Last night and incredible combination of food and music was pulled off, it required much thought, much careful planning…no, it didn’t really. Sara Q Robinson, Ditcher Of Ditchers, joined me for some serious BBQ and Smokey Hormel. A Combo that works well just by name. I have a habit of telling people that certain musicians or bands are “the greatest ever in the entire world”, I favor the superlatives. But each time I say these things, I do in fact mean it. But when I say this dude is the greatest guitar player alive, I pretty much mean it even more. The show was at a strange fake western themed bar, but there were peanut shells on the floor, always a welcome sight. Lets get straight into it, and discuss the solos. As previously mentioned, I haven’t been a guitar solo an in many years. But recently, Nels Cline and Hormel have changed my mind. At one point, I turned to the Robinson and said, “I would give an arm to be able to play a solo like that” it was briefly discussed that I would need both arms to play said solo, so it was determined that the arm exchange would be made after the solo was played. His melodic phrasing was serious business. It sounded like Django Reinhardt, if he were wearing a cowboy hat and hung out with Speedy West. (that was a totally esoteric elitist hipster pedal steel reference, but seriously, look him up) I somehow need to learn to play like that. I bought the Milton Brown and His Brownies western swing box set….thats the first step.
So, that Idolater gawker blog just blew my mind. There’s this whole Velvet Revolver thing happening, with the Stone Temple Pilots guy not really cutting it anymore…what if Rod Stewart took the gig!?! It would be like The Faces on steroids, lets somehow make this happen. I saw a VH1 Classic show recently, a very old British Television Faces performance. The sound was off, so I youtubed it a few days later…how come they weren’t as famous (perhaps more famous?) than The Stones? I’m thinking Mick and Keith saw this performance, and were like “yep, Ron Wood is the guy, lets lure him away with our money, power, and perhaps controlled substances”
Lots of shows all around this week, western swing, singer/songwriter indulgences, world music, its all over the place.
Also, here is the secret to recording happiness. Ready? Here it is:
Delay.
Yep, thats it. Go easy on the reverb. Take a drum overhead, just add the slapback. If vocals are recorded in the near future, this technique will also be attempted. There is a project in the near future, so hopefully there will be a chance for experimentation. Example, well, I’m glad you asked….
Did that work? TB will be so proud, lets hope so….