Hallelujah, I’m Back to the Studio! (Patreon)

I realized a month ago I would be back in Texas with no kids. That’s the perfect time to go to the studio and record. But what should I record?

Andrew and I are very slowly working on our next album, Another Faire to Remember. Surely we could record it in three days?

However, there are a few songs I’ve wanted to record a long time, but I’ve feel inadequate. I felt like I needed help capturing them.

Rich Brotherton engineered a couple of my albums. He also is a fantastic musician who has brought several songs to life.

I love his work, but studio time with Rich isn’t cheap. Plus, I really want to finish the next Brobdingnagian Bards album. So before the trip, I talked to Andrew about recording for three days during my visit to Texas.

That was knocked to two when Andrew remembered he usually is wiped from faire and his video show, Life’s A Faire. So we had just two days to record.

So on Tuesday, I called him up. He had some sort of stomach bug that knocked him down. He asked me to check back on Wednesday. I did, and he was still wiped.

That’s when I made the executive decision to contact Rich Brotherton to see if he was available to record. Turns out he was free on Thursday. I jumped on the opportunity to work with him.

WHAT TO RECORD?

I only had a few hours to record. I had to go to Andrew’s no matter what because we had an internet concert to do as part of the Dragon Con Filk Music Track. So I picked two songs that I was scared to record.

Yes. Scared.

Normally, I don’t succumb to perfectionism. But for “Hallelujah” and “Grateful”, I felt like they needed to be perfect. That means a solid rhythm, stellar instrumentation. I want these songs to be great.

Yeah. I built it up too much in my head. So I haven’t recorded them at home.

HALLELUJAH

Happily, Rich was everything I needed. We started with “Hallelujah”. I love this song by Leonard Cohen… or Leonard McCohen, I sometimes joke. That’s because the final version of the song I hope to share will have a jig intro.

I played him my part. He picked up the guitar and quickly learned it. Then we played it together a few times times with me singing in a hushed voice since I’m still having problems with allergies and I didn’t want to blow my voice before the Brobdingnagian Bards’ evening show.

With that learned, Rich quickly recorded his playing to a click track. Then I came in with the autoharp. It was a breeze, as easy as I hoped it would be.

We got ready to add bass. But then I wondered if we needed a lead instrument which might define the bass part. So together Rich and I worked out the jig I wanted.

It was really cool creating that. Rich initially played something on the mandolin that just pure joy, bouncy and happy. But while “Hallelujah” is a joy to sing and inspiring, the jaunty melody just wasn’t quite right for the mood.

So we tried again. We went piece by piece. I sang a few thoughts. He translated them easily and made them better. It was so much fun.

We finished off the song with a bass part that added to the overall building power of the song.

No vocals though. I figure in a month or so, my strong voice will be back and I can record my vocals and see what is missing from the final song.

GRATEFUL

The next song I wanted to record was my Shepherd Book inspired song “Grateful”. I wrote the song on the guitar. So the recording will feature the guitar really well. And who better to play the guitar than Rich Brotherton… well, that’s what I thought anyway.

Rich was great learning the parts. But I quickly realized that Rich doesn’t play the blues. He plays Celtic music and played with Robert Earl Keen for 25 years. But I just didn’t hear him capture the rhythm.

Fortunately, he recognized that I had a certain sound in mind. So he suggested that I play it and that Rich could just record the rhythm guitar track, which he did.

When he was done, I asked if he had a classical guitar. That’s what I play at home. He went downstairs and came back with a beautiful classical guitar… but it was really clean sounding.

He mentioned another guitar he had. I should’ve taken a picture of it. It was a beautiful worn out classical guitar with a horse painted on it. I loved it.

So I started practicing. My chops were sloppy. Rich said we could always just punch parts in, meaning we record just little bits until we get it right.

I recorded a couple takes. But time was getting late and I realized I really needed to practice. So we ended the session right there.

I was very pleased nevertheless because he helped me overcome my fear. I now feel like I can record… with a guitar… for the first time in 27 years.

I can do this!

Plus, I can truly capture that bluesy sound that I’m so looking forward to hearing.

And of course, “Hallelujah” is nearly done!

All in all, I consider that a hugely successful recording campaign.