Confession: I did not do any journaling over my last two weeks at Blue Rock. Things were just too fast paced and hectic to fit it in. We got a LOT done, over a short period of time.
Saw Bradley for a day! (We played some basketball with Billy... really badly.)
Here are the latest album developments!:
Tania Elizabeth, who plays with Mary Gauthier brought some really killer fiddle tracks to the album. I wasn't able to be there the day she was in the studio, so we still haven't met. But I like her already. :-) What a talent!
I may have missed Tania's day, but I was there for Dirje Smith (cello). Dirje played on my first album too- she's a good friend and we've done some touring together as part of a trio with my producer Billy Crockett.
Here's a little story about how Dirje and I met. I was halfway through college, writing about a million new songs and was slowly but surely getting better. Good enough to start thinking about playing out.
Up to that point in time, I'd always heard harmony lines in my head when I was writing songs and since I was learning to play the guitar, I started hearing guitar chords too. But this particular summer I started hearing cello. Every song in my head came with cello lines attached. It was weird, because I don't play the cello or listen to classical music. But I'd be lying in bed, nodding off, and these new songs would come into my head with these swelling cello lines underneath.
Then, I was asked to play my first gig- A house concert in Wylie, TX. My dad sent me an email and told me that a good friend of his named Dirje Smith was going to come and that I should be on the lookout for her.
Dirje did come, and she brought her cello. There's always an after-show song circle at this house concert where anyone can lend their instrument, Kerrville-style, to the song, and Dirje came prepared for that. I liked Dirje right away (but then, who doesn't like Dirje- she's about the sweetest person on the planet.) On a whim, and because I didn't know any better, I asked if she'd like to play the show with me. We'd never rehearsed and I didn't know things like the names of chords or keys but Dirje, on a whim of her own and because she's very sweet, said yes.
And it was great! Of course, we fumbled a bit. I wasn't as well rehearsed or as good of a guitar player as I should have been. I was often sharp or flat and I messed up a lot of chords. And Dirje slipped here and there with all the songs she'd never heard before. But all in all, it was an amazing experience.
There was the cello, out of my head and in the flesh! It was like magic. It's not just that I was hearing cello and then met a cellist. It's that I was hearing cello and met Dirje. There may be better cellists in the world, but nobody plays the way Dirje does. It's like the sound of my soul, or her soul, or the human soul in general. Maybe it's Dirje's experience as a therapist or her kindness that gives her this ability, but she understands the language of the music and the emotion in the song like no one else. That night I played a new song for Dirje- "Speak Tenderly"- and she knew just what it meant and how to play it. I was sold on Dirje Smith.
When the time came to make my first album, I didn't know anything about how to sing into a mic or chart a song. I didn't know what instrumentation my songs needed or what genre I should claim for myself. But I knew I wanted Dirje. She was the only musician I insisted on having.
Billy hadn't met her or heard her play, but it didn't hurt that she'd offered her services for free to help a starving college kid out. We were operating on a shoestring budget and Dirje came highly recommended by me and by my dad. Billy decided to give it a try.
The rest is, as they say, history. Since that first album, Dirje's become a part of my life and Billy's life too and a part of Blue Rock. She's played on many other Blue Rock projects and tours with the two of us occasionally. We're actually playing a few dates this summer.
When Billy and I began talking about a second album, we both knew we wanted Dirje.
She brought her usual heart, joy, soul to the project. She brought out the best in the songs she played on, just like she brings out the best in me. That's about all I can say about it. You'll just have to hear it to know what I mean.
We also brought in percussionist Mike Meadows, who's one of the co-founders of Swan Percussion. Mike is a wizard. He showed up at the studio with bags and bags of all kinds of cool toys. Mike's been all over the world. He's got everything from instruments made out of welded African scrap metal to beer cans filled with beads and wrapped up in duct tape.
In Mike's world, if it makes a cool sound- it's an instrument. Nothing's off the table when it comes to what sounds he considers. He brought two African brushes, that women in Ghana and in Zimbabwe presumably use to sweep their dusty huts. He paid something ridiculous for each- 25¢? Something like that.
First time Billy's ever had to mic the floor at Blue Rock Studio. But we did- and Mike played these brushes on the floor. It made this incredible organic sound. The floor made music! When we'd finished tracking the brooms Mike joked that we'd successfully united Africa, right there on the studio floor.
Here are some other cool things Mike played: a djembe with an antelope skin head (covered with a sheepskin chamois). It sounded like a heartbeat.
These little Indian bells, sitting on thin cords. You could hardly hear them but when you did they sounded like fairies. Which is an appropriate sound, given the classic J.M Barrie/Cottingley fairies concept: Some people believe in them and some don't. Some hear them and some can't. I could. But just barely. Another thing they sound like: stars.
A pie-shaped container full of little tiny metal beads. It sounds like the ocean, or a gusty wind in the trees.
Also: The Cygnet cajon and the Black Swan. I might as well just show you these. No need to describe them. Here are a couple youtube videos: Mike Meadows plays the Cygnet cajon. Black Swan drum introduction.
At one point in the Mike session, we had to silence a choir of guitars that decided to reverberate with the percussion. Something Mike was playing made them hum along happily. We slipped some paper towels under their strings so they'd be quiet while Mike was recording.
What else did we do this last session? Well, we worked all day long and all night long, on lead vocals and background vocals. I spent a good deal of time reconsidering one or two lyrics in one or two songs. Billy and I carefully crafted and executed a lot of harmony parts. Sometimes standard fare, sometimes quirky and different, depending on the needs of the song.
Billy spent a lot of time mixing, arranging, and "comp-ing," which is where the producer listens to the 20 odd vocal takes we got of that one song, and creates a composite of the best moments in each take. In general, this has to be done before we can work on harmonies, because we want the harmonies to complement the feel and the notes of the lead vocal.
It was meticulous, painstaking, focused work. It's going really, really well. We are about 90% there, in terms of having all the recording material we need to work with (there's still a lot to be done in the way of mixing). We may add a few final touches in May.
I'm now shifting gears from the fun stuff to the necessary stuff. It's time to get ready for stage 2: Post-production. This is when I make a decision about whether or not to go for an all-out independent release, when I decide on a title, get album artwork and photos squared away, hire a graphic designer, hire a publicist and/or radio promotor. And, of course, fulfill the last of my Kickstarter rewards.
The gears are turning and the machine is whirring to life. I'm really excited about what these next few months will bring. I will keep you posted as the details emerge and the story unfolds.
Hope I see some of you down the road- get a chance to give you a preview these new album songs.
Sending you love!
grace
