New Red River Video - Remember Me (How Sweet The Moon)

I find myself with some free time on my hands, and no songwriting ideas, so instead I've been using my handy dandy Windows Moviemaker (such as it is!) to put together some slide shows of Red River's songs.

Here's one called Remember Me (How Sweet the Moon).

New Red River Video - DUST

I've been spending a bunch of time putting videos together for some of Red River's songs. It's frustrating, yet exhilarating, if you know what I mean.

It's quite time-consuming, if one wants to do it right. But the rewards are worth it.

Here's one I did for our song, Dust:

When You Write A Song For Someone...

I once wrote a song about my dad, but I was either too much of a novice at the time, or I simply couldn't capture what needed to be said.

My dad passed away in 2001. He was a lot of things to me, but if I boil all those things down, what I come up with is, he was a hero. And not necessarily a hero in the John Wayne mode, but more in the way he faced life. He was, after all, like all of us. We all have our challenges and our weaknesses and our downfalls. His was called alcoholism.

I lived through the years of turmoil that his disease wreaked upon all our lives. It was a bitch, but you know, I am what I am today because of the stuff that I went through when I was growing up. I learned a whole lot of stuff that I didn't even know I'd learned, like empathy. And acceptance, and forgiveness.

The thing that my dad did that made him a hero to me, though, was that he never gave up. He went through substance abuse treatment three times, until it finally "took". I think he was just stubborn enough that he wasn't going to let it beat him. He was going to reclaim his life. And that he did, in 1976.

I was pregnant with my first son at the time (although no one knew it yet), and I attended the dreaded "family week" that was part of my dad's treatment. When the day was done, I went home and laid on the couch with a throbbing headache and wondered if I could even face the whole thing again tomorrow.

But, selfishly, I only considered what I was going through, and it never even occurred to me what he was facing. Six long weeks of having his life laid bare in front of a bunch of strangers, and admitting a whole lot of things that he didn't even want to admit to himself.

I don't know what got him through it, but all I know is, he came out of Heartview after six weeks as the man I knew when I was just a little kid. He actually started caring about other people, just the way he used to, when I'd follow him around on the farm and make a pest of myself, and he'd delight in the little person that I was; his daughter.

So, I finally figured out what I wanted to say about my dad, in song. I tortured myself over the lyrics and melody of the thing. Harder than I ever worked on any other. Because I had to get it right, you see.

If my dad could hear this song, I think he would cry. And I do think he's heard it, you know? I hope that he thinks that I captured it just right. I don't know, but I feel like I did.


Is this a church or a prison
The windows aren’t stained
And I can’t even tell
If that woman is prayin’

“Six weeks you’ll be here”
My head hurts like hell
“Admit you’re powerless”
Well, how can she tell

But the angels sing
Oh, the angels sing

Accept what you can’t change
Recognize the difference
You’re not a prisoner
Unless you choose it
You can’t stop the world
Or tell it how to turn
But you can have the courage
To live in it

I needed to get outside
I needed to clear my head
A guy offered a smoke and asked
Surprised that you’re not dead?

I said I can’t go back there
He said you think it’s tough in here
This part is easy
Try lookin’ in the mirror

And through my tears
I heard the angels sing

Accept what you can’t change
Recognize the difference
You’re not a prisoner
Unless you choose it
You can’t stop the world
Or tell it how to turn
But you can have the courage
To live in it

© Michelle Anderson 2008

Here's the song:

Heartview

And here is the video I made:

Red River's Latest Video - Lovely Day

Long weekends are nice. They give me time to do something creative...so here's my latest creation; a video for our song, "Lovely Day". Hope you like it!

Ghost Town Video

I don't own a video camera. Therefore, all our "music videos" are more like glorified vacation slides set to music. Yet artfully done!
Here's one I did recently for our song, Ghost Town:

April Days Video

I played around a bit this weekend with creating a "video" for one of our songs. It's actually pictures set to music, but I'll just call it a video.

Here's April Days:

Red River's Latest

Howdy, it's been awhile! Seems like I don't post as often as I used to, but as you know, life tends to get in the way sometimes.

And speaking of life, our latest track is hot off the mixing board. It's called "The High Cost of Living". Hope you like it!

(Photo Credit)

Most of our music is available for download on our website. Stop by and give us a listen!

~~~

Another New Song

This completes the trifecta!

(Actually, we have one more coming very soon, so it's a quad-fecta?)

Anyway, here is "As Best I Can" (by Dave):

All of our music is available on our website, and most of it is available for mp3 purchase.

Thanks for listening!



Photograph by John Leslie/Alamy
~~~

Two Songs - All New!

Red River's got a couple of songs that are finally finished!

The producer has been hard at work (very, very hard at work!) to complete our latest songs. And there are still two more waiting to be mixed!

The two new songs are "Angel In Disguise" and "Heartview".

You will note, if you listen to both of these songs, that Red River is a diverse outfit indeed! These songs are completely different styles, but that's what makes us unique!

Here's Dale:

And here's me:

Yup, all of our music is available on our website.

Drop us a line and let us know what you think. Thanks!

~~

I Do Also Write Songs

 Yes, it's true.

I don't only write about music, I actually participate!

Sometimes that fact gets lost amongst the blogging and ruminating about the music industry.

But the fact remains that I DO write songs. And I actually sing them; best as I can.

Pretty much, all my songs have a story behind them, and this is the story of "April Days":

I’ve had a few jobs in my life. I’ve been the lowest-level peon (cleaning motel rooms for my parents’ business) and I’ve been a manager of a 150-person department, and everything in between.

Doesn’t really matter. Work is not fun.

Oh, I remember back when I was just out of school. I was so excited to get my first job and to be out in the REAL WORLD.

I got a job as a clerk-typist for the State Health Department. And you actually had to take a test to even be considered for an interview!

I was eighteen and answering phones, basically.Then, as a special bonus and a nod to my superior abilities, I was asked to become part of a “special project” for the department. All the birth, death, marriage, and divorce records were going to be microfilmed. (Before that, they were just bound in big books).

What was this special perk that I was chosen for? I got to go through all the records (starting back in the 1800’s) and trace over any printing that was too faint to be read by the microfilm machine! What an honor!

So, I was holed up in this back room with one window, with one other person my age and a supervisor.

We spent our days with our pencils, tracing over letters, and alternating using the microfilm machine to film the records. It was fascinating work! I was eighteen! Who could ask for more??

The one saving grace in that dank, smoky room (yea, all three of us smoked) was the AM radio. At least we could listen to tunes as an alternative to blowing our brains out.

Gordon Lightfoot had a hit song at that time, “Sundown”.

Just to amuse myself and to break up the monotony, I would sing along with the radio whenever that song came on, in an effort to supremely annoy my co-worker friend. And it worked! She shot me some really evil looks whenever I would sing that song. Ah, good times.

We were on the 17th floor of the State Capitol building, and we had one tiny little window that we would sometimes walk over to, to see if there really was any actual life going on outside our little oxygen-starved room. You could hear birds singing! Well, sure, they were singing! They weren’t PRISONERS.

It was pretty much my worst job ever. At least when I was cleaning motel rooms in high school, I got to go out into the sunlight once in awhile.

My friend lived about a block and a half from the capitol building, so sometimes we’d walk down to her place for lunch — Spaghettios — because we were quite poor. But we did at least get to bask in the sun as we made our trek from the gates of hell down to her apartment. It was a welcome diversion, as we walked in our short dresses and platform shoes. (had to dress up for work, you know.)

I lasted there about a year. I had to either quit or commit myself to an institution for the mentally deranged. I actually went back to work for my parents (in the office this time, thank God).

It just occurred to me that I rarely left any job because I wanted to pursue a better opportunity. Usually I was just really bored or ticked off about something. I always told them, though, “It’s not you; it’s me.” But it really was them.

But anyway, that’s the TRUE story of April Days. Yes, it all happened the way I wrote it. Lo, those many years ago.

So, with that bit of background, here's "April Days":

Just In The Nick Of Time - New Music!

Red River's recording another song, just before the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Eve!

It's a song that I wrote on May 2! Wow - time flies!

This is kind of a "folkie", called "Heartview".

My husband tells me it reminds him of some of the songs from Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" album. I don't actually know......cuz I don't actually know that album. Sorry, I like Bob Dylan, but I'm not a Dyl-addict, like my husband, who insisted on naming our cat "Bob".

Anyway, I'm looking forward to recording my vocals tonight. Then mixing comes tomorrow!

This song is very personal to me, and I'll confess, I spent more time refining this song than I ever have with any of my others. (Frankly, I don't spend a lot of time messing around with songs that I write - which really isn't a good thing.)

Remember, if you join our mailing list, you get a free sneak peak at our latest demos, including "Heartview" and a brand new fresh track, called, "As Best I Can".

Join our mailing list here

And here's wishing everyone a very happy 2009! Let's hope it's better than 2008. Couldn't get much worse.

~~~

It Was Fun While It Lasted

So, here we are, the 25th of the month, and our song, "Ghost Town" has dropped from the number one position on OurStage to number sixty-two. Oh well. It was too good to last.

Still, out of 382 entries, it's not bad. Nothng to shout about, such as:



How much of a dork do you have to be to post a banner that shouts, "We're Number Sixty-Two!"

OurStage is but one of the sites where we've slapped up some songs. It's sort of a fun diversion, but I don't take it too seriously.

So no, I'm not crying about our steep drop in the standings. Cuz, hey! We're Number Sixty-Two!

We're Number One!

I don't go to OurStage very often anymore, because we've kind of tanked there in recent months. But we had a few friend requests, so I logged on to approve them.

I was surprised to find that we are sitting at #1 in Americana/Alt Country, with "Ghost Town"! Out of 332 entries! Yay!

On the realistic side, it's only the 11th of the month, so we'll probably end up at #332 by the time the month's over, but hey! It's still cool!

MySpace Is Selling Music Now

Did you hear that MySpace has gone into the music download business? I read about it, but I wasn't all that interested, since I've got a reliable source for downloadable music (Amazon).

I went to our band's MySpace page today, since I do like to check in once a week or so, and I noticed the "playlists" option. I spent a little time trying to figure out how it worked, and how exactly it would be a benefit to us.

From what I can discern, it's an option for non-band MySpace users to create playlists and post them on their site, I guess to share with their friends or with the world or with whomever might happen to stumble upon their page.

I like it and I think it's a cool option. Who doesn't like to recommend music to other people? I know I do.

I created an "alternate playlist" of songs that the members of Red River like. It's sort of like a puzzle, first figuring out which songs or artists to search for, and then actually finding what you're looking for, and then, of course, sequencing the songs (because sequencing is an art all to itself - just ask my husband - the expert).

So, I'm glad that MySpace created this option. Frankly, it gives me a reason to actually go there, because there's not a whole lot happening for Red River there.

Anyway, if you have a MySpace page, go ahead and create a playlist. And let me know if you do, because I'd like to listen to it.

My playlist is called, "The Eclectic Tastes of Red River". To find it, click on the down arrow next to "featured playlist" on our music player. I probably will add more songs as I think of them, but it's been kind of fun, I must admit.

Then, of course, being the CMA historian that I have apparently become, I created two more playlists; one featuring the singles of the year from 1967 to the present. There was only one that I couldn't find - "Country Bumpkin" by Cal Smith. I don't know what the deal is with this song and its unavailability. I couldn't find it on YouTube, either. There were also two other singles that I could not find by the original artists, so I went with alternate versions.

The more fun playlist, for me, was the CMA entertainers of the year, again from 1967 to the present. This allowed me to pick songs by these artists that I actually like.

I really think the CMA should pay me for all the free publicity I'm giving them. Lord knows, I could use the extra income.

Anyway, as you can see, I'm having "fun with playlists".

Here's our MySpace address. We always welcome new friend requests.

Red River's MySpace Page

We've Made The Semi-Finals On OurStage!

We've made the semi-finals for July on OurStage!

To vote for us, you have to first sign up for an account; then go to "Judging" and choose Traditional Country. Our song will come up for judging quite often, since we're in the semi-finals.

Please judge according to your true opinion, but if you like us, please vote for us!

Cloud Pictures & A Song

A couple of years back, I had this weird preoccupation with taking pictures of clouds from my deck.

I think it all started with an approaching storm, and me noticing that the clouds were strange and foreboding (I guess).

From there, I grabbed my camera every time I stepped out on the deck, and I saw some interesting things in the sky.

These photos were all taken during the same summer season.

Did you ever, as a kid, lay on the grass and look at the clouds? I did. I used to think that the cloud formations depicted the saints and the Virgin Mary, revealing themselves in the sky. Yes, I always did have a vivid imagination.

Maybe I wasn't so far off. Who knows? Maybe we should pay better attention, like we did when we were kids.

When I thought back to those warm summer days as a kid, lying in the grass, staring up at the sky, I wrote:

Saw God in the clouds
On a warm summer's day
Laid in the grass
Let the time tick away
Nothin' much goin'
Just a child who was free
To ponder the heavens
'Neath a cottonwood tree

Here is my "cloud" song. Take a look at the pictures below, as you listen. Yes, the recording isn't that good; it was one of the first times I ever recorded a song. But it has an innocence to it, I guess.

THE COTTONWOOD TREE

*My* Songs

I've got a bunch of songs in the pipeline.

By "pipeline", I mean, they may or may not get recorded. But you never know!

The problem I was having was that I kept re-recording guitar/vocal versions of the songs, until I was at least semi-happy with them as demos. But when I went back to listen to them, I had too many versions of the same song, and I didn't know which was the "good"version, and which was a prior attempt.

So, I thought, hey! SoundClick! SoundClick isn't much good for anything other than storing songs for future reference.

So, since it's FREE, I thought, why not set up a page to store all my "best" versions of my demos?

One tiny problem with that is, everybody can listen to them. But that's a small price to pay, really. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? Somebody will listen to a song and think it's horrible? Well, who are these people anyway? And don't they have anything better to do than to troll for new songs on SoundClick?

Face it, if SoundClick thinks all those hip-hop "artists" they keep pushing are so great, how bad could my stuff sound?

So, my initial idea was actually a good one.

I set up a page: Michelle's Work Tapes

And I WARNED people in my "interview" what the page was all about. I asked people to PLEASE not add any of these songs to their stations (people can set up personal stations there). I told everyone in no uncertain terms that these were WORK TAPES.

Did that stop people? No. Of course not.

Somebody added one of my "songs" to their station.

While it's flattering to find that out, it's also really embarrassing. But what the heck?

I guess I choose to look at it this way: At least it tells me which songs people actually like, and therefore, which songs might be candidates for full-blown recordings.

The one song that people seem to like is actually a throw-away. And I knew that, for whatever reason, that would be a song that would get picked up for recording. My producer feels the same way. That song is, "Hello Dear Heartache".

It sometimes makes me wonder why I put so much work into some of my songs, when the quick and easy ones seem to capture people's attention.

What really struck me as funny was that a song that I wrote a long time ago, "Kathryn's Place", actually hit #20 in Cajun/Zydeoco! Ha! It must have been the bad accordion playing that roped people in. Either that, or, there just aren't a lot of songs in that particular category.

Also, surprisingly, a song called, "The Game", that I wrote a LONG time ago, hit #23 in Honky Tonk. Again, not a real popular category, I'm thinking.

So, all in all, this turned out to be an enlightening experiment. The songs I consider to be my "best" didn't chart at all, while the throw-away songs garnered some attention.

Regardless, the next Red River song to be recorded will be, "The High Cost Of Living".

After that, it will be, "Heartview".

Neither of these songs even hit the charts on SoundClick.

I have to go with my intuition, and that of my producer.

Trust me. These songs will sound good. Way better than the demos.

And I hate to break it to the "fans", but "Kathryn's Place" will never see the light of day.

But "Hello Dear Heartache" will no doubt be recorded.

So, that's some consolation.