New Acoustic Solo Album: Live at Home

Live at Home Album Advert
Live At Home Album

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It’s been over a year since the release of my third solo album, Mark III. My next full studio album is already in the process of being written and recorded. In the meantime, I have released a selection of solo acoustic recordings on a new album called Live at Home. The songs were recorded live on Boxing Day 2017. Since the last two albums involved me playing the additional instrumentation, I felt it was time to do something a little lighter on instrumentation. I was also intrigued to learn how Springsteen went about recording his 1982 classic, Nebraska, and the simplicity of that setup. The Boss used a Tascam PortaStudio and a pair of Shure SM57s (not even 58s!!?). So, I wanted my next album to be really stripped down, with the songs performed in their rawest form, just guitar and vocal.

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I’ve owned a Tascam 414 mkII for a number of years and haven’t put it to much use, but on this occasion, as well as recording to my usual DAW, I also ran a feed to the tape machine. I’ve shared both versions on this album; digital and the analog mix. Eight of the songs were recorded live using a simple setup of RODE NT3 on the acoustic guitar and an RODE NT1 for the vocal. I used two guitars on the session a Guild and a Larrivee. Two more songs were added to the list; Don’t Let Me Go and a slow version of Simple Story; a song I had recorded and perfumed with the Mojave Collective and which features on the album Rust’n’Dust. This recording included some over dubbing of background vocals and a guitar solo.

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The song list is made up of, what I feel are, some of my best songs. Most of these I perform live regularly, others have never been performed live before.

Footprints in the Sand is a gentle folk song; poetry set to finger-picked guitar. A gentle start to the collection. I’d had the melody for a few years before I finally got some words to settle with it. I’m happy about the way it turned out. I can imagine doing a version with Simon & Garfunkel style harmonies on the vocal.

Here’s alternative version recorded in the car.

Won’t let you down is sort of an outlaw ballad. It suggests the build up to a police raid on an ex-con who is innocent and has tried to put that life behind him. I didn’t plan the narrative while I was writing the song, it just evolved. There’s a human element introduced with mention of getting his kids to safety. There’s a lot in there and I was lucky to have stumbled on a melody that would allow for that.

Stonewalled is a story of someone travelling to on an adventure overseas; an encounter, horizons opening; where there once were blocks. The chorus is right at the top of my natural range it’s a good one to get down while I can still hit it in the original key.

She’s got a plan is a comedic tale of a guy who ends up spending time with a female secret agent. Initially he thinks she’s trying to kill him but she ends up saving him..or does she? Again, I don’t start out with these ideas and write them, they evolve with the rhymes and the melody until I settle on something that feels right to me.

Here’s an early version of Going Home…outdoors

Going Home. This song was influenced by James Taylor. I wrote this in a motel in Plano, Texas. Originally, it had a different picking pattern and it wasn’t a song I’ve spent a lot of time playing. Over time the picking developed. The linking guitar part before the second verse was worked out a few moments before I began to record. Lyrically I just pulled imagery from the room together and combined them with things I was feeling at the time. There’s a contradiction due to the perpetual need to be moving on and the desire to go “home”.

Home Coming has little to do with the previous song, except in title. They were written a couple of years apart. It’s a quirky tune with kind of a ragtime feel. I’d like to record this with rolling piano and brass someday, but, at the moment, this is the only way I can get it down.

The Mission, well I guess this was influenced by Elton John’s Rocket Man and They Punctured the Yolk by the Flaming Lips. It’s a tale about someone getting sent on a space mission, away from his family. Maybe someone who’s died and has left the earth; a dream perhaps. I’m planning a bigger production version of this in future. I think it still sits well as an acoustic track.

Don’t let me go is influenced by artists such as Otis Redding, Eddie Hinton and Delaney Bramlett. It’s the only soul song on the album. I enjoy singing in a different style. It’s always worked well live. I remember performing this during a support of James Burton. James stood at the side of the stage near the back and, when I finished, he said he really enjoyed it and could imagine getting a recording done with Steve Cropper, Glen D Hardin and a few other guys on it, he was pretty excited about hearing it. I was just pleased that he stayed and listened!

Simple Story was originally a live favourite when I was in the Mojave Collective. As I said earlier, an upbeat version is available on the Rust & Dust album. The original features some great musicianship from the band, particularly Tommy Clarke’s guitar.

Here’s a live version of the song being performed by the Mojave Collective

The new album version is a completely different take on the song; much slower with picked guitar. I used a couple of overdubs on this for vocals and a guitar solo. There’s a lyric about “Blood and Snot” and I have to give a nod to my Grandad here. When he used to talk about the fist-fights they used to have when he was in the Merchant Navy, he used to laughingly describe decorating the walls with blood and snot.

I Know is the last track on the album. A fairly abstract lyric with a south of the border feel in the chords. This is another that I’d like to give a full band treatment to in future.

The new album will be available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and all major digital music stores.