Cast of characters:
Jonathan Beckenstein — @jonathan_beckenstein — acoustic guitar, composition
Cgmaness – @user-419254289-15129531 – Chris – bass, vocals, and lyrics
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums, percussion, and vocal harmonies
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Roland FP-10 piano and Collings mandolin
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– Tom Anderson custom T slide guitar, production, mix, and mastering
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – harmonica, edited fiddle samples, and jaw harp
This song began when Jonathan wrote it on his acoustic guitar several months ago with the intention of developing it into a larger song. When Josh approached him about doing a collaboration, Jonathan thought this one would fit the bill. I should say at this point how much we all admire Jonathan and enjoy his music. On the unlikely chance you aren't already familiar with his music, I suggest you go hop on his page and check it out. 
  All that to explain the level of excitement that ran through Eclectic Collective when Josh shared the project with the group. Chris was first to jump on it, coming up with his intricate bass line even before Ken added his moving drums, although they went back and forth a couple of times to create the rhythm section. Josh jumped on right after that part was complete, adding his mandolin and piano to the mix. Steven was next up, adding his howling slide throughout. Last, but certainly not least, Mark came up with the driving harmonica and twangy jaw harp, and the raspy fiddle, adding them all to complete the instruments. 
  At this point, we had a pretty good instrumental song on our hands. However, Chris decided to give it the extra kick by adding the vocals, the lyrics for which he wrote himself. Our multitalented drummer, Ken, added the vocal harmonies shortly after, too.
  Now that it was in the bag, we needed some production for it. So, we turned to Stephen, who mixed and mastered it in his alwasy expert fashion. 
  This song is a real treat for everyone in the band, as I mentioned earlie. We are all very grateful to Jonathan for sharing this song with us, and had a wonderful time helping bring it to life. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Original lyrics by cgmaness:
 Come on now let's break a leg,
We've got it made in the shade.
One more day, go out and play.
I guarantee we've got it made.
Oh, we've got it made.
Happy to be with my friends today.
Fill up your drink whatever it may take.
I guarantee we've got it made.
~Gibberish~
Don't need a reason,
Or wait for the seasons to change.
That's what I claim.
Go out on this limb with me,
And realize, we've got it made.
We got it made in the shade.
Can't you see we got it made?
Oh, we've got it made.
Happy to be with my friends today.
Fill up your drink whatever it may take.
Can you believe that we've got it made?
Come on now let's shake a leg.
We've got it made in the shade.
Don't need a reason,
Or wait for the seasons to change.
That's what I claim.
Go out on this limb with me,
And realize, we've got it made.

We've Got It Made (Eclectic Collective with Jonathan Beckenstein)

"Magic is what we do. Music is how we do it." -- Jerry Garcia

Welcome to my page, my peers, associates, friends, and musical family. I'm a lifelong, multi-instrumentalist musician who records prolifically and joyfully. You'll hear me play guitar, bass (regular four string, and four and five string fretless), mandolin, banjo, keys (piano, organ, synth), lap slide, sitar, and sing on my recordings here. I've been in a few dozen bands in my life, playing everything from bluegrass, jazz, rock, jam band, reggae, funk, afrobeat, Middle Eastern, traditional Irish, singer/songwriter, pop/covers, to experimental/avant garde. 
  Since I found SoundCloud a couple years ago, I've found many talented, creative people with whom to create music. However, in the summer of '23 I formed a band called The Eclectic Collective with some of my favorite musicians I've met through here. It started as a loose collective of musicians and coalesced into a core group of musicians who find other musicians with whom we'd like to make music, then run their songs through our process, and in effect add a full band. That core of The Eclectic Collective includes Tez (Llanpsych), J.J. Terrel, Ken (K2 and the Three), Stephen (Texmex Shaman), Chris (cgmaness), and Mark (mistermark). A couple of other musicians are frequent collaborators, as well, including Artur of Surfers Like Us, and Steve Vervaet of Steve's World. More recently, we've been joined by Carl of The Beautiful Dark fame. 
  The magic of music is amplified exponentially by each person adding to it. So, we really try to add our sorcery all kinds of music from all kinds of artists. Sometimes, we keep it within the group, but a lot of what we do is collaboration with other artists. Therefore these days, 100% of what I do is collaboration, within the group or with other artists on the side.
  I, and we, are also available for hire if you have a song or lyrics and you really want to add bigger instrumentation or a band and good production to it. 
  A small sampling of the artists whom I consider primary influences, and whom you will hear coming through my fingers include Phish, The Flaming Lips, The Grateful Dead, Radiohead, Rye Cooder, Steve Earle, Miles Davis, Fela Kuti, Arcade Fire, Mikey Dread, Yellowman, Purpleman, The Meditations, Michigan and Smiley, Lee Perry, Dillinger, Django Reinhardt, Impossible Recording Machine, The Allman Bros Band, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Bela Fleck, Les Claypool, Sam Bush, David Grissman, John Prine, Talking Heads, Beastie Boys, MMW, Moe., Morphine, Ween, Steve Lukather, Michael McDonald, John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, John Scofield, Victor Wooten,  Cannonball Adderly, Thelonious Monk, Flea, Parliament Funkadelic,  Frank Zappa, Prince Paul, Pete Rock, Thievery Corporation, Amon Tobin, Chet Baker, Joao Gilberto, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Carol Kaye, Tame Impala, Mumford and Sons, Japanese Breakfast, LCD Soundsystem, Beach House, Sean Lennon, and Billy Strings, but of course there are many more. I also really like and am influenced by traditional Iranian, Palestinian, Indian, Sri Lankan, Sudanese, Mauritian, Somalian, Egyptian, West African, and Syrian music. I welcome anyone who plays non-western music to contact me for a collaboration, too.
 I'm overjoyed to have found my community on SoundCloud. This is a truly unique forum where everyone is sincerely trying to build each other up. The profoundly supportive and positive SoundCloud community has really opened up an exciting new world of collaboration for me. That is the main reason I'm in the Cloud, actually, to connect with other musicians and make music that I enjoy listening to, and hopefully others do, as well. I am ALWAYS looking to collaborate with interesting musicians, mostly though BandLab, which is where I record almost exclusively. It's a solid, free digital audio workstation hub where you can share recording projects, even if it's not where you make your recordings.
  Everything I do is live instrumental, not programmed, and using no computer beyond my phone. That's not to say that I would be opposed to using that kind of tool, it's just not my preferred medium with which to paint. If you like my music, please share it. If you want to collaborate, my BandLab handle is @bingo_pajama. Feel free to contact me at cornbreadband@hotmail.com, as well, even if you aren't on BandLab.
  If your music is primarily AI, please don't come around my page, as I'm not at all interested in complimenting a machine.
  Here's a link to music I've recorded live with a group of musicians here in Pittsburgh called The Northumberland Street Ramblers.
Check out The Northumberland Street Ramblers on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/fU4Me

We've Got It Made (Eclectic Collective with Jonathan Beckenstein)

Entheogenic Psychonaut (Josh Clary)