Showing posts with label folk.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label folk.. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

TRADITIONAL- a year late and many dollars short

a year late and many dollars short; as opposed to a day late and a dollar short. a lot of water has gone under [and up to] the bridge. it seems i never get cds completed until a year or so after the recordings. i dont even think about them. i let them age like fine wine, or ferment like liquor, or turn to vinegar, i suppose. i am always more interested in DOING the projects/recordings than the final result. once it's done, i'm ready to get onto something else.

it seems unreal that it has been a year since we began the TRADITIONAL recordings. so much has happened, that it is to the point of surreal. so much loss; so much pain. my friend wayne recently said that he felt the cd was 'portentous' when we were doing it; possibly because there are so many sad songs about death and dying, lost love and life... et je ne sais pas. a lot of old traditional gospel, folk, blues & jazz songs, which, no, are not very happy. but then, life is not always happy.

michael emailed & said he now had time to get back to the cd- so- i asked him to listen and choose the best of the best takes. i trust his ears and judgement implicitly. i trust my judgement on the performances, but not the fine tuning of the sonics of it all; the mastering etc. i sent a friend a cd i'd done, he put it in and it blew up his speakers- so, no.... probably not wise; but i have LEARNED from time and experience to watch & obey those damned meters.

i will possibly have 100 physical cds made to start with, and have them and digital downloads available via cdbaby on all the usual internet music outlets [amazon, itune, rhapsody etc] - so stay tuned for release date. might have to do a cd release party concert @ the rayville arts center where the grand piano tracks were recorded. but you'd have to brown bag it

[c]2011 DOUG DUFFEY

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

TRADITIONAL - new solo cd 2010- 2ND notes

MORE FUN WITH DOUG AND MICHAEL:

We finished all recordings tonight- working today from 1Pm- 9Pm non stop. This cd project has turned out to be such a collaboration, that Michael and i have just about split the duties! it's been a lot of fun... AND a lot of hard work!

We still have to 'fly in' some 'slide' and 'pops staples' type guitar tracks from George Bryan; which he played/recorded in Omaha and emailed to me today- and then Michael will begin mixing and fixing and mastering, once back in Virginia.

I knew that Michael was an excellent keyboard player and singer BUT did not know he was a former percussionist! [the man never ceases to amaze me] In addition to playing the piano track on STACKOLEE he played all the percussion [cardboard boxes, congas, tambourine]- we decided not to put any bass on it. We both did piano tracks for the song, but i decided to use his track, as it has a very James Booker feel. It sounds very old school New Orleans. i did the lead vocal and backing vocals.
we also changed boxes & used my flip flop as a beater [instead of the spatula] which made for a fatter sounding 'bass drum' - some of this stuff definitely has a 'parade feel to it

Michael added some kick ass B3 pedal bass lines- organ- and all the percussion- to WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN- on which i played piano, did lead vocal and several backing vocal tracks/as did Michael- sounds like the Blackwood Brothers [or as I dubbed it "the Backwoods Brothers"]- our Southern Baptist roots are showing

DELIA- which i had done piano tracks/vocals on in Rayville as a potential solo track took on a whole new trip- i did an alternate take with a click track to guide the eventual guitar-then take it out- but Michael added organ and we finally decided to pull out most of the piano- and slowly ease it back in- we took the 'guide track' drums out- and M added a lot of Celtic sounding percussion- i did a huge but distant sounding choir- and we will eventually add george's guitar parts- this will definitely be a production number- well, it already IS. BUT there are several: SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD; AMAZING GRACE- and the 2 above mentioned songs

but also there are quite a few totally solo songs: st. james infirmary; st. louis blues; careless love; black is the color of my true love's hair; scarborough fair; she moved through the fair; [and] silver dagger [although we will be adding guitar to it] - [and] hard times come again no more [Michael on piano me on vocal] - We got a LOT done in 4 long sessions. traditional blues,
folk, and gospel songs done in possibly unconventional ways- but in ways that felt totally "right" to us. we shared the duties in the box/percussion and hammond bass pedal departments

it has been an absolute joy AGAIN, as it always is, to work with Michael- his talent and creativity are inspirational- his insight and input is always "spot on"- he's not afraid to try my crazy approaches to recording- and he always hears the material w/a different ear- which often makes for interesting turns of events- taking it to a totally different place than from where it was originally planned. PLUS, he's a total work horse like i am... work work work... go go go... we're like camels that cross deserts without water... more updates to come.

all fotos [c]2010 doug duffey
[c]2010 DOUG DUFFEY

Monday, June 28, 2010

TRADITIONAL - new solo cd 2010- 1st notes

Began work on the new TRADITIONAL cd on June 21, 2010 with Michael Rasbury engineering and co-producing. This is a project i have been wanting to do for some time; recording traditional folk, blues and gospel songs; songs i have known or performed most of my life.

i wanted this project to be done
as organically as possible- recorded here in my birthplace/home/ the source of my musical roots- using acoustic/traditional instruments- and keeping the music as pure, real and honest as possible... albeit not completely done in traditional styles/arrangements

foto [c]2010 Michael Rasbury

We began recording Hammond B3 & vocals on June 21[West Monroe, Louisiana] - we used hand claps, conga, tambourine & cardboard boxes for percussion. i played the bass lines, using the B3 foot pedals, with my hands to get some bass grooves! I sang the lead vocal- then went back and did the backing vocals several times to make a 'choir'. Both Michael and i did B3 tracks on "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" and both added piano on "Amazing Grace"

We recorded solo piano & vocal tracks [recorded 'live'] at the Rayville Arts Center* [Rayville, Louisiana] on June 24 & 26. Many thanks to Wayne Hopper [director*] for all his help and support.
On "Hard Times Come Again No More" [by Stephen Foster- circa 1855] Michael played piano [some amazing piano at that!] and i sang; we both did separate piano takes for "Stackolee"


foto [c]2010 Michael Rasbury

We'll be doing more recordings in the next few days- i have a few more songs i want to add- plus we'll be working on the tracks we already have. My life long dear friend George Bryan [Nebraska Hall of Fame] will be adding some acoustic/electric and slide guitar tracks on some of the tracks

We hope to get the majority of everything in place before Michael leaves for NYC and i leave for Europe. Hopefully everything will be mixed & mastered and the cd will be finished/released by the end of the summer. It's been a great experience- thank you Michael
for all your hard work/amazing talent- and thank you Wayne for everything!


Michael Rasbury & Wayne Hopper
FOTO [C]2010 DOUG DUFFEY

More updates to come


[c]2010 DOUG DUFFEY