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I’m super excited to announce the release of my latest blues slide guitar song ‘Devil At Your Door‘. If you’ve been following me since the start you will know that this track was the first blues slide guitar song written for the Lawless Luke project. What originally started its life on the acoustic guitar in standard tuning, swiftly moved over to my Michael Messer resonator lighting guitar, in open D tuning. I remember watching Seasick Steve and Tom Jones performing a stripped down blues thing on TV, and I was like ‘Wow that was awesome!’ So I picked up the old plinky, poured myself a glass of plonky and the rest is history!
There’s a Devil here tonight…
Lyrically this blues slide guitar song is definitely one of my darker and more menacing numbers. The lyrics explore the concept of something wicked and all together evil trying to invade your world. I can’t say I had a particular character in mind when writing this track, although a few political figures of late spring to mind! The song feels even more poignant today as we increasingly live in a world of disinformation, corporate greed and intolerance. I also use religious references in the song, this type of language is typical with a lot of early blues music.
From live demo to studio version
The above video shows one of the first demo versions of this blues slide guitar song that I recorded. This tune has always gone down a storm at my live shows, but I always felt that it was missing something. It wasn’t until I started to record this work as a studio piece, that more sonic possibilities presented themselves. You can listen and download the early demo sessions that I recorded of this song, along with others below.
A blues slide guitar song with unusual textures
I’ve always absolutely loved the sound of the Hammond organ, and really wanted to incorporate it into my new blues slide guitar songs. As I’ve discussed in previous blogs, when composing in the studio I’m never quite sure where a song is going to go. I always go with what I think will enhance a song and bring a deeper or richer texture. I try and let the music speak to me and then go with that. When exploring some of the organ sounds I also found some incredibly exciting synth sounds, which just added a whole new element to the song. I’ve always loved blending the sound of acoustic and electronic industrial sounds, which is all over my previous progressive metal project Steel Box Theories.
Recording gear used
It may surprise you to learn that this song was recorded all in my home studio! For software I used Garageband and recorded directly into my iPad Pro using my trusty iRig Pro Duo. Gear wise I used my Michael Messer Lightning Guitar and Black Jack Deluxe Cigar Box guitar from Drummond and Hammett. I usually DI my guitar using an LD systems DI box that goes straight into the iRig Pro Duo. Finally for vocals I used my trusty Samson Co1 mic and pop sheild with shock mount. It all works a treat, super compact, inexpensive and sounds great.
If it feels good then do it!
I’m sure some people won’t like the blend of electronic instruments with the acoustic blues, as though there’s some kind of rule book about it… There probably IS a rule book somewhere, if you do find a copy of it please send me one as I’d LOVE to burn it. My point is music is music, if it feels good then just do it.
Thanks for reading about my latest blues slide guitar song
If you’ve made it this far on this blog post then seriously thank you! I hope you’ve enjoyed the song and the background behind it. Be sure to treat yourself, buy the track and share the hell out of it!
As always thanks for reading my Lawless Luke blog. If you like the post please subscribe here for regular updates.
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Take it easy,
Lawless Luke
