written and recorded by Ernest Tubb
cover by Elger Heath

Listening to some old audio tapes of me and an elderly gentleman I used to play music, with I came across this recording of an Ernest Tubb number that I used to love. Clearly its an amateur cut but it touches me on several levels. First: I love Ernest and that deep, base voice of his. I could never hit those clear, low notes that he could but if I could... well I'd sing like that all the time! 

Second: Thanks to Covid-19, lock-downs & self-isolation I'd bet that most of us are starting to go a little stir-crazy with cabin fever and who, amongst us, doesn't long to see someone after all this time.

So here is my cover of 'Walking The Floor Over You' with Jim McArthur on the Hawaiian, slide guitar.

Walking The Floor Over You

written by Francis Savage Mckinlay & John Kirland Reid
recorded by Johnny Reid
cover by Elger Heath

Some years back, a fellow that I deeply respected said something I felt inclined to disagree with. He said that There just wasn't any good country songs being written anymore. Now this guy used to tour in a band that performed all over Canada and the Northern States. He started the local Jam and I didn't feel I should challenge his opinion because he had done so much and I had done so little, in comparison, but I had to speak up and say that good Country music was always as rare as hen's teeth. You always had to shift through a lot of airplay to pick out the gems from all the gravel. Still I said that, if you listened carefully and patiently, there where still great songs turning up from time to time. Maybe as many as there ever was so it didn't pay to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Well my friend passed away several years ago and I have reached the stage he was at, where I began to think that good Country was dead. Then the other day I was dialing my way through radio stations and I heard this tune and I paused long enough to listen to the lyrics and I KNEW that I just HAD to learn this song. Is it new or is it quite old? I don't know but its new to me and, if you've never heard it before, let me give you a taste of what it is like. Written by Francis McKinlay and John Reid, this is a touching story put to a nice piece music. It touched my soul, in part, because my father died with Alt-timers and I find that one is best to live in the moment because the future is extremely uncertain.

So here is my cover of a Johnny Reid song called 'Time Flies'. Its a simple, one track recording but I thought it came out fairly well. I hope you like it as much as I did. Maybe Country music ain't dead yet.

Time Flies

Getting back up on the bike.

One of the greatest accomplishments, in my learning to play guitar, has to learning how to pick. Throughout all of my youth I corded and threw in some guitar runs that I'd leaned from my Uncle Nick but I never believed that I had the dexterity or skill to actually pick on the guitar. I had no formal training and had no idea as to how to go about learning, and so..., I didn't.

After joining the Westman Jams, I gradually found myself as the guy that some folks would turn to to supply an instrumental break when they sang at the mic. The trouble was that I couldn't actually pick. I just filled in with cording and a lot of guitar runs. That's when I realized that I HAD to learn to do SOME kind of picking so I spent a lot of my spare time trying to learn how to convert runs into actual, add-lib guitar picking. I didn't see it as real picking until a dobro player, by the name of Ken Harman, walked up to me, prior to the start of a jam, and complemented me on my picking. Now, Ken could actually pick and I was surprised that someone so skilled would complement ME on MY picking. I told him that it wasn't actual picking because pickers don't cord as they pick and he told me that, in the old days, picking and cording, at the same time, was quite common though he said that he hadn't seen anybody do it in a long time.

As Reg started to grow more ill and picked his guitar less and less, it fell to me to supply more and more instrumental breaks for other folks. I didn't mind but I was NO Reg Jones and I knew it. Still, if there is ONE thing that I am good at, it's stepping up in front of a crowd of strangers, with a mic in my face, and making a fool of myself. What's more I don't mind doing it. There were a few tunes that I spent a fair amount of time on, mostly fiddle pieces, until I could do them fairly well. One of them was called 'The Lonesome Moonlight Waltz', which was written by Bill Monroe.

This damn Covid thing has been slowly driving me mad, and with nobody to play music with and no drive, inside, to play alone, I've let my skills slip. You know what they say about ridding a bicycle. Well... maybe you never forget how but you can, sure as heck, loose your edge and climbing back into that bicycle seat can be a painful experience once you decide to get back on it. Between growing older, loosing my dexterity and hearing and my hands growing numb I'm having a real hard time getting back into my stride again. I've been taking my guitar to work each night and practicing singing and playing. Some nights I'm not half bad, while on others, well..., let's just say that, there is a lot of work to be done to get back up on that bike.

Today, I decided to do something I haven't done in a while. I decided to make a video recording. Not only did I challenge myself to play my guitar, again, but I was determined to do an instrumental. I didn't expect it to come out perfectly, and it didn't, but it didn't sound too bad either. This is just a simple one track recording of an old fiddle tune I used to love. This is me playing Bill Monroe's 'Lonesome Moonlight Waltz'.

The Lonesome Moonlight Waltz

written & recorded by Bruce Springsteen
cover by Elger Heath

My hometown was a little mark on the map called Reston, Manitoba. It was a small town near the Southwest corner of the province near the Saskatchewan boarder. While I have few fond memories of it I can say one positive thing about it. The folks knew how to maintain a small town. Even back then, small towns were shriveling up and dying off. Some could have almost passed for ghost towns, if not for a few cars on the streets. The folks of Reston, however, kept there houses painted and their lawns mowed. The main-street was clean and neat and their schools and park were well maintained..., for a while. Gradually, however as the elevators closed and the small farms sold out to the big farmers, the streets of Reston emptied out.

I can remember the main-street being packed with automobiles, on a Saturday night and the theater being full during movies. These days you could fire a canon down a sidewalk, along the main-street, and not hit anybody. This is the fate of most of the small towns throughout the west. I'll bet many of you can tell the same story about your hometown. Bruce Springsteen wrote and recorded a song, called 'My Hometown', that expresses the sense of loss one feels as one watches your hometown die. I've always liked this tune but until today I never attempted to cover it. Today I brought down my guitar, from the rack, and recorded a cover of this piece of music. Its a simple, one-track recording but I didn't think that it came out all that bad.

Here is my cover of, 'My Hometown'.

My Home Town

written & recorded by Randy Travis
cover by Elger Heath

I remember when Randy Travis appeared over the airwaves. He and Ricky Skaggs brought traditional Country Music back to in style. Sadly that trend would not last but while it did, man... what a ride! One of Randy's hits was a tune that I hadn't recorded up until now so I decided it was time to try my hand at a song called, 'Send My Body Home On A Freight Train'. This piece was written AND recorded by Randy Travis. 

Here's my one track cover of 'Send My Body Home On A Freight Train'.

Send My Body Home On A Freight Train

written  & recorded by Alan Jackson
cover by Elger Heath

Just finished setting up my new, audio recording station and thought I'd best test it out to see how it worked. So I grabbed my guitar and ran an old Alan Jackson number through the microphone, on a single track, and this is what came out. Sure, it could have been better but that's not the fault of the computer, its the fault of the old amateur singing at the microphone.

“Livin'On Love” was released, by Alan, in 1994... was it only THAT long ago? It seems like ages, now. This is not a complicated piece but it caught on like wild fire. I liked it and still do. Here is my cover of Alan Jackson's hit, “Livin'On Love”.

Livin'On Love

written & recorded by Stompin' Connors
cover by Elger Heath

Here's another cover of a Stompin' Tom Connors. O.K, so it's Valentine Day! Not EVERYBODY has a good outcome, when it comes to love. Tom has the perfect solution to rejection. Just get another girl and tell you ex to take a long walk on a short peer. Trust Tom to turn a disaster into a laugh. Here's my cover of Stompin' Tom Connors tune called, 'Rubberhead'. Hope you enjoy it.

Rubberhead

written and recorded by Billy Joel
cover by Elger Heath

Looking through my lyrics collection for a tunes, that I haven't already recorded, I came across this classic, soft rock piece by Billy Joel called, 'Always a Woman (to me)'. Back in the day, I wasn't listening to rock radio. I was a hooked on Country while my brothers and sisters where mesmerized by Rock. Yes I was quite an anomaly in my days, as far as my sibling were concerned. Still... this doesn't mean that I was deaf to what was going on around me. Now and then I'd hear a Pop song that caught my fancy.

One such number was a Billy Joel number called, 'Always A Woman'. It was slow and easy going with a story and a message. As a ballad man, this piece appealed to me. So it was that it made its way into my lyrics collection of songs I have memorized. Of course, it also helps that it's the kind of music that I can play. And so..., today, this was the lyric that jumped out at me that I ought to make an effort at and here is that effort. Sure it's not the best but I'm a musician sliding downhill in my old age so please forgive. I like it cause I feel it has the right emotional feel to it. I hope you agree. Here is my cover of 'Always A Woman'.

Always A Woman

written by Paul Simon
recorded by Simon & Garfunkel
cover by Elger Heath

Here's a tune that I have always loved but every time I tried to record it it never seemed to come out right. Simon & Garfunkel recorded this piece in the late 60's, you might have heard it as part of the soundtrack to the movie, 'The Graduate'.

'Mrs Robinson' swaps back and forth between a flat key and a natural key in the chorus and verses. It is the perfect song to illustrate why you should learn to play all of the chords, without the use of a capo, because you can't play this song without utilizing a few accidental chords.

When recording this number, I was doing fine with the first track, and maybe I should have just left it that way, but I though it needed a harmony track in the chorus. That may have been the mistake I should not have made. I'm not sure my harmony works well here. In the end..., I guess, you'll have to be the judge on that. Anyway..., here is my cover of Mrs Robinson.

Mrs Robinson

written & recorded by Sheryl Crow
cover by Elger Heath

I guess, you could say, I've lost my faith in modern music. This wasn't something I gave into easily. I want to believe that there is good music, that will appeal to me, being created all the time but its just been so long since I heard a new recording that I could even stomach. These days its either Hip-Hop, Rap, or a cross of the two. The lead instrument seems to be the the drums. I know somebody likes it, it just isn't me. I don't expect there to be a lot of good music, just a tune or two every blue moon. The last time I heard a new song that I liked was in the 2,000's.

It's not  that I'm against new musical ideas. Its just.., yeeee-uck! This stuff is awful! There's no rhythm, there's no rhyme, sure there's lyrics but they don't make any sense and the lyrics fit together like a puzzle with a dozen pieces missing. What happened to artists like Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson or Sheryl Crow! YES, I said Sheryl Crow. Her lyrics make sense and her music gets your heart pumping. I didn't just crawl into a cave, you see. I listen for good music and, when I hear it, I like to show it to the world. Nobody needs me to tell them about Sheryl, of course. She hit the stage like an A-Bomb and everybody felt her impact. Here is a recording I attempted of one of her tunes, probably the first hit I ever heard her do called, “It don't Hurt”. This is what good, modern music ought to sound something like. Not my cover... her original recording.

It Don't Hurt

written by Dick Feller
recorded by Jerry Reed

Every country music repertoire requires a few humorous tunes to lighten the mood a little. Country music can be so dark sometimes that a little chuckle is essential to maintain an audience. 

Dick Feller's "Lord Mr. Ford" is just the ticket for this kind of thing. It's a song about the cons of owning an automobile in a time when most folks in North America understand exactly what this is like. This song is well written with an intricate story and lively music. Add to this Jerry Reed's jovial interpolation and you have an instant hit with the crowd. I can't match Jerry Reed but here is my cover of 'Lord Mr. Ford' I hope you have a chuckle on me.


Lord Mr Ford

Red Baron

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