Track 4 from our CD, BeCuz We Have Friends.  This may well be our most poignant, I'm really missing you song.  And the silence of your absence is the loudest sound of all.

The Loudest Sound Of All

Track 1 from our CD, No Cuz For Alarm.  I hate it that almost daily this song takes on additional meaning.  People from both sides of the argument think it's about gun control, but we never say that.  Our focus is a little broader, it's wrong, let's work together and find a way to fix it, the longer we don't, the more each of us has blood on our hands.

A Million Reasons

Here's one of our newest songs, with more to follow shortly.  Two things are going on here, we're exploring using both lyrics and music to paint a picture.   We are also describing the search everyone goes through, once innocence is lost, and the attempt to find it once again.  We all end up looking in the wrong places.  "Dreams are not dead, but they're wandering lost."

All Things Must Wait For Their Time

This song is about forgiveness.  And yes it's a fast moving muddy river you have to get across.  Not easy at all.  There's a whole misunderstanding about forgiveness, that you forgive someone for them, and that's not it, you forgive someone for yourself, to free you up from that feeling of being wronged or worse yet, needing to get revenge.   The bridge of this song sums it up.   "Do it for yourself, she may never know, Toss it in and walk away, time to let it go."  This one begged to be electric, and once started, begged for dual lead guitar parts.  We had a blast recording it.

Muddy River

Sage advice from someone who literally has seen it all.  "I keep a pistol in my pocket, a close eye on the booze.  I keep my feet on the floor, my eyes on the door. I keep a dollar in my boot."  My cousin spear headed this one, and it's the perfect marriage of lyric and music IMHO.

Dollar In My Boot

No two songs take the same path to completion.   This song wasn't even a song when it was first "reviewed" as an album cut, for a high school newspaper.  It was mostly an inside joke.  Later my cousin and a friend, wrote it, at least partially, and then almost 50 years later, my cousin and I rewrote it, and recorded what you now hear.  We attempted to recreate an accurate musical setting for the time, guitar and fiddle mostly.  "It's sad about sweet Estella. She never saw the Mardi Gras.  She never saw Jackson Square. She headed south across Arkansas, but she never made it there."

Estella Dellinger

We like to write instrumentals too, and we try to include one on each project.  This short pretty little melody, is actually a companion piece to another song of ours, "The Side Of Love".   It's fun for me, because I mostly think of myself as a fiddler, and this forces me to think more like a violinist.   You can hear the two of them together, on our playlist, Cuz and Effect.

Another Side Of Love III

If you write songs, you know that every one is different.  Some come quickly, with words and music, and it's not like you're writing it so much as just writing it down.  The whole thing is already in your head.  Sometimes I wake up at night or early morning and it's just there.  Any way, this song was the exact opposite.  We struggled with this song for over 6 months, wrote probably 15-20 different verses, and finally while camped near El Dorado, KS, we took one whole day and wrestled it into something we could use.  What you're hearing was recorded in one take outdoors, with the locusts and crickets, later that day when our friend Mike came over to our camp with his fiddle.  By the way the tree that's our Logo was in our campsite too.  It was a crazy cool tree and quite the presence while we were there.(Check out our song, "The Eldorado Tree" for a whimsical look at it's history.)  That week of camping is basically how the "ESG" came together.

Cross This Bridge Or Burn It II

This one started as a Covid discussion, a joke about having all the way to Omega to go with variant names.  Soon the whole Alpha/Omega thing, also became about life and yes religion.   Then we mixed in a quote from the Milton Burle TV show in the 50's, about keeping those cards and letters coming(there for the bad pun value).  We were stumped for music, so our friend Robin took over and finished the song.  It became also a metaphor for life in general, and the train imagery fit well.  So good friends of ours helped cowrite, played bass, played some lead guitar, sang, and produced this song.  Big Fun for all involved.  You'll like this one,

Winfield 2021

All The Way To Omega II

Here's a brand new one, finished up today.  It's about dreams and visions.  We tried hard to make the music be dreamy too.  It was so fun to play the strings on it.  It's mostly a cousin Dan tune, with lines from me here and there.  Musically it's certainly both of us.  "Lines in the sand that the ocean explores. Glimpses of scenes from the cutting room floor."

Cutting Room Floor

We get cautious when we age.  This song explores that, and longs for times when, in my youth, I would jump in the middle of things on a whim.  That didn't always turn out well, but it was always fun and interesting.  "Now I count the cost, mourn what's lost, brush my teeth, Hell, I even floss."

Wish I Was Like That Now

This track started with a couple of lines from a good friend of mine.  I read them and asked if I could use them to write a song.  He agreed.  I did, and then recently we rewrote it to be what you are hearing now.  Yes, it's full of messing with the English language, but we hope you also see that it's full of yearning for kindness, togetherness, and caring for each other.

Do You Hear Me

So, when you hear this, it most likely won't be Christmas time.  But, we like almost every other artist, had to write a Christmas song.  Cousin Dan started this one, and was the driving force with it, all the way through.  It was fun to add harmonies and a penny whistle part. "Gone is the stable and manger with hay, but the promise of hope, remains to this day."

The Guild's Christmas Offering

This is a song we wrote about 3 and a half years ago.  It was a straight forward 12 bar blues.  In the last week or so we rewrote the music to be what you are hearing now.  We had fun writing the lyrics back then too, dreaming up all the things that could go wrong, raining, got fired, his bar is out of beer, finally giving up for the day, and going to bed, but then the alarm clock goes off again.  It's funny, but we've all had these days.  "I tried to hide out at my neighborhood bar, but the blues bound to find you wherever you are."

That's Just The Way, I Got The Blues

Each time we record enough songs for an album, we try to include at least one, if not more funny songs.   This is one of those.  It's absurd male character, simply has no clue how he could have contributed at all to the break up of his relationship.  But he does know, he misses his dog.  So don't even think about taking this serious.  "That friend of yours, she never caught my eye. Everything she said is just a lie.  She had her hands all over me, any one could plainly see, that friend of yours, never caught my eye."

Cuz Zen

The Worst Country Song II

This song feels like a Saturday afternoon to me.  You got public radio on and you're listening to stories.  I can't help but think given the right set of circumstances it would fit into that.  It's what I always think of when I sing it or hear it.   Our occasional contributor, JW, a friend from college, did most of one of these verses and for that we are grateful.  So kick back and pretend it's Saturday afternoon about 20 years ago, you got out your AM radio, and this comes on.  "Here's an old screwdriver, I found it in the dirt, along with this old button, now I can't find the shirt."

Bottom Kitchen Drawer

Wow! We're excited about this one.  Who doesn't look back and wonder about what might have happened, if they had pursued a relationship with someone they were attracted to.  The lyrics on this one are very accessible.  We'd like to think the music is too.  I dare you to not tap your foot to this song.   "I still see those eyes, looking back at me.  The thoughts they hid, only she could see."

**Please consider liking or reposting this song, or both!!  This may be the best song we've written yet.**  Thank you!!

I Still See Her Eyes

As a writer it's fun to explore different genres, and as a player too.  We've been paying more attention to Swing music lately and this little ditty showed up last week.  "Leaves on the trees, move with the breeze. What a lovely day, pretty as you please. Temperature’s rising, by degrees.  Taking a walk in the park."

Taking A Walk In The Park

Not to lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas, but sometimes, you just got to have a little fun with it too.  So here is a totally unserious take on a Christmas Eve gone wrong, and all our hero finds under his tree on Christmas morning is the blues.  "She ran off with old Santa, I heard them sleigh bells ring.  I guess being nice all year, well it didn't mean a thing."

The Blues Underneath My Christmas Tree

So, we don't write many songs like this, but when we do we get excited about it.  This song has been a blast to work with and record.  We like and write lots of styles of music, but a good rocker, is always very fun.  "I don’t mind grey hair on my head, It could be worse and fall out instead."   Take my advice, Crank It Up!!

It's Just The Way It Is

This song is not our usual upload.  It was cowritten with Nita Velo in Nashville.  It was recorded in Nashville as a demo.  The lovely and haunting lead vocal you hear is Nita, and yes I'm singing background harmonies, and playing the mandolin.  I have always thought of this as a wonderful combination of music and lyrics well suited for each other.  "A Father once said to his Son, the time has come on Earth.  The light of life that shines to all was kindled at your birth.  This awful thing I ask of you, means you'll be put to death, but those who love you will be saved, with your final breath."   The Son Went Down (C) Velo/McNamar

The Son Went Down

This is an older song that came about from having a conversation with a friend, and he said he had just enough black dirt in his blood to feel a certain way about whatever we were talking about.  It went through many different forms, and emerged as the country/bluegrass song that you will hear here.  It has 2 cowriters, Lisa Aschmann, and Nita Velo.  The music and vocalist you hear are all paid musician's in Nashville.  This is a full blown Nashville demo specifically made for the song being presented to potential artists.  It got close too, it was on hold for several months, for an artist(whose name you would know) for an upcoming album, but the album never happened.   Anyway, enjoy!!    Black Dirt (C) Aschmann, Velo, McNamar

Black Dirt

Let's talk about recording for a second.  This track was approximately equally recorded in Iowa and Oregon.  On 2 different iPads, across about 2 months, and yet somehow sounds like we were all in the same room doing it in one take.  We also hope you find the lyrics on this uplifting.  Life is full of hidden treasures, if we keep our eyes open for them.  "An ocean in a drop of dew, a vision in sunrise."

Hidden Treasures

Tomorrow is 7 years that I lost my wife, my world, to cancer.   I had written this song when losing a dear friend several years before, also to cancer.  I decided to have it played at my wife's funeral.  I don't believe I had listened to it from that point until now. It still hits just as hard as it did then, but time does heal to a degree.   "I don't want to have to say goodbye, I don't even want to try.  Right now I can get past the need to sit and wonder why.  I don't want to have to say goodbye."

Goodbye

I literally woke up with the phrase, Forget the Moon in my head.  I sent it out to my cousin and Paul our other friend.  Within an hour Paul had written back with the chorus for the song, basically as you hear it.   Over the period of the next few days, verses and the music came along, and now here is the final product.  "Warm summer’s night, cruising the town, The music’s turned up, the top rolled down."

Forget The Moon

No hidden meanings or questions here, it's a love song through and through.  I've got an instrument called a Swamp Dog, it seemed perfect for this bluesy song.   And keeping it simple was what it called for.  "There's nowhere else you got to be, except right here beside me."

Right Here By My  Side

This song is both a bit humorous and serious.  Thoughts can get you into trouble, and also keep you out of trouble.  Thoughts not followed up by a search for truth, can lead to delusions like the weather lady on the local news has a thing for you.  Or..... maybe not........ I'll have to think about it.

The Trouble With Thoughts

Some songs take 15 minutes to write from start to basically done.  This one however has been floating around in my head for approximately 15 years.   Yesterday the music finally came together with the lyrics, and this track is the result.  It is all based on the picture here, of a tree pushing up through a gravestone, which was a songwriting assignment from a songwriters gathering.  "It's life to death and death to life, with troubles in between, push away the stone, and set your spirit free."

Push Away The Stone

Here's one from the past.  We rerecorded it, because, we felt it was worth the time, as it's always been a favorite of ours.  There's an old saying, about wondering why the rose bushes have thorns, or is it why the thorn bushes have roses. "You can lose control of your soul, when your heart feels like it's full.  And pain builds til it flows, like blood, down a dusky rose."

Dusky Rose

This song, is 30 or so years old now.  It grew out of a statement a friend of mine made.  We had been out on the town all evening and I was tired, and I was asked if I wanted to go to another club, to hear the band, and I was dozing off, which is when it was said, "All I need to know, I can see in your face."  The line stuck with me and within 24 hours or so, this song was pretty close to what I'm uploading here now.  It became a love song, as I was dating my wife to be at the time.  "All I need to know I can see in your face, the touch of your hand, your warm embrace.  That look in your eyes, tells me I've found my place, all I need to know, I can see in your face."

All I Need To Know

Doing this the way we do, (as things occur to us, and not really concerned with deadlines, and all those other business things) allows us to take the art as it comes. Sometimes it comes in very simple ways and sometimes complex. This song started with a simple statement that we assumed would be the hook. As thing progressed, the last week, it became a line in the song, but another thought, grabbed us and became the focal point. "She's everything that you'll ever need. A feast for your eyes, like you've never seen, a fairy tale princess in jeans."

Princess In Jeans II

We like to include an instrumental on each album/playlist.   This tune that we wrote came out sounding to our ears like an old time sea shanty.  Thus the name.  We hope you like it

Tales Of A Spifflicated Seaman II

You found us!  3 retired guys with nothing better to do than write and record music together.   We live thousands of miles apart, but manage somehow.  We are intense about the lyrics and their quality.  If the music and actual performance sounds a bit like 3 retired guys sitting around in a living room having fun, it's because that's exactly what's going on here.  Oh, the 4th guy in the pic, is our friend Mike, who played fiddle with us some on the day that pic was taken.  And yes, 2 of us are cousins who grew up 2000 miles apart, and the third is a brother from a different Mother.  We're not trying to be a "band".  Our recordings are representations of our songs, not attempts at perfection.  If you find you have a burning desire to record one of our songs, contact us.  We hope you all enjoy!!

Eldorado Songwriters Guild

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