Readers, 

This shortened issue of Musea is all about the release of my new CD, called '6-TH'.  Towards the end I'll tell you the ways you can hear it online or get a copy.

 

This is the '6-th' CD by HUNKASAURUS AND HIS PET DOG GUITAR - me and my Silvertone. It's part of an ongoing and on growing big recording project, I'm calling the 'Outside the Box' CD set.

 

What I'm trying to do is get back to music basics. Songs are important. Lyrics count. The guitar arrangements are full. The voice is simple and straight forward and the background vocals add some sparkle. Overall I wanted to get an honest and passionate feeling into all the songs.  If you have heard me play in the Inwood Theater Box Office Concerts, then you know what I mean.

 

'6-TH' is a collection of 12 songs and one poem. There is a lot of variety here with something for everyone. No filler! None! Here's the song list.

 

1 DON'T BE CRUEL

The CD starts off with a rocker. I've done this Elvis classic faster than he did, and with a little harder edge.

 

2 WITHIN YOU, WITHOUT YOU

My guitar becomes a sitar on this George Harrison song from the 'Sgt. Peppers' album.  Note the haunting melody.

 

3 TILL THERE WAS YOU

Here's a love song from the musical, "The Music Man".  The lyric says, "Then there was music..."

 

4 TEARS

This is an instrumental of mine. Tears can be a song about tears of joy or tears of sorrow. It all depends on the final chord. Tears of joy ends in G major. Tears of sorrow ends in Em.

 

5 DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET

This is a fun early Beatle song.  When we, Pam and I, had finished the guitar and main vocals, we started recording the background vocals. Like the original I wanted to do a 'doo wah doo' on some of the verses. But I could not get the half note steps on pitch. We were running out of time for the session and both of us were tired. I said, "Let's just forget it." Pam said, "Now that I hear it , I like it and we need it for the song." I suggested, "Why not have the guitar play the 3 notes."  She said, "Let's try it."  We didn't have time to set up the 2 guitar microphone system, so I just played the 3 notes through the studio vocal mike - once, twice, three times. It's one of only 2 songs that H and PD have recorded, that have 2 guitars playing different parts at the same time. Now when I sing the song live, I sometimes sing "plink, plink plink!" when that background vocal part comes up.

 

6 WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS

This George Harrison song had the original guitar part on the recording done by Eric Clapton. That is not an easy act to follow - AND then perform it all on 1 guitar!  But if you have heard George's solo guitar version, you know how effective that simple  performance can be. That's what I tried to do.

 

7 YOUR CHEATIN' HEART

Hank Williams wrote some wonderful songs. This is one of his best. I tried to sing this as honestly as I could. See what you think.

 

8 BEATLES SONG

Here's another original instrumental. Readers can see I have been influenced by the Beatles. It was because of them that I began playing music and writing songs! This one celebrates their influence. I tried to get it to sound like something in their style.

 

9 THROUGH MY WINDOW

This recitation was originally the lyrics to a slow song on the "B" side of one of my 45's that I recorded in the 80's. The song was OK, but I decided the lyrics sounded better without the music! The short poem leads into my slow ballad, "Darling" but it would work as the intro for any heartfelt love song.

 

10 DARLING 

Here is one of my love songs for the world to slow dance to.

 

11 SPANISH MELODY (part one)

This original instrumental is one of the hardest  songs for me to perform. ( I can compose music more difficult than I can play!) It's named the Spanish Melody because it has that classical Spanish guitar sound with all the passion that goes with it.

 

12 PEACE SIGN

In every album I make, I try to have at least one "BIG" song. That's a song that builds from a quiet and simple start to a very dramatic ending. Peace Sign is this album's big song. It ends with the longest held note on any of my recordings. When I was done, I had to repeat it 2 more times for the background vocals!!!  The song is about peace songs that I loved in the late 60's. 3 are mentioned or quoted from. Can you spot them?

 

13 CYNTHIA

I end this recording with a short original love song from me to the Moon! Note how the last phrase is a half step higher - as if I am reaching up!

 

 

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HERE'S SOME PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO THANK

 

Pam Irwin - Pam was my audio engineer. She also helped me hit the notes (helping me sing clearly and on pitch is a job in itself).  And she did most of the arrangements for the background vocals.

 

David McGhee – His photo is on the cover of the CD. You'll see that it's impressive!

 

Matthew Creed – He's my webmaster who posted this and my other recordings, online.

 

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WOULD YOU LIKE A COPY OF THE CD?

 

Here's three ways to get the music:  SEND, SHOW, or CLICK

 

1. SEND me something in trade - anything that I might like such as food (chocolate!), art, music, a collectible, something to read, $$, etc. - be creative. OR

 

2. SHOW this Musea to me in person. When I see it, with this coupon:

 

[YOU GET ONE FREE CD FOR SHOWING ME THIS MUSEA]

 

I'll give you a free CD (I play box office concerts Tuesday and Wednesday Nights at the Inwood Theater in Dallas). OR

 

3. CLICK on the hunkasuarus website and hear it on line for free.

 

Fine Print - this offer lasts while the CD's last, and I reserve the right to make up more fine print if and when I need it.

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Cover Photo: "The Tom Hendricks Orchestra".  Photographer unknown.

 

 

Musea is Tom Hendricks

 4000 Hawthorne #5 Dallas Texas 75219

tom-hendricks@att.net /  Musea.us /  hunkasaurus.com /  musea.wordpress.com

 

 

Musea #183 Feb/Mar/Apr (c) Tom Hendricks 2012