Write a hit country song.

This a tongue in cheek look at the music business. I tried to nail all the major "bro country" references in verse 2 as is needed to have a hit song these days.

Been setting on this one for a few weeks as I tried to get the time to finish it up.

WRITE A HIT COUNTRY SONG

It was fun recording this.

Tracks are:

Drums, bass and some fills are band in a box.  All other guitars are played live by me.

I did a few things I don't normally do. I used....dare I say it?,,,,,,, compressors ... in a few of the tracks... guitar and vox.... to name a few. I also cranked the POD up to levels I have rarely used before..... oh my.... what's happening to me?

Enjoy and feel free to comment.

Great tones and style Herb. Awesome authentic Country vocal delivery. Love it!, great to hear you back.

I'm not sure you're aware of your own talent Herb, It's a hit!!

Great playing Herb
 
Did you sing too?
 
Cool song that and the BIAB works a treat for you
 
 
cheers
 
andy

Guitarhacker
It was like, one take and go with it.  Same with the guitar solo....

 
Bejebus! I wish I could do that! I'm like into my fifth take and all for giving up, which is why I love my MIDI setup

excellent Herb - it's a hit

Synkrotron:  I was almost tempted to redo a few spots especially in the guitar solo... Of course I did use Melodyne to touch up the vox track in a few places.
 
Mesh: Thanks for dropping in and having a listen.  Yeah, I had fun writing this and recording it.
 
Daryl: Thanks. It is #1 in the subcategory on sound click today,...... so does that count?
 
Gruve:  I've heard lots and lots of songs through the years that I have said that about..... wish I could have written that.  I'm hoping that one day, I hear a song on the radio and say to myself...."Damn, I actually wrote that!"

Yeah, this one just sounds "right" - you've got the lyrics, performance and arrangement.   I mean, c,mon, "this really shouldn't take too long, I'm gonna write a hit country song".   What's not to like?   
 
Oh, nice guitar work too - the tone and licks work great. 

Doesn't sound like a joke to me -- especially the fine country pickin'.

tuh-waaaaang!
 
nice mix, all the elements are super clear. The only cliche I think you missed was something about a hound dawwwwg. Was that in there?
 
I believe Travis Tritt's manager's phone number is BR-549.
 
nice one!
 
-Tom

Gotta thank Tom for the bump. Was fun to relisten. We now know how to write a hit country song. Hire Herb!
 
For fun only, no desire to hijack, here's how to sing the blues.
 
=========================================
 
 
 
1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning."
 
 
2. " I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less you stick something nasty in the next line, like " I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."
 
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes ... sort of: "Got a good woman - with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher - and she weigh 500 pound."
 
4. The Blues are not about choice. You stuck in a ditch? You stuck in a ditch. Ain't no way out.
 
5. Blues cars: Chevys and Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft an' state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
 
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
 
7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in St. Paul or Tucson is just depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.
 
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cuz you skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg cuz an alligator be chomping on it is.
 
9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
 
10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty house
 
Bad places:
a. first-class restaurants
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses
 
11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old ethnic person, and you slept in it.
 
12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues?
Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt
b. you're broke
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you're blind
No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. the man in Memphis survived
c. you have a retirement plan or trust fund
d. you were once blind but now can see
 
13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Gary Coleman could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.
 
14. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are muddy water and black coffee.
 
15. If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely on a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or getting liposuction.
 
16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling
 
17. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie
 
18. Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, Auburn, and Rainbow can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
 
19. Make your own Blues name (starter kit): name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) middle name: choose a fruit (lemon, etc) last name: choose a  President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.). For example, Blind Lime Jefferson, or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")
 
20. I don't care how tragic your life: you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues. You best destroy it. Fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or get out a shotgun. Maybe your big woman just done sat on it. I don't know.

TheMaartian
Gotta thank Tom for the bump. Was fun to relisten. We now know how to write a hit country song. Hire Herb!
 
For fun only, no desire to hijack, here's how to sing the blues.
 
=========================================
 

How to sing the blues…

 

by Lame Mango Washington

 

(attributed to Memphis Earlene Gray with help from Uncle Plunky, revisions by Little Blind Patti D. and Dr. Stevie Franklin)

 

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning."
 
 
2. " I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less you stick something nasty in the next line, like " I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."
 
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes ... sort of: "Got a good woman - with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher - and she weigh 500 pound."
 
4. The Blues are not about choice. You stuck in a ditch? You stuck in a ditch. Ain't no way out.
 
5. Blues cars: Chevys and Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft an' state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
 
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
 
7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in St. Paul or Tucson is just depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.
 
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cuz you skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg cuz an alligator be chomping on it is.
 
9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
 
10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty house
 
Bad places:
a. first-class restaurants
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses
 
11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old ethnic person, and you slept in it.
 
12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues?
Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt
b. you're broke
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you're blind
No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. the man in Memphis survived
c. you have a retirement plan or trust fund
d. you were once blind but now can see
 
13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Gary Coleman could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.
 
14. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are muddy water and black coffee.
 
15. If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely on a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or getting liposuction.
 
16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling
 
17. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie
 
18. Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, Auburn, and Rainbow can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
 
19. Make your own Blues name (starter kit): name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) middle name: choose a fruit (lemon, etc) last name: choose a  President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.). For example, Blind Lime Jefferson, or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")
 
20. I don't care how tragic your life: you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues. You best destroy it. Fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or get out a shotgun. Maybe your big woman just done sat on it. I don't know.

I guess I can't sing the blues.... I hear tell country is the white man's blues....

I'm disqualified by this list on a number of accounts that we won't discuss here.

I do believe you've done it. I look forward to hearing this on the radio. :)

Thanks everyone for checking in and listening....  Nashville folks didn't quite agree that this is a hit... but they're looking for those cookie cutter bro country tunes with no melody

A real toe tapper!  I LOVE THIS!  Wish I had this when I was playing out...Definitely would have used this!