The Biggest Hearts in Texas (Merrik's Song)

hi den,
i know i shouldn't probably critique this .. but i'm going to anyway .. 'cause you
might be able to raise some more bucks if it sold more broadly .....

this is a very sweet tune .. but some of the elements of the arrangement don't
work and are kind of gimicky to me .. like at :43 and at 2:50 ... I suspect these
were loops or samples and they don't quite go with the tune. Also, the bridge at
1:33 doesn't quite work for the character of the tune .. it goes almost
country rock .. and then drops back into the lullaby style .. it's a pretty
stark contrast.
I think you can get a similar effect (of adding interest) by just adding in
elements of other instruments in this genre .. different guitars ... maybe
long bowed fiddle, etc. deep bass .. and take them out when you want
to settle it down. It would keep the feel Americana all the way through, which
is what I think the tune kind of wants to be.

Off to sign the little guy's care page . .. sure hope he beats it ;-(
jeff

ps: how do you contribute to the fundraiser? i didn't see it on the
care page.

Thanks to both Jeff and Abbey for taking the time to listen!

Jeff, I do hear what you're saying. We had a very short fuse on this particular song, because there was a fundraiser for Merrik just a few weeks away; so, it was a snooze/lose situation. Musically, I think I'm growing into that acoustic, Americana type sound you mentioned and am liking it more and more. The country rock portion of the song is more similar to the kind of stuff I normally do--or have done up until now. In fact, this is the very first song of mine I've ever used a Dobro on. Your comments are very useful to me though, that type of sound is definitely where I think--not only this song but my music in general--wants to go.
I'll need to listen to the song again to catch the sections you referenced by elapsed time. Just guessing, I'm thinking you're talking about the bongo/rain stick and then the piano towards the end, but I should be able to fill in more info once I do.
Once again, I appreciate your attention, and I think I'll snoop around to see if I can read more of your posts on here. A huge problem I've had on some of the boards is that a lot of musicians/engineers will avoid anything Country/Americana/Bluegrass-sounding; so, it's often difficult to find good feedback. That makes yours even more valuable to me. You have a great weekend.

Should any of you care to support the family, there's
a fund that's been set up:

The Merrik Medrano Cancer Fund
2105 Firestone Dr.
League City, TX 77573

jeff