["50 Was To Cure The Depression"]

I think this works. We'll see. Features Charlie Wooldridge from Deathgrass on lead guitar, "Chippewa Bob" Lichner on the baritone saw; I'm playing the Electric Banjo.

Joe

[Hey, A Favor? We've Got This Railroad-Themed Gig...]

The band (Deathgrass) has been approached about doing a performance for the centennial of the local railroad (it carried its first passengers Oct. 1, 1911, and they’re having a whoop-ti-do to commemorate it, including a dinner train). Besides being The Local Band, we also have a song about the train (“The Tillamook Railroad Blues,” which is on the album), and I’m sure that’s what’s got their attention. The folks putting on the dinner-train thing are real railroad fanatics, and it’d be fun if when we played our hour-long gig, we played ‘em nothing but train songs.

Problem is, we don’t have that many. Besides “The Tillamook Railroad Blues,” which I wrote, we do “Steamboat Bill,” which I didn’t write, but it’s old—it was one of the top songs of both 1910 and 1911. We can do a couple of traditionals, “Wreck of the Old 97” and “The Wabash Cannonball.” That’s about 20 minutes, not an hour.

Wondered if any of y’all might be able (and willing) to help. If you have any train songs you’d be interested in having us perform (with credit to you, of course), could you e-mail or PM me? I’d need lyrics, chords, and a recording I could listen to—a link is fine if you have it posted online somewhere. (Odds are, I will be transposing it into a key I can sing in—IF I can sing it.) The gig is unpaid, so everything else is, too. Publicity is all you (and we) are going to get. (Sorry.)

And I’m asking because…? We don’t do covers. And we won’t. I have been insistent that all the stuff we do is either original or traditional (and not much of it is traditional, really). If we’re going to do somebody else’s stuff, it’s going to be somebody equally unknown. I see no point in enhancing the famosity of already-famous people. Thus far, we have managed to pull it off, and even become popular.

The band, if it matters: we have drums, bass, lead and rhythm guitars, and harmonica. The bass player and drummer are both heavy-metal guys; the blues harpplayer does jazz and classical; lead guitarist (who also plays mandolin) is classic rock ‘n’ roll; and we play mostly my stuff, and I wrote country music (though it don’t sound like country when these guys get through with it). I’m the singer by default. We really can play about everything. (We do draw the line at jazz, because of them fruity chords. When somebody sent us a jazz tune for our Failed Economy Show benefits for the Food Pantry, we played it as ragtime instead.)

The railroad centennial gig is Oct. 1, but I’d like to get material as quickly as possible, so we can practice. Yes? Let me know, please. (Edress is spacehamster@embarqmail.com. Or PM me.) And thanks.

Joe

[Seeking Opinions On Technique]

Cobe, I am myself no great shakes on the guitar (mostly tone-deaf), and can't sing either. What I've done is found groups of musicians who are better than I am (not bands or open mikes--just impromptu jam sessions, one of which I helped organize) and hung out with them. They have mostly tolerated me because I write interesting stuff they want to play. In the process, I have picked up a lot of technique from them. (I can even play lead guitar occasionally.) I even ended up with a band (a very good band, too). But I still play with those groups of musicians every chance I get, because I'm still learning a lot.

Joe

["50 Ways To Cure The Depression" Video]

Just a FWIW. Link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5X-zIcwp2Y. Older song--it's been a hit at our band's benefit concerts for the Food Pantry. On the recording, I'm playing rhythm guitar and the Electric Banjo, "Chippewa Bob" Lichner on the baritone saw, and Deathgrass' lead guitarist Charlie Wooldridge playing lead. Have fun.

Joe

["can I Have Your Car When The Rapture Comes?" Video]

Well, you got it up to 61. Thanks.

Joe

["can I Have Your Car When The Rapture Comes?" Video]

Make that two. (They're everywhere.) Thus far, apparently 56 people have watched the video. That's not going viral. But maybe Going Sniffle.

Joe

["can I Have Your Car When The Rapture Comes?" Video]

Thanks, guys. I actually did hear from a genuine born-again, Rapture-believing Christian who liked it, too.

Joe

["can I Have Your Car When The Rapture Comes?" Video]

Here 'tis (I think--never tried to post a video link before):

Joe

[Song Themes]

Good points, all. Sideline thought: "I love you, but your cousin makes me drool" sounds like a line that needs a song to go with it.

Joe

[Songstuff On Youtube]

John, here's one you can look at if you've a mind to. Hight "Me and Rufus, and Burning Down the House." Link is

Thanks.

Joe

[Musicians - Who Influenced You?]

Interesting thread. For me:

WRITERS: Steve Goodman, Bob Dylan, and John Prine at the top, followed by a bunch of 'em--Leonard Cohen, Buck Owens, Avril Lavigne, Dottie West, and more. Mostly people who couldn't sing or play guitar very well, but who could write, and had to depend on their words alone to get attention. I figure I'm in the same boat.

GUITARISTS: Keith Richards and John Lennon. Richards was the master of the musical hook--simple, recurring riffs you just can't get out of your head. Lennon was a competent rhythm guitarist who could sometimes play lead, and who could write. I'd like to be like that.

SINGERS: Frank Sinatra, Avril Lavigne, Ernest Tubbs. Sinatra, as he got older, had to work hard at being able to sing his earlier stuff. Lavigne sings at the very bottom end of her voice range. And Tubbs is just living proof you can make it in country music without being able to sing at all.

PERFORMERS: Bill Monroe. His Bluegrass Boys were the most professional bunch of performers I have ever run into, and I've picked up a lot of their tricks.

All good folks to emulate.

joe

[What Are Your Opinions On Studying Music?]

Though I've had no formal training myself, I do recommend it. (I always figured it was pointless for me. Why should a tone-deaf person study music?) One caveat, though. I can usually spot a musician who's had formal training--because they're dependent on sheet music. And (my opinion) it looks really bad when you're performing if you need props. Like the old commercial says, don't let that happen to you.

Underscores, I guess, Chet Atkins' advice on how much music theory someone ought to know. "Enough to know what you're doing," he said, "and not so much that it gets in the way of your doing it."

joe

[Making Money In The Music Biz]

Thanks for bringing that up, John. I'd forgotten I said that. I think I still agree with me, though.

joe

[Making Money In The Music Biz]

Good stuff. Thanks.

joe

[Need Some Help Figuring Out The Effects Of The Digital Era On The Music Publishing Business]

(I was about to run out of space. Sorry.)

Accordingly, I think there's still a role--maybe an important one--for the publisher, and it may be the same one as 25 years ago. The Internet warrior needs *marketing* more than anything, and that (besides handling the nasty paperwork) is one of the main things publishers do. No, virtually nobody's doing it, because most of the publishers who are left are being barnacles on the Industry, and maybe what's needed is something completely different. *I* think one can safely bypass the Industry, but how to make money doing so is (as Richard Nixon used to say) the Operative Question.

I don't have a good answer myself. I perform (and I can get paid for performing, though not enough to live on exclusively); I have a CD out, and it sells (but ditto). I haven't tried to sell anything on line--keeping in mind that "free music on the Internet" thing. I do have some of my stuff archived on a couple of OMDs and use that for promotional purposes, and I guess that's working a little. But I'm after answers, too.

I'd love to read your thing when you've got it finished. I do think you're asking your questions in one of the right places. Lots of luck.

joe

[Need Some Help Figuring Out The Effects Of The Digital Era On The Music Publishing Business]

My take. Think 25 years ago. Then think more extreme.

Back then, you had a mass proliferation of the technology of 4-track studios. Any band, or anyone, that was making money could afford one, and if you had someone who knew what they were doing, you could produce records (you did have to press 45s back then) and if you got to know some DJs, you could get 'em played on the radio. I was in a bluegrass band, The Dodson Drifters, and we actually became regionally famous doing that.

The Industry countered with requiring more sophisticated technology none of us small-timers could afford, and finally music videos, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The mass availability of the Internet, and the cheapening of technology--again--has allowed mass production of music again. The industry has at the same time become more concentrated; it is almost impossible to get anything played on the radio unless it comes from the Industry, because (as one 1960s TV show put it) "they control the audio, they control the video." They do not control the Internet, however, and that's why you see so much new music on the Internet. It and live performance are the only outlets most people have got. (Again, I've got a little experience. I write, and I perform, and I've got a CD out.)

A good conspiracy theorist would blame the practice of ripping off music on the Internet on the Music Industry. If they did it, they did it at substantial risk to themselves--but they may have done it anyway, to preserve their "market share." It was (my opinion) the grossly exorbitant price of commercial CDs that prompted kids to find ways to get it for free; once they did, the Industry, instead of caving in and lowering prices to affordable levels, simply complained and sued kids--and did so long enough that free music on the Internet became a habit. Now, I think, it's impossible to break. The result is it's hard for anyone new to make money exclusively off the Internet, because music on the Internet has a habit of being free.

I'm not sure how publishing fits into this. The basic rules haven't changed. Neither has the practice of musicians paying little attention to the legal niceties. It's maybe not surprising--they're not paperwork people, they're performers. The same was true 25 years ago, too.

[What Are Your Opinions On Studying Music?]

I have no formal training in music myself (hardly seemed any point, with the tonedeafness and all). I have picked up some music theory, et al., on my own, and could see where an actual education could be useful. On the other hand, I've also seen formal training inculcate people with some very bad habits (like being dependent on sheet music).

I guess my recommendation would echo Chet Atkins', when he was asked how much formal music education one should have: "Enough to know what you're doing, and not so much that it gets in the way of your doing it."

Joe

[Lack Of Inspiration]

Good suggestions all. I recommend constantly keeping one's eyes and ears open. Life is just chock full of inspiration. If you're not noticing it where you're at, change location. Do something different, go somewhere new, listen to different stuff, yada yada. When you come back, things will probably look a little different.

I definitely study the work of songwriters whose stuff I admire, and try to figure out what it is they're doing that appeals to me. Then I try to *apply* it to my stuff. I guess I don't have to worry too much about being imitative, because anything I write is going to come out country whether I like it or not. Really shocked my teenaged daughter when I adapted an Avril Lavigne rhyming scheme to a bluegrass song. It did work, and I tend to use it a lot.

I read once (not here, I don't think) that the four elements in a song are GENRE, SUBJECT, STYLE, and POINT OF VIEW. It's fun to mix 'em up. What if you did (for instance) a country (GENRE) love song (SUBJECT) in the STYLE of The Ramones, from the POINT OF VIEW of the dog? Wouldn't *that* be interesting?

Have fun...

Joe

[Pirate Bay Convicted]

Tune, I believe you have hit the proverbial nail on its proverbial head. Remember, though, that we did have much the same situation with respect to pot in the 1960s, '70s, &c., and it never has been resolved. The stuff is still illegal, and large numbers of people are still using it. But the laws remain basically the same. The same could end up being true of recording piracy.

It would be great if a business model could be developed which would accommodate both sides. But since one side is insisting on getting paid, and the other on obtaining product for free, that may be hard. Those are rather mutually exclusive viewpoints. I don't mind the record companies not making a fortune, but as a small-time writer, artist and performer, I want to make sure that whatever system there is allows *me* to get paid.

In the meantime, I rely on the basic morality of my fans and potential fans. I do have a couple of OMDs where folks can download some of my stuff for free, but I try to entice them to concerts and to buy CDs, and they seem to do dat. (My CDs are only $10, less than the Big Guys charge.) And I quote the Bible to 'em a lot: "The laborer is worth his hire."

Joe

[Making Money In The Music Biz]

Nice rant, John. It is too bad virtually no file-sharer is likely to read it.

I would dispute the claim that you need production to put on a show for any kind of crowd. I don't. I can put on a show of three hours of my stuff easy--solo--and have the audience thoroughly entertained all the way through. It does sound better with a band--and the last 2 shows I did were with a band, and the next 2 shows will be, too. But I'd let the Big Boys--the ones on the verge of going bankrupt--do the fancy shows with huge production. I can get by with a small, competent band and nothing fancy. People will pay to hear good writing.

And there, I think, is an opportunity the Big Boys can't take advantage of. (They may not even be aware it exists.) We have a Depression on, and one of the hallmarks of the last Depression was a public craving for cheap entertainment. And there had to be a lot of it. I see folks not going any more to the $50-to-$200-a-head concerts in the Big City--but they will (and did) pack a $5-a-head concert by local musicians at the local Arts Center. I intend to ride that trend as far as I can.

Joe

[Making Money In The Music Biz]

Jes' a thought (and not very well thought out yet). You may have hit something on the head with the remark about no longer selling a product. (Hopefully, whatever it was was not badly injured.) What if we don't?

What if we said (or admitted) that what we're selling is an *experience*? This may work better for those that perform (I perform), but it follows Madonna's prediction a year or so ago that the way to make money in the music business in the future was going to be to perform.

It follows that the "merch"--not just the T-shirts and buttons, but the CDs as well--are simply *icons*, that we obtain, keep, give away, &c., as memories of the *experience*. Does that--or would that--work as a model?

Joe

[Weekly Challenge]

Sounds cool. Thank you. Two days from now, huh? I better sharpen my keyboard...

Joe

[Lyric To Music Contract?]

I'd agree. Don't expect a recording studio to write your music. Yes, some can do a good job--but in my opinion, you'll get a better product out of a co-writer.

Second, I'd shy away from outfits that want money for writing your music. As co-writers, they're entitled to 50% of the writer's royalties. That's enough. If you're paying them money to do the music, then it's a "work for hire," and they're not entitled to any percentage, just their fee--you keep all the royalties--and they should know this. (And if they don't, you shouldn't be dealing with them.)

My recommendation accordingly would be (1) find a co-writer to do the music, (2) have the co-writer make a draft recording of it you and/or the co-writer can shop around to studios, (3) find a decent, honest studio close to you or the co-writer's home (because it's important that at least one of you be involved in the recording process), and (4) have them do the demo. Find the right studio, and you can get a very good product very inexpensively.

If you don't do this stuff, you may still get a good product--but (my opinion, again) it will because you were waydam lucky.

Joe

[The Ransom Distribution Model]

I think it could get a little complicated. If I said you'd get your album after I had one million pre-orders, and I didn't get one million pre-orders, would I be refunding money to one million people? The postage alone would kill me financially. On the other hand, if I didn't deliver an album, I'd have to refund the money, wouldn't I?

I think a better business model might be the FAN CLUB. You join my fan club--costs, say, $15 a year. I guarantee that during the course of that year, you will get, if your dues are paid up, a free album. It will have new stuff on it, and I think I can guarantee you'll like it--you're a fan, after all, and you like my stuff. I might post a teaser or two on the Website to make sure, but hey, I've already got your money.

My main challenge under this model would be to make sure I priced the album *to the public* a little bit higher--not to mention releasing it a little bit later--than to the fan club. Not too hard to pull off, though.

The key here, just as with that million-order album, is there needs to be the *fan base* to support it. I'm not sure you can do it without that fan base already in existence--a group of people committed to wanting your stuff. First charge, then, is to build that base. Yes?

Joe

[Top Line First?]

For me, it varies. I've had songs start with the title, with the first line, with the last line, or somewhere in between. I try not to exercise control over such things.

For the two I'm working on presently, one started with the last couple of lines in the *second* verse, then developed a chorus; and the other is starting somewhere in the chorus (and I'm not sure where yet). I'm not sure locking yourself into a box is a good idea.

Joe