“Ain’t Nobody” final…?
It’s funny how you can go round and round about the simplest things, and at the end of it all realize that you didn’t really need to make it all THAT much “better”….
I’ve been trying for the perfect combination of things on my song “Ain’t Nobody”, having great players play on it, trying to replace parts etc etc….and I found that what I was looking for was not perfect, not awesome, but just lonely. That and just letting it be what it was when I wrote it – simple, clean, uncluttered, warts and all. There’s some things that aren’t perfect, but when I went back and made them perfect, they weren’t anymore. Being that I’m a great believer in “musical” as opposed to “right”, I put them back the way they were and found I was much happier.
In the end I played a little slide guitar, and edited down some friend’s parts to get to something that I really feel does it right…..keeping Stuart Mathis’ big open baritone guitar chords on the verses (you can check out Stuart’s new CD that I played a bunch of bass on), and Cary Park‘s mandolin parts that sorta noodle in and out (Cary is doing his new CD as well, and was in Boy Howdy).
I’m pretty pleased with it, and although it could probably use a really great mix engineer to come in and really put the “magic dust” on it, it’s very satisfying to me now….
So what do you think? I hope you’ll take a listen and then read further down the page for some help you could give me. Here’s the original –
[audio:AintNobodyDemo.mp3]And here’s the final version –
[audio:AintNobodyFinal128k.mp3]I’d love to hear your thoughts….
So here’s how you can help me….I have a page at ReverbNation, a site that is REALLY well set up for musicians (BTW – if YOU are a musician and decide to use them, I think it’s good for me if you say I referred you, another way to help!), and they have a number of things you could do like join as a fan of mine, but the coolest thing would be to go about halfway down the page to a bunch of tabs, one of which is “Widgets”. Hit that and it will take you to a whole bunch of widgets that you can put on almost any webpage, and it will generate the code for you, so all you do is cut and paste it into your site/blog/MySpacePage/Facebook/emails….wherever you like. That would be a big help….
Feature me on your MySpace page…..if you have one, you could go to my page there at http://www.myspace.com/therealstill and grab one of my songs to add to your profile….you just click add on the music player and it will do it for you..pretty slick. That way people will hear it when they go to your page….so that’s helpful too!
Shortly I’m gonna have a link here to BUY the song if you like, which isn’t much different than the next idea, but I’m setting up my own store so that I can refer people to that instead of just iTunes etc, all of which take a big bite outta the money, and as I said, I can use every bit of that…..
Since you’re here, that means that farther down the page I’m gonna give you a direct link to a high resolution version of this song FREE! But if…..you’re of a mind to send some money my way, here’s a way to donate whatever you like to the cause….I don’t require your money, but it’s always welcome to feed my music habit….
So here’s the link to the file, feel free to spread it around, I hope it brings good moments to you when you hear it, it was a joy to put together!
Right-Click or control-click to save “Ain’t Nobody” 224k to your computer.
Happy Listening! – WB
Comments
I just realized the new version is quieter than the old one…so I’ll fix that…..
Cool stuff, my man. A coupla thoughts if yer interested: The bass drums seems redundant (at least in the first 3rd of the tune) to me as your groove is self-evident and deep. Both versions have me envisioning you and some other folk live on the stage of a good listening room, like maybe that place usta be on Fairfax across from Canters. And, while I feel both versions are equally cool, I’m preferring the larger group, mostly because the bass drum is seemingly mixed lower, I do like the feel of less reverb on version 1, but I’m bettin’ there’s no more on the vocal. Love yer shit, Wade. You good. Thanks for including me on yer list and good health to ya and the most beautiful Irene. See ya soon, I hope.
The song would be a great bit of music even if it were done as a solo vocal/guitar performance. The final version seems like it is targeting the Nashville crowd with the dobro and mandolin parts. After cranking my stereo to balance the level it was a lot thicker sounding, not a bad thing, could be my speakers. The dobro riff took my attention away from the vocal in the second verse, at least on first listening. I like the space the first version has, made me listen for the lyrics more. That airiness could be “magically dusted” over the final version as you say. Of course I listen with half deaf ears through 35yo marantz speakers so what do I know?
The singing is as strong as ever, Wade. And the engineer was no slouch either, whoever he was 😉 Keep up the good work!
Hey Wade: I like the both – a lot – for different reasons. I like the simplicity and clarity of the first one yet, the fullness and richness of the second version is great too. I would pick whichever one to listen to depending on the mood I was in.
Sure wish you were coming to the reunion in Juneau to visit….and to sing for us. You’ll be missed.
Send me some new pics of Vienna. She must be getting big.
Much love,
Nena
http://www.clearthoughtsystems.com
Yeh, I agree with a lot of the thoughts here….I’m thinking the baritone guitar in the turns of the verses is too loud and may wash things out a bit, but I like having it a bit as well, so I’m gonna go back to it mix wise in a coupla days, cause I’ve been in it too much for the last coupla days, as Cary says “Step back slowly from the song”…heh…
Yeh I wish I could go to the reunion too, but maybe next time…heh….
Wade the final cut sounds great i couldn’t get the first one I just got two boxs with X’s in them would like to hear it. Cool words and melody. Its like a chicken it can be cooked a lot of differnt ways the melody is strong. Have you talk to Monty lately Big House has a record coming out one of the guys played the reader digest version. Leroy Parrell plays a killer side solo on one of the tracks. How is the baby doing she got to be getting big.Give me a shout sometime or if you guys do the dinner thing.mark
What a beautiful song and with such an awesome sound. After listening to both of them a few times, I absolutely love the 1st recording the most. The 1st one draws me to your voice and the guitar and I just love it!! Gotta have it!
Heh, opinions are really divided, with a slight edge going to the 2nd, larger group version….which is the one I like the most, though I DO get the idea about the honesty/”realness” of the 2nd one, which is what everyone who likes that version talks about.
So…….I’ll leave them both out there, and as Nena says, let folks pick which one fits the mood at the time…which is ultimately what it’s about eh, people hearing what they like when they want to…I’m all for that….
WB