This Ain't The Road - 2010 RPM (2010)
12 tracks by Gumbo
This Ain't The Road My RPM collection for 2010 They're not all final versions yet but mostly it's just little mixing details that need swapping over. I'm just gonna take a short nap ...
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2:51
Again i'd love some feedback
I like the feel and the mix
do the lyrics work?
recorded t'night in an hour after trying all day to get the verse lyrics rammed into another tune
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This was the first track i demo'd for this year's RPM but i just got round to tidying it up and adding the third verse. A bit of a feel good record!
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3:21
2:08
this is one i have to stop tweaking - six versions and i still don't get what i hear in my head
would love some crit for this one as it's doing my head in
thanks
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4:42
one of those 'it was written even before i started' songs that just rolls out like magic
i tried to keep it simple so as not to destroy the vibe
first finished (if unmixed) track for RPM 2010
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An instrumental that sits in the middle where your grandfather would have been turning the LP over to play side 2
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I unleash my secret weapon!
Guest vocalist Shaka brings the icing to this rather haunted version of the first chapter of Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier!
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2:52
Dang, everyone except Rob (and Laura) (and me) liked the previous version! (Cupid's Own Knife)
Only i did this with the lyrics so maybe one can be a bonus track ...
aargghh ... why didn't i write a *different* song?
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3:14
Anyone read Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr - my daughter lent it to me - teenage Faery novel about addiction - pretty creepy at times.
This is the one act musical version.
I wanted a 'deranged in our neighbourhood' kind of feel to it.
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1:49
3:50
This is a bonus track as it didn't make the album
For those of you who know my stuff - does this sound like it works? or is it too much like filler - the vocals are effected, there's a drum loop - the guitar is just chopped out of a jam - i…
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Lies And Tales And Sticks And Stones (2009)
11 tracks by Gumbo
My 2009 RPM album, a down home collection of rootsy, mountain songs and tales.
28:55
There's a whole mythology woven into this song, and hence into the album, and the weave is fine and warm.
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Remedies are funny things. You want to get better but you don't want to change.
This is now a minimally tidied up version of this track 18/3/09
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Accompanied by Jim Bouchard on Slide Guitar, this is "the way my people does". The unsung heroes.
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2:13
Banjo and Guitar and Vocal. Sometimes you don't want to look back.
this si now a tidied up version of this track 18/3/09
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Those stark Moonlit nights have something of a reputation, but there are other things lurking in the moonlight.
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2:53
It's about getting lost in the big city, about knowing the way through, and about the Last Chance Saloon.
This is now a tidied up version 18/3/09
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2:21
A happy song about being left by your no-good spouse. There's a word for the attitude in this song but I can't think of it right now ...
this is now a tidied up version 18/3/09
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3:38
A grief song. You know this place. If you don't then move on while you still can. Seriously. Don't click ..
This is a tidied up version, I managed to get rid of some of th noise and rebalance the vocals 18/3/09
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I'm not sure if this is rockabilly or late 40s jump R'n'B. Dance music though. I had fun with the lyrics and the backing vocals.
This is now a tidied up version 18/3/09
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1:01
An old time fiddle tune without the fiddle, or the tune, really, so the vocal has to carry it, and it has that lovely raw propulsion. Written and recorded in an hour.
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This was the first time I'd fired up my telecaster and amp for a recording and it felt like sitting in Sun Studios or something. Amazing sound after playing just acoustic instruments for a year. It's the first take and I loved it!
This is now…
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The Cat's Moustache - rpm (2011)
12 tracks by Gumbo
The 2011 RPM Challenge CD. There was a moment in 1934 where all these songs were going to be a radio show on WALK in N. Carolina but Gumbo was walking the wrong way down Highway 65.
31:07
2:00
Final version
One of my heroes. Willie McTell was blind from birth and travelled all over the south in the thirties at a time when many people would never go more than 20 miles from their home.
Plus nobody sings the blues quite like him…read more
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Final version
RPM 2011 - my first track recorded and the opening track for the CD
A kind of Old Time gospel number, which, if you listen to those pre-war guitar playing preachers, are virtually indistinguishable from blues. Except for the lyrics…read more
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Final version of this tune - voice and guitar, banjoe accompaniment
i'm still getting used to this new mic and finding my voice sounds different with or i'm singing differently because of it. So .. feedback appreciated, and if you like it…
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Final version
it needs a fiddle but it has a mandolin, a chicken banjo and some excellent backing vocalists
my third demo for RPM 2011
The cat's in the window and
the rabbit's in the hutch
goat's in the meadow just
a-chewin on the…read more
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Final version
An unaccompanied song about bedtime. Not a lullaby though. Oh no!
What does anyone think of the 'cat's moustache' line - it seems like that's a make or break call right there and i like it when i read it but it's hard to sing without…read more
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Final version
I wanted to have a banjo fiddle tune but i still haven't learnt to play either instrument, so this is my famous 1 string banjo technique, with mandolin and guitar. It's style is inspired by meeting Morgan O'Kane and Ferd 4 last…read more
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1:28
Final Version
If in doubt write more songs
with Kazoo solo! and heckling!
this is as close as i got to some hokum jug band
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Final version
Every so often when i'm thinking of something else a western song pops up as if there is a soundtrack to a movie running in the back of my head. I might have to gather em all up into a playlist some day.
track nine, or at least…
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I'm finally happy with this track - v1 was too much of a nothing song and it's been bugging me all the way to the last night of the challenge.
1 more to mix
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Final version
Guitar, mandolin and voice.
this doesn't fit with my rpm project AT ALL so i may not use it but i like the way it came out. I recorded the music for Bethan Mathis' RPM project but she didn't have time to use it (her album is…read more
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3:51
EDIT final version now posted and the page turning is gone but i left this intro as is in case anyone is reading the comments. Does anyone read the comments? or the intro?
i turn a page somewhere in the middle of all this - you'd think i would…read more
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3:41
Final version
Day 28
Anyone else still writing songs?
this is the result of trying to listen to too many mixes in one day. Sometimes it's just easier to record something else.
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Pirate Radio
15 tracks by various alonetone artists
With International Talk Like A Pirate Day hailing off the starboard bow, we rounded up as many of these scurvy knaves as we could find and hung em from the yard!
40:57
An old traditional sea chanty with a long intro that's influenced by the playing of Bill Frisell
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This is my 2007 Pirate Day song, written and recorded September 19th 2007. I like the innuendo, but maybe it's too subtle - nobody else seems to notice ;~)
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0:05
I recorded this ocelot while it was in a trap. There are several traps set up here at the research station to catch mammals so that they can be radio-collared for research. I am currently working on a tune made entirely with this sample- stay tuned!
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0:12
This was written and recorded on 19th September 05
aka International Talk Like A Pirate Day 2005 ( a wet afternoon as I recall) and is posted here so you start to get the hint.
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Another song I worked on for Bethan Mathis. She had come up with this funny song, and asked for some music to go along with it. I got a bit carried away, but I think it all works. Since Bethan has recently removed her account, she gave me permission…read more
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This here be last years Pirate Day Song and a little darker as befits it's murky past.
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My Pirate song. Sounds more like a polka band, but what the hell. I had fun doing it.
a song for Gumbo.
we sailed the angry seas
til we found a neutral port
we rowed the ship to shore
to go and find a fancy whore
down at the Buccaneer inn…read more
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Now ye sons of the kraaken, let's get to some honest pillaging, shall we? Aaaarh!
The devil is an idle jest compared to what's within this chest
No hearts more black than ours they say
trust your own hide to be waterproof only
else they…read more
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A failed attempt to sing a song of the glorious banana breakfasts served by P.P. in "Gravity's Rainbow"
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Rasta Pirate pleas with colonial hottie to guide him to her treasure vault. Rough demo for now.
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Here now, there be treasure to hide and we'll bury it full deep in the earth, and ye with it if you tell the tale. To the shovels lads, and dig down.
International Talk Like A Pirate day is upon us, so swab yer decks and break open the Rum…read more
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Aarrhhh ye scurvy sons (and daughters) of sea-rats, the pesky pluckers have been at it again.
Pin back yer lug-holes or it's the plank ye'll be hoping for!
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Faves from RPM 2011
39 tracks by various alonetone artists
A selection of some of the great music Alonetone people created this February. I'm not even halfway through the list of things i want to listen to yet, because i keep finding new stuff, so you can bet this list will be growing.
129:44
Lyrics:
Skip ahead to her in pants,
watch her dance in the living room
in front of all the other dinner guests.
She thumbs her nose at simulacra,
but someone must play Cleopatra
in the PTA's yearly drama fest.
Her husband broke his body…read more
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Just a little song about another hopeless romantic. Actually, I just really like the name Svetlana.
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Reg is still in the empty bar but this time he decides to sing along and let his Blues out..........he wakes.......
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4:21
Harmonica by Dr. K
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Paper hearts in your window
paper hearts on your door
Paper hearts ripped in pieces
And Strewn across the floor
but who am I to question
The intentions of old…read more
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3:56
This song was born on the 18th of Feb. 2011. It was the last piece I wrote/recorded for the challenge. It was a very sad day for me, almost as if all my usual winter sadness was concentrated and crammed into one day. The process of writing and…read more
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So I'm watching Ken Burns' documentary on the National Parks and realize that I'd never written that John Muir song I had been meaning to get to... So I got to it. Tim Alexander (Letter Seventeen) mentioned that he thought the song needed a…read more
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Something I'm working on for RPM 2011. I think this is a really pretty tune, just wish I had the kind of voice for singing it.
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1:29
2:57
Trying to see if I can break alonetone's formatting with the song title ;)
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3:59
Zack did me a favor & played an electric guitar part on this one. I had hoped to work with him more on this project, but he wound up leaving town to help take care for a recovering family member…read more
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Had the blues in Alabama
Had the blues in Texas too
Had the blues all over
Now I 'm givin' em to you
And if you don't want em
You know what you can do
You wont find me I'm goin' ta run and hide away from you
Because I see trouble
Trouble…read more
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A few years back (when I lived it Texas), I drove out to an open field to watch the Geminids meteor shower... I really need to remember to look up at the night sky more often.
The Showers of December
Lying flat on my back
Looking…read more
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3:28
2:48
Reg has left re-hab but now he has to fill those sober hours with something, so he has taken to people watching, but like everything in his life he has become addicted to it, listening in on there private conversation as he follows them, watching…read more
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RPM 2011 number 2. Inspired by an ex-friend of mine who had the most dazzling rose tinted glasses. Always used to envy the simplicity of his view and how nothing could ever get to him (everything gets to me).. since i knew him I know a lot of…read more
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A crazy little song written while considering Ed Robertson's plane crash from a few years back, "Any Landing" is given much legitimacy by Ashley's incredible voice and Kavin Allenson's (Kavin S. Acoustic Church) guitar.
Any Landing
Learning…read more
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I had myself a séance, with shakespears players, brought some sooth sayers,
Scribbled what they said with crayons
Ohh, got me nowhere
And so I called Steven Fry up, and put him in a line up
Oscar Wilde, Wittengenstein, Einstein I need to aim…read more
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Final version
Guitar, mandolin and voice.
this doesn't fit with my rpm project AT ALL so i may not use it but i like the way it came out. I recorded the music for Bethan Mathis' RPM project but she didn't have time to use it (her album is…read more
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7:13
A live improvised recording for the RPM Challenge 2011
recorded 2/19/11 at Dunn Bros. Coffee in Keller, Tx.
Kavin.: guitars, loops
Michelangelo: buzz guitar
Ross Reitzammer: flute
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2:00
Final version
One of my heroes. Willie McTell was blind from birth and travelled all over the south in the thirties at a time when many people would never go more than 20 miles from their home.
Plus nobody sings the blues quite like him…read more
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Jekyll and Hyde
are both well and alive
and they're living inside of home
Jekyll is kind to me
Smiles all the time to me
Hyde is a wild arrow from a bow
As much as Jekyll makes you smile
If she drinks herself some wine
You'll be the one that…read more
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Bookending the "Late December" CD, this song about my little girls on Christmas morning holds a special place in my heart. Thanks to Sam and Mick for making it perfect.
One Perfect Day
Go to sleep my blue-eyed girl
The sun is on its…read more
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7:38
A tune I recorded before my computer crashed the first week into RPM 2011. I recovered this after getting a new computer after the deadline...
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FAVES From RPM 2010 (2010)
30 tracks by various alonetone artists
Take a wild guess!
107:00
Lorelei reaches her breaking point after years of abuse — via a failed attempt at an homage to Ennio Morricone (had he been Mexican).
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This songs reminds me that this is the moment i have. No longer looking for the dawn for the dawn is here.
This is the moment
this is the moment
that i've been waiting for
I've been waiting for
the dawn and the dawn is coming soon
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4:42
one of those 'it was written even before i started' songs that just rolls out like magic
i tried to keep it simple so as not to destroy the vibe
first finished (if unmixed) track for RPM 2010
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I was listening to Leonard Cohen a lot this winter, and these lyrics sort of came out from there...don't know what they really mean, i was more interested in trying to see if I could mimic Leonard's style, which of course I can't, but this was…
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I unleash my secret weapon!
Guest vocalist Shaka brings the icing to this rather haunted version of the first chapter of Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier!
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2:24
Is it possible to think too much? I think it is. Recorded as part of RPM 2010
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2:20
Memories flash,
past my eyes I'm seeing,
only illusions,
trickling back in time.
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The Creation meets The Three O' Clock meets (unwittingly) Oasis. I plunder shamelessly in a pair of striped trousers and mod 'target' t-shirt.
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Inspired by Neil Gaiman's Sandman series (my favorite reading material). What would happen if Death came for you, like in the series. This is that conversation.
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2:51
Again i'd love some feedback
I like the feel and the mix
do the lyrics work?
recorded t'night in an hour after trying all day to get the verse lyrics rammed into another tune
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My opus. By far the longest song I've ever recorded. I tried to make it shorter, but it just didn't work. Sorry. :)
"The Water-Carver" uses a sample from Stereolab's "Changer." (Gane/Sadier)
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5:21
In the morning, when we awoke, there was nothing. There were no ashes from the fires of the previous evening. The time for decisions was past. "Yes" was the answer to all questions; and none was the knowledge retained. Wisdom laughs at such folly…
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2:08
this is one i have to stop tweaking - six versions and i still don't get what i hear in my head
would love some crit for this one as it's doing my head in
thanks
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3:45
The *cough* future *cough* mayor of Chicago holding court with his corporate backers.
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This was my last rpm2010 piece. i had recorded the rhythm track in early feb, and put the triple mandolin harmonies on at the very end of feb. i really love mandolin harmonies...this has more of a mediterranean vibe...
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1:17
4:07
Here is the "more complete" track I promised with backing vocals.
A song about loving the real me...who do i see when i look in the mirror? Do I love what I see?....i really want to.
your wooden fingers have felt before
and now they…read more
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The sort of music that enters your head when you're lying awake in bed at 2am in the morning.
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1:49