Steemit Open Mic Week 61 entry - Tennessee Whiskey (Chris Stapleton cover)

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This is one of only a handful of songs that when I sing it, I just want to put the guitar down and sing the shit out of it. Most of the time I prefer having my guitar in front of me, and I think of my voice and guitar both as entwined rhythmic instruments. My right hand is usually pretty dead on no matter what else happens. But sometimes if I’m singing Stevie Wonder or Al Green or this tricky new bastard Chris Stapleton, I just cannot sing with the same abandon if I’m having to play the guitar part. It’s like doing multiplication tables in your head while making love. Like, the math isn’t that hard, and you know it by rote, but are you really going to be in the moment for the other thing? And if you do get in the moment, then you are probably going to forget the damn math. All that being said, I think I’m finally starting to get comfortable with it.

The falsetto part in the middle (the “gets me high” part) is currently my enemy. I do have whiskey cobwebs in my throat this morning, but that’s not all of it. The note is well within my range, and I can nail it by itself. But when singing the song, there’s something about the way I breathe and tighten up as I build up to that point that just strangles the note. Fortunately when I do it live everyone always sings along with that part, so I have help. It's something I'm going to really have to break down and work on. I did a second take this morning where I managed to pull together a decent falsetto note, but I DIDN'T HIT FUCKING RECORD. Then I was too pissed off to sing with any kind of soul, so I just stuck with the first take. I have a studio recording of this I did recently, with lead guitar, drums, bass, a female harmony vocal, and a vocal I recorded without playing guitar at the same time. Even then, I had to dub in the falsetto note separately, because as I said I can nail it if there’s no buildup to it. I’ll be posting it soon, when I finish mixing it. It’s one of the best recordings I’ve ever done (and the video shows all the instruments and vocals being recorded), so I hope you’ll take the time to check it out when I post it.

Okay guys and girls, it's back to writing for me. I"m down to the wire on my song for Open Mic Songwriters Challenge Week 1. I've got complete lyrics, just still hammering out the melody.

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My Studio Recordings on Steemit

Dirty Games (original)

Mountains (original)

How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart?

Cecilia

To Ramona

The Bends

Like Spinning Plates