Ukulele

Some of the new tunes haven't been laying out on the dulcimer very well. This is actually been an ongoing issue since I started to play dulcimer. It's one of the reasons why there are so many covers on Moonshiner's Atlas for whatever reason it's been far easier to recreate or adapt, than it has been to create. I think this is why one song, called Weathervane has been in contention for this album since I first wrote it (which was like 2004): it's the first time that a lick on the instrument inspired lyrics (that's how I've written in the past). Anyway, although I've worked out dulcimer versions of all the tunes I'm kicking around, there are three that just don't sound right. Normally, that would just mean those songs weren't going on the record. But one of the tunes that's causing me a lot of consternation is a new one called Be Somebody (Do the work), It's what my old roommate used to call "the single" (my old roommate is also a songwriter and we used to throw a lot of ideas back and forth to each other). It's a euphemism, since realistically hoping for airplay has been a pipe dream since Clinton initiated the telecommunications act of 1997 (the so-called "information superhighway" that deregulated radio and allowed Clear Channel to buy them all). But it still means to us, that song that is gonna make you want to buy the album. On Moonshiner's it was folk songs and 52 Vincent, on Shady Grove it was Eleanor Rigby and (surprisingly) Birdwatching. A single doesn't necessarily mean the "best" song on the record, just the one that compels you to buy the record. If you think of albums as collections of songs that tell a story (and I do) the single is the sizzle to the steak.

I think that that song is Be Somebody, but it hasn't been working out as a dulcimer tune. So, as I've been talking with Folkcraft about one they're developing anyway, I figured maybe I'd try one out. I'll let you know how it goes.