“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’m in the middle of a very productive year musically, releasing lots of independent albums, but that doesn’t mean I don’t put in 40-60 hours a week with my “real job” developing solar farms. I live in Atlanta where you gotta make some dough to feed the oven, so a “real” job is quite a necessity. Although I’m working hard with my record company and PR to turn that table, this old song of mine seems even more ironic to me today (now that I have a “real” job and am not a full time musician anymore). Thanks for listening and supporting independent music!
This is it, the last song on the album! Thanks to everybody that has listened these last few weeks as I’ve been posting all 15 songs. If you feel so inclined and feel like supporting independent music, pick up a physical copy at CDBaby or the mp3 album at iTunes.
It’s amazing that I’ve been an independent musician for over 25 years. It’s been fun a lot of the times, a miserable struggle some of the time and completely rewarding most of the time. I’ve made it this long so I guess I’m going to keep on, keeping on. 2015 should be a very productive year for me. I’m almost finished with my instrumental ‘baby music’ album called “Music for Newborns” and I’ve got a ultra-funky classic dance album in the queue called “Super Fantastic”.
“Super Fantastic” will also continue my new collaboration with Ricky Rodriguez and Bomb House Recording, he will now be mixing my music leaving me to solely concentrate on recording. Mixing has always been what holds me up and now I am finally handing over the reigns to a professional.
Okay, “Our Love Will Show the Way” is a quiet spiritual send out to “Life’s a Love Song”. It’s very simple but has a wonderful message. “Our love will show the way, it’s bright enough to light up, even the darkest day”, “Take all you wanna take, what’s mine is yours, things can be replaced, it’s worth the smile on your face”.
This album took a ton of hard work, especially since I was juggling three different major solar farm projects that were all three and a half hours a part. But perseverance pays off and now I’ve got another music snapshot of my life for posterity. I’m blessed to be able to make music and I appreciate all of the continued love and support for my blessing and my curse. It’s hard to be a musician and have to work a “real job”. I struggle with it mightily but you gotta do what you gotta do. One day one of these records will hit the right spot and sell twenty thousand units and I’ll look back and laugh.
Easily one of the most powerful and emotional songs I’ve ever recorded, the fourth song on the album is a co-write with my good friend Jefferson Taffet (check out his albums by searching Lionz). We’ve collaborated before on a song called “Give it Up” available on the Stranger Things Have Happened CD.
He originally recorded this song in my studio in Athens about fifteen years ago and I always loved it. Even though it’s a drastic departure from the rest of the album, I felt compelled to get it out into the world.
Moonlight Madness is just me on guitar, vocals, strings and my signature french horn. I tried to keep it as stark and simple as possible to highlight the love and desperation of the great lyrics.
“Will you hold me up, and never let me slump, give me two good shoes, we’ve got some walking to do”
Below is a picture of the skyline and moon at Atlantic Station where I recorded it.
The third song on “Life’s a Love Song” is one I’ve been trying to get right for a few years. It’s been a staple at my shows since I wrote it but it was hard to fully embrace the quirky-ness in a recording. The classical guitar gives it it’s flavor and like a lot of the songs on this album, the backing vocals really tie it together.
The lyrics are about how life can really get in the way of what matters unless you stay conscious and connected with your loved ones (something I’m not always good at unfortunately).
“And don’t you know, we’re constantly on the go, running from one place to and fro, or talking on the phone, that’s why I don’t let you know enough how much it is I love you”.
The picture below is from the day I recorded the vocals. It was a complete rain out at the job site and I had sent everyone home. However, I was stuck there waiting on a truck to come in. So why not be productive! #songoftheday
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.
My new album is finally out!! Song #1. I recorded it partially in Asheville, Atlanta and in the car, job trailer and hotel room while building one megawatt solar farms in South Georgia. Literally, some of these songs were recorded sitting in my car either on the job site or sitting in Hampton Inn parking lots after dark with people walking by wondering what the hell it was I was doing. So, I managed to get the album done and create enough solar energy to power a few small towns.
“Celebrating All Your Wonders” is the first song on “Life’s a Love Song”. It’s got a unique feel and sounds a little different from a lot of my other songs. It could be my choppy drums or just the over all beat. Whatever it is, it always seemed to be people’s favorite so I put it first on the record. I liked the opening line “Kicking a stone down the street, thinking about the next time you’ll be kicking it with me.” It kind of ties in the old school and new school which reflects my style perfectly.
This song features me on drums, guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals, John Kell on sax and backing vocals with Adair and Rob Sankey also on backing vocals. Ricky Rodriguez mastered it at Bomb House Studios in Morganton.
Thanks for listening and supporting independent music!!
Most folks know my family has been through a life changing event of late. It’s been rough but we are getting through it as best we can. It happened right after I started posting songs from ‘Getaway Plans’ week before last. Ironically, this song seems to fit perfectly with the outpouring of support from all of our family and friends. It’s amazing what folks have said and done, they have truly been our Lucky Umbrella.
Over the years, I’ve had multiple people tell me that this song has helped them through some tough times which makes me feel like I can make a difference with songwriting (aside from just getting people to shake their booty). Please pass it along to someone in your life who’s had some tough times. Maybe we can make a difference together.
I just moved back to lovely East Atlanta and am in the process of building my new studio. So I thought it might be appropriate to post songs from my album “Getaway Plans” this week and next. It was the album I made just before I left Athens in 2004 and released the night before I moved out of town. We had a fun CD release party for it at the Roadhouse.
This song (and several more on the album) features the great Dr. Andrej Kurti on violin.
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Welcome to Chris Cates.com. I'm an old school independent artist with lots of albums, songs, solar panels etc. This site tries to encapsulate what it is I've been doing since I played my first professional gig at 13. I post a song of the day occasionally from my somewhat excessive original song catalogue and I'm constantly recording new material when I'm not building solar farms, trying to play golf or tennis or taking care of my new twin girls.
Chris Cates .com 