Dead Hillbillies pickin' and grinnin' (More on Uncle Bill)
Uncle Bill made me a tape about fifteen years ago. Fifteen? Ten? I'm not sure. He recorded these old country songs on his four track especially for "Zak the music man." I just picture him sitting in his house, drinking crate after crate of unspeakable beer. I can see the big old grin he'd get playing music...and drinking lots of beer. God, I miss that crazy old hillbilly a lot.
Tonight, I transferred the songs he sings on from the tape to digital form. Next, I will clean them up in Garageband. After that, I will pick a couple to add instruments and vocals to. There's one I charmingly entitled "Fucking Around" which is basically him noodling on git-tar. I am going to sample that and create a new piece of music around. A collaboration between the two of us.
There are about fifteen songs, most about a minute in length. He makes a serious f/u in the middle of Cold Cold Heart, so I may do some cutting and pasting to get a decent song out of it.
His singing...well, remember the film Sling Blade? It kind of veers between a sort of Sling Blade backwoods thing and...did you see Deliverance? Remember the guy who ordered Ned Betty to take his "panties" off and squeal like a pig? OK, imagine that guy singing.
(I say this with love, Uncle Bill, you know that, I reckon).
I am listening to side two now. It sounds like Bill and one his Okie chums literally on a porch, pickin' and grinnin'. Drinking a little 'shine before going to the KKK meeting...ok, made that last part up. Seriously, though, I just heard a banjo.
Let me hear ya squeal like a pig!!
Even long after there aren't machines to play cassettes on, I will keep this tape with me the rest of my life. Using a porcipine quill or whatever they use in the South when they write--(you know, the four or five Southerners who can actually write, he said with a wink)--Uncle Bill wrote:
"To my dearest friend and nephew, Music Man Zak--note, I can get better. Bill."
Bill, you were already one of the best, let's see what I can do with this...
Tonight, I transferred the songs he sings on from the tape to digital form. Next, I will clean them up in Garageband. After that, I will pick a couple to add instruments and vocals to. There's one I charmingly entitled "Fucking Around" which is basically him noodling on git-tar. I am going to sample that and create a new piece of music around. A collaboration between the two of us.
There are about fifteen songs, most about a minute in length. He makes a serious f/u in the middle of Cold Cold Heart, so I may do some cutting and pasting to get a decent song out of it.
His singing...well, remember the film Sling Blade? It kind of veers between a sort of Sling Blade backwoods thing and...did you see Deliverance? Remember the guy who ordered Ned Betty to take his "panties" off and squeal like a pig? OK, imagine that guy singing.
(I say this with love, Uncle Bill, you know that, I reckon).
I am listening to side two now. It sounds like Bill and one his Okie chums literally on a porch, pickin' and grinnin'. Drinking a little 'shine before going to the KKK meeting...ok, made that last part up. Seriously, though, I just heard a banjo.
Let me hear ya squeal like a pig!!
Even long after there aren't machines to play cassettes on, I will keep this tape with me the rest of my life. Using a porcipine quill or whatever they use in the South when they write--(you know, the four or five Southerners who can actually write, he said with a wink)--Uncle Bill wrote:
"To my dearest friend and nephew, Music Man Zak--note, I can get better. Bill."
Bill, you were already one of the best, let's see what I can do with this...