Evolution of a song: "Emily"

Like many, I'm a new country fan.  After countless years of saying I couldn't get over the twang, the slide guitars, and the jiggly banjoes, I have finally crossed the line into Team Country.  Don't get me wrong, as in any genre, there are still limits to my newfound appreciation (I'll take Kacey Musgraves over Taylor Swift any day, or Johnny Cash over Dierks Bentley). But overall, I've found endearment and admiration for the storytelling that goes into a good country song. One of my favorites is an oldie - Dolly Parton's "Jolene."  Roughly two years ago I got to writing a song with a similar premise, a song called "Emily," that tells the tale of a gal desperately begging another far more attractive female to stay away from her man.  Some might say I was copying the country legend herself.  I prefer to say that I was simply paying homage to a great.

Here are 2 renditions of "Emily" in its earlier stages. This one was sent off to Marc Lacuesta in Nashville to get his input on building the track: 

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/23ajg747nx11can/Emily.mp3

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/r35yq925s075mre/EmilyRough5213.mp3

A few weeks later, I was lucky enough to get into House of Rock in Santa Monica - a multi-million dollar house that included a beautiful studio in the attic that was owned by Blue Microphones.  The folks over at Blue were nice enough to let me get into the studio to record a little bit, so I did a version of "Emily" along with drummer Roberto Cerletti. 

As I worked with the song during gigs, it became evident that the song would have a heavy upright bass presence. As a result, I got together with a great bassist in town, Austin Underhill, and would play the song with him during a handful of gigs. I also took the tempo down a little to make it a bit more mysterious.

"Emily" with Upright Bass:  http://www.mediafire.com/listen/7rq52crsaxvq3tn/EmilyAustin.mp3

Meanwhile, in Nashville, Marc and I had built the track, working off what was recorded at House of Rock with all the tasty Blue mics in the studio.  We also got Bones Hillman, of Midnight Oil, to play upright on the track.  We topped it off with some of Marc's sweet background vocals and some organ, and then all that was left was for me to re-sing my vocals during a September 2013 visit.  Here's the final version of the track, available for streaming and download!  Stay tuned for a music video soon...