonderfully relaxed and present vocal, Janice, with some perfectly nuanced feel from Peter`s guitar.
Very very good!

Robert

Well, thank you! Your thoughtful comments offer a LOT of support to these two former bluegrassers - makes us feel we might have accomplished something on this transition to Americana music. And of course Peter has certainly helped us on that a journey.

Thank you, too, for mentioning the description of the process and for such nice remarks about Janice’s vocal.

We appreciate it all.

J&B

Janice, Bud & Peter,

Excellent in every aspect... The mix on this one is really off the charts.

Great stuff!

Bob

That is too generous and much appreciated!

J&B

PS Love your latest cool jazz production!




Thanks Rog. You know we admire your productions and that makes your thoughts on our song even more special and appreciated!

Thanks Scott. We all do love the blues!

J&B





Thanks Eric!

J&B

Mike, you are very generous and we’ll take it!

Thank you.

J&B

Hi Janice and Bud...

This is a really cool arrangement. I felt kind of a "strange fruit" vibe for some reason. Then, once I read your remarks, I figured maybe that's why???

Really soulful vocal interpretation on the lyrics also.

I loved the guitar. It really fit well with the rest of the song's theme.

Thanks for posting it, I enjoyed listening!

Thanks Greg. Glad you liked it!

J&B

You are too kind. We are old traditional bluegrass pickers turned blues / Americana folks through the power of BiaB and some great friends we’ve made on this forum. Now Peter? Well, this ain’t his first rodeo

J&B




That is much appreciated Mike!

J&B

Thanks! We always appreciate your time and supportive comments.

J&B




Thanks! Glad you liked the bit of history.

J&B

Thanks Ronnie! I’ll let Peter respond to the guitar question. He has a room full of them

J&B

Good question, I think I was using a variax emulating a Les Paul. It's currently the one plugged into my Line 6 Helix.

And thank you for reading the background! We appreciate the generous remarks and your time to listen.

J&B





Thank you Tom. Nobody tops your productions so it is especially meaningful for us to read your review.

Much appreciated!

J&B

Thank you Hans. We ALWAYS appreciate your thoughtful reviews and support!

J&B



Thank you Misha...Janice really appreciated that. Regarding "home in that rock" we've most enjoyed researching the origins of old spirituals and blues. It can be a fascinating journey!

J&B




Thanks and it sure helps to have a guitar player like Peter join in with the BiaB band!

J&B




Thanks Robert. 19th century African-American spirituals are an extremely interesting study. So much blues and both later African-American and white gospel are derived from them. Glad you liked it!

J&B



Thank you and we much appreciate you using the word “soulful.” That is a huge part of our production objectives!

J&B

Janice, Bud and Peter,

It's a perfect blues.
The guitar is not talkative, but the phrase is great.
This song seems to have been waiting to be sung by Janice's vocals.
The mix is really clear.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Thanks Shigeki! It’s great to hear from you.

J&B

I have not been here for a long time. You guys just keep getting better.

I have always enjoyed learning the meaning of certain words and phrases from the blues world of the distant past. How the world of blues music existed in the time of Robert Johnson and people like Son House has been an on going learning process for me for many years. Understanding the language and the culture provides a much deeper connection to the music.

I am somehow not surprised you guys really understand this.

There were little thing in the music that were spot on...the timing of the guitar in relation to the vocal. Some people "assume" these type of songs are easy, they are anything but easy.

Good work!!

Cheers,

Billy

Thank you Billy. You very eloquently stated that connection Over the last couple years the three of us have recorded a lot of blues and while I always enjoy writing blues and I equally enjoy seeking out interesting old blues. We recently became fascinated with Ma Rainey and recorded a couple of her songs. And thanks for noting some of the Tune’s nuances. Peter is very good at working with a Janice’s vocal and vice versa.

We appreciate that and good to see you back around.

J&B

Excellent in every respect. The opening guitar lick made me sit up to listen and I was hooked all the way through. Amazing vocals.