LIVE FROM FLAT V by Josh Smith
HUMBLER OPINION
Over the last two columns, Josh Smith has been breaking down the song “Brown Gatton,” his ode to both Danny Gatton and James Brown, which Josh originally recorded in 2017 for his album, Still.
HUMBLER OPINION
Over the last two columns, Josh Smith has been breaking down the song “Brown Gatton,” his ode to both Danny Gatton and James Brown, which Josh originally recorded in 2017 for his album, Still.
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MusicTranscript
00:00These are 100% Danny Gatlicks that I'm playing.
00:15Then I play some really cool Danny stuff like this.
00:22That one I got right from him.
00:31So then this time, we're into the second chorus of the song, and I'm playing a lot of double
00:35stalls.
00:48And you'll see I break out of it early and modulate to that C.
01:10So the whole solo is basically three times through, E to C, E to C, E to C, and then
01:17we go back to the bridge, which is the same as the beginning, the four chord, and that's
01:22it.
01:23That's the whole song, basically.
01:24It's a simple song with a lot of twists and turns that gives me a lot of freedom to kind
01:31of mess around and play, chromatically play, you know, all that hybrid picking stuff.
01:36You'll hear me play a lot of cascades sometimes in this song, stuff like this.
01:49Which is, again, straight out of the Danny playbook, because, I mean, that tension right
01:54there, I can use that to walk up to the C. I'll do that sometimes.
02:02That's a good one.
02:03Here's a solo for you.
02:04Yeah.
02:05I don't think I actually got that one from Danny.
02:12I made that one up.
02:15But, you know, a lot of that is from just years of playing and loving Danny Gatton,
02:25but loving hybrid picking, figuring out how to play those open string runs and all your
02:30keys and use your open strings.
02:32That stuff's so fun, you know.
02:36This song, I think, is very reminiscent of me and what I sound like, which is a mix of
02:41all these different styles, blues and jazz and country technique and R&B and soul, you
02:47know.
02:48I love all those things, and I kind of think that's what helped me find my voice, is when
02:52I was able to start mixing them all up together.
02:54That was one of my favorite things about Danny Gatton, because he always sounded like he
02:59only played whatever he heard right that moment with no filter.
03:03He wasn't afraid to play jazz on a weird country song or play blues on a country song or play,
03:09you know, jazz on a funk.
03:10He'd play anything, anywhere, anytime, and I really respected that about him, in addition
03:15to his amazing playing.
03:17That was Brown Gatton.
03:18It's on the Still album.
03:19Check it out.