First of all, I have to say that I’m pretty much a blues and rock guy, so when I got the opportunity to check out Natasha James‘ “Tequila Time” CD, it was a bit of a departure for me. I’m willing to listen to most anything and let it stand on its own merits. I’ve ended up enjoying a lot of different styles of music that way.
So, this is country music. I think it’s officially referred to as “alt country”, to distinguish it from what they’re calling “country” music on the radio these days. Of course, now there are sub-genres of country music: pop country, rockin’ country, redneck country…whatever. This CD is pretty close to what I used to hear as a kid some 50 years ago now. Now THAT was country!
Anyway, I’ve heard country referred to as “white man’s blues”, and that’s pretty accurate in many respects. What they’re calling “blues” these days is a lot different from what I call blues and there are sub-genres of that, now, too!
Okay, enough of that. Natasha James is a fine singer and songwriter. She wrote 12 of the 15 tunes on this disc and co-arranged the other three. Her style is laid-back and easygoing. It’s obvious she’s very comfortable in her own skin, as the saying goes. Most important, in my opinion, it sounds like she’s having a good time
The title cut, “Tequila Time”, is straight ahead country with a hint of N’Awlins. I can see why it’s getting a lot of airplay. Two of her originals, “Fillin’ Station” and “Get Out Of My Way”, written in 1982 and 1983, respectively, have a bit of an edge to them, which I like. They’re a bit more blues-like, which is probably why they stuck out for me.
That’s not to take anything away from the rest of the cuts. “Cheetah On The Run” is another tune with a Zydeco flavor to it. “If You Think This Is Love” is a bluesy hip-shaker. “Ain’t Done Nothin’ Wrong” has a Delta feel to its paranoid musings. “Let Me Cry” could easily be turned into a rock anthem. The disc closes with “Modern Life” describing the dysfunctional family life that’s becoming more and more “normal” these days.
James’ simple, dead-on lyrics paint vivid mental and emotional images. The band is tight and the musicianship is up to the standard you expect from country musicians while covering a broad range of styles. There’s a lot to like on this collection. I suggest you check it out.
Roots, Rock ‘n Blues
I dig finding out about musicians who when you watch them play make you stare in slack-jawed amazement. I can get around pretty well on several axes, but watching people like Ben Lacy just reinforces what I learned a long time ago…some people are just on a whole ‘nother level that the rest of us can only watch and appreciate.
Check out this video on the Truefire web site of Ben Lacy doing his version of the ZZ Top tune “Cheap Sunglasses”:
http://truefire.com/tftv/index.html?channel=blacy&videofile=gptv/benlacy/gpcheapsunglasses
If you dig that, you’ll also enjoy this collection of Ben Lacy videos:
http://rootsrocknblues.us/videos/benlacy/
Enjoy!
Roots, Rock ‘n Blues
Making a living playing music is a dream for a lot of amateur musicians. They watch their favorite pros and imagine themselves up there gigging. If they’re connected with the band and/or have the talent, they may get to sit in for a few tunes and grab a piece of the dream. Some actually join a band and play out locally while holding down their day jobs. Eventually, when the pressures of the job, family, and home life get too much, they put their music aside to “get back to it later.”
Does this sound familiar? I can definitely relate to it since I’ve been down that road. I tried to juggle two bands, a job, a house, four dogs and a wife, not necessarily in that order and eventually something had to give. The fact is that I got to where having a gig stopped being a thrill and started being a burden. Man, when playing music gets to be a drag, there’s something seriously wrong!
I’ve always thought I wanted to be a professional musician. I’ve played for almost 50 years now off and on. The key words there being “off and on.” I’ve come to realize that while I have the talent to be a full time musician, I don’t have the passion it takes to get there. In other words, it’s not my purpose in life to play music.
Don’t get me wrong, I love music and I love playing. I just don’t love it enough to put it as my number one priority.
I know a number of pro musicians for whom playing is their life. They could no more stop playing than stop breathing! They are truly great players because everything else is a lower priority for them.
When it comes to music, they’re living on purpose. They know they were put here to play music and doing something else with their lives simply isn’t an option, except on a temporary, as-needed basis. In other words, if the rent has to get paid, they hustle a side job for a while, but the priority is always their music.
So, you might be asking, “If they’re living on purpose, why aren’t they all super-successful?” There’s a difference between living your purpose and embracing it. In the case of the superstar musicians who are performing in front of thousands every time they play, they’ve embraced their purpose. The ones still struggling in clubs to make ends meet are still buying into the belief that you can’t make a living doing something you love to do. It’s the old “Starving Artist” myth and in some cases it’s an excuse for why they’re not more successful.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a musician or an airline pilot or an accountant. If you’re not tuned in to your purpose and committed to living your purpose, you will struggle. There are any number of reasons why people are afraid to fully commit to their purpose, too many to detail here.
The bottom line is that everybody has a purpose and everybody could be successful if they knew and embraced their purpose fully. If you’re struggling as a musician, it’s because you’re not clear on what your purpose is and/or not fully committed to it. If you’re a music fan struggling with the rest of your life, the same thing is true. The key to success in anything is to identify and commit to your unique purpose in this life.
For more on this subject and tools to help you identify and live your purpose, check out http://whatsmypurpose.com/johnsawyer.
Roots, Rock ‘n Blues
In October, 2007, the original Song Surgeon hit the market causing a sensation among musicians. This revolutionary product was a quantum leap for players who wanted to learn their favorite tunes note for note. Now it’s back and better than ever. Song Surgeon 2 takes the original to a whole new level!
If you’re a musician old enough to remember vinyl records, you probably remember, too, what a pain it was to learn songs from records. You know the drill:
- put the needle down on the part you were working on
- try to pick out all the notes as it played at full speed
- figure out a few notes on your instrument
- pick up the needle and put it back at the beginning of the part
- figure out a few more notes
- repeat until exhausted
Even though the players in those days weren’t shredding a zillion notes a second like they do today, it was still the state of the art at the time and seemed like a lot of notes to us!
Imagine trying to do the same thing today! Even CDs and computers don’t make it much easier. Go ahead, grab your Joe Satriani CD and try to figure out what he’s doing while it plays at full speed! Or slow it down and try to learn it at a different pitch.
The ideal solution is to have a way to play the tune at a slower speed at the original pitch, right? For years, the only way to do that was to rip the track from the CD, run it through Audacity or some other sound editor to slow it down, but keep the pitch the same. It worked..sort of..but wasn’t real convenient.
Song Surgeon 2 solves the problem by giving us a way to slow down the tune and keep the pitch…IN REAL TIME! Not only that, you can mark a section and loop it as many times as you need to to get the licks down.
You can also change the pitch if you want. Here’s where I use that feature a lot…learning Stevie Ray Vaughan tunes. Stevie tuned his guitar down a step so that anything he played in the normal E position was actually pitched in Eb. I prefer my guitars tuned normally, so in order to learn anything by SRV, I just raise the pitch on the tune by half a step.
Here’s another cool thing you can do: mark a section of a song as a loop, then save the loop to your hard drive as a new file. Now, you can load the loop into your audio software of choice, put it on repeat and have at it as long as you want. The possibilities are endless!
Check out the Song Surgeon web site for complete details. I think you’ll love it as much as I do!
Roots, Rock ‘n Blues
