"THE RESURRECTED BLUES"?

“The Resurrected Blues” (sounded more down home than “Resurrection Blues”) has six pretty good verses now. It needs a seventh, for closure—to wrap everything up, and make the song feel “finished.” Seven verses also allows for three lead breaks, which would be nice. Since this is a pretty standard blues, musicians pick up on it really easily and can have a lot of fun with it.

It’s short, too (so there’s room for a lot of breaks, which musicians like, too). No choruses: instead, the last two lines are the same in every verse, providing the framework for the (hopefully memorable) hook. Same thing I did with “She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself.” The “no [insert Easter image], no [insert Easter image]” every other verse is an Elvis reference, from an old Mavericks song. Don’t know if anyone will notice.

I’ll plan on playing “The Resurrected Blues” at the Tsunami Thursday night (at least one person who’ll be there has heard about it, and two more have heard the song, and somebody will probably request it). Would be nice to record it. At practice tonight, I could try the trick of running everything—my guitar, Ken’s guitar, Jane’s fiddle, and the vocal—through the 5-channel mixer, and thence to the Tascam (I’ve been carrying all that stuff around in the truck), and see how it comes out. Won’t have bass player Clint there (he’s out of town), but might could add him later.

I don’t know if it’d be better to record the vocal live with the band; I could just turn the volume off to that track (so the Tascam would pick up just the instruments), and add the vocal later. I will have two extra tracks I can work with—the Tascam will record to a maximum of two tracks at a time, and I have four available—so I could put the bass on one, and my vocal on t’other.

If I can get it recorded decently, “The Resurrected Blues” might be a good kickoff for the Song-a-Month Experiment. It’s new, it can rock, and people seem to like it. And of course it’s irreverent. It could go on the “12 Reasons Why Joe’s Going to Hell” album (but I’d have to change the title to “13”).

The Tillamook County Arts Network is looking for music submissions for a “Biennial Prospectus”—they wanted CDs done in the last five years—and I’ll give them a copy of the Deathgrass album. Also gave them the names of some other local musicians I know who have put albums out recently, and passed on their invitation to one group that has been trying to record an album. TCAN’s deadline isn’t until August, so they may have a chance. This “Biennial Prospectus” might as well include everybody possible who’s any good. There’s a lot of good talent in this area.

Caught Denise Drake’s set at the Thirsty Lion Tuesday night, after caller class (drug Sandee and Carolyn along, too); not only was the show good (I knew it would be), between us and the other folks who came to hear her play, she got enough of those “votes” to win. She’ll be back on stage there May 1, with a shot at getting the day-in-the-recording-studio grand prize. Glad this voting thing finally worked. Denise has raised the idea of her and me doing sets there on the same night, and carpooling in together. That’d be good. I wonder if we could back each other up? A “Denise and Joe Show” followed by a “Joe and Denise Show” could be kinda epic.

Bunch of upcoming stuff: meeting at the Arts Center tonight, followed by practice; music tomorrow at the Tsunami, and maybe Friday at City Hall; “The Resurrected Blues” to record.

Joe