My 3rd album is coming out in a couple of months. I've received the final mixes on a few of the tracks. "Chasing the Storm" is going to be the second single, "Ventana Wilderness", an Americana style song, will be the first single. I've put them up on my website if you'd like to give them a listen. I call Chasing the Storm a Texas Boogie, but the drummer says it's rockabilly. Regardless, it rocks. I used some really excellent studio musicians on this. I'm rhythm guitar and vocals. Oh, and I wrote the songs too.
https://www.robwigleymusic.com/listen

Well, that was interesting

Your style of music is not typically my favorite. However. I can always tell a good musician when I enjoy listening to a type of music that I typically don't.

I really enjoyed the melodies of Venata, Hearts Can Break, and Cascade.

Chasing the Storm really caught my attention. I think you really may have something there.

It started with what reminded me of a late 80's rock ballad intro then slid into a rock country swing, then that rock ballad bridge, more country swing then you drove into that Chicago Blues element (REALLY liked that element 2:05-2:55), the rock ballad again then the country rock swing finish. I don't think I've ever heard that combination before in one song but every element just fit and the transitions seemed very smooth and natural. Everything really seemed to connect...the lyrics, singing, melody, style transitions in a very fluid way.

Chasing the Storm is a song that I kept thinking I could easily hear playing on the radio or in a bar. As I said, I really think you have something there.

Hey, thanks for the comments.

On all my recordings we let the musicians play what they want. We might give them suggestions, and where to play, but not what to play. All they have is the lyric sheet with the chords on it, as well as the "form" which gives the layout of the song. My producer does the forms, and he has a great ear.

These guys first heard the song in a demo, just me on the guitar, and the next day in the studio we ran thru the song 3 times, then recorded it 4 times, then moved on to the next song. The sax was added about a month later. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. You're right about the intro being a throwback to 80's rock - it totally is.

Both songs sound great. Excellent job, and good luck on the release.
(As a drummer, I tend to agree with your drummer, it is a bit Rockabilly sounding. It's cool though.
Congratulations.

I always rate my easy listening to, I will either change the channel or not - In this case I'm not changing the channel. Nice.

I'm thoroughly impressed, Rob! I also read your bio and you're living a hell of a life! Enjoy!

I’m a 72 Yr old Fla. Cracker reared on 50’s ballads and through the 80’s where I pretty much stay musically. The first song was good. But the "Ventana Wilderness” was like a warm hug of what I enjoy listening to. I’ll be back by for some more in a bit. Thanks for sharing. Very nice!!

quote:

Originally posted by robbiedog:
Hey, thanks for the comments.

On all my recordings we let the musicians play what they want. We might give them suggestions, and where to play, but not what to play. All they have is the lyric sheet with the chords on it, as well as the "form" which gives the layout of the song. My producer does the forms, and he has a great ear.

These guys first heard the song in a demo, just me on the guitar, and the next day in the studio we ran thru the song 3 times, then recorded it 4 times, then moved on to the next song. The sax was added about a month later. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. You're right about the intro being a throwback to 80's rock - it totally is.

Interesting how you did that, it's even more impressive now.

Granted, IMHO.....

There was a lot of layering in a few of those sections. I thought it worked very well. If you could do that live it would definitely be a crowd pleaser.

I play a little guitar myself, back in the day I played trumpet in a jazz band. One of the things that has always challenged me about some music is that it often sounds good, but feels like there is something missing OR it sounds decent but there is an element that doesn't quite fit.

In the case of Chasing the Storm I was quite surprised that, to me, everything that was needed was there, exactly where it needed to be, and when it needed to be there. Nothing missing, nothing extra, and the lyrics and the vocal performance was the icing on the cake.

I've listened to it several times am still amazed at how it can transition genres, but also go from shallow (two instruments) to very deep (all of the instruments present) seamlessly and perfectly. To my ear they seem to wrap around the lyrics and vocal performance.

Quite impressive I must say.... I can see that song appealing to a very broad audience. Your site is definitely getting shared!

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
I'm thoroughly impressed, Rob! I also read your bio and you're living a hell of a life! Enjoy!

Yeah, it really is a great life! Damn shame I'm 66, would rather be able to better physically enjoy it, but then I wouldn't have these life experiences that made it possible.

[/QUOTE]

Interesting how you did that, it's even more impressive now.

Granted, IMHO.....

There was a lot of layering in a few of those sections. I thought it worked very well. If you could do that live it would definitely be a crowd pleaser.

I play a little guitar myself, back in the day I played trumpet in a jazz band. One of the things that has always challenged me about some music is that it often sounds good, but feels like there is something missing OR it sounds decent but there is an element that doesn't quite fit.

In the case of Chasing the Storm I was quite surprised that, to me, everything that was needed was there, exactly where it needed to be, and when it needed to be there. Nothing missing, nothing extra, and the lyrics and the vocal performance was the icing on the cake.

I've listened to it several times am still amazed at how it can transition genres, but also go from shallow (two instruments) to very deep (all of the instruments present) seamlessly and perfectly. To my ear they seem to wrap around the lyrics and vocal performance.

Quite impressive I must say.... I can see that song appealing to a very broad audience. Your site is definitely getting shared![/QUOTE]



My producer (also the recording engineer) Scott Smith talks constantly about the layering of instruments, he calls it "texture". He would say that you won't necessarily hear the instrument, but you'd be able to hear that it isn't there. Scott is all about texture and it's fun to watch him do it.
I wish I could replicate this live, but the musicians on my albums all have other projects that they are devoted to. I could probably do a one-off sometime, and it's been brought up, but I doubt it will happen. My wife is after me to do it. What's more likely is someone else will record some of my songs and hopefully do them well. As I wrote in Ventana Wilderness, "I'm grateful for these things, I never thought I'd see"......and the last 3 years have been proof of that! Gratitude is one of the themes of this new album, in fact.

When the new album comes out it will also be on all the streaming services. Here in my small town the local station played Ventana yesterday and I noticed the sound quality of the song on the radio was poor, so I asked my producer to get me better quality files. He sent WAV files last night, 30 megs per song. They sound much better (mastered too) and I'm going to try to put those up on my website and replace the mp3's today. I got impatient waiting for the mixes and jumped the gun. We recorded most of the songs in early November.

quote:

Originally posted by Fla. Jim:
I’m a 72 Yr old Fla. Cracker reared on 50’s ballads and through the 80’s where I pretty much stay musically. The first song was good. But the "Ventana Wilderness” was like a warm hug of what I enjoy listening to. I’ll be back by for some more in a bit. Thanks for sharing. Very nice!!

Thanks for that. Ventana Wilderness is my favorite song that I've written. After I wrote it and I played it for my wife I sobbed through the second verse and had to start it over. It's interesting how 47 years can go by, and the emotions can still be on the surface. This is a love song to my wife, of course. One of my daughters has it on repeat on her phone. When it comes to family I'm a total softy.

Me also! Guess you need to live a bit to appreciate the style. Fits me like a well fitted glove.