Uncle Gus's Blog (11)

The rest of the songs from my abandoned LP are now available for free downloads. Showmen's Rest is the title. Three big numbers with everything you'd expect from U.G...low-pitched vocals!...meandering solos!...that dang ice bucket again!...

You've got options...either hit up the "Free Music" page at http://uncle-gus.com or get 'em at http://www.reverbnation.com/unclegus (all my other…

Last fall, I announced I was going to make my first full-length album and put it up for download at Bandcamp.com for the sum of one United States Dollar.

I got about two-thirds done with this digital record when our family suffered a loss (I wrote about it here back in January). I basically took a couple months off from writing and recording to recover.

This left me with seven completed tracks, and the original rush of energy lost to the ether. So I've decided to put those…

It's been a while since I've come here.

There was a bit of traveling to do in December, which got in the way of making music. Then at the end of the month, my wife's mother passed away very suddenly. We were pretty close...not one of those typical antagonistic in-law relationships that provides fodder for bad sitcoms.

At any rate, her entire family is pretty spun out about it, and so am I. They lost a linchpin in their lives, and I lost a very good friend. I haven't felt much…

Since I got hip to the CBG tip this year (after playing one of them boring ol' six string "reg'lar git-tars" since about 1983 or so), I've been trying to figure something out: where do I wanna take this?

I'm not looking to earn any money. Goodness knows that's not it. Selling CBGs is probably the best way to do that within this scene, and it would take me at least ten years to work up the carpentry skills to sell my builds without feeling guilty. Plus, I don't have the patience or the…

After a little break from recording and the music world in general, I finally got back into the swing of things over the weekend. Yesterday I mixed down a song that's been sitting around waiting for a bassline (which problem I solved by deciding it don't need one), finished the vocal and CBG parts on another, and tonight I managed to get a whole new song in the can (solo CBG/vocal blues number).

So now seems like a good time to string ten or eleven cuts together and put 'em…

Just got done making my latest free EP ready for download.

This one's called Hollerween! and features four new songs inspired by a certain October holiday:

1. I'm Your Boogie Man
2. Punkin Faces
3. Creature Blues
4. Little Zombies

My Don Gato CBG and the Winterbone and Poor Bob tin guitars are all over this one, and I even dug out Tetanus Special, not to mention that danged electric washboard that shows up in a couple tunes. There's…

I decided I'd like to have a home base for my online musical operations because I'm not in love with the ReverbNation interface (though I'll still use it), so this morning I put up a little website:

http://uncle-gus.com

There's not a ton of content just yet...I still want to put up a page for videos, for example, but I think it does a decent job so far of telling what my music is about. If you've got any…

Got another couple tunes finished and uploaded for your listening and downloading pleasure.

"Hot Corn Pone" is a harumphin', clankin' studio creation with two homemade guitars, bass, vocals and ice bucket percussion. The B-side, "Thievin' Blues," is a live track from the open mic I played a couple weeks ago. Some of the intonation may be a trifle approximate, but the energy of the room is pure fun.

Download both tracks absolutely free (Bad credit? No credit? No cash?…

Last night I played in front of an audience for the first time in several years. A local music store (Front Porch Music) hosts "Open Stages" in their basement every Thursday. There's a featured performer who plays for 20 minutes or so, then whoever showed up to participate does 2-3 songs. Pretty standard "open mic" format, only usually a lot more interesting.

At any rate, the last time I tried an Open Stage was around 2004,…

One of the things that always struck me about recorded music is how slow the process has become over the years.

It may be the only thing that's actually gotten slower because of technology. You can have a whole meal ready to eat in three minutes (or four, for "let stand for one minute before serving). You can access just about any book or movie almost instantly. But it takes longer than ever to make music.

How long did it take Robert Johnson to record "Hell Hound On My…

The waiting.

I just can't stand the waiting.

It's the worst thing about building these instruments.

Last night, after posting a few updated pics of my third CBG, I managed to finish the instrument. The final step before closing the lid and stringing it up was to fire a blob of adhesive onto the neck and stick the piezo disk down, then encase the little sucker.

I know from experience that, until the adhesive fully cures, the vibrations from the guitar will…