I’ll admit it: When the ukulele craze started catching-on a few years ago, I kind of made fun of it. I’m not sure why–but I did.
The other day I was seduced by the uke’s sound & vibe I had something of an epiphany which resulted in this tenor uke “following me home.”
Guess I’ll keep it.
A couple of weeks a go, I released my version of Led Zeppelin’s “The Rain Song” and offered the recording as a FREE download and asked only for a single Tweet in return.
The response was inspiring! All over the world came these lovely notes of appreciation for the track. They still come through now and again. Everyone seems to dig the reharmonization towards the end. It’s been really cool. There is even another video that Mike Conaty made the very first day of the song’s release here!
During one day of the recording sessions, I filmed some of the guitar and bass takes just to give a glimpse into the process. This was an overdub affair as I played everything on the tune except the drums which were beautifully performed by my first-call drummer Joe Shotwell.
I’ve also decided to make the song available via the Atmos Trio Store. As usual, the song can be streamed, embedded or downloaded at a “Pay What You Want (even nothing) price.
Artwork by the wonderful Linda Palmer.
Here’s the classic “Cry Me a River” from my gig last Friday night in the California wine country. Glen Ellen, CA is home the the Olive & Vine where the Atmos Trio functioned as “The Guys” to singer (and wife to our bass player Cliff Hugo who’s currently rehearsing with Super Tramp for their European summer tour) Cynthia Tarr.
I’ve been working away in my studio with some new toys and thought I would share some results. It’s my gift to you, and all I request in return is a tweet.
This is my favorite Led Zeppelin tune The Rain Song. It features me playing guitars (Acoustic steel-string, hollowbody & my trusty Strat), bass guitar and some software synths. I thought I had nailed some super-great electronic percussion when my favorite drummer, Atmos’ Joe Shotwell came to the studio and blew my work away with his perfect and effortless playing.
So, please enjoy today’s musical offering with my compliments. If you have any questions or comments, I would love to know what you think!
Special thanks to @CashMusic for the clever twitter tools.
In 2006, the Atmos Trio released our first self-titled CD. On that album is a beautiful ballad written by our then bass player Jeff Obee called “Her Eyes.”
Around that time, in order to move music around the web, I used to have to store MP3s on my web server and link back to the files. A music streaming company has been leeching from my web server for years serving up the DEMO version of this tune to their listeners. It has received thousands of hits over the years. I saw no harm in this and took no action to stop it.
But it made me wonder if the demo was better than the “Real” version.
Here is the demo circa 2004.
Here is the officially released version.
Which one do you like better?
“Lembra de Mim” is a masterpiece-level composition by the great Ivan Lins. Our wonderful singer Cynthia Tarr wrote english lyrics to the piece and our version is “Think Well of Me.”
I play once a month with this group a the Olive and Vine in Glen Ellen, CA. If you’re fortunate enough to find yourself in the Sonoma Valley on a Friday night, come on by!
Here’s another quick preview peak into a project I’m wrapping-up. This an excerpt to a rough mix–just to show you what I’m up to.
“Reptile” is basically a funk tune. The instrumentation is a little different in so far as the rhythm guitar part is played on a steel-string acoustic guitar. The solo is my old work-hourse frankestein ’80’s-era Strat.
This track features my buds Joe Shotwell on drums and Jack Hines on bass.