Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come

A Change Is Gonna Come

A sadly-still-relevant 50 year old classic by the ironically-immortal Sam Cooke... my version's fairly straight-ahead here, with a solo vocal track, an arpeggiated guitar track (doubled by one thru the EHX B9 Organ Machine pedal), a boom-chik guitar track, and a bassline. First takes on alla these except the boom-chik, where I dropped in to overdub the bridge...

And, as always: recorded, mixed and mastered at No Robot.

Ramblin' Man by Hank Williams

The great Hank Williams released the first version of this classic in 1951. 64 years later, I try not to maul it too badly. Sometimes it's hard...

Ramblin' Man

Started out this morning with an itch to record something... And this is a great song (or was before I got to it).

Anyway, this recording is the first take each on rhythm guitar and weird sitar-guitar, plus the second take each on vocal and slide guitar.

Recorded, mixed and mastered this morning, all by little ol' me, here at No Robot.

Where you been?

Hi all...

Sorry for the extended absence; luckily, zwolf's still posting some excellent and entertaining reviews of pulps and such.

Meanwhile, on the homefront, my wife has beaten breast cancer and is well on her way to feeling fully healthy again, giving me a chance to use my blues song-a-month run here last year as demo fodder while seeking a new band with whom I can play locally.



And around the time that we got the good news on her cancer, I met up with local band Alamantra... they are some good guys who play well, though sadly, the stars did not align as hoped, and I'm no longer with them now, though our two gigs were quite fun and fairly rocked.

We played Friday night at the Nick in Birmingham, along with the High Fidelics, Asteroid Shop, and  Looksy... (Thanks to super-soundman and all-around super-guy Victor E. Wilson for making everyone sound so damn good and for providing these photos!!!)

...and then Saturday night in Florence, with Planet Ink and, once again, the High Fidelics. Gotta say, everyone was very cool and all of the bands rocked. The High Fidelics were the real stand-out band for me... They play straight-ahead surf-rock, with the bassist splitting his time cleverly between a guitar slung as a Fender-6 and a regular Fender bass, and the guitar and organ workout all night during the set (which one night included a killer Henry Mancini medley of Peter Gunn and Baby Elephant Walk), but the real star of the band, for my money, is their bad-ass drummer, whose fills get more and more complex and over-the-top throughout the set, nicely staying away from the silliness of Tommy Lee by using humor as a musical weapon. Hard to explain, but amazing to behold... check 'em out!

So, that's where I've been... and now I'm looking to build another local band to slog the clubs here in town, playing blues and funk, rock and soul... looking for a drummer first and foremost, so hit me up if you are that drummer or if you know him... 

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash)

So, the end of the year (+ hopefully, the world!) and this is the last of 2012's monthly blues tracks...


Shit's been busy here lately, so this one's another band track from the Beaker demos, featuring me on bass + vox, Matt McK on drums (+ production), and Donny Guitar on, umm... guitar, trying to do justice to the great Johnny Cash's ultra-classic Folsom Prison Blues.

Click the pic or the songtitle to hear it (right-click to download):

Folsom Prison Blues

As always, leave a comment + let me know what you think...

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: If You Want Me to Love You (Tampa Red)

Well, I would say 'better late than never,' but you'll have to judge for yourselves after you listen...

Anyway, this - the penultimate free blues of the year - is a tasty little gem from the late great Tampa Red, "If You Want Me to Love You."

Click the pic or the songtitle to give it a listen...

IF YOU WANT ME TO LOVE YOU

Hope you enjoy!

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: One Way Out (Elmore James)

A classic from the legendary Elmore James, also done back in the day by the great Sonny Boy Williamson before becoming a staple in the Allman Brothers Band's live set...  Here's my fairly short version, with a nod to the Allmans but more of an allegiance to the earlier versions. And more bass!

Click the pic or the songtitle to hear it (or right-click to download it)...

ONE WAY OUT

Give it a listen + let me know what you think.

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Cypress Grove (Skip James)

Another Skip James tune... this time, the creepily resigned Cypress Grove. I was aiming for atmosphere on this one, with a concerted effort to make it sound sorta distantly swampy, though my slide guitarwork is resoundingly subpar. Whatever. You decide. And, please... let me know what you think.

Click the songtitle to hear it. Right-click to download.

CYPRESS GROVE

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Hot Dog (Led Zeppelin)

Here... have a Hot Dog...

 

(Oh, wait... it's invisible...)

Yeah... this one's kind of a cheat, I guess. It's not an old blues, it's a Zep tune. But, lots of their stuff actually was old uncredited blues, so whatever... water from the same well, maybe just a little more British (which would make the water taste like it had bad dental care?)... 

When drummer Matt + Donny Guitar + I were still trying to put together a coverband to hit the clubs, we recorded some tunes, including the already-posted Sunshine of Your Love and this... Our cover of the way-on rocked-up country blues offa Physical Graffiti...  

Hot Dog

(Cuz it's Labor Day Weekend, see...?)

Anyway, Donny's guitar playing on this one is rather tasty, so check it out + then post some nice things here about his playing... he's been a little depresst lately + it'd cheer him up!

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Trouble Blues (Charles Brown)

Another blues about dat ol' trubble...
This time, it's Charles Brown's 'Trouble Blues' from the late 1950s... Gave me a chance to try out recording that new/old Hammond I scored a while back...

Hope you like... let me know what you think!

TROUBLE BLUES

Look at my huge organ! Just look at it!

Filed from the Weirdly-Poetic Timing Dept...

Jon Lord, organist for Deep Purple + formerly-solid candidate for the most interesting man alive, died earlier this week. An innovative cat, to be sure, with powerful Hammond B-3 chords stabbing thru the band's sound, juiced up thru a Marshall stack...


 



And synchronicititilly, I found a Hammond organ available locally this week, for only $50! Of course, it ain't a top-o'-the-line B-3 or anything at that level, but it IS a perfectly functioning VS-300 (entry-level unit: no drawbars, shortened keyboard range, no Leslie cabinet)... so now my studio is really coming together, albeit as a room full of weird old vintage gear... Anyway, here's some pictures! 

 Along with the Hammond, you'll see my rack full of vintage Ibanez effects units (UE-400, UE-405, HD-1500... + not pictured: UE-303B, DUE-400), my Yamaha SY-1 (monosynth ca. 1974), an Alesis HR-16 (16-bit is the shit!) and some other stuff.

All of it (except the Hammond) was used in the making of the Mighty Blowhole album posted here a few weeks ago. So, if you're curious as to what some of these things sound like, there ya go...

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Slide It In (Charley Patton)

Another month, another blues song... this time around, I took one of the great Charley Patton's brilliant tunes, known alternately as Shake It + Break It or Hang It on the Wall. I took the liberty of further altering the song, rewriting some of the lyrics, restructuring it slightly, + retitling it Slide It In, though it's really still his song, even if he might not wanna take credit for what I did to it.

I originally worked on a full-band version of this, but scrapped that here for a more raw + real version: one rhythm guitar track, one slide guitar rhythm take, one slide lead take and a vocal take. As close to live as I can get, one track at a time... Hope you like it, cuz it's rather nasty! And if you don't like it, at least it's short!

SLIDE IT IN

 

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Stop Breaking Down

Well, it's June now + time for another monthly installment of the blues.

This time, we go right to the wellspring with Robert Johnson, prob'ly the quintessential bluesman to most. Presented here, for your listening pleasure (?)... a reworking of his classic Stop Breaking Down.

Stop Breaking Down

Hope you enjoy... leave a comment...

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Junco Partner

Junco Partner is an old New Orleans classic blues, performed by luminaries like James Booker (my personal favorite version!), Dr. John, Professor Longhair, the Clash (!) and many more..., and tells the cautionary tale of a N'Awlins junkie. The original melody is the one that appears in Professor Longhair's brilliant 'Tipitina' + is lovely. Go check it out when you can, but til then, give this one a listen + let me know what you think of my version...

Junco Partner

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Every Night

Another blues - this time an original composition called 'Every Night' that kinda stays true to the lyrical conceit of hokum blues... each verse sets up its own punchline + stands alone. There's maybe 30 more verses, but that'd've been unnecessarily cruel to y'all...

Hope you like!

Every Night

As always, let me know what you think. Next up: a New Orleans blues classic...

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Sunshine of Your Love (Cream)

...well, it's a blues riff, anyway, even if it's from a British rock band... and Cream was really excellent.

Back in 2010, I was putting together a great power trio, called Beaker, with Donny K on guitars, Matt McK on drums, + me on bass + vox. This is from the demo we recorded right before calling it quits about two years ago this week, so I figured it shouldn't go to waste... and Donny's guitar sounds fuckin' great here!

Sunshine of Your Love

As always, let me know what you think. Next up: a new original Figplucker blues... a dirty, dirty one!

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Trouble in Mind

...and here's another blues tune. This time around, it's Trouble in Mind, a classic done by everybody from Big Bill Broonzy to Janis Joplin, Muddy Waters to Sam Cooke... this version here can't hold a candle to any of those, but it's still here cuz it's one of those songs that just nails my own personal blues...

Trouble in Mind

(Sorry for the noisy guitar, but at least I didn't try to add in some LP surface noise to make it 'authentic'...)

Figplucker's 21st Century Blues: Drunken Spree (Skip James)

It's the Year of the Blues here at the Mighty Blowhole...

As we move further into the new millennium, it's appropriate to look at a musical genre that, as it ages, seems to become more a part of our distant past than our musical present,even though the influence of the blues is still vibrant in the music of today...

So, to honor the blues, Figplucker's handpicking a variety of vintage blues songs, rerecording em for the 21st Century (seemed a bit disingenuous to rerecord 'em + try to make 'em sound like they were recorded 100 years ago), + posting 'em here on the blog for your enjoyment. Or whatever.

First up: Drunken Spree, originally recorded by Skip James, a classic Delta blues...

Leave a comment + let me know what you think.

Schizophonia... Same Silly Storage Schism

...or "That Fuckin' iPod!"

I am screwed... my friggin' iPod is full at 60Gb, but I am still importing my collection into iTunes. So far, I'm roughly 10Gb over capacity, and that's before importing all of my music collection or adding any other media... and I am not getting a new iPod for Christmas this year. Santa already emailed me + it's all switches + ash for me this time... (sadly, that's all I deserve...)

While I take a shoehorn to my iPod in a last-ditch effort to stuff in a few more gigabytes of space, please dig this mildly risque' video...

The song is "My Baby" by Figplucker. Figplucker is me, and often also includes drummer Matt McKinney.

Eric Beetner crafted the video (evidently from old stripper reels), which was immediately yanked from MySpace + YouTube for adult content violations. So screw those guys, we're hosting it ourselves. Let us know what you think!


Watch the video here!