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This is a somewhat autobiographical song. The first line used to be "I grew up on Merle Haggard, Conway Twitty and George Jones; Loretta Lynn, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves and Buck Owens." I was told that it made the song (and the ones singing it) seem old and dated, so I changed it to some more modern day icons. I sure miss that good old music though - even if that does makes me old and dated.

Thanks for all the comments on the last one folks, and have at it again.
Here 'tis -

This Good Ol' Boy https://soundcloud.com/user-722422510/this-good-ol-boy

Well, I like to hear Brad Paisley, George Strait and Tim McGraw,
or Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson singing good ol’ country songs.
‘Cause all through my life, well I guess it’s plain to see
that I’ve had a hold of country and it’s had a hold on me.
And I may be a good ol’ boy with rough and rowdy ways,
but I gave my life to Jesus. Now this good ol’ boy’s been saved.

Now I like pickin’ guitars and driving pick-up trucks.
Been known to lose my temper and fight when things get rough,
but when it came time to toe the line, it wasn’t all that tough.
‘Cause I got tired. I’d played with fire. Been burned by love and luck.
There was a time I was accused of living life by my own rules,
but now that’s all been changed ‘cause this good ol’ boy’s been saved.

Yeah, I’m a good ol’ boy. Hey, that’s what I’ll always be.
But there’s no greater joy than singing praises to the King, the King of Kings.
Because I once was lost, oh but now I found the way.
I’m gonna shout for joy ‘cause this good ol’ boy’s been saved.

And since I gave my life to Jesus, well everything has changed.
‘Cause he’s the one that freed us from our shackles and our chains.
The joy and peace in my life I know are here to stay
‘cause Jesus Christ paid the price I knew I couldn’t pay.
He paid it for the bankers, the beggars and the thieves,
and thank the Lord, he paid it for the good ol’ boy’s like me.

‘Cause I’m a good ol’ boy. Hey, that’s what I’ll always be.
But there’s no greater joy than singing praises to the King, the King of Kings.
Because I once was lost, oh but now I’ve found the way.
I’m gonna shout for joy ‘cause this good ol’ boy’s been saved.
I’m gonna shout for joy ‘cause this good ol’ boy’s been saved.

I used a Casio keyboard with a direct line to fat finger the drums in. I used my Ibanez bass and Takamine acoustic for rhythm, and then added an electric guitar rhythm using my Spirit guitar through a Boss ME-8 effects processor for the phase shifter. A BIAB rhythm mandolin gave a little added "boom chukka" and completed the rhythm tracks. I laid the vocals and then put on a BIAB harmonica, pedal steel guitar, and lead guitar. I think I recorded it all little hot and it sounds overdriven, but my hard drive broke and I lost all my individual tracks, so I think I'm stuck with this working copy (It's all I could recover of it.) So anyway, all the blame is mine except the following BIAB tracks:
Mandolin: Andy Leftwich
Harmonica: TJ Klay
Pedal Steel: Steve Hinson
Lead Guitar: Brent Mason

Thanks for the listen,
Brad

Sorry to hear about about your hard drive issues. Yep, a bit hot, but not terrible.

I enjoyed the song!

IMNSHO the song loses focus. The guitar solo is long - for a guitar break - but lacks direction and sort of noodles around without building tension or going anywhere.

I'm not sure starting a song with a list of names is the way to go - five seems overkill. Being old myself, I'm not sure there's any issue with using one or two from the OG list. Then again, I'm not trying to write for the contemporary market.

This is a very clever tune with a lot of commercial appeal.
Well done Brad...

Brad,

My heart goes out to you over that hard drive issue! Been there, done that! These days I back up to a separate drive from the computer! Man I grew up listening to all those legends you mentioned (always really liked Don Williams). Even with all the issues you mentioned, the track still sounds really good!

Thanks, Torrey

Hey Brad...man I've had a hard drive take a dive and lost about ten years of recordings and song ideas...it's was one of the greatest heartbreaks of my life...I back stuff up now...right now as I'm writing this my computer is moving some music files to an external hard drive...love the song...the tempo, the arrangement and of coarse the content...this is a really good write and has a commercial country feel to it...it has as all good country hits seem to have these days very clever and well written phrases...too bad you don't have the original tracks...I think the mix could use some polish as you have eluded to but the song is what the song is and it is good...thanks for sharing and great use of the BiaB tracks!

Hey good ol' boy are you from Hazzard County?

Great song! I like a lot of the same music, that is real country music!

I also think that guitar lead was a bit too long, however you have some very fine chops.

Super song

Two thumbs up

Hello Brad
Cool song
Has a great sound
You sing it really well
You used BiaB very nice
Makes very much joy to hear the song
Great job Brad
Many greetings
Andi ;-)

Brent's a good match for the song.
Nice melody, good vocal performance for the most part.

Hank Senior is still a favorite. This is such a good song, well constructed with lyrics and the perfect band. I've had that hard drive issue too many times. For whatever reason I lost the original it always seemed to be better if I just bit the bullet and redid it. I like the prodigal son reference and this song makes me want to chase down that fatted calf. Excellent vocal.

Nice song. It has a good feel and it moves along nicely.

I have to agree with DCuny on the guitar solo.... the perfect cut off point was right there around 2:02. After that and up to 2:28 was meandering around without adding anything to the song except time. In a DAW, that's a super easy fix.

Your lyric writing was, in my opinion, the standout part of this song. Nice work.

Cool country tune. Super vocal and lyric. Well done.