It’s been a while since my last post, but I finally found some time now that I’ve recovered from the holiday mania, and found some motivating inspiration in the new Lady Antebellum single, “American Honey.” One the whole, I’d rate the song at about a 7 out of 10, but if I could, I’d give the chorus melody a 12.

I was driving to lunch one day last week, and after hearing it on the radio, was crushed that I couldn’t just hear it again. This is one of the few songs that I’ve heard recently that has actually got me to go buy the song from iTunes for a whopping $1.29. The concept and verses seem a little lacking on first listen; in a way they sound like a rehash of Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” (and a million other songs) in that they’re describing a good American girl. But in the third verse the song takes a reflective twist, revealing that the singer is that girl, later in life, which is a redeeming payoff for the song. However, if the chorus hadn’t been so perfect, I would probably have changed the station before ever getting to the story’s payoff at all.

Again in the chorus, it’s not even the lyrics that I love, it’s the melody. Jason Blume makes a case that it’s not the lyrics that make a hit, it’s the melody. And he’s right. Of course the lyrics have to be great, too, but without the melody, no one would buy the record. Honestly, the title and hook lyric “American Honey” kind of irks me, to be perfectly honest, but it’s catchy. And it’s smashed into your head at the end of not only every chorus, but also every verse, so you’ll never forget it, and won’t have any trouble finding the song on iTunes.

According to iTunes, “American Honey” was written by Cary Barlowe, Hillary Lindsey and Shane Stevens. I think they might have listened to a lot of Huey Lewis when writing this one… listen for it in the chorus. Whatever they did, it worked.

I made another multi-track recording of this, mostly because I started with a midi piano track so I could transpose easily and find the right key for me to sing in, with a drum track to make it easier to stay in time. And then I added the harmonies, so I figured I should finish it out with bass and guitar. It’s not perfect, of course, but I got tired of working on it, so here you go, even if I am a bit flat in a couple places, and even if it’s weird for a male to be singing this song.

A couple weeks ago I watched the CMA awards and was really impressed by Lady Antebellum’s performance of “Need You Now,” which has been stuck in my head since. It’s #1 on Billboard’s Country Songs chart and #5 on the Hot 100, so apparently I’m not alone in liking the song. The three band members, Dave Haywood, Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley are credited for co-writing the song with current hit-maker Josh Kear (”Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood, “Wild at Heart” by Gloriana).

There are a couple of things that I find interesting about this song. First off, it doesn’t feel like a country song. There’s this weird sub-genre of pop country that is swallowing up what I’ve always considered pop/rock. Some call is “cross-over,” usually meaning that a country artist has crossed-over into pop/rock. I’ll agree that when an artist does a song like this, it’s a “cross-over,” but I think it’s a cross-over in that the artist has recorded a pop/rock song that might still smell of that crystal-clean Nashville production. In this case, it’s a rock ballad, and it reminds me of both the Alan Parsons Project’s “Eye in the Sky” (in the melodies) and also something off of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors.

Secondly, the song’s topic rings true for anyone in this cell phone generation who has loved and lost and gotten wasted. This is the first song I’ve heard about a drunk-dial, which is something that seems to be creeping into the collective social consciousness more prevalently these days. About a year ago, Google Labs released an optional add-on for their popular Gmail service called Mail Goggles which, if enabled, requires the user to solve three simple math problems before sending an email if it’s late at night, and perhaps to prevent a drunk-email. Maybe it’s the acceleration of communication technology these days that has raised the awareness of this, or maybe people drink more, or maybe my generation has just reached (or passed) the stage in life when this is most likely to occur. In any case, it’s an emotionally charged social situation that people can relate to, and one that hasn’t been overdone in songs yet.

This song is performed as a duet, but it also works as a solo song. However, the duet adds a lot of energy and contrast in the verses, and any other artist would be hard-pressed to make a recording of this song that’s as good as this single.

For example, I made a multi-track recording (including canned drums!) this time in learning the song, and of course it’s not anywhere near as good as the original. But I feel like it paid off in understanding a little bit more about the song’s melodic structure. There are a variety of melodies and counter-melodies played by the instruments that interact with and draw contrast to the vocal melodies throughout the song. In particular, there’s a little signature piano hook that pops up throughout the song, and the bass line melodically ascends counter to the verse melody. I took the liberty of omitting and/or changing the lead guitar part as I’m not much of a slide guitar player, and I didn’t record (or learn, honestly) the harmonies. This song was a stretch for me vocally. I transposed it down a step from the recording, but I don’t think it was enough. This was a good home studio learning experience for me, though, and taking note of how all the instrumental parts in the song are so strategic was also educational.