This is our version of the traditional (PD) tune "I am a Pilgrim" which has roots in both African-American spirituals and Civil War camp songs. It was popularized by Merle Travis in the late 1940's and has been recorded by everybody from the Byrds to Johnny Cash. We made a lot of changes in the first three verses and wrote an entirely new last verse to more personalize it.

Our first version had steel guitar, electric guitar, fiddle, drums and an organ. I was never happy with the arrangement and started stripping tracks until I was left with only bass, acoustic guitar and mandolin. I had to piece the bass part together to make it worked with the Chet style guitar and used the mandolin rhythm to add a little upbeat emphasis. I think often the sound you want is achieved by not when there's nothing left to add but rather when there's nothing left to take away. I told Janice she was gonna be mostly all alone on this one with her vocals!

The last two lines of the song are our take on Ghandi's "As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world ...as in being able to remake ourselves."

http://soundcloud.com/mootsman/i-am-a-seeker

Guitar - Realtrack 606
Bass - Realtrack 539
Mandolin - Realtrack 610
Vocal - USB Blue Mic

Mixed and effects added in Garageband.

Thanks for listening!

Previous submissions to User Showcase
Reggae Billy: Pretty Polly http://soundcloud.com/mootsman/pretty-polly
Blues: The Milledgeville Blues http://soundcloud.com/mootsman/the-milledgeville-blues
Bluegrass: The Fall Line Blues http://soundcloud.com/mootsman/fall-line-blues
Bluegrass: Headin' West http://soundcloud.com/mootsman/heading-west

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