No Such Thing as Luck

**Warning**  Huge guitar solo!  Today’s tune is about how sometimes true love seems more like fate than luck.

“It’s possible, that I knew you in another life, we were like old friends and lovers at first sight”

This one was written and partially recorded in Asheville then completed at my studio in Atlanta and on a solar farm in Statesboro, Georgia.

The guitar solo is another exercise in simplicity and like Billy Talbot said about Neil Young’s lead guitar one time, it’s only “big notes”.  I try to use space in a guitar solo as much as I play notes.  I guess I’m getting old and don’t want to use acrobatics anymore (that takes too much practice).

Thanks for listening!

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The City Tonight

Today’s song is about the snow silencing the city and walking around falling in love while taking in the stillness of it all.  Written in Asheville but it is perfect for Atlanta.  Because when it snows here, everything shuts down (unlike NC).

I’m especially proud of my drum part on this one.  I’m not considered a “drummer” anymore (since 9th grade), so I’ll take any bright spots I can get.     Thanks for listening!

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Every Now and Then

Song #2.  This one has maximum “feel good” vibes.  Simple words about love and transition, originally written when we were living in Asheville and thinking about the big move to the ATL.  Needless to say, we made the transition and have never looked back (although I’ll always miss the NC mountains).

The music on this one has about as many counterpoint solos as one can handle (or possibly too many) with me playing multiple guitar, harmonica and piano leads and John Kell getting in some jabs on sax.  It’s short but sweet and is one I automatically want to turn up.

It’s got me on drums, guitars, bass, ukulele, harmonica, piano/synths, mandolin and vocals, John Kell on sax/backing vocals and Adair and Rob Sankey on backing vocals.

The pic below is the solar farm in Richland, Georgia that I was building at the time when I did a lot of the finishes to the recording on this one.  I actually found and negotiated the land and built most of this particular solar farm from beginning to end.

Click here to listen to or buy the entire album.

September 1st “Democracy is a Pizza Hut”

Today’s song is unique because I wrote it on the back of the recycling truck while Kristen Hampton filmed me yesterday for the WBTV News.  I ended up getting home so late last night that I had to go a different route with my song of the day.   And then to put a new kink into the mix, work kept me from driving back to Asheville tonight to record.  So, tonight you may have to image what this grounding breaking and excessively deep (sic) song sounds like.

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WBTV NEWS / Chris Cates

June 16th “Asheville Evening”

I’ve done 166 songs before this one and haven’t done an acoustic instrumental yet.  And as my urbane set up concludes, today is the day.  This song has been evolving in warm ups at acoustic gigs for a while, so it was bound to end up on one of my song a days.   I decided to do all the orchestration with just the acoustic guitar.   Although the keyboard strings were tempting me (as they always do).

I named it “Asheville Evening” in tribute to the rainy haze outside my studio door.   Thanks for listening!

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June 15th “See the Way Together”

What a hot sweaty day.   We hit our recycling routes then I had the pleasure of working in the 200 degree box truck for a while unloading glass bottles from restaurants.   They don’t smell quite as rosey during the summer months.   I started to write a song about being busy and working but that seemed to only perupetuate my supposed misery.  It’s not that bad.

Then when I got home to my oasis in Asheville, I started talking to several people that my band is performing at their wedding.  Which led me back to some old tracks I recorded in Athens with Mike Elam and a viola player that I haven’t listened to in years.   Today I added some more music and wrote the lyrics with a bit of a mariachi wedding remix.

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May 26 “You’re Falling in Love”

The tire exploded on the recycling truck yesterday afternoon, so it’s been an interesting week.  We still managed to get to 220 houses in Hildebran today and pull in about 6000 pounds of stuff.   The perfect background for me to come home and write an ambient love song right?  This song is more of a mood piece than a normal vocal song.   It’s meant to capture that feeling when you first fall in love.

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May 19 “Sometimes You’ve got to Go and Get It”

Big week on the recycling boat once again.  But it’s over now and I’m heading to a golf tournament in Georgia.   I have barely played this year so I’m mainly going to have fun and to play some music with an old friend of mine.    I must admit, tonight’s came pretty fast and I recorded it as quickly.

Thanks for listening!

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May 14th’s Song “It Might Be What You’re Looking For”

Well Lebron lost, as I said  yesterday, I hope he stays.  I was going to do a song about that today but it didn’t come out the way I wanted it to, so I arrived at this one.   Maybe I’m subconsciously speaking to Lebron in the song telling him to smile and get over it.     I think that’s why they lost.  They quit having fun.  That’s something we should never do.  Always have fun, even if things aren’t so great.   I know, better said than done.   At least it’s a nice thought.

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April 24th “Value Meal Sonata”

It’s funny when I’m at home in Asheville or even going out up here, I eat ultra healthy.  Everything organic, mostly salads, moderate meat and wheat.  But when I’m on the recycling path working in Morganton, I basically eat fast food at least once a day.   I try to limit myself to one burger a week but that usually turns into at least two.   Not to mention all of the other $1 items there is these days.  I’ve gotten so brainwashed into thinking everything should be a dollar that I get mad when lunch is more than $3.

The dollar menu is one of the greatest economic mutations of the down turn the last few years.

Anyway, that’s kind of what “Value Meal Sonata” is about and it’s zero calories!

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