A Boon to Rivers Everywhere!

Just yesterday I recorded a new tune. I was sitting by the computer playing guitar (as I can be found many many hours of the day) and I started strumming a particular chord... Something clicked and I jotted down some lyrics about the recent flooding in my hometown of Webster City, Iowa.

A couple of overdubs later and voila! A new tune!

This one I did through YouTube, even though it's just the audio. I put a picture of the flooding over the whole song. I'm liking YouTube as it's easier to upload, does so in higher quality, and is easier to link to.

Enjoy the new tune, Boone River Blues, here!

Shared-Walking Implement Blues: (Co-Cane Blues)

I have a new video! On Friday morning I woke up around 8, had a cup of coffee, and then said to myself, "I need to record something today." I've also been wanting to try out the video capabilities of my new iPhone 4. So I combined those two endeavors into one larger endeavor.

I chose Old Crow Medicine Show's version of "Cocaine Habit Blues" as the song to record. I'm not sure how it came about. I must have been listening to it recently.

I rigged up a phone-holder-dealie using a Gorillapod Tripod (which, by the way, is a worthwhile investment for anyone who has a camera) and a mic stand. Check out the pics of my camera rig here. I was fairly impressed with myself for figuring it out.

So I recorded video of the guitar, banjo, drum, and solo tracks. Then I went back and did a take lip syncing to the vocals (much to the dismay of Emma, she does not like my lip syncing, and I apologize to her) - Then I put all the video into Final Cut Pro, matched it up with the audio that I mixed together in Garageband, and chopped it all together.

I think it turned out pretty good. Not too shabby for a couple hours of work on a Friday morning!

Enjoy the video here! It's on Youtube (so I could share it in HD). I'm in the big time now. Leave a comment on the Youtube page!

Disclaimer: I, in no way, shape or form, advocate the taking, selling, distributing, whiffing, taking a whiff, smelling, or advocating of cocaine... Unless it's the 1880s and you want a soft drink.

New Git-Box and Recording!

I have a new guitar!

Check out pics of it here!

It's a 2003 Gibson Hummingbird. It's awesome. It's clearly way too nice of a guitar for little old me, but I'll keep it for the rest of my life. It's got a pickup built in, and sweet vintage looks. I got it at Willie's American Guitars, with a great big amount of help from Pete (Hemberger). We checked out a lot of different guitars, some newer, some really old. We left, we came back. We told the guy, "Get the jokester selling the thing on the horn," and "I'll walk right now," and gave Stephan a hat trick.

I even recorded a new song with it! I did a cover of Shawn Smith's "Wrapped in My Memory," which may be the awesomest song about missing a friend that exists. The original was all piano, but I figured out the chords and did an acoustic guitar version with it.

I used the built in pickup for the guitar sound, I think it sounds really good for just only the internal pickup! It has very minimal EQ or effects on it.

Also a shout-out to Emma for helping produce the vocal tracks. She is an awesome set of second ears!

Check out the song on the player to your right!

Wild Weekend!

Check it out!

I was driving home, and "Wild Weekend" by NRBQ was on the stereo, and I said to myself, "That sounds like a fairly simple chord progression, I bet I could figure it out."

So I got home, pulled out the ol' acoustic, fired up the Information Superhighway, found the lyrics, listened to the song, figured out the chords, and then hit the record button on my iSight camera!

So enjoy the Video One Take here!

One Take Coming Back!

Today I felt like reviving an old standby!

I used my iPhone to record a One Take version of My Morning Jacket's "I'm Amazed"...

I also happened to capture the video of it in iMovie with the new iMac's built-in iSight camera, so I figured I'd sync the two up and make a video out of it!

FWIW, that's a Summit Maibock that makes an appearance early in the video, and notice how much more smoothly I play that opening lick afterwards... :P

Enjoy the video here!

Filming Day in Secondbedroomville!

With the recent addition of our ridiculously awesome iMac:

I decided it was time to get back to some higher-level computer-doings... One of which is video editing. So the other night I shot some video of myself recording a cover of John Prine's "Wedding Day in Funeralville."

I recorded video with both the built-in iSight camera and a regular DV camcorder for both the guitar track and the vocal track. I imported the video into the iMac and edited it in Final Cut Express. Just wanted to get the feel for it again. Synced up the audio with the video and chopped all 4 video tracks together to form a semblance of the whole, if you will.

The song was recorded in Garageband per usual, it was just also recorded by the iSight at the same time.

Check out the video here!

Wreck of the Ol' 97!

My latest recording is a new experiment I have been working on for a while. It's something I'm pretty damn proud of to tell the truth, both for the sentimental factor and the technical know-how and prowess it took to pull it off!

I took a reel-to-reel recording of my grandfather's bluegrass combo playing the ol' standard "Wreck of the Ol' 97", captured it, digitized it, brought it up to speed, and cleaned it up.

Then I chopped it, arranged and rearranged it (this was the painstaking part), and added a second acoustic guitar, vocals, and solo. Then I mixed it all together!

So the end result is my first chance to play and record with my late grandfather. Sadly, I never got the chance to jam with him on the banjo and myself on the guitar. The combination of my delayed entry into the guitar world and my grandfather's declining dexterity didn't allow us the chance to play together.

With this recording however, I get a bit of a hint at what it might have sounded like. :)

You can hear Wendell (my grandfather) introducing the song as "A little bit of the Wreck of the '97 in the key of G" - It features my grandfather's banjo, as well as (who I assume is) Chet and Danny Stubbs on flat-top guitar and fiddle. I added an additional flat-top guitar track, as well as vocals and an electric lead.

Enjoy on the player to your right!

Paranoid Android

My latest recording is a cover of the Avett Brothers tune, "Paranoia in B Flat Major."

It's a great song and one of my favorites from them. It also features the banjo, so that's always a plus.






















The recording was done in two sessions, one with recording a scratch acoustic guitar, main vocals, and backing vocals... This was back in October.

Then today I added the banjo, a better acoustic guitar track, and some minor overdubs...

I think the end result is pretty good! Just don't listen to Emma's backing vocals too closely, as she gets embarrassed easily...

If the Avetts stumble upon this, it was all a coincidence...

Enjoy on the player to your right!