Rest in Peace Kent Finlay

Kent Finlay of the eternal Cheatham Street Warehouse is no longer with us. Here is a link to an obituary that does him justice.
I'm so glad I met him and was around him some and right now I'm kicking my ass for not having gone to Texas for the last two winters, all wrapped up in my own issues.
Google him and you'll see the size of the shoes he left to fill. The man gave many a bump to many a career and stood beside many a man when his luck was down.

I might be part of your musical genome!

Words can't explain what Pandora Radio can do for an artist's self-esteem. I'm listening to Burl Dunn Radio right now, Day One. When it starts with Jorma Kaukonen and includes Johnny Cash, well now ... I'm not in it for the money. Let those who already made it holler about the cheap pay; I'm getting paid right now and no one can ever take that from me!
Kent Finlay, of the Cheatham Street Warehouse and Woodshed Studios used that line in a song about a cowboy's rodeo buckle. I couldn't have done it without Kent and Sterling Finlay, Big John Mills, Johnny Arredondo, Russell Tanner, engineer. Sterling's sister Halley Anna pointed me in the right direction; didn't know her at the time. Thanks all.

you should record at the Woodshed Studios in San Marcos, Texas

I think a lot of people might enjoy learning something about recording in a real studio. Too bad they'll never see this blog. -) I think I'll focus on someone like me: an amateur who does not have a band and will want to hire good musicians. But, I'll also assume you have almost no experience in serious performing with others.
Not counting a 4 channel cassette and an 8 channel digital work station (which actually added a lot to my recording education), I have recorded in six "real" studios: one each in Amarillo, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville, and San Marcos, Texas. The first five were back in the tape days and I recorded solo all but once (Hi Richard). At the Woodshed Studios of Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos they use ProTools digital recording.
I recently looked into studios in the Denver area and I must say they have a bunch of fancy looking ones. Of course, so does Austin, just 35 miles from San Marcos. First thing I'd say is this. If you need a gorgeous setting to record your song you'll pay a lot more, but your song won't sound any better.
Now, I don't intend this to be an ad for the Woodshed, but most of what I've learned about what to expect I learned there. I'm going to start with the thing that bugged me the most - the damn click track. The pros I worked with just needed a simple click, click ... maybe an emphasis on the first beat sometimes - Click, click, click ... for a waltz. Now, from talking with Kent Finlay (owner of the Woodshed), I get the idea that most beginners go in and record what he called a "scratch track." This is you and your guitar (or whatever) playing and singing your song while hearing the click in your earphones. If you don't do this you probably don't have good enough timing to salvage the operation. You don't notice yourself speeding up and slowing down. You don't know that sometimes you slip from 1,2,1,2 to 1,2,2,1,2,1,2 and stuff like that.
So before spending the bread in the studio practice to a metronome or some computer simulation of one. If, like me, you get thrown by the click, try playing to a cheap drum machine (or computer simulation of one). Woodshed engineer Russell Tanner would play different sounds until he came up with a "cheesy drum machine" that I could play to. You don't want to be thinking too much about the click, but you must stay with it! If you do, when the pros come in they will do you a better job in less time.
Now, let's address the auto-tune misconception. A lot of people think that the computer program can make anyone sound like a decent singer. Not true. The most common auto-tune phenomenon makes people sound ALMOST like themselves. I think Cher had the first auto-tuned hit years ago and you know she can sing on pitch. Most pros using auto-tune today can sing on pitch; they use it as a special effect. You know it's auto-tuned when it's Cher and it ALMOST sounds just like her except she's been transformed into a Stepford wife robot.
If you want to sound like yourself the engineer will probably use auto-tune on a note here and a note there, not entire passages. I needed auto-tune on a low note that I was, like, a semiquaver away from and a high note that I kept missing by an inch. Russell would use as much as was needed unless it started to sound artificial, then back off to keep it sounding real.
Here's a more practical thing to do if you have pitch issues. While making the scratch track make sure your instrument is right on with the click and sing the song in your head. You can do this with practice. THEN lay down the scratch vocal track and use this trick I learned this from Moira Smiley (of VOCO) at a seminar. Moira was allowing those of us gutsy enough to go solo to sing for her critique. One young lady was very off pitch and had no clue. Moira said to the class. "Let's all sing this note to back her up. Hmmmmm" I think the song was in the key of C and she got us all humming a C note. The young lady sang in perfect tune then!
So, the engineer can put a note in your headphones. S/he can change that note if and as needed. It helped me get through an a cappella Scottish-like tune. Russell even made the note sound like a bagpipe!
OK you've got a scratch track. Both guitar and vocal are on beat and in tune. You won't drive the pros crazy! You're job is done for now.
I don't know about the situation of finding pros (or great amateurs) to be your sidemen. You can figure that out on your own or by asking people "in the know." If you are in San Marcos here's what you do. Ask Kent Finlay. He knows Texas music like Billy Graham knew the Bible. Tell him what kind of sound you have in mind -country band, rock band, whatever. Or just say, "Kent, I want a drummer, an electric bass player, lead guitar, a fiddler, and a button accordion player. I can afford to pay about x amount." When I asked him about getting a Mexican-style accordionist, he asked, "Would you prefer Flaco Jimenez or Joel Guzman?" That's like saying, "Who should I get for your religious needs Jesus or Buddha?" You probably know that Texas is kinda nonunion so he'll get you someone you can afford and they'll be good because you are in one of the heartlands of American music. If you can afford the best he'll get you the best. In my three years of recording at the Woodshed all the players worked by the song. I won't tell you how much I paid whom, but I'll tell you there were fantastic people willing to play for $35.00-$50.00 a song at that time. No kidding. The studio and engineer cost me a few hundred a day. Now, the musicians expect to come in and get the song done in just a few takes. Actually, they get most of it the first take and then "fix" (punch in) a note or phrase they weren't happy with. If you insist on playing along at the same time, as I often did, you need to be sensitive to when YOU are the one causing all the retakes and raise their fee accordingly.
There you are. You have a professional version of your song's background. It's just you and the engineer (and Russell is very convivial and helpful). Now you can sing your song over and over, or line by line, until you are happy or broke or too drunk to go on.
Then you sit on the couch, drink a Shiner and listen to Russell mix the song. He'll ask for your opinion, maybe like an eye doctor - "Now which sounds best. This? Or This. This? Or That." When that's done you'll have a decision to make. Are you going to take your master to a professional mastering studio (or pay, like CD Baby to master it)? That's the way it's done by Willie and Waylon and the boys. Mastering is a compression technique that sort of brings out all the sounds so they stand out to the ear. It's what makes a song sound best on the radio. Or you can do what I did which was to let Russell play with all his toys until it sounded damn good and as loud as a mastered CD. I liked that more natural sound. The engineer will need to know because s/he must not use certain tools from the computer kit if it's going to be mastered.
Last, but not least, ask what you need to bring for the engineer to load your digital master onto. I bought a portable hard drive for under $100.00 and it's still not full. I wanted ALL the files so they could be used by any ProTools engineer anywhere. Russell labeled the final mix so I'd know which one was the one to burn or send to CD Baby or whomever. They are WAV or AIFF files (right now).
Ta Da! You have a song for the ages and have had the experience of a lifetime!

album notes for "Contrary"

In the winter of 2011 I first took my best friend, the rez dog Edy, with me to Texas. We went to Padre Island where I had memories of my baby Forest Arturo Dunn in a Snugglie on Mama's chest and sea birds flying over his head. I practiced up on old and new songs that I thought might go well at open mics in Austin. As I described in the album notes for "Texas Dance Songs" I ended up recording with Big John Mills and Sterling Finlay at the Woodshed Studios of the Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, Texas. Russell Tanner, engineer.
With the thrill of a successful session in memory I was more inspired about writing than I had been for decades. For 2012 I had an idea for a song cycle - concept album - whatever you want to call it. I had some of it written but mostly I finished it on the beach. I scattered some of the few ashes I had of my son's body on the beach. I drank, wrote, played, and walked with dear old Edy who was obviously in her last years with me.
My concept was highly influenced by the news. I had been reading so many stories of men released from prison after DNA evidence proved their innocence. I was wondering how many poor innocent victims had been tortured at Abu Ghraib and were being tortured at Guantanamo and at secret prisons around the world. I knew in my heart that America was creating future terrorists by these actions. When reading about Americans released after being cleared of rape, murder, and other crimes by DNA evidence I was always struck by the statements and apparent attitudes of these men. Where was their anger? Had it been burned out by religion? Had they become passive due to an overload of injustice?
I wrote "Confession" from the point of view of a man who was confessing that, by God, he was going to kill that damn, lying judge who sent him away unjustly. But as I began "Tattooed With Regret" I knew I didn't want to finish the album with the concept of killing. And I knew I wasn't going to have the man find religion. No, I turned to a theme close to my heart - the idea of living invisibly - the theme of many of my short stories like "The Meadow." It's only in the last two songs that it becomes clear how the man will end up.
As a country murder ballad, I'm very proud of "Fear the Man." "Riverside Blues" is actually a song I wrote around 1969 and I use it as the turn-around moment when he turns his heart from hatred to his strange future.
Anyway, here's the story of the recording of "Contrary." I said to Kent Finlay, the American Treasure, patron of songwriters, that I wanted a drummer who just used a snare drum, but who used every inch of it - like I've seen on the streets and in the bars in Mexico. Poor guy who only has that snare drum, sticks, and brushes. And wails, Man. And I wanted to start with a song that is only drums and guitar. Kent said it was unusual but he got me Johnny Arredondo. Thanks Kent!
So Johnny shows up with a nice big kit and cases of percussion instruments. Oh well. Russell Tanner sets us up in separate rooms but where we can see each other and we work out for a bit. The sweet drum intro is where he was at about a minute into my original idea. He counted me in - 1,2,3,4."
I must say, I was not shy in asking to do something in the studio. I had recorded - the most important being the lovely year when Forest Arturo Dunn, my son, played with me. I'll talk more about those for the album notes of "Texas Socialist Infiltration Dance Songs Instigated and Agitated by Burl Dunn."
When we did the first track of "Light My Last Cigarette" I just played a 12 bar blues hitting one chord per measure on the first beat. The track was meant to be dropped, I just wanted to give Johnny free reign on how he played it. The next day (half drunk) I said, "Johnny, can you turn this s*** into wine?" But after about few minutes he asked, "What do you want me to do with this?" I said, "Play it like it's 1962 and you're backing the stripper at Jack Ruby's club in Dallas." And he grinned and did.
I laid down "Riverside Blues" on my nylon string guitar and wanted to try a better take the next day, but Johnny and Russell kept saying leave it so I did. I can't remember how many tracks they used for the drums and percussion. I just drank beer and enjoyed my money's worth! (As an aside, I'll tell you that working with pros at the Woodshed can be more affordable than you'd imagine.) Uh, that's not a dispersion on Johnny's playing. Russell must have told him that it was my daughter Hannah's and her brother's favorite. When he finished he said, "I'll live forever 'cause I played on that song." I wish it didn't look sappy on the printed page. Johnny treated me totally as a peer.
The last two songs where my twisted ideas appear have a funny musical story. Big John Mills, on about 10 seconds of hearing my playing before turning it over to him, improvised a sweet song along with Sterling Finlay. I rewrote the words and melody accordingly. "Let's Go Now" is the same chords as "Round and 'Round." ! You'd have to listen to them back to back to get the irony of that!
I was working on the lyrics to "Let's Go Now" in a motel early one morning. Rosemary was sleeping and I had headphones on. I forgot that my voice was something she'd hear. So she wakes up to me saying, "Shhhh, are you ready? Let's go now? Are you ready? I've got the feeling, I've seen the light..." Rosemary is fun.

If you google "Burl Dunn" that's me. Or just type my name into your favorite download page. I'm a "CD Baby." BMI

album notes for "Texas Dance Songs"

I miss the mere size of old lp records with pictures you can see and notes on the back you don't have to unfold and squint at. These are the album notes for my CD I call "Texas Dance Songs."
Every third of July as I grew up I watched my Uncle Joe Dunn play his fiddle and lead a band of Dunns through some fine old songs and hymns. When the '60s Folk Boom hit I was primed to learn guitar and when I heard Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan - well it was all over. I was twelve and I taught myself to play, but of course I had been playing violin since the fourth grade so I thank the Amarillo, Texas Public School District for teaching me to read music.
...
Well, in 2011, my wife Rosemary encouraged me to go to Austin and see if I could get something going. I found the open mic at the Cheatham Street Warehouse run by the great Kent Finlay. He had a studio, the Woodshed, and could get you any backup musician you needed. It all depended on how much you could pay the player. Rosemary was eager to pay for a record. I thought that if I could get some recognition I could bring my son's songs to the attention of the world.
I thought I'd get a country band sound complete with fiddle and steel guitar, but then I heard Big John Mills play an acoustic set at Cheatham Street. My God, what a talent! Kent's son Sterling is a fine upright bass man. I thought about one of my favorite old records - Gordon Lightfoot's first album. It's all Gordon singing and playing guitar, a lead guitar, and an upright bass, so that's how we did it. I even copied Gordon by having one song that was just bass and voice - "Pack Rat Nest." Sterling and I did that in one take.
I was determined to play ensemble style, not lay down track by track. The first song we recorded was "Cockroach Fever."  Nailed it in two takes. I labeled it as explicit when I listed it with CD Baby which I wish I hadn't done especially because if you see the album on Amazon they have every single song labeled "explicit." My favorite cousin, a strict Southern Baptist loves it so it sure ain't dirty.
As that first day sailed along we recorded most of what became "Texas Dance Songs" and several of the songs on "Texas Socialist Infiltration Dance Songs." I was mighty proud that I kept up with Big John and Sterling. We clicked. Late in the session we were playing some song and my mind drifted into how amazing it sounded and - I fucked it up. After that I bowed out for two songs. I had lyrics and chords written out. I played a few bars of each song to give them the idea and then they played. What came out was beautiful, but it wasn't those two songs anymore so I put them on the back burner.  After Big John and Sterling left I laid down my guitar part for Rosemary's two favorites - "I Never Waltzed With You" and "In Our Dance" - because I was afraid I wouldn't capture the lilt of those two songs in the ensemble setting.
The second day we finished up. Then Big John laid down electric lead parts on some songs that Forest and I had recorded around 2000. 'Round and 'Round is one of those. More on that when I write notes on "Texas Socialist Dance Songs."
It had been a prolific session. I was happier than I had been for a long time.
Next year, 2012, was also a prolific year. I wrote seven new songs in a month or so. After recording that album (Contrary) I sat in a motel room and wrote four chord progressions using the common chords from the diatonic scale - major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished. It was an exercise for old three chord Burl. I asked Big John to play those chords but didn't specify how. Then Johnny Arredondo added drums. I was so amazed with the results that I offered Big John the chance to own half of the copyright and performance rights in exchange for free work later. I tried to offer that twice, but each time, before I even got the whole concept of the deal out of my mouth he turned it down. It makes me think of all those guys going to the California Gold Rush (me) who went broke and the one who set up a supply store (Big John) and made fortunes. The two best of these songs are on Texas Dance Songs: "Top Down" and "Just Us Chickens."
 All my albums can be heard on Spotify and some other online stations. All my albums can be downloaded from iTunes, amazon, CD Baby and others.  I go by my middle name, Burl, because if you google "Burl Dunn" it's easy to find. Try it! Thanks.