I meant to, but we ran out of time and I was exhausted. I thought about fudging this journal a little bit - inserting a one or two paragraph entry today with yesterday's date on it - but I decided to be honest instead.
But I can still catch you guys up: We spent a lot of time yesterday setting up chairs, guitar stands, mics, levels. We've been using a mic made by a company called "Wunder" a lot.
It's amazing how many vocal nuances I can hear and control when I'm singing into a really great mic. It's like having an upgraded pair of ears.
Being back in the studio laying down tracks brought back a lot of memories. Last time I was here recording, I was 21. I didn't know anything about how to sing into a mic or pick songs for an album. I'd only headlined one or two gigs - had never been on the road. (Should clarify here- I did a LOT of traveling as a kid, but I'd never toured when I made my first record).
Things have changed a lot since then. I'm now flying across the country and renting a car in between tours, instead of driving out to the hill country from Austin, after my shift at Office Depot.
And, I now know how to sing. I'm a better writer, and a better player. I've got about twice as many songs on the table to consider as I need - twice as many as I had to consider for my first rodeo. Funny. After we made that first album, I didn't think I'd ever write that many good songs again. But I have the opposite problem - way, way too many!
So, yesterday we set up, got comfortable and recorded "You Are the Cowboy" and "Moving On." Both came out great.
This week, we're just recording my guitar tracks and vocals - to give our rhythm section something decent to play to when they come.
But, judging from the quality of the stuff we've been getting, we may end up using a lot of these "scratch" vocals.
Another surprise- Billy and I are really liking the sound of my Gallagher on pretty much everything. It's been played a lot, and has opened up since it first fell into my hands at the Wildflower contest in 2010. I'm not shocked by how great it sounds- I loved it the first time I heard it (maybe before then?) but with so many beautiful instruments of his own to play, I wasn't expecting Billy to reach for the Gallagher as frequently as I do. So that's been cool.
Today, we've recorded "Reason to Fall," "Little Blue Bird," "Murder of Crows," and "Edge of the World," and we've got miles to go before we sleep. There're about 14 songs I'd love to get to and 12 we really need to get to. We're working 10 hour days with only 2 breaks - lunch and dinner.
Sam Baker came over today and graced us with his loveliness and with a new song. It takes its chorus from an Emily Dickinson poem. Sam's song is one of those iconic tunes that somebody like Emmylou should cover. Maybe I'll cover it someday, not that I could do it justice. But i hope it sees the light of day.
Today appropriately (for the 1st day of February) felt like spring. It was perfect weather - we all had lunch outside.
Today was also Billy's birthday and he's put in long, hard hours all day long. He insists that this is the way he'd prefer to spend it, but I still wish we had a cake or something.
I also wish I hadn't forgotten his birthday. I did bring cupcakes, but only by accident. But Sam, Philip, and I put a candle in one them anyway and sang "Happy Birthday." [Philip McWhorter, also known as Phil, is an engineer at Blue Rock. fyi.]
We are all immensely glad that Billy is on the planet.
grace
Here are some photos from Billy's birthday with Sam.
