George and I did two more collaborations which I finished yesterday. I’d already done “Fields of Gold” to a karaoke track some years ago, but George likes Eva Cassidy’s music and there’s another song by her that he wants to do and I’ll have to learn. He also did a very nice version of Sting’s original arrangement. So, on Friday, he sent me a couple of guitar tracks and I completed them yesterday afternoon, using Logic instead of GarageBand. I think they turned out pretty nicely. I could be wrong, especially since Logic seems to be a lot like Garage Band, but I think the production quality is better for these two videos than others I’ve done.
I “met” George Martin online back in 2014. At the time, Bill and I still lived in Texas, and I was listening to a video of Olivia Newton-John’s version of “Mary Skeffington”. At the time, I didn’t know that it was a cover. That song was actually written by Gerry Rafferty for his mother. In the course of listening to the video, I saw that George had also done a rendition. I listened to his and commented, and the next thing I knew, we were writing to each other about music we like. It turns out we have similar tastes. I have not met him in person and don’t know much about him, other than I think he lives in Scotland and performs music in live venues. He has a lot of followers, though, and many of them are musicians who also team up with him.
A few years ago, we did our first collaboration, a song by the Indigo Girls that was also done by David Crosby. I had never heard it before, so I had to learn it. Then, we did a version of “How’s the World Treating You”, which was made famous by Alison Krauss and James Taylor. I think that one turned out especially well. That time, we used a karaoke track, but usually George plays guitar on our duets.
Not that many people pay attention to my videos. Maybe if I got on camera and talked, more people would. I hate seeing myself on camera, though. I get really nervous. Besides, I’m annoying.
I like doing the music videos, especially right now. Making music is soothing to me, even if I’m still struggling with my guitar efforts. Someday, it won’t take me five seconds to change chords and my fingers won’t be numb. I’ve been enjoying watching videos done by live musicians, too. Some of them have been legitimately enthralling. They also take my mind off of the scary stuff in the news and annoying twits on Facebook. Of course, I’m sure a lot of people think I’m an annoying twit, too. But at least on YouTube, I’m less well-known, so I can be annoying and a lot fewer people care.
I shared yesterday’s efforts with my sister yesterday. She then told me about how she used to know Eva Cassidy, back in the early 1980s. Apparently, they briefly worked at the same place in Richmond, Virginia. They both ended up moving to the Washington, DC area, although Eva was originally from Maryland and, like my sisters and me, was a military brat. Anyway, my sister was telling me about what Eva was like back then, and how she was a very spiritual person who flirted with cults. I don’t know how true that part is… remember, it was the early 80s. I was a kid in those days. I don’t actually listen to a lot of Eva’s music, at least not yet. Maybe I’ll get more familiar with it.