Musical Collaborations

Have you discovered Ayo yet? I believe she writes most if not all of the songs she records. She also plays guitar. She's got a very interesting sound & background. Her dad is Nigerian, her mom a gypsy & I think she was raised in Germany & London. Her debut CD "Joyful" did very well. A big hit from that CD is "Down On My Knees".

Jerry & I produced our own version of "Down On My Knees" as a demo just using a karaoke background until we can record it with a jammin' band. My plan was to send it to Ayo's record producer in the hopes of , well who knows what? A recording contract, new management, a chance to work with Ayo? Well I sent it off to her producer realizing it was another long shot in my long list of attempts to get Jerry the recognition he deserves & has earned. Well as Gomer Pyle would have said "surprise, surprise, surprise" Within a few days they called me & hired Jerry to sing on Ayo's next CD! There's much more magic & synchronicity to this story but I will save it for another time.

Ayo's new CD "Gravity At Last" has just been released in Europe & Jerry is on the closing track. The song is titled "Thank You" and Jerry's southern baptist church roots add the perfect flavoring. It's quite apropo considering that we spend each day thanking the powers that be for all that we have. Each other, a roof over us, food to eat, the people & animals we love, our mostly pain free bodies, the adventures we've shared, the opportunities to make someone's day a little brighter & being free from addictions. Amen! Being the sentimental fool that I am this song gives me chill bumps as they say down south & it can bring tears to my eyes.

The version we're sharing here is our own production. We inserted Jerry's "licks" (hums, groans etc) in many spots even though we were not asked to. We did so because we wanted her producer to have many choices of where to place Jerry for the final version. Better to have more to work with than not enough when you've finished the recording session & it's time to mix. Other than Jerry's volume being a bit too loud, which could have been adjusted later, I think we created a hit! Too bad nobody but you bloggers will ever hear our version. They deleted most of what we gave them & also turned Jerry's volume down to a whisper. I'm guessing they thought that too much of Jerry would upstage Ayo. Of course our POV is that when someone gifts you with unique, priceless, sparkling, one of a kind, exceptionally beautiful ornaments that would only enhance the beauty of the Christmas tree why would you keep them stashed in the box?

Julie