It's Easy To Do Country

this playlist contains songs inspired by my time spent in the deep south... the swamps, the blues, the bayou, the southern vibe...  the hospitality, the mythology, the history, the blood spilled, the blood drank... the moonshine and the alligators.  the hearts broken and the silver bullets.  the spice and salty, the sweet and the heady.   it's beautiful down there.  God's country, the Devil's playground... call it what you will.  i call it my spiritual home.   if you like what you hear, go visit the artist's page and show them some motherfucking love...  thank you.  x

SWAMP THING

A song I composed and played for my daughters when they were young.

Lyrics:

See the little girl
She has a seed
And she plants it in the ground,
Beside a weed,
And the sun comes up,
And the rain comes down,
And the little seed,
The little seed,
Springs UP
From the ground.


Lyrics and Music: Mike Krath

See the Little Girl

She Left Me Standing In The Rain

Spin Her Around the Room 
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath


Life is like a party sometime
Life is like a parade
Life is like a party sometime
But sometimes there is rain. 

I once fell for a woman as clumsy as me
Who fell in my arms on the dance floor,
we helped each other two-step around,
and then decided to dance no more.

But as we left, she tripped over my foot
And fell and hit her head,
I was too embarrassed to see her after that,
and hurried home, instead.

But several months later when I had no dates,
when I felt my life was through,
I decided to go back to that club
To see if she might be there, too. 

And lo and behold she was there that night
and came to where I sat,
Hey! Look at you! After all these months,
I was wondering where you were at.

I’ve been looking for you ever since,
And hoped I’d see you soon,
But every night when the club would close
You’d never show to take me around the room

You know I have cancer now and it won’t be long
That my dancing days are through. 
So will you dance with me once more tonight
And spin me around the room

So I held her close as we danced that night,
Around and around the room
Sad she wouldn’t be around too long,
But hoping it wouldn’t be too soon. 

Then nine months later she was buried
By those she loved, but not by me. 
I wanted to dance with her forever,
Not be in line to see her leave. 

Life is like a party sometime
Life is like a parade
Life is like a party sometime
But sometimes there is rain. 

Oh to be in her arms one more time
And spin her around the room. 

Spin her around the room one more time
spin her around the room,
Just to be in her arms one more time,
Spin her around the room.

Spin her around the room one more time
spin her around the room,
Just to be in her arms one more time,
Spin her around the room.

Life is like a party sometime
Life is like a parade
Life is like a party sometime
But sometimes there must be rain.

Spin Her Around The Room

It’s Easy Doing Country (or #widowlife)
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath
 
Now a man started a country song,
And sang it out all strong,
And he played it at the honky-tonks,
And he hummed it all night long,
But nine months later,
His song became undone,
When someone knocked at his door
And handed him a son.  

Oh, it was easy (for him) to do country,
And sing it for all to hear,
Then forget all about it,
And keep it in arrears,
But the woman he’d composed with,
wouldn’t let it disappear.
And she added a boy to his chorus,
And that at sixty years!

And she told him flat out:
I really wanted to love you,
Until I found it was a sham
Your country song went out of tune
When I found you were a married man.
You made me think you were solo,
When your duet was at home,
So good luck at being trio,
You, your wife, and son. 

Oh, a man started a country song,
And sang it out all strong,
Until he got a baby boy,
And the tune went out all wrong,
Then the whole town got involved,
And sung the parts unsung.  
And his wife joined the chorus
And even brought her gun. 

It’s easy doing country
When your wife’s not a home
Going down to the honky-tonks
Pretending to be alone
But nine months later
When presented with a son
It’s really hard explaining
 exactly what you’ve done.

It's Easy To Do  Country

Cheap Stones
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath

I had a sister
Who died too soon
Sixteen years
What could I do
Announced by my mother
Who’s now dead too
Both died young
What could I do
Harden my heart,
But life broke through. 
like a cheap stone
A cheap stone.  
Just like a cheap stone. 

On and on,
Life goes on,
On and on,
with a heart of stone
On and on, 
Life goes on,
On and on
But with a cheap stone,
Just a cheap stone
A cheap stone. 

I’ve had friends,
Who died too soon
twenties, thirties,
What could I do
Announced by my friends 
who loved them, too
All died young
What could I do,
Harden my heart,
But life broke through. 
like a cheap stone
A cheap stone.  
Just like a cheap stone. 

On and on,
Life goes on,
On and on,
with hearts of stone
On and on, 
Life goes on,
On and on
But with cheap stones,
Just cheap stones
Just cheap stones.

Cheap Stones

Empty Song
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath


I walked out of an empty room,
Then stopped, went back in,
To catch one last glance of where you’d been
To caress the skin that once was sin,
But all I saw was an empty room,
Without the hint of cheap perfume 
I wanted your breasts, but all I found
Was a faded picture and an empty towel.

I awoke from an empty sleep
Closed my eyes, went back in
I hoped to find you there with me,
But nothing was there but an empty dream. 
I called your name but deep inside
All I heard was an echo in my mind.  

Empty dreams, Empty hopes,
There's nothing left for me to cope.
How do I sing now that you’re gone,
When all I have is an empty song. 
How do I feel play in empty halls,
When your memory haunts my every move,
How do I play the songs you loved,
When all I can carry is an empty tune?

I departed from an empty pub,
I staggered and went back in,
I sat and toasted an empty crowd,
that you return to this town.
And be there always by my side,
And play and laugh like happy times,
But now all Is faded and gone aside,
And thoughts of growing old an empty lie.

I walked out...out of an empty room,
Then stopped, went back in,
To catch one last glance of where you’d been
To caress the skin that once was sin,
But all I saw was an empty room,
Not even the hint of your cheap perfume 
I wanted your breasts, but all I found
Was a faded picture and an empty towel.


Macbook Pro 2019

DAW: Reason 12

Instruments:
Abbey Road One  - High Strings - Long - Spitfire
Hans Zimmer Piano - Bright — Spitfire
Hans Zimmer Strings —  60 Cellos All-In-One - Long - Spitfire  (Crystallizer — WET Pad - Soundtoys)
Felt Piano - Spitfire
Folk Fiddle - Key switch — Insanity Samples
Babel - Pads - Evolving under the sun — Orchestral Tools
Les Paul Standard MAR BUD - LP Stnd Lead Master — Play — EW Sounds
Pedal Steel Harmonics Bass — SampleTank MAX
EW Hollywood Backup Singers — WB Multi — EW Sounds
(Singers uses Crystallizer — Dark Climbing Echo — Soundtoys and Echo Boy — Cave Echo — Soundtoys)

Main Mixing Plug-Ins:
Oxford Inflator Native - Max Loudness Smooth
Ozone 9 -  Wide Synths — Izotope
Les Paul — Amplitube 5 — American Tube Clean 1

Vocals:
Scarlett 4i4 — Focusrite
AT2020 Condensor Mic
Edgy Vocals — Mixbox — IK Multimedia
Oxford Inflator Native — Max Loudness Smooth — Sonnox 
TR5 Saturator X — IK Multimedia
TR5 Stealth Limiter — IK Multimedia
TR5 White 2A — IK Multimedia

Empty Song

Love Blast 07 - Moonlite Bunny Ranch "Downer" 

Moonlite Bunny Ranch is a saxophone player and two dj/producers, born from the spine of the dark jazz ensemble Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanotte: 
"Freeform Techno" with improvised patterns and no real clue where the music would go, like a rough jazz band playing slow techno. 
Their first effort, "Downer", is a 3-tracks EP combining analog synthetizers, digital effects, saxophone, hang drum. 
Mixed at the Subsound Studio in Rome by Luciano Lamanna and mastered by Andrea Merlini, "Downer" gets inspiration from the illegal brothels in no man's land in the South of the United States; the jazz funerals in New Orleans; the goat and the old lady.
credits
releases 10 June 2014 
​Written and produced by ​Riccardo Chiaretti​, Pierluigi Ferro​, Lorenzo Macina​n​ti 

Mixed by Luciano Lamanna at Subsound, Roma 
Mastered by Andrea Merlini 
Artwork by ​Giulio Di Mauro/The Peer Gallery 

Love Blast, Aeterna Civitas, MMXIV​

Buy the record:
http://loveblast.bandcamp.com/album/downer

Moonlite Bunny Ranch - Lousiana House

Moonlite Bunny Ranch - Black Cotton Fields

Lyrics:

I smell the rain from valleys low
My tired soul
Where would you go
I tie my chains to where they say
The old men come
And die to pray
Nowhere to hide
You're melting inside

Like the gypsy sun 
I will be the one warming you
Like the gypsy sun 
I will be the one burning you x 2

My mother doesn't like her name
So who could I ever 
Dare to blame
Head on my knees
I try to see
The blossoming trees
The purple breeze
Nowhere to hide
You're melting inside 

Like the gypsy sun 
I will be the one warming you
Like the gypsy sun 
I will be the one burning you x 3

Gypsy Sun

I’m a song-writer who enjoys creating music of any genre.

My son recently introduced me to A.I. and taught me how to do covers of my previously released non-A.I. music. Since I've never considered myself a performer (except playing with worship bands at church or solo-piano at a rehab center) using A.I. is right up my alley.

Since I've  exhausted using my previously released music for A.I. covers, I now compose music in a DAW, rip to a wave file, and make an A.I. cover of this wave file. I then write lyrics to the A.I. music. It takes around 100 A.I. iterations to complete the lyrics and get a style I'm happy with.  

Brief Bio: Lived more than a quarter of my life overseas (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan). Each country gave me an appreciation for different types of music plus probably why I get bored easily in sticking with one genre or another.