Feb 2022 alt-country americana folk-rock
Slow going this week with a full schedule, but managed to get a second track done. This harks back to my childhood and the all-tube Hallicrafters shortwave radio set my grandfather gave me...it was like a window on the world...surfing the globe at the twist of a knob while the tubes glowed...
Instruments: EZDrummer, Fender Jazz Bass, Squier Classic Vibe 60's Jazzmaster + Twin Reverb, Squier Vintage Modified Strat (first solo) and Ibanez SA120 (second solo) through Presonus Ampire (plugin), Taylor 314ce acoustic, Hammond B-3 + Leslie, Wurlitzer 200 + Peavey Classic 30, Roland XP80 + Vintage Synths card
Lying in my bed at night
The dial lights up my room
My thoughts and dreams are gettin’ carried away
On the waves of the smell of warm glowing tubes
Voices and music coming from afar
Paint a vision of far off lands
Surf the waves of magnetic destinations
With the tuning knob in my hand
Shortwave
A window to the world had opened
Shortwave
Turned on my grandpa’s radio and listened
To distant worlds and wondrous places
Happy songs from smiling faces
Shortwave carry me away
<verse line chords x2, solo over it>
I heard pontiffs and preachers
Dispatches from the globe
A plethora of tongues and accents and secret code modulations
From places I could never go
Signals skippin’ ‘cross the stratosphere
Long wire aerial buzzin’ with the waves
The beautiful and the strange, and the sometimes disturbing
And random hawkers of some latest craze
Shortwave
I heard the lightning crackle before the thunder
Shortwave
A window to a world of wonder
And tinfoil hats and snake oil sellers
Exotic music and crazy preachers
Shortwave carry me away
<Bridge/solo>
Shortwave
A portal to a world of magic
Shortwave
Received the glorious mundane and tragic
Well I was never gonna rattle the rafters
With the 4” speaker in my Hallicrafters but
Shortwave carried me away….
<Solo over chorus progression and fade>
@zecoop Feb 2022
Gives me all the feels about when my dad was designing ham radios and did that a bit back in the day. What an amazing build! The intro is gloriously restrained (and beautiful) but once it gets going... wow, that is satisfying. Gorgeous layers and fantastic playing/singing. Tons of emotion in the lyrics and vocals. Well done!!!
@quork Feb 2022
Very nice. The slow, stripped down arrangement worked well for the nostalgic subject matter, but I kept waiting for the band to kick in. And then it did. Great lyrics and delivery, in particular the chorus.
@donna Feb 2022
A wonderful song. Excellent storytelling, with fantastic details and imagery. Compelling vocals, and the music - with all its elements - is gorgeous.
@hbusse Feb 2022
Lovely, nostalgic lyric about a moment in your past and how it affected you and opened up your world. Particularly struck by:
“A window to a world of wonder
And tinfoil hats and snake oil sellers
Exotic music and crazy preachers”!
Also- loving that guitar part in the beginning and the restraint with waiting to bring in the rest of the band.
@sp4cek4a3n Feb 2022
The tremolo made my speakers emit juice. Love it. All of your tones are so consistenly good. The echo on the vocals is perfect - puts me in mind of multi-path distortion when DXing distant stations. And those melodic runs on the bass are just divine.
This makes me wanna hop in my car and drive to Dubuque on a sunny day.
@cheslain Feb 2022
Wonderful stuff! Them vocals sound so right and that tremolo guitar is spot on. Great, catchy composition and the lyrics really paint a picture of nostalgia. The organs are as juicy as can be. Has a nice sing-a-long quality also.
@lenigmusx1 Feb 2022
Wow, this is so good! Your voice is super. The guitar sound is amazing. What a great guitar solo. Great pocket too. This is a tune I would like to hear on vinyl. There is a little bit of a Matchbox 20 with John Mayer on guitar vibe but yet somehow better. The chorus is just so good. Amazing bass playing too.
@nadine Feb 2022
Wow. Just wow. I usually don't comment like this but. yes. I'm speechless.
@ampersandman Feb 2022
Wow, beautiful sound, excellent playing on all fronts. Super cool idea for a song! Enjoyed my listen a lot.
@standup Feb 2022
Love the sound of the opening, I’m a fool for tremolo (and a telecaster?)
Cool song, surfing the globe with the tuning knob.
Really nicely delivered, sounds great with just vocal and guitar before the band kicks in. Did I hear “secret code modulations”? I don’t see that line in the typed up lyrics.
Really catchy and well done. Soulful.