Crystal Porter - In the Ghetto (Elvis Presley Cover)

It has been ages since I've posted anything on You Tube and not for lack of content. It has been a busy summer and to be honest, I hadn't really thought much of it. I might have had a couple passing thoughts about posting something but they were washed away in the busy flow of things.

I have managed to write a few new songs, amid the travel, performances, gardening and general summer activity. I've also had to learn a lot of covers for various reasons like weddings and very lengthy set lists.I thought it might be fun to upload some covers over the next few weeks.

I present to you my rendition of Elvis Presley's song "In the Ghetto" based upon Natalie Merchants interpretation. Enjoy!


 

Sweetheart

So, I've been working on this new song for the last couple weeks and I'm mostly just tweaking with lyrics right now. When out of nowhere comes this song, I received it nearly completely whole and the lyrics came about as naturally as they can. In under an hour this new song had life and I felt like Doctor Frankenstein. It's called Sweetheart, I hope you enjoy it.

Masks

While writing the song "Masks" the Blue Masks poem came to mind:

"She had blue skin and so did he. He kept it hid and so did she. They searched for blue their whole life through, then passed right by - and never knew."

We all wear them sometimes, often to protect ourselves from situations where we think we might feel pain. We have masks that we wear everyday and there are masks that we reserve for special occasions.  I wonder how many we can detect in our own lives and what life would be like if we each began to embrace our vulnerabilities and loved all of those things within ourselves...sounds like a lot of work though! ;-)

Without further delay on this beautiful sunny day, here is my newest song:

Peace of Mind

Over the winter, I managed to get a little bit of writing done during my windy day hibernation. Over the last couple weeks I've developed 3 songs. Two of these songs have lyrics that around around 75% complete. The song below was the last in the series of 3 and it is the only one with completed lyrics. It's pretty fresh, having been written this last week. The performance took place at Rudders in Yarmouth during a Musique de la Baie Showcase last Sunday afternoon. Enjoy!

Rhythm Tracks - Check

I've been a busy little bee in our basement studio. We have Pro tools set up here, this way we can take in our tracks here without having to travel back and forth to the city, or rush our recording sessions. It is nice to know that we are compatible with other studios so if we want to send things out for mixing and mastering, we can. Last week, I took it upon myself to get a few guitar tracks under way. I got the guitar rhythm tracks done for 3 songs so far. I still plan on recording a few more, including a couple that I wrote on the piano once we get the midi section of the studio geared up. Then we'll select the ones that turned out the best and go from there.

The Gardener (Original)

I'm no master gardener but I am certainly passionate about it. In the warm months, the garden is my home away from home. Close friends have often joked about building me a mud hut in the garden area so I would never have to come back to the house. I love to play in the dirt and I love to be outside in the sunshine. I can often be seen softly strumming the guitar in my garden complete with a cup of tea, my yoga mat and a blanket. I love garden yoga and I feel so rejuvenated with the warm sun beating down on me, I breath deeper, feel better and all of that love gets put right back into the garden.

I ♥ Banjo #Music

I watched a documentary called "Give Me The Banjo" a last week. It is narrated by Steve Martin and I had a difficult time sitting through it; which by the way, had nothing to do with the movie. In fact, I loved it. I have watched it 3 times since then and I find it inspiring. Come to think about it, that is the very reason I had a difficult time watching it. The first time I sat through it, Mat and the boys were jamming in the basement and I really didn't want to interrupt their session. Not that it would have been a bother, but they are working on new material and I just wanted to let them be. So instead, I spent the entire first half of the movie daydreaming about the banjo every time I heard a banjo play in the movie. This is a frequent occurrence. I soon realized I had missed over half of the movie. I began the movie again. This time I watched the movie, well most of it. I still daydreamed about ol' Betty, it is rather unavoidable. Betty...

Betty is my Banjo's name. I call her "Banjo Betty" to be precise. She has a beautiful twang and is an excellent starter banjo. She is not electric, so I will have to invest in a banjo pickup if I ever decide to take her onstage. I met her in a music store in downtown Yarmouth. She had been there for quite sometime. Each time I walked into the shop, I would stand in front of her and I would just fantasize about our potential relationship. I never had the money to take her home. Some time afterwards, the music store closed down and they had a half price sale. I woke up in the morning determined to bring Banjo Betty home. I looked in the mirror that morning and even utter some positive affirmations about me coming home with the banjo. It turns out that 5 minutes after I purchased it, someone else came buy looking to purchase it. I was already grateful that Betty had become a part of my life, I felt that gratitude grow like the Grinch's heart.

The third time I watched the movie, I did it with Betty in my arms. I plucked playfully along with the soundtrack. My heart was singing as loud as Banjo Betty.