Fishin’ in the Dark

Fishin’ in the Dark

It’s been a little while since my last post, but don’t give up on me—I’ve just been really busy. The Georgian Company played Austin’s 1st Oktoberfest last Saturday, which was a lot of fun and I think we sounded pretty good, too. Afterwards (it was a 9pm show) we went over to Ginny’s Little Longhorn to unwind a little and danced to Roger Wallace and his band, who played the hell out of some country classics. I got to meet Jim Stringer and Lisa Pankratz, who played pedal steel and drums, respectively, and are institutions in the Austin country scene.

Anyway, the point is that I’m sorry it’s been a while since my last post. In case of future irregularity in my postings, you might want to subscribe—that way you’ll never miss a one!

My wife suggested I learn the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Fishin’ in the Dark,” and as soon as I heard it and remembered it, I knew it had to be next. I couldn’t get it out of my head for days. It’s such a fun song, and the NGDB’s harmonies are so sweet. The verses and choruses are both independently solid, with the production of the verses being more sparse and a little more rhythmically dynamic and the choruses being big and full but with a very pronounced and straight duple meter. And then the final couple of choruses introduce a hint of a round, bringing the more complex rhythm into the mix at the finale. Also worth noting are the hard stops right before the choruses, which really add some nice punctuation. The song’s production really puts a nice polish on the standard ABABB format.

In addition to the infectious melody, the song writers Jim Photoglo (yes, Photoglo) and Wendy Waldman^[1] did a great job topically, as well. The lyrics clearly are about more than just goin’ fishin’, but they’re strung in such a way that you’d want to go fishin’, too, even if there wasn’t romance involved. They just really capture the moment when summer is right around the corner, and being outside at night feels awesome. And it makes you want your special someone close by.

This time around I made a multi-track recording since I really wanted to try to get some of the harmonies incorporated. And I had an extra banjo lying around the house, too. It’s a little loosey-goosey, and it’s not exactly hi-fi as I recorded it through the mic on my old iSight webcam, but I think it turned out pretty well, regardless.