Album: "Blues Salad (Part Two)"
Artist: Austin Jimmy Murphy
Album published/released JAN-2024
Blues Salad (Part Two) - Raw Fingerpicking and Slide Guitar - The Avocado Sessions
Written and arranged by Austin Jimmy Murphy
The Album was engineered and produced by Austin Jimmy Murphy at El Rancho Pequeño in El Paso, TX..
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I Wrote This Song Because' contains candid descriptions of selected songs; featured by the artist. Descriptions may include why; how and/or when the songs were written.
IN THE BEGINNING:
"As a young man, I was taught a fingerpicking style; referred to by my neighborhood musician Michelle Stanton as “thumb-one, thumb-two.” (Thumb being your thumb, the ‘one’ referring to your index finger and the ‘two' referring to your middle finger). This style gives you that alternating bass while the rest of your fingers do what they need to do. It’s magical really. Once I was shown this style, I spent hours and hours and hours writing material.
All of the original material on The Avocado Sessions Part Two make use of this style. All of these songs were originally recorded on-the-spot. Meaning there are no overdubs, no retakes. That being said, some were recorded with a single microphone and therefore the mix between the guitar and the vocals were not always even."
MAKING USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:
"When the Beatles released their new song "Now and Then"; I think everyone was pretty amazed and the simple process of separating Lennon’s vocals from his piano playing from a decades-old cassette.
While cruising YouTube; I came across Rick Beato’s demonstration of how the separation was accomplished. I immediately realized that I had several old fingerpickers on my 2012 release: A History of Blues, which featured some pretty good fingerpicking, but my vocals were not that great.
Many of my old recordings are originally on cassette and the recordings took place either in a bedroom, living room or otherwise - you know, just regular hometown, in-house sessions. So I did a search for Lalal AI (the program that Rick Beato used) and bought into it. WHAT I ENDED UP DOING:
"For instance, the first cut from Raw Fingerpicking and Slide Guitar is, "The Train Song."
This was recorded in the late 70s at The Recording Workshop in Chillicothe, Ohio. I was taking a six-week course there learning how to record in a professional recording studio. I borrowed someone’s 12-string and laid the tune down. My vocals were not very good. So through Lalal AI; I separated the 50-year-old vocals and the 12-string and put new vocals on in my home studio.
Then I added the snare drum and bass.
I did the same with "Rip Them Chains". I did the same with almost every single tune (not adding bass and drums though).
In the song: "Killin’ Blues" I separated the slide guitar and the vocals and remixed the original recording for a better balance between the two. I could never re-sing these unique vocals any better than the original version.
I did the same with "South Side of Blue" and "Worried Blues."
The pronunciation of certain words just can’t be duplicated without changing their effect. It was better to leave my mispronunciation as well as my emotional tone alone. Almost Took My Life and Margarita are the original versions with no AI used.
On "Went Walkin’ With My Baby" for some reason; Lalal AI did not do a perfect separation. Probably because of the crappy original recording. You can still hear a hint of the original vocals in there on occasion. Again; It is a cool tune with some fun vocals, so you get the RAW version. That’s what this is about, right?
AT THE LIBRARY:
"Strollin’ Blues," "Baby Gone and Left Me," and "Hello" were recorded live on a Tascam DR-07MKII at one of City of El Paso’s libraries. (I don’t remember which one). Upon the release of my: "A History of Blues" 4-CD box set, I performed at every El Paso library back in 2013. So as you will see, there is some distortion on theses tracks, but I don’t really care. It is what it is... Raw Fingerpicking and Slide Guitar."
"If you are a blues fan, this CD is now available on all digital platforms around the world. You can also listen to it and purchase it on my website jamesrobertmurphy.com. REMEMBER, streaming services pay artists NEXT TO NOTHING. It is ALWAYS BETTER to purchase the CD directly from the artist. Support your local musicians!!" - Austin Jimmy Murphy
