The Groove
I've been asked a few times to explain why Colby's song "If I Were the Devil" is getting more than 6 times more listens than his second best song "Dying Breed". Likewise, I've wondered why Colby's second album is getting so much more traction than his third or fourth albums, even though the third and fourth cost much more to make and have had the benefit of so much more media funding. The second album cost only $2k to produce and has probably made more than $500,000 in streaming income. The third cost $20k and only "Honky Tonk Kevin" is in his top ten list of songs currently being listened to. The fourth album cost around $150k and none of the songs have entered the top 3 on Colby's listens list, even though they have received enormous advertising benefit.
I've contemplated this question for almost two years. At first, my vanity lead me to believe that it was my input in post production on the second album that made the difference. You see, I once bragged in front of Colby, that I wrote the "lick" and the "whistle" on Devil. He got that pensive look on his face and as a result he made sure I could make no input on the third album. It took me a while (about 8 months) to get over the resentment of being sidelined even though I thought I was a critical part of his success. So, even though I think I am a pretty good producer (the guy that comes up with the ideas that make a song sound good), I've suddenly come to a completely different conclusion.
This idea came about completely by accident when a friend (Katelyn) said she still likes all Colby's new stuff and suggested I listen to the entire "Western White Pine" album. Wow, what an eye opener.
This is going to be a listening exercise, so get your best Bluetooth system ready and launch these songs as I direct and listen to the passages that I will name by time stamp.
The first song: Colby's "If I Were the Devil", his biggest song, that has over 100 million listens on all platforms. Listen to the whole song, noting how it feels. We were specifically going for a "spaghetti western" feel for this song, and I think we achieved it. But that's not the thing I noticed on comparing to Colby's new stuff.
Now, go back and listen to it again, specifically starting at 37sec when the bass begins half notes after whole note intro and continues throughout. Listen to only 3 things: 1) the back beat of the rhythm guitar, the bass half notes, and the vocal. This song walks in such a stately manner with open spaces between the bass, guitar and vocal imparting so much power to the actual message. There are no drums (well, a snare in the second half), but that's beside the point. The point is that this song achieved a "Groove" in the recording session. The placement of the bass note in time is critical. It's significantly later than top dead center of the beat. This is what gives it that laid back Groove feel.
The best way that I can describe a groove is that the band has a complete understanding and comfort level with open spaces between the notes of the various instruments, with each voice and instrument patiently awaiting the time for the next note. It sounds mature. Like the artists have played with each other for more than a couple years and are completely comfortable in the knowledge of the others' note placement.
No, I need to describe this further. All players of the rhythm are in a symbiont circle of "listening--timing--waiting--playing". After each player plays a note, he waits for the next player's confirmation of the central timing of the groove, like awaiting an echo off a canyon wall. The other player's note is both confirmation of the central concept of time and a continuing query for the next player's agreement of time/groove. The most important word is listed first: "LISTENING". No one player owns time -- not the drummer, not the bass, not the rhythm guitar. They are all constantly negotiating the groove. If one player ceases listening, the groove is impossible.
For confirmation of this feeling I went to Dave Cobb's Wikipedia page to get a list of his country and Americana album Grammies. Nothing major, just Brandi Carlisle, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton. Wow. More on why I chose to listen to Dave Cobb productions later.
Lets start with the most obvious. Chris Stapleton's Starting Over album:
Unbelievable groove. The backup vocal does not just perfectly mirror his voice in harmony, but seems almost like a part of himself. Morgane Stapleton, his wife seems to know and match his every vocal styling with perfect timing. The bass: also clearly deeply knowledgeable of Chris Stapleton's style. JT Cure has been playing with Stapleton since he was 19. Not sure how old he is now but I'm guessing that's at least 6 years. Nope, 20. Cure tours and does all the studio work with Stapleton. I think it's obvious that Cure knows how to Groove Stapleton. Drummer Derek Mixon has also been with Stapleton for a while, and Stapleton says of the "Traveller" album "the familiarity he had with Cure and Mixon ... added to the richness of making the record". Stapleton also worked with Dave Cobb on both the Traveller album and on Starting Over.
Now here is an example of where a groove can fail: Cold.
The strings. The producer added strings to the arrangement that make the song sound like a bad James Bond soundtrack. It gets really bad in the middle of the song at 2:30. There is nothing wrong with the strings, but everyone I've shown this song to asks if they can hear it without the strings. Clearly, the bass and the drums on this song know how to groove Stapleton, but these violinist have probably never met the guy, and probably never will.
Next up: Tennessee Whiskey off the Traveller album
The drums are fantastic -- open -- easy going. One kick on "the one" of each measure and either a rim click or snare slap on the three. Absolute patience. Gorgeous in its simplicity and openness (read: "trust in the other players"). The bass also allows the snare slap to cut off his note on the end of the bass phrase, leaving trusting open space. Unbelievable
groove.
What can spoil a Groove:
It takes just one musician in the group to exhibit impatience or a lack of comfort with the other players , or just plain not listening, to ruin the groove.
Note the drums at 1:04. And at 1:40. At the time of this recording the band consisted only of Colby and bass player me (aka Big Blue Bass). The drummer was brought in for just a couple songs on this album including this one. There is absolutely nothing wrong with what the drummer did on this recording. But it is obvious that this was the only day he had ever played with Colby, and only against a click track in the booth by himself. It just doesn't work and obliterates the Groove. Another problem is the rhythm guitar's full strum, which makes it hard to have Grooving open space/listening for both the bass and the voice to play off of. All of this could still work, but it becomes especially hard when each track is individually recorded against a click. More on that later.
On to the next: Sturgill Simpson. Meta Modern
This one is a great example of a busy, yet trusting groove. Though the bass is doing a rockabilly walk that is quite busy (root-root-flat3rd-3rd-5th-5th-6th-5th on the eighths), the drums are quite subdued and comfortably waiting for the bass to complete each phrase. The kick is barely audible and probably a heartbeat with kicks on the one every measure and on the four every other bar. Snare only on every three. No cymbals at all, but that seems to the a Dave Cobb device. In order to capture the rapport between the players, it is said he records all at once in one room. A little overlap on the various instrument tracks is ok, but the cymbals tend to overwhelm the whole thing, and are thus not allowed. More on recording separately or together later.
One other of my favorites that is not on the Dave Cobb list: Tedeschi Trucks, Midnight in Harlem.
Back to the Colby question. I think I've answered why Devil is doing better than Dying Breed. Now, why did Colby's 3rd album evaporate and the fourth is not gaining traction even though it's got a lot of money behind it.
Colby's third album: Honky Tonk Kevin
As for the drummer. We didn't get a full band until just after the second album was in the can. The additions were three jazz musicians in Moscow that said they wanted to start playing country music. I literally said "bullshit". They are actually very good musicians. I'm pretty sure the drummer is the best that I will ever play with, but at the time I couldn't figure out why playing with that band just drove me up the wall. Now I know. Even many of the best musicians have very little feel for how to arrange the open spaces and timing in music to achieve a Groove, and never will. They go on doing technically wonderful things, but the feel is just lifeless. They have no ability to put emotion into even a single half note. This drummer just wasn't listening to my input on timing/Groove, thinks he alone owns time and no one else need be consulted. I can't handle just going through the motions to play a song technically correctly, but emotionally empty. Life is too short.
So that's the best performing song off the third album, and is only like 9th on Colby's current top 10 list. My bad, that one's not even in the top ten. Bad Day to Be a Beer is currently 9th.
Shit. All drums. Technically perfect. Emotionally empty. Here's "Once in a Lifetime"
I think you can see that Colby started arranging the songs around the drums (he used to be a drummer). Jesus, the snare picket fence at 3:52 near the end is almost a total blockade of the Groove. The bass is too perfectly aligned with the drums. Needs to lag fat behind the beat to really get a Groove on.
Last Buffalo:
Seriously, the third note in the song is a bass, guitar and drum hit. Of course they should not all arrive at the same time, but the engineer put the bass up front with the drum, and the guitar splayed chord follows. Has that guy ever played music?
The fourth album
I was not involved in this album at all. I quit when he signed all the management and record deals. I was 59 at the time and Colby toured his band all over the US in a maxi van for a year. Glad I missed that. Anyhow, at a cost of (I'm guessing) $150k they got him a producer that had worked with Dave Cobb and he brought in a few heavy hitter musicians, like Ricky Skaggs' guitar player, and made songs like the Western White Pines for his fourth album. Listen to it. It sounds great, and yet it doesn't. The musicianship is fantastic, Colby's voice near perfect, and yet, I feel no groove and I am unmoved.
Let's go back to Dave Cobb.
We were chugging along near 300k monthly listeners on Spotify and starting to make decent money, $35k/mo or so in streaming and gigs. Enough to put the musicians on salary. Nothing fantastic, but it guaranteed they never hesitated on any booking. Not once.
We were playing Nashville North one Friday night, and while we were in the Green Room Ian Cripps, the VP of A&R for Atlantic Records called. He name dropped "Dave". "Dave who". "Dave Cobb". Colby: "Holy Shit." Eric: "Holy Shit." Josh: "Holy Shit." Jack: "Holy Shit." Me: "Dave Cobb who?" Turns out Dave Cobb had 8 Grammies and had produced about half the songs on our cover list. A real hero of ours, though I didn't know it. Dave Cobb called Colby and said he wanted to produce his next album.
Now here's what I think. Dave Cobb heard in "If I Were the Devil" Colby's raw talent and our raw ability to lay down a very mature Groove. Something I'm sure he thought he could hone into a potential Grammy album in his studio with his methods. I agree. I think he could have at the time we made the second album. What Dave Cobb didn't know is that we had lost the ability to create that sound more than a year before he sent Ian to talk to us. And it didn't matter anyway. The cost was too high for Colby. They wanted him to sell the rights to Devil to them for about a quarter of its worth at that time. And it's worth more now.
One last thing. By my definition, a Groove can only really be achieved while playing live -- all players simultaneously listening--timing--waiting--playing. But that's not how we recorded "If I were the Devil". Modern recording practice is to record each track alone in the sound booth one at a time, with the musician playing against either a click track or a scratch of the entire song minus his part, which makes things easier for the studio engineer to massage the sound of each instrument and voice and to level them better than live musicians ever could. So how did we achieve a Groove on Devil? Turns out, since Colby's rhythm guitar played on a click track, my timing queries always receive the same answer back ("no adjustment in time needed"), but I can play a Groove off of that. I just have to place the note in that sweet Groove spot. This get's much harder when there are more than two instruments attempting to Groove, like adding drums.
But I do agree with Dave Cobb. It's far easier to achieve a Groove while playing all at once and recording that. The trick in doing it that way is the sound has to be captured extremely well at recording time. Very little massaging of individual tracks can be done post. Also, no patching allowed. Gotta get the song right in one perfect take.
Conclusion:
Groove and feel are almost indispensable in supporting a great singer/band. And without it, even the best singer will fall flat.
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