Hi Lynn,
 
Talk about the music being perfect for the lyrics and vice versa! 
When I started listening, for some reason, I was just absorbed in the music, not taking in the lyric, and thought, "This music would be perfect for a modern cowboy, riding his horse, singing about his life. It's the perfect tempo, structure, sound and texture for that." 
Then I heard the lyric, "Just along for the ride." D'uh! So I went back to the beginning and listened with both ears that time.
Very, very enjoyable song. Thank you, Lynn!
 
LJ

Laura, you have a way with words!  Thank you for taking the time to listen and respond.  I just listened to your latest song again today, and it just gets better.  

Really nice ride...  :)

Dave, thank you for your kind words.  It's good to hear from you.

Lynn,
Good song. It has a Moody Blues vibe to me.
-Rick

Rick, thanks for listening.  Moody Blues?  Maybe I should add flute and crank up the old Mellotron

Terrific songwriting, excellent vox, solid lyrics, good guitar. Flawless production. Love the lead guitar, reminds me of Sarah MacLachlan's guitarist, subtly understated. That last "ride" with reverb. Well done.
 
The Devil's in my House: I wish I'd done that one. Great stuff.

If It Was Up to Me: bro, I'm a fan

Great song. I too am always distracted by hard panning for some reason. For me my brain gets pulled left or right and I stop listening to the middle>  
I would feature that acoustic a lot more that's some good picking in there and it possibly the only real instrument? 
 
I don't know if you play electric, but that would be awesome to replace the cheesy strings with a sustained guitar part instead..  Or use a Polysynth, I just can't take strings I guess after they were abused in 1,000,000 songs :}  

Mark, thanks for listening to all three songs.  That made my day.
 
Johnny, thanks for your time and words.  The EBow, and bass guitar join the acoustic as real life, stringed instruments.  I know what you mean by hard panning, though this is not all that  hard (75% left and right).  I do like separation and feel that too many modern productions are leaning toward monophonic, perhaps because so many people listen on headphones or earbuds.  And, as far as the cheesy strings - I consider them to be the icing on the cake, meaning, I often don't make hard decisions on that aspect until I get the cake batter just right.  This is the kind of idea that I love to hear.  I will try some different sounds when I get to that stage, so thanks again for your input.