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Welp, I did not do a good job keeping our Studio Journal updated. The last entry I see was on September 25th, a solid (ground) 2 months ago. But wait, I can explain! Put down the pitchforks!

Basically, life got busy. Suz and I are always pushing the limits in how much time we can spend on music without getting fired from our day jobs or losing our sanity, but the last two months we definitely reached that limit and flew straight past it. There were more late night sessions with early morning shifts than I can count, plenty of Tuesday evenings feverishly finishing arrangements for every instrument the night before they were to be recorded, and I think I may have had a birthday in there somewhere, too.  Friday night became our go to night where I would get off of work at 7, be at the studio by 8, and then record every single instrument on the song in one sitting until well into the morning, which is quite exhausting, especially when you leave pedal steel for the last instrument (pretty much every pedal steel part on the album thus far was recorded north of midnight).  We also got a couple of shows in there somewhere as well up at Rosati’s.  Lots of coffee. Lots of beer. One night of bourbon which we shall never speak of again.

The Whiskey music video release was a HUGE success. We were blown away by how many people took the time and effort to share the video around their various social media platforms of choice and all the kind words they had to say when they did so. If you did that and are now reading this – thank you thank you thank you. If you liked Whiskey, we can’t wait to show you the rest of the album.

After the video release for Whiskey, we hopped back in the studio and finished all the instruments for Solid Ground. Next we recorded Train to Memphis, which Rhonda and Troy took from being a meandering song that couldn’t quite make up it’s mind to a heavy hitting boot stompin’ good time. The drums on Train to Memphis were a blast to lay down – for the first time since we started the album I was truly playing them instead of instead of over-thinking everything. To keep the energy up, Suz and I did something we’ve never pulled off well before, which is recording our vocals at the same time:

No matter how many pictures we took one of always looked rather silly while the other one looked stoic and artistic.  This blurry/out of focus shot was sadly the best compromise.

After that we tackled Window Panes, which was difficult for me to arrange. We have an older recording of the song on our first EP that had good intentions but didn’t quite reach the level it needed to be at now, and I spent several hours agonizing over the instrumentation trying to maintain what went well in the old recording but also build on it. After several attempts in our home studio, I finally got something down and it really came to life during one of the infamous Friday night sessions.

Tomorrow we start recording the first song I sing lead on, Love You Right (working-ish title).  The arrangement came together quite nicely this morning before I even took a break for lunch, so I can’t wait to see what it grows into in the studio.  I’ll try to do a better job of keeping you posted.

I also thought I’d start adding a  little “what Scarlett Hill is listening to right now and what we think of it” section at the end of the journals:

Jason Isbell – Southeastern:  Pure alt country songwriting gold.  If you didn’t like him when he was in the Drive-By Truckers (guilty as charged), you’d better give him another shot.
Miranda Lambert – Platinum:  Suz and I keep coming back to Platinum after not being totally blown away by it the first time, and I find myself now looking forward to several of the songs.  Perhaps not as focused as Revolution or Four the Record, Miranda still definitely found more successful ways to push the boundaries of her artistry on this one.

Taylor Swift – 1989:  I don’t really want to talk about it.  But every #$&^%& song is stuck in my head all the time. Shake shake shake…

-Blake

Suz is next to me asleep on the couch (even Parks and Rec isn’t funny enough to keep her awake) as I sit here and reflect on how quickly the Summer of 2014 passed.  We finished two great sessions at the studio this weekend, and noticed on our drive up this afternoon that Fall is certainly in the air.  Something about the crisp air makes me nostalgic for Fall days back in Indiana during high school, especially the Friday nights at the football game.  Unlike your stereotypical country musician, however, I wasn’t the star player on the field – just a doofus in the marching band trying to figure out when we were going to have to play the school song again (um…who has the ball?  What inning is it? etc).  Regardless of what clique I chose to identify with during high school, there was always an energy in the air that time of year that I haven’t felt since then, a sense of freedom and endless possibility.  Fall is a welcome change every year.

Ooooh that felt painfully cliche as I reread it.  But it’s the truth.  As songwriters Suz and I have come to find that cliches have their place in any songwriter’s arsenal – but they must be used sparingly.  So no more cliches for this entire studio journal entry.

Oh…that reminds me that you probably want to hear about what happened in the studio.  On Friday we started tracking drums for Solid Ground.  Troy set up the mics Glyn Johns style, a seemingly simple mic pattern that I had not tried before, and I was blown away by the snap of the snare and overall balance of the kit.  After a few tries I had a solid (har har) take and laid down some bass using my trusty ol ’67 Fender Mustang.  Solid Ground is ready for the finishing touches of some mando, banjo, and pedal steel next week.

We spent all of this afternoon working on the vocals for our lead single from the album Whiskey.  Yes, we are a country band and we now have a song called Whiskey.  Doesn’t that pretty much mean we’re “in” now?  Anyway, Suz’s vocal part is tough and takes a lot of attitude.  We’ve never worked so hard or long on a vocal part, but Rhonda and Troy kept pushing for better and better takes until Suz had taken the song to a whole new level.  Toto may have helped too:

Toto, before he was promptly kicked out of the studio for breathing too loudly.

It was exciting to feel like we are finally taking the time during the recording process to get performances truly worthy of these songs we’ve spent the last year writing.  We can’t wait for y’all to hear it.  Next week – drums and guitars for Whiskey!

- Blake