For your listening agony: TROUBADOUR HIGHWAY

In dnj's thread about "Is disco dead," DonM said:

In the past week I've done, as requested, "Shake Your Booty", "Long Train Running", "Play That Funky Music White Boy", "Y.M.C.A.", "Sharing the Night Together", "Harlem Shuffle", even the Stone's closest thing to Disco, "Miss You" do, do, doodoo, do, do, dooo. They aren't all exactly Disco, but close enough. At least no one is requesting Macarana anymore!

I got to thinking about a song I wrote, "Troubadour Highway." I have a demo somewhere that I recorded on psr2000 but I can't find it. Here is another one.

Troubadour Highway, 3:13, 3.8mb MP3

Perhaps you can identify with the sentiment.

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

[This message has been edited by SemiLiveMusic (edited 02-15-2006).]

Bill.....If Im being honest,

I really enjoyed this tune. Its got a nice Johnny Cashesque flow to it, great lyrics you can relate too, & nice guitar work also.....might try it a key higher to give vocals a bit more power....otherwise Bravo!!!

I'm glad you like. I had fun writing it. BTW, I wrote this song BEFORE Brad Paisley came out with that song, "Alcohol." Where he has a line about "and helpin white people dance"... and I thought "HECK, I WROTE A LINE ALMOST LIKE THAT" but he beat me to it. Point is, it's the highlight of that song of his.

I am always struggling to find the optimum key for me. I'll think I finally got it right but often, I am told, sing it higher. Typically, I try to sing a song as low as I can sing it without crapping out on the low notes. I don't like my voice at all in the higher registers. I don't like it THAT much in the lower registers. But it is what is is. Johnny Cash gets mentioned to me more often than any other. Which is a good thing because he's a fave of mine and I sing many songs by him.

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

Bill...heres tip that I use .....
find the HIGHEST Note in a song....make sure you can hit it WITHOUT Straining & keeping a half tone below it....
everthing else below will follow suit & give a nice powered resonance to your vocals.

I've heard Bill sing a lot, and he has a strong, powerfull voice.
Bill, NOBODY I know, including me, likes the sound of their voice up high. Donny is right about doing it high enough to get power.
Can't listen to the new song yet, because your site is timing out. Too much traffic probably. We are starved for entertainment!!

DonM

I was able to download it, no problem.
Your guitar playing is very impressive. How do you do that? It sounds like real guitar stumming to my ears. Do you have a Tyros 2, cause I hear knocking on the guitar body as well.
I'm not a professional (like Donny), but I would not raise the key. You sound great on the low notes and you lose power when you hit "troubador highway", IMO.
Starkeeper

That IS a guitar. If you and I could invent an arranger that would produce a guitar sound like that, we'll take over! (As I said, I could not find the psr2000 demo I made.)

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

Doh! No wonder it sounds like a guitar.
Starkeeper

Hey ... how are the PIANO sounds on that thing ??? ...
t.

SLM ... I enjoyed the song, and a nice job by you ...

t.

Finally got to listen to Troubadour Hwy., and I like it a lot. I can identify with that!
DonM

Bill:SA guitar emulation right? Didn't realize you'd gone out and bought yourself a Tyros2. Fine real guitar picking , and yes I appreciate the message of your song too. - Scott