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Dec 28 2022

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Waking up in Dallas, Texas, with the sun pouring through the window (T-shirt weather) and all we did was fly south from Minnesota for two hours. Salim came and picked us up from the accom in Highland Park and took us to get a coffee before we hit the studio. Outside the coffee shop was a giant vehicle that seemed to have the remains of Santa plastered over the bonnet (hood) and the windscreen. Check the picture out below. There was a giant poodle watching everybody, I thought it might have been manipulating some of the people in the coffee shop, the woman with the botox lips and the two blonde children in matching white coats or the man that seemed to be checking everybody out in the place, when in fact it was the poodle using his body as an inconspicuous observation point. To what end the poodle was doing this was hard to tell but when he or she left, lots of people in the coffee shop just disappeared into dust.

We arrived to find engineer Kevin and Sarah’s biz partner sitting in the studio with the door open, it’s summer, isn’t it? Oh wait, it’s December. Paul arrived on foot as his car broke down, we had a bit of a later start just catching up and figuring out what we were going to do. What are we doing? Well, we are working on some older songs acoustic (Paul is helping, playing, singing, dancing), will keep you posted on where it all leads. We’ve been filling in these days between sessioneers with other productive projects. It doesn’t leave any time to visit the hot spots of Dallas, the discos, the night clubs or even the art galleries, the Kennedy tour, the record stores, but it takes 12-hour days to get things done and you have to decide what your priorities are, it might not be dancing to Tragedy (1979), although I did wonder if the Bee Gees had heard Argent’s song Tragedy on the All Together Now album (1972)?

It was a bit of a tough day in the studio today. Although one song came together quite smoothly, another was harder and it’s at those times that you think about Not Guilty, Take 102 on The Beatles’ White Album (1968) and it didn’t make the album. Imagine how many reels of tape they used to record this one track. George revisited the song and released it as the second track on his 1979 self-titled album. it’s a positive album and is in complete contrast to what was going on in England in 1979. It’s breezy, middle of the road, it’s produced by smoothy Russ Titelman which explains why it sounds this way, but it did have the hit song Blow Away and the follow up to Here Comes the Sun called (you guessed it) Here Comes the Moon, “It’s like a little brother to the sun”. Interestingly Here Comes the Sun, a Harrison song, is the top-streamed Beatles song on Spotify (925,263,783), 400 million more than Let It Be in second place.

In the studio today I was detuning guitars, two 12-strings and a 6-string acoustic, trying to find a key to sing to without transposing the chords. Some songs have to have the particular shapes you wrote them with or it just doesn’t work. We got engineer Kevin’s guitar back from the luthier and discovered that the pickup didn’t work. Sarah picked it up and was now taking it back. It ended up being a dead battery but we couldn’t even see the battery to know it was dead. Some guitars put the battery in a ridiculous place. It was a good job that it was something simple because I’ll be using it on Saturday for the Dallas show, so be there, Salim will be playing too. A perfect night for low-key New Year’s Eve lovers who still want to go out.

Music Of The Daze

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: Blog

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there's any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵 📷 @oliviaelek Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵

📷 @oliviaelektra 

#danelectro #danelectrobass #redeyerecords #pleasantrylane #pleasantrylanestudio
You usually don’t spend the day in the studio an You usually don’t spend the day in the studio and the night at a gig but if you put the studio next to the gig then there’s a greater chance. So @salimnourallah did just that, he put the gig and the studio next to each other and made it possible for me to spend the day recording and the evening playing live 🎵

📷 @drewliophoto 

#galacticheadquarters #happinessarecordlabel #pleasantrylanestudio #salimnourallah #oliviawillsonpiper
TO WHERE I AM NOW A visit in the studio today fro TO WHERE I AM NOW

A visit in the studio today from old mate Mark Burgess from The Chameleons who has been hanging in Texas recently. I was thinking about the two of us growing up in the northwest of England and all these years later finding ourselves in such an unlikely spot together. We fixed a few issues in the universe and I carried on recording some guitars until Mark had to leave. Mark had played at the Galactic Headquarters next to the studio this year as Olivia and I had four years ago and this reminded me to remind myself to remind everyone to remind their friends that we will be playing there with Salim on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, for the ultimate in intimate performance. You can get tickets here (follow link below).

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1045

KEEP IN TOUCH: https://linktr.ee/mwillsonpiper

📷 @salimnourallah 

#markburgess #thechameleons #chameleonsvox #pleasantrylanestudio #happinessarecordlabel #martywillsonpiper #oliviawillsonpiper #moatband
📷 @argirgirl 📷 @argirgirl
TO WHERE I AM NOW Sadness manifested in a buildin TO WHERE I AM NOW

Sadness manifested in a building, today we went to visit Paisley Park. Prince built Paisley Park in Chanhassen, about twenty minutes southwest of Minneapolis. It opened in 1987 and he recorded his later albums there. Apart from Prince, REM also recorded and mixed Out Of Time there, recording Kate Pearson’s vocal on Shiny Happy People vocal. Madonna had Prince play guitar on three songs from Like A Prayer and the two co-wrote Love Song, finishing it remotely due to Madonna not being able to stand the cold weather and the rather desolate location of the studio. Of course, there are things around but it’s not in the city and it’s not in the countryside, it’s in a suburb, no distractions, just what Prince wanted.

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1032

KEEP IN TOUCH: https://linktr.ee/mwillsonpiper

📷 @argirgirl 

#paisleypark #prince
Marty & Pablo! 📷 Rod MacQuarrie Marty & Pablo!

📷 Rod MacQuarrie
At last, a proper door stop. 📷 @judgeschamber At last, a proper door stop.

📷 @judgeschamber 

#grammysitting 👵
🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵 31 December - DALL 🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵

31 December - DALLAS
7 January - CELINA
12 January - HOUSTON
14 January - AUSTIN
15 January - SAN ANTONIO

With @salimnourallah and @joereyesmusic

More info here: https://mailchi.mp/e47ede06acd6/texas-acoustic-dates
Doors & Delays 🎸 @workshop21_guitarclinic #the Doors & Delays 🎸

@workshop21_guitarclinic #thedoors #fenderstratocaster #fenderhotroddeville #nashtelecaster #rickenbacker
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Songwriting & Guitar Guidance with Marty Willson-Piper
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"These are awesome sessions that I highly recommend for guitar players of all levels. Very informative, frank discussions on everything related to guitar and music in general. Definitely a must for anyone pursuing songwriting."
(Stephen G., VA, USA)

"Marty knows how to bypass scales and get to the heart of feel and timing. His musical knowledge spans multiple cultures and genres. Perhaps most importantly, Marty is a cool dude. I highly recommend his guitar guidance." (Jed B., MN, USA)

"Ok, so you’re sitting in your home and Marty is across the world but is actually right here teaching you how to play guitar and write songs. He is a delight to talk to and he is your teacher, meaning he wants to see you get something out of his lessons. You know he’s paying attention and wants to steer you in the right direction. I am so grateful and humbled that he offers his time in this manner. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone who admires anything from his enormous body of work. How often do you get to learn from somebody that inspired you in the first place? Amazing." (Ann S., CA, USA)

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there’s any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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