Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

xpitt wrote:

+1!

I've never been shy about using either of my 12 strings for country music, especially with some of Hank Sr's tunes. I do admit that I've gotten some strange looks. I just don't know if they were the result of playing a 12 string or the lack of my overall playing skills as sometimes I get the same look when I'm playing a six string acoustic.

That clip of "The Price I Pay" with Emmylou is killer! She could sing the phone book and sound great. And the Desert Rose Band were one of the greatest country-rock bands ever--that late-'80's-early '90's period, before Billy Ray Cyrus came along and turned it all into disco, was country's equivalent to the late-'60's in rock. That clip is from the American Music Shop TV show that ran on TNN in the late-80's when they were actually a music channel. I couldn't see who the bass player was in the clip, but the house band bass player on the show was Glenn Worf, who I was in a road band with in the late-'70's.
12-strings can work well in country music--there's an old Jean Shepherd tune with a chorus that goes, "I just can't play second fiddle to an old guitar," (I think the title's in there somewhere)--with the solo played on acoustic 12-string. And about ten years ago, I was in a band here in California called Heather Grey & Stampede, and I'd bring my Tele and my Danelectro 12-string. I think I only used the 12 on two or three songs--the Beatles' "You Can't Do That" and the Eagles' "Hotel California" were two of them--but it sure sounded good on those tunes! I've never been able to afford a Ric 12 when one came up for sale, and when I've had the money, I've never been able to find one! As of a couple of weeks ago, there was a nice 2003 360-12 at one of the stores I teach at, but I haven't got the bucks, darn it!

Jon, PM sent.
JimK

I use my twelves frequently for music that's probably closer to country than it is to anything else. This one has one track of fingerpicking/string tapping the 370/12 that starts at the very beginning and runs all the way through, and a second, more typical Jangleboxed Rick twelve track toward the end. The bass is my 2030 and the "Spaghetti-Western-style" lead parts are my Yamaha silent guitar.

http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/M ... wayman.mp3

This one (Desert Rain) has dual tracks of the twelve, an acoustic six (strummed) and a Hofner for the bass track. Drums are tapped-out on my synthesizer keys, which is far from ideal and tedious as hell, but better than nothing when you're working alone.

http://www.broadjam.com/artists/home.ph ... sionINDEX=

wow .. does that Ric ever ring out. Beautiful!

**

Desert Rain - excellent. Great lyrics and harmonies and feel. Instrumentation spot on. Kudos.

Todd, I was amazed to see you only have 979 posts. I'd would have thought more.

Probably because I tend to be long-winded when I explain something. I wrote a book a few years back and one of the tedious activities was going over stuff line by line with the editors, trying to over-explain anything technical to be sure that it couldn't be misinterpereted by the readers. After that, they also had to fix all my bad spelling and creative punctuation, which probably took even longer.

We're working on the CD version for Desert Rain for the next disk. It will be a little bit more country, and somewhat less Byrd-like, mostly because a bunch of old guys have a certain amount of trouble sounding relaxed on those high harmonies. It's still got the dual twelve-string tracks, but also piano in places, some dynamite twangy guitar work from our lead player and we brought it way down for the third verse and then back up for the final choruses. We're up to the seventh mix of the fourth version, but I think it's getting close, and it still has most of the two original Rickenbacker tracks.
Low fidelity sample: http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/M ... sample.mp3

Right now I'm working on the vocals for the new one "the See-er". What a pain in the rear! I can cut a bass track in about ten minutes and a twelve-string track in about twenty, but getting a vocal track that I can tolerate takes about two weeks. I think we'll end up cheating and using the harmony box on this one, because nobody in the band can hit those highs well enough and precisely enough (especially when recorded by e-mail) and the tune is so sparse that they really have to be spot on. I'll also have somebody who can actually fingerpick an acoustic six-string play the guitar part for the CD and I'm thinking about a lonely, distant sax for the break - sounding like somebody playing late night, out on their fire escape. We'll see how it all shakes out.
My original office demo is here: http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/M ... See-er.mp3

winston wrote:What a great sounding band. Thanks for posting that Jim.

Desert Rose Band had an awesome sound! I wish I could have found the official video, but at least I found a good upload of one of their best hits, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. I suspect you know the lead singer is Chris Hillman, one of the original Byrds! He didn't get much face time then, but he has a fabulous voice and looks!

Great song Cheri! That's John Jorgenson (talk about looks!) and Herb Pederson on the cover with Chris. Here's John and his "other" band, "The Hellecasters" recycling the "Price I Pay" licks on "Orange Blossom Special":

chriscurtisfan wrote:

winston wrote:What a great sounding band. Thanks for posting that Jim.

Desert Rose Band had an awesome sound! I wish I could have found the official video, but at least I found a good upload of one of their best hits, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. I suspect you know the lead singer is Chris Hillman, one of the original Byrds! He didn't get much face time then, but he has a fabulous voice and looks!

One of my favorites from DRB. I have hoped that my new band Getty Township will cover this one sometime soon.
JimK

elreydlp wrote:Great song Cheri! That's John Jorgenson (talk about looks!) and Herb Pederson on the cover with Chris. Here's John and his "other" band, "The Hellecasters" recycling the "Price I Pay" licks on "Orange Blossom Special":

Verrrry cool, Skip! No surprise that JJ is still very much in the music biz. HP and CH are still touring together. I couldn't find out why DRB disbanded, can only assume the hits weren't coming and perhaps dropped by music label. Unless it was personality differences. I miss them all together....like I miss The Searchers all together. Sigh...

jimk wrote:

chriscurtisfan wrote:

winston wrote:What a great sounding band. Thanks for posting that Jim.

Desert Rose Band had an awesome sound! I wish I could have found the official video, but at least I found a good upload of one of their best hits, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. I suspect you know the lead singer is Chris Hillman, one of the original Byrds! He didn't get much face time then, but he has a fabulous voice and looks!

One of my favorites from DRB. I have hoped that my new band Getty Township will cover this one sometime soon.
JimK

It looks like a LOT of fun to perform this tune, Jim! Keep after them to 'get the job done!'

xpitt wrote:Thanks Jim for that nice reminder of Chris' band. Great song !
I found this live version of Summer Wind. How cool is that Blue Boy 3 pickup 450/12 with oven knobs and the amp in matching colour ? Great sound !
I hope that youtube embedding worked..

Thanks for posting that, Alex. And you're right that is one gorgeous Blue Boy and matching amp! Yet another beautiful tune by DRB!

chriscurtisfan wrote:

elreydlp wrote:Great song Cheri! That's John Jorgenson (talk about looks!) and Herb Pederson on the cover with Chris. Here's John and his "other" band, "The Hellecasters" recycling the "Price I Pay" licks on "Orange Blossom Special":

Verrrry cool, Skip! No surprise that JJ is still very much in the music biz. HP and CH are still touring together. I couldn't find out why DRB disbanded, can only assume the hits weren't coming and perhaps dropped by music label. Unless it was personality differences. I miss them all together....like I miss The Searchers all together. Sigh...

Unlike a lot of Country groups. DRB got out when they were at the top of their game!
I took my wife to see Chris and Herb in an intimate setting in San Diego (Chris's hometown). We go there early and ended up with a table right at the foot of the stage. Great show!