A tribute to our friend, Jimmy

Hi,
this  tune is a small tribute to our late friend, Jimmy Gentry. It's been a hard year with all the family and friends passing......i couldn't let 2012 come in with out some kind of  closure to  the wrenching losses.  Man,  i am so in awe with his incredible sense of song and style.  Tremendous listen on his soundclick page...  He played guitar like my mom played piano...smooth as satin and right on the money. 
 
I had fun with Guitar Rig 5 (bit of a CPU hog) one of the best vst amps i've stumbled on yet. 
Mix is always WIP...It's a boatload of sounds and it needs work. Comments welcomed    
 
My middle daughter, Marie, sings the lovely BGV toward the end.
Thanks for stopping by. 
Jimmy Man
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=826274&songID=11293986
 
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
and it's warming someone's soul
 
'been quiet round here
but i know you had to go away
we cried a million tears
He called you for other gigs to play
Somewhere shines our troubadour....
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
and it's warming someone's soul
 
Always a Southern Gentleman
 your guitar sang sweet as you
and your hard earned lyrics
said 'hey brother, I know you'
God, I miss our troubadour....
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
and it's warming someone's soul
 
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
Wherever you've gone, Jimmy man There's a song
and it's warming someone's soul.

This has that organic country element of Jimmy's, added to your distinct style. Very cool that you did this! Jimmy was (is) a good one, that's for sure. I truly treasure the one collab I did with him.

Loved your daughter's BGV - tell her she did great!!

Peace to you and your family during the holidays.

Grant.............it's up and running now.  thnx

Dave..............I did all i could to get his laid back warm feeling...of course the verse is too herky jerky for his style but the chorus was centered on him.  Thanks for listening and I'll pass your words to my daughter.

Phil.................You're right on.  It needs something to pull it along but i don't want to lose the transistion into the chorus so i hesitated on making the whole song a straight feel.  I am hoping/guessing there'll be some suggestions here.
thank you for the listen and accurate notes.

This is pretty touching Rick, I love this quirky producton.
Jimmy was a fine soul. 

well done
thanks

Man, just when I've been thinking of him a lot lately, you post this.  Way to go, Rik!  You know, his long rambling posts often frustrated me at first, but I began to see what he was trying to say (most of the time)...and then he started focusing in and helping me really understand how to be a better piano player.  And THEN, he took a song I sent him and recorded it so perfectly I was blown away. In 3 days!  I still can't play the piano without imagining him behind me saying 'don't play that, play this, not that way, yeah, this way' and, of course, managing to encourage and make me smile all the time.  Man, I miss his influence.  I've lately come to believe that just perhaps he really can still see us down here.  And I imagine this is making him smile at least as much as it did me.  

(sorry, I can't help with the technical stuff.  I just like it.  And am glad you got a chance to record it.) :)  

This has a strange quirkiness to it and I love it! What a great tribute to Jimmy.

Hi Rick,

Wow, I came across an old post of Jimmy's the other day in someone's old song thread and have been thinking of him.

Love the song/lyrics, your guitar playing and your daughter's BGV's.  The mix sounds great to me but I mostly like the sentiment behind everything.

Great song for a great guy.

I loved your daughter's added voice. It really added that extra special touch and made it truly complete. Very nice.

love the ending
I miss Jimmy too... thanks Rick...

Hi Rik. Words and music are just great. It's amazing how you get that slightly offkiltered thing to work so well. You're a unique artist and this is way cool.

Reckless Rick my good buddy.

I love the way this precariously hangs together in a most delicate way.  I've long got past the stage with you of saying this needs doing or that needs doing because you always end up getting to a much more intriguing outcome than any of us would have thought of, let alone could put together.

I'm getting a fond lament off the vibe and that is a complex mix of emotion to put across but again you've managed it nicely.

Nobody has mentioned it yet  but that subby dub style bass has an incredible sound, Creighton has excelled himself there...

Lovely touching track to a good friend of the forum, from somebody that it is always a priviledge to hear.

A good excuse as well to wish you and your family an exceptional Christmas and the best upcoming year ever.

I didn't know Jimmy but I can tell he was something special for you guys. Wonderful tribute!

I love the quikyness of the track very much.

Well done!

Janet


GP:  here's a link to his page.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=905844
He was always hoping to get better (like we all are, I suppose), but he seemed to make it a quest to get that perfect sound, and never seemed happy with his songs.  If you listen to the last 10 or so, you'll see that it seems he achieved it without realizing it.  

He was also SO helpful here, sometimes posting long-winded replies that left the uninitiated wondering what in the heck he was talking about. :)  But if you hung in there, and got to know him, you realized whatever he said was priceless.  He was always kind and helpful and encouraging.  Sometime last year he began having jaw pain and before long he found out he had advanced cancer.  He didn't live too long after that and that left most of us in shock.  Yes, he was certainly special.  

That seems to be a common thread for us musicians. We always want to improve as best we can. Woud we be any better if we thought we did not need to learn anymore? I think it's the quest that makes us who we are rather than the destination.
 
I checked out some of his stuff. "Your Love" is really nice!

Grant...............I missed your post earlier.  I did tighten up those drums and hope they're groovin' a little better.  It's kind of a funky verse.  Thanks for the listen and Merry Christmas!!!

Janet................Yeah, he gave some very pointed musical insights that i lean on often.   You could tell in all he said that he was most concerned that I (we) could gleen some new knowledge and understanding about the subject....always gentle and never without thinking out what he said.  Thanks for the listen...Merry Christmas!

TAP....................Hi James, Thank you for popping in to listen...  Merry Christmas!

Scotty.................Greetings in Vermont.  Thank you for the listen and kind comments, Scotty.    Merry Christmas to you!

Blipp..................Hey it's so nice to see you popping up again on threads.  Missed you a lot.  Thanks for the ears and Merry Christmas to you!

Gary....................Such nice comments.  Thank you.  It was all very inspired and poured easily.  Merry Christmas!

Notes:  I added a fairly subtle pad to the verses to help articulate the rhythm better (not sure it's working) and i still have some guitar stuff to clean up a bit. 


Randy................That's a sweet idea for the ending.  I'll try it out.  I tried to keep the structure simple and just let the lyric carry the song (like Jimmy would have done) so i pulled the reigns in on some of my conceptual stuff to make room for his influence to be apparent.  I mimiced his guitar tones, vocal phrasing, and simple structure (to the best of my perceptions of him and my abilities).  It was mostly a real intimate experience to just listen to his soundclick page over and over and feel his beautiful soul.  Thanks for the listen and cool idea.  I'll try and do that over the holidays.

Howdie, Frank............I'm really glad you made it by to check it out.  Thank you! 

James.........................I guess it makes sense to put the word 'soul' on the root chord but i didn't because i wanted there to be a feeling of continuation and movement about it instead of the ultimate ending.  I know it probably would sound better and Jimmy would have landed that word on the root but i've got some very bad habits.  ...(used to make my mother laugh with all the deceptive cadences i'd play.)  Thank you for the listen and comments!

Rhyno.........................Mighty nice of you to say so.  It was a joy to do.  Thank you for the listen and kind words.

Woooooook.............Nice to see you roun'....Thank you kindly!

Jon.........................Oh, made my day you liked that bass.   I had 3 different bass lines for this and then this one came tumbling out while driving one day.  It changed the whole song for me.   Thank you, sir, for your  warmth and attentive ears....and a very merry Christmas to you, Kerry and Company.  (waitin' for more smokey french love songs).
 
Robby......................He is indeed.  Thanks for stopping by.

Guitarpima.................I'm glad you got to check out his music.  Smooth, soulful and dripping with style....just like him.        Thank you for the listen and kind comments!


Merry Christmas to ya'll and thanks again for the ears.