To wrap this series up, here are 10 random pieces of trivia about the last song on my new EP, The Boy You Call Baby…
- It's by far the most recent vocal recording, revealing a bit of change in voice tone.
- The acoustic guitar is a vintage Roy Smeck blues guitar from Mark Demaray, from the 20s I believe.
- I struggled with the instrumentation...might be too much, too traditional, too soon...but oh well.
- This is the only Jack Parker guitar solo on the EP, partly because I'm getting more comfortable with my own solos, but particularly because he absolutely crushes blues.
- This is a simple song about the trashy life. It's the land of bedazzled jeans, cheap wine, where nobody recycles, muscle cars are awesome, Led Zeppelin is the greatest band of all time, and yellow lines are crossed frequently. Sometimes the red ones.
- "We'll hit every lowdown scene" was a little nod to a once local band called the The Lowdown Drifters, who I tracked when they were starting out. I actually recorded a (highly blended) harmony line on one of their songs, believe it or not. They now have 515,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and 22 million folks have played one of their songs. I have 30 listeners on a good month, one song approaching 1,000 lifetime plays, and no hair. But they earned it--they work hard and sacrificed a lot.
- I love this song more than most listeners do, at least from what I can see at live shows. I mainly love the series of trashy lyrics and entendre (ie "I can pump your gas while you check your Tik Tok."). But I also love how it celebrates giving up control. It's a song for those times when you think that whatever you're doing just isn't working and you're going to tag along with someone who is really fun but totally bad for you and see what happens. I actually care about the two people in the song.
- In some ways the two characters are me and my wife without all the inhibitions.
- So...why Colorado specifically? This was actually the one part of the song that I wrestled with changing for a long time, even having a band conversation about it at one point. I picked it because Colorado is the open West, but also a rocky place. Going to Colorado means getting away, maybe listening to some music, open horizons. But I also worried that the use of a specific state made sort of a double hook--I wanted you to think about what "the boy you call Baby" means, but you're probably going to just remember the Colorado part. The band though encouraged me to keep it. The fact that it's a specific state is at least more interesting than a generic "going down the highway." And I think they're right.
- Speaking of trashy pictures on open roads, here's one that I sent to my sister once as a prank. Enjoy, Courtney. You can listen to The Boy You Call Baby today on every streaming service. I'd give it to you for free, but I'd like to collect my .02 cents after all this work.
