The third song from “My Old Soul” has the classic four on the floor kick drum beat that makes booty shaking a must. Add in some synths, guitars, strings and lyrics questioning life’s struggles and how to sift through them and you’ve got a jam.
“I’ll always be dreaming, if I’m breathing I’m dreaming and one won’t stop before the other”. Thanks for listening!
This song is about keeping it going no matter how many mistakes you make along the way.
“Sometimes I get closer, sometimes I miss it all
Sometimes I stay standing, sometimes I slip and fall
It’s not my first go round and it probably won’t be my last”
Thanks for listening!
My new album is finally complete and out today!! It took a while to record and finish and there were some casualties along the way but now it’s here! “My Old Soul” mixes R&B elements with synthesizers, sax and guitars and has a general concept of loose spirituality and consciousness. I’m playing guitar, keys, drums, harmonica etc. with Chris Singleton playing bass on most of the album and John Kell on Sax. Adair Cates, Jeramy Lamanno, Kerry Jones and John Kell sing back ups.
“What a Beautiful Feeling” is the first song and it gets the good vibes going right away. I tried to show a little motown influence on it while throwing in a big #TreyAnastasio like guitar solo to bring it home. Thanks for listening! #newmusic #chriscates #myoldsoul
“The square root of Joy is love. Divided by two and it’s us. Geometrically in perfect touch. We fit together like a glove.”
This song used to be called “Geometrically in Perfect Touch” but I had to change the name in tribute to my one and only Joy Kincaid Cates. I do have a song called “Coral Cove” might I add, that can represent Coral.
This song was written when Adair and I were trying to figure out whether we should move out of Asheville to further our careers. “What will we be doing in August and September?”. Needless to say, we decided to move to Atlanta and everything else is history. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost six years!
This song is available on iTunes, spotify, amazon etc. is part of my “Life’s a Love Song album.
“I know I don’t understand exactly what you’re going through
I’m just here to tell you, I’m standing right there beside of you
Because you’ve got to believe that things will get better
You gotta believe, we’re gonna make it through this stormy weather
And I’ll be there to hold the umbrella”
I’ve got a few hundred songs online streaming and for sale but for some reason this one song has been lapping them all lately as far as how many times it has been streamed and bought. “Slow Beach Music”, from my Carolina Songs album, is about the last song the band is playing in the bar at 2am. You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here. Thanks for listening! #beachmusic #shagsongs
I’ve been so busy I haven’t posted anything from my new instrumental electronic / hip hop album that came out in April. Fresh Beet Suite is a collection of songs I composed on my Triton keyboard over the years. I kept them very minimalist to keep the original charm and vibe of the times when they were written.
Some of the 30 songs were recorded in Athens, Lawrenceville, Morganton, Asheville and Atlanta. Basically everywhere I’ve lived for the last fifteen years. The album starts with “Decatur Funk”, a slow rolling hip hop beat, and quickly moves into the upbeat 80’s dance inspired “Lionel Up”. From there it meanders through 27 more tracks that are basically all over the place in musical styles.
Thanks for listening!
As I sit here grinding it out at the job again, I can’t help but reflect back on my 20’s when I was a struggling touring musician. Those were good times (or were they). That’s the catch 22 of life and whatever professional route we take ourselves in the pursuit of making a living, are we totally content? I am not blessed with contentment undoubtedly. I need to make that mind shift. Or do I just need to solely be a recording artist with a golf bug which is my ultimate goal. Would I be content then?
#worklifebalance
“They tell me You’ve Got to get a real job and stop living like a slob”
I was playing this on piano last night and thought it would be a good post for today since there seems to be an abundance of extra hate floating around these days. “All these times I go through life’s crazy changes, love is all I know, and I really hope that it’s contagious, and if you feed it, it will grow”. Thanks for listening!
Here’s another little #beachmusic diddy to celebrate Dad’s birthday week. This is the last song on my #CarolinaSongs album and is about the band playing the last song of the night at the bar. Thanks for listening!
Chris Cates .com 