A Parting of Ways

Today was a sad day for all Porridge kind.  We had to part ways with our fiddle player, Masson Dixon.

The day started so pleasant.  I made sausage, eggs, toast, coffee... Masson showed up on time.  Everything was awesome.  Jesse came by and we discussed what we expected to get done before he went off to practice with the other band he's in called Sugarskull.

Breakfast... mmm...

First we pondered which songs to do first.  Masson had played on a few of these songs at practice before and he had told me last week he'd be ready to record sometime earlier this week.  It being the end of the week now we assumed he had been hitting the wood shed and would be ready to record.

Masson absorbing Mowin' the Shoulder before getting started

Apparently we were not 100% correct in our assumptions.  Masson was super excited about being a part of the album but whenever it came down to putting down his fiddle parts he seemed reluctant.

Masson working out the intro to Mowin' the Shoulder

Masson played a few takes for the intro to Mowin' the Shoulder and I double tracked him to cover up a few intonation problems, but he was agitated and when I told him I thought he could play better, his response was "I don't have a whole lot of time to keep playing these parts."  At first I was a little irritated.  I was upset because I thought he was just half assing a fiddle part that he was going to call good enough because he didn't want to take the time to do it right.

We had a chat about it and what it boiled down to was Masson isn't interested in being a fiddle player.  He's not.  He's a guitar player, and he always has been really, however he was recruited to the Cowboys because he had displayed interest in it... In fact, he may have volunteered his services because I'm not sure how I would have ever known he even had a fiddle if he didn't.  At some point between being recruited and the recording process he lost his oats.  We discussed him working on harmonies for production but we are stalemate on that.  It's looking right now like we are going to have to part ways with Mr Dixon, at least for the album.  If the Porridge ever hits the big stage, we'd love to have Masson come play guitar and do backing vocals, possibly even some leads, but having another person to pay on a project that most likely isn't going to turn a profit is looking like a bad investment.

I'm calling in some favors to hopefully getting another fiddle player; a real one.  There's a band called Kingfish.  My dad is friends with their fiddle player.  He's done some work for me before and hopefully he will again.  We might be breaking the "everyone has to sing rule."  There just aren't a lot of options now.

To make the day not a total waste though, I got in touch with Trip and we laid down some finals on vocals.  I did 2 songs; Jesse did 2 songs.  I'm halfway done.  Jesse isn't.  :)  They turned out great.  Hopefully I'll finish my leads this week and get some fiddle on the album.  Next weekend Jesse is out of town, the following he has a gig.  Not sure what that's going to do to the anticipated release date, but I think March is still realistic.

Laying down vocals on Tears on the Pavement

It's almost 1am and I have class in the morning.  Yes, morning is Sunday and I have class.  So for now, plant your oats and remember, the reaping draws near.