Rain Vibes for Colorado: “Rain’s Coming”

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Jul 102012
 

Rain's Coming Song ArtThere for a while it was looking tense for some of my friends based in Colorado. I’m worthless as a dancer, so a few steps of the the ol’ rain dance was outta the question – I’d probably just cause more fires!

Then one of my friends on Facebook posted a link to an album project that’s going to raise some funds for Colorado folks who lost everything in the fires. That reminded me of a song I wrote sometime back in the 1980s. I was living in Indiana. There was a long dry spell, and one morning it ended. You can read the full back story over on the song page.

HAVE A LISTEN NOW:

So I went into the ol’ All Natural Studio and finished up the song as quickly as I could. The resulting bluegrass style tune is better than I’d hoped given how much time I had to spend. I submitted the tune to the Rain Dance page on Facebook and hope it will help them do some good.

Colorado isn’t the only place that could use a few rain vibes right now. So why don’t you hop over to the songs page, snag yourself a download, give it some plays and think rainy thoughts for them as need it! Oh yeah… and share it with folks you know and ask them to do likewise!

“Oodaloddie” – what does it MEAN?

 New song release, News  1 Response »
Jul 152011
 

The Question of the Summer has been asked: What does the title of Robert’s latest song mean?? Many were the guesses. None won the Golden Panatella. It’s now time for The Answer, and who better to deliver it than the Sage of the Sixties? So without further ado…

Mr. Natural, what does Oodaloddie mean? Don't mean sheeit.

LISTEN NOW: "Oodaloddie-A" — a nonsense rhyme for nonsensical times
  

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Nonsense for a case of nonsense overload

This is essentially a protest song. Social criticism has been the metier of troubadours for a long time, and this song is certainly that. The song is about, and was inspired by, the short-sighted and socially irresponsible greed that has been the hallmark of politics and business in the 21st century thus far.

Overload #1
This song was written in response to an overload of nonsense. First there was Russia deciding to change the laws for people in the process of obtaining residence. As usual, no thought given to the application. So to make a long story short, I was suddenly required to leave my home of 11 years, my wife and family, and leave the country for a period of 3 months. With 8 days advanced notice. Nonsense overload #1.

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Experiece Russian White Nights with “Neva Nights”

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Jun 062011
 

St. Petersburg White NightsIt’s June. The month we live for up here near 60 degrees north latitude. The long cold dark has given way to the fleeting warmth and 24-hour light of the famous White Nights.

This is a very special White Nights season for me… my 15th as a resident of Tsar Peter’s fortress town. To celebrate, here’s a song that could well be the first ever written for banjo about the St. Petersburg White Nights… I call it NEVA NIGHTS.

LISTEN NOW:

The Neva Nights Story

This tune has been thru several incarnations. My cats have heard them all and like this one best (and they have superb taste). It began with a short chromatic banjo lick (which pops up in the interludes) and the 2 main chords of the verses. I had these for probably 25 years but it was only after moving to St. Petersburg in 1996 that it all fell into the first incarnation of this tune… maybe 6 years later… which attempted to be progressive Bluegrass. And failed. I let it percolate a few years more.

The present version began to gel back in late 2009 when I started working out a concept for a live set with just singing and low-tuned banjo. I recorded the banjo and vocal and maybe should have stopped there. The rest is pretty much ear candy and fooling around in my studio when I should have been sleeping. But I have tried to capture something of my impressions “summer in the city” that’s been my home for 15 years this month (something I could never remotely have imagined no so very long ago). Continue reading »