Laying Low

A contemplation of our place in the Universe.

Guitars used:
Epiphone Texan (rhythm)
Hofner 500/1 (bass)

Starlight Shining

A "big ballad" about love and devotion. With Michele McArp of the Mikettes on backing vocal.

Guitars used:
Epiphone Texan (rhythm)
1977 Fender Stratocaster (solos)
1978 Fender Jazz (bass)

That Is My Heart

A punky kind of track about a relationship that's grown apart and stale over time. 

Guitars used:
Epiphone Casino (rhythm)
Fender Jag-Stang (solo & fills)
Gibson SG Standard (2nd guitar)
Gaskell Thunderbass (bass)

It's Not Fine

An up-tempo song about being alone. Featuring the Mikettes on backing vocals (Michele McArp and Shana Davis Fidler).

Guitars used: 
Fender Telecaster (rhythm)
Gibson Les Paul Traditional (solo)
1967 Fender Jazz (bass)

Look At Me Tonight

A track with some Italian lyrics, using acoustic guitar and mandolin, with my daughter on flute. The flute part was the original inspiration, which bubbled up one day while noodling on guitar. The chords soon followed, then sometime later I came up with the idea of the "dark-eyed lady" and Italian lyrics. I tried to add brass and strings to this, but decided in the end to not make it a "heavy" recording. Drums and bass add enough.

Mio Piccolo Fiore

Trying to create a typical two-minute pop song. This is my first attempt at mixing in Cubase, although all tracks were recorded on a TASCAM DP32-SD. Drums were created with Band-in-a-Box. Bass is a '67 Fender Jazz, rhythm is a '77 Strat and the lead was done on a '06 Tele. Vocals were processed through Melodyne.

A video is available here: https://youtu.be/23fPIYayzgY

Set You Free

A mostly standard blues number. Mostly.

Video: https://youtu.be/1kpO1-ymdU8

I've Been Down So Long

A wistful song about the desire to get away from it all

Let's Run Away Together (If Only In Our Mind)

A song expressing my dissatisfaction at the path the country has been on for quite some time. The United States has replaced actual patriotism with jingoism, mindlessly espousing "support our troops" without any real understanding of the situation. This has led to our current failure of an administration and the polarizing effect it has had in politics, as well as the population as a whole. It all stems from the paralyzing effect terrorism has caused. It's a sad situation.

As far as the actual recording, it's BIAB drums, with me playing Jazz bass and two tracks of acoustic guitar. Violin and accordion were scored and performed using MuseScore II. Acoustics, vocals and tambourine were recorded with the TASCAM DP-32 SP and transferred into Cubase, where the rest of the recording and mixing was done. Final editing of the audio master was done with Audacity. Thanks to Shana Davis Fidler for help with the background vocals.

America On Its Knees

NEW ALBUM NOW AVAILABLE! "TALES OF LOVE AND DEFIANCE" - SEE LINK BELOW!

Left-handed American living in the UK. I tend to write and record everything on my own, with drums and sometimes other instrumentation automated. Primarily a bassist, but also able to make noise with guitar, keyboards and mandolin.

mcarp555

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