Ryan sang it for someone who has blue eyes...
I changed a word so I could sing it for someone who has brown...

Lyrics:
Oh baby, quit looking at me 
with those goddamn brown eyes
While I'm down on my knees
giving all I can please my brown eyes
My home is a wreck
but my life feels the best seeing through
brown eyes
Well, I won't be here for long
but I'll see you in the next
my brown eyes
Well, I won't be here for long
but I'll see you in the next
my brown eyes

Brown(Blue) Eyes (Low Roar Cover)

Sorry for the mic feedback

Lyrics:
In the middle of a dull-lit weightless street
stands a shadow of a man shaped just like me
My curiosity keeps me confused
but still I stand here on my own
with nothing left to lose

And will the rain I don't accept wash away my sins?
Or simply trouble my walk home and my spirit?
Because I never said "no," or put up a fight
And I'm emotionally impaired
when I look at you

And I'm trying to keep these bones inside my skin
but my body's in the hole my shadow digs
And as I struggle to maintain my position
the oil's dried from this heart of rusted tin
And I wonder if I'll survive this
Without you

Without You (Low Roar Cover)

Recording these in my bedroom, on a laptop, like Low Roar did!

Lyrics:
I won't wake
a wealthy man someday
'cause the sun
don't follow me

And I won't wake
without a song to sing
nothing to some
everything to me

And in my worst
I'll do my best
to make it seem
like I'm happy

I've grown dumb
and empty
but don't give up on me
Give up on me
Give up on me

Give Up (Low Roar Cover)

Hammer-ons with my pinky are hard...
One of the nicer mellow songs I know

Lyrics:
I lay by the phone
there's no answer at all
no reactions to bullshit replies

And the words you said
and the colors you sent
well, they got lost
somewhere on the ride
I can breathe but I forget sometimes
I'm alive but I'm paralyzed

Oh now what am I to do?
What am I gonna do?

Well my faith is dead
while my body lays drenched
in the ashes of a forgotten time
And it's hard when you come
to realize someone's
path is headed elsewhere in life
So babe, you walk your way and I'll walk mine
I'll stop to think of you from time to time

Oh now what am I to do?
What am I gonna do?

So babe, you walk your way and I'll walk mine
I know now my promises slept with your lies

I don't need you
I don't need you
Oh I need you

Gosia (Low Roar Cover)

First Iron & Wine cover I've posted! I've been playing with some friends, so I wanted to look at songs that sound good with or without a band, and I've been looking into Sam Beam's songwritten versions of his songs. This is the first full song I've learned in Celtic tuning, and it won't be the last either. I'm learning how to sing his style of music too, as his voice is much deeper and more resonant than mine.

Lyrics:
Leave the waves of Galveston but only if you can
'Cause you've been hid behind the seawall, gently folded in the sand
Papa left you for Heaven after your mama lost her song
And though your baby left you for Houston, no one stays there very long

There's a graveyard by the pizza parlor, a gate that only closes
Snowbirds fly away like secrets no one really wants to know
The climbing moon's always shining on the kind of shells you keep
The broken horse tied to the water tower's running in his sleep

It's too bad that you ain't got a soft place to fall
It's too bad Texas leans to the least of us all
And says, "If you can make the music, then you can have the dance.
If you can shoot the pistol, then you can wear the pants."

So leave the waves of Galveston but only if you can
'Cause it's the only place the Lone Star kind of offered you a hand
Your baby left you nothing but a dog she left for dead
You never knew you were a burden till it hit you on the head

It's too bad that you ain't got a soft place to fall
It's too bad Texas leans to the least in us all
And says, "If you can make the music, then you can have the dance
If you can shoot the pistol, then you can wear the pants"

Waves of Galveston (Iron & Wine Cover)

Been outta it lately. The artist wrote this song during lockdown. Felt the same and wanted to cover it.

Lyrics:
The liquor stores
the corner shops
the lifts we take
the stairs we walk
the cracks inside the pavement that I know

Keep your distance
find your space
the concrete hand beside my face
my bed has become the best friend that I know

But do you miss me?
Do you miss me?
I'll never know

Take my side
and take my hand
the alcoholic's conjuring
deep inside a heart that's now gone cold

I used to know the feel of it
I sung about your touch, your kiss
but like my body the words are getting old

But do you miss me?
Do you miss me?
I'll never know
I'll never know

Do you miss me?
Do you miss me?

Do You Miss Me? (Low Roar Cover)

I'm only just getting into Ben Howard's music and his exploration for unique sounds. I love his unusual tunings and spellbinding songwriting. Learning the picking pattern for this song strained my arm in the beginning since up until now, I've only used my thumb and index(bad habit, I know)

Lyrics:
Always a riddle in the world she said
Always a riddle inside my head
Always a thing of wonder
The way we come to be

Oh it's a big old place for me
Yeah it's a big old world indeed
Everyone is killing me and everything conspires

In dreams I have watched it spin
Seen the violent crack of atoms where all light comes in
In dreams I have lain in sin
Just to be the cracked and the cared for

How can I ask, ask for more?

Always a riddle in the world she said
Always a riddle inside my head
Always a thing of wonder
The way we come to be

Oh it's a big old place for me
Well it's a big old world indeed
Been kicking my heels and wondering how I've been here so long
In dreams I have watched it spin
Seen the violent crack of atoms where all light comes in
In dreams I saw Aesop's kin
Just a carcass of a man now alone inside his skin

Where to, where to begin?

I live alone
I live a lonely life without you
And I may be troubled
But I'm gracious in defeat
And I may be troubled
But I'm gracious in defeat

In Dreams (Ben Howard Cover)

My own original composition!! Tuning is CGCFGC, capo 5 leave 6th string open. Open tunings and partial capo stuff is really fun to play with!

I've been slow on uploading due to laptop issues... one of the fans needs replacing and you can hear it in the recording. Anyway, this jam pretty much showcases the technique I picked up learning to play Ben Howard songs, and learning his Pick&Go style. I tried to play with some harmonics, but couldn't quite get them to ring as much as I wanted. I still wanted to record this song since it got stuck in my head.

Untitled CGCFGC Jam

So I came to this song when trying to play a few Ben Howard songs that I couldn't get down at the time, but wanted to mess with this new banjo capo arrangement. I have written lyrics for this song, but I really feel like I want a voice effects processor to give it reverb and a chorus down an octave. Maybe I'll get one sometime soon??

Tuning is CGA#GFC, Banjo capo 5, leaving 1st and 2nd open

Perilous Dreams (Instrumental)

A lot of things I wanted to do didn't work out, and round the end of April 2021, I really needed to fill in my need for expression, so I decided to learn fingerstyle acoustic guitar. Low Roar's songs kept me company on car rides and at work, and I've felt like he was my first guitar teacher. (RIP Ryan Karazija, 10/29/2022)

I've since then moved on to Iron & Wine, and then Ben Howard. Currently I'm looking into Michael Hedges and the many artists who were inspired by him - Mike Dawes, Jon Gomm, Andy McKee, Preston Reed, etc

Jesse James