ROUGH DRAFTS

Some background on recording the music

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ROUGH DRAFTS was recorded in 2011. I was visiting a friend of mine, Alton Ghrist, in Denver, Colorado, and I had guitars in tow: my cherished '63 Fender Musicmaster, an Ibanez archtop, and a bass guitar that another friend had let me borrow. So, we descended the stairs to Alton’s very modest, makeshift recording studio he calls “The Dungeon” and plugged in. The recording device was a simple Fostex 4-track cassette and a decent mic. The session was mostly for fun, possibly a demo. I had some music and some lyrics in my head, and just wanted to get them down on tape so I could hear how they sounded. I play all instruments: rhythm, lead, and bass guitar, and sing all vocals. Each track was recorded in one take (it still took four hours). With five songs, that’s twenty takes, one right after the other. I have neither the guitar chops nor the vocal chops to be a professional musician or performer, and I wince a bit at times listening to these songs, but considering that, and considering how we had to rush through recording the tunes, I am not unhappy with the how these tracks came out. So, I decided to go ahead and upload them to Bandcamp. (See link below.)

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I admit that I have mixed feelings about posting these songs. Though they were recorded in 2011, many of the lyrics were conceived as far back as the late 1980s. And, listening today, they strike me as a bit naïve or overwrought with introspection and/or sentimentality (not uncommon in novice songwriting). But I will always be proud my song “New Mexico, New Mexico, Yucca, Yucca,” which was cobbled together from lines on handmade postcards sent to me by a late friend who spent his summers living out of his car and purposefully getting lost out on the remote roads of the American Southwest.  

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Having said that, I post the link to these songs on Bandcamp. But, I need to remind the reader (and myself) that the first purpose of this webpage is simply to leave for posterity a little bit of myself for any interested descendant.  

 

Songs on Where Forever is Now

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1 - New Mexico, New Mexico, Yucca, Yucca --- 4:59

2 – Another Roof of Stars Tonight --- 4:00

3 – Beautiful, Damaged Girls --- 5:08

4 – World in the Heart --- 4:19

5 – You and Your Lover --- 3:42

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“Where Forever is Now.”

 

Thanks for listening. (You can listen without having to purchase.)

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