Originally Posted by: manXcat

Originally Posted by: faith83Everything arrived today and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed just now.

WOW! I get the "overwhelmed" part totally. Mine is humble, and the competency learning curve long an challenging. Yours is your focus, so I can only ogle in surmising at what SweetwaterSanta must have sent you. = ]

P.S. I noted a recent (?) profile sig change from default Full Acces to "JD Forever". A John Denver fan since seemingly forever myself, he was most significant and influential to me at the time of buying my first nylon stringed acoustic guitar way back in '73 when he was in his deservedly popular heyday. His death in that Long EZ all the more tragic in a fuel managment incident being foreseeable and the accident avoidable if you read the FTSB accident report. So sad. But to happier memories. Impossible though it is to pick an absolute favourite from his many, there are two songs of his I love in the particular. One, "Rocky Mountain High" because of its soaring vocal that irresistably elevates, the other as close to a #1 pick as possible, "Poems, Prayers, & Promises" for its invocation of a soulful introspective spirituality.

Yeah, unpacking everything and looking at the learning curve reminds me that the reason I pay those engineers is because they know how to use this stuff and I don't!

It's just a basic set up -- a microphone (that's where all the $ went), stand, etc. and an interface/software. Just for vocals, for now.

JD.... ah, yes. There are so many favorites for me. None of them singles. Part of the challenge with turning new people on to JD (and even some fans) is that RCA picked his singles, and as you no doubt also know, for the most part they aren't very representative of him as an artist. His album cuts are much more interesting and substantive than most of his singles, though many of those are masterpieces too -- including of course Rocky Mountain High and PPP, both of which are exquisite. (His line, "It turns me on to think of getting old" guts me every time I hear it.)

My Sweet Lady, maybe the finest love song ever written, IMO.

And then there are his cover songs, which in many cases rival or surpass the original. His recording of The Weight is, IMO, ,definitive, as is his cover of Kris K's Casey's Last Ride. And I prefer his version of Let It Be to McCartney's. I think he gets the song in a way that Paul didn't. And of course, Mother Nature's Son, while technically a Beatles song, is for all intents and purposes a JD song now. He was meant to sing it.

If you haven't already, check out his 1995 Harbor Lights Concert (PM me and I can point you to where to get it). IMO, one of the finest concert recordings ever made and John at the peak of his creative power. He was just getting started in some ways in his development as a mature artist. (And yeah, a stupid stupid mistake of arrogance from an experienced pilot. John should have known better and fueled up and he'd still be with us today. Unless he went and did another stupid thing, that is...)

I can go on and on about JD, but won't...

Billy Joel is why I became a songwriter in the first place years ago. JD is why I came back to it, years later. I owe them both my life many times over.

PS -- JD Forever is a little silly, but it's all that would fit. I wanted to do a quote, but there's not room, and I'm not willing to sacrifice my BJ quote in my sig... ;-)