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Here's a new collab with Couchgrouch. Any comments or suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks! -mkhttp://soundclick.com/share?songid=6996548Mystery TreeIt stood near my granpa’s acres‘cross the fence line on his ranchHollow, crooked, dead and barrenNotches in the lowest branchAnd when I went out that summerVoices whispered low to meAnd when red moons rose, spotted owls and crowsPerched upon that mystery treeLate one night I tried to climb itAnd that tree trunk seemed to moanBy the starlight in the meadowWeeds grew up through mounds of stoneI ran quickly through the high grassMidnight shadows chasin’ meGhostly howlin’ dogs, posses made of fogCircled that ole mystery treeNext day granpa chopped and burned that big dead oakWe could hear the four winds chokin’ on the smokeThen he said a prayer like he’d set somethin’ freeHaunting roots and hollows of that mystery treeLast July at some museumSaw an old electric chairChildren laughed and played around itLike a funhouse at a fairSuddenly I knew the meaningOf that childhood memoryAnd I understood, why granpa burned the woodOf that cursed mystery tree©2008 Robert George

Thanks Matt!The music was written and recorded this morning. I actually played it in DADGAD, then pitched it down two semitones to CGCAGC. Some real cool chords you can make with two or three fingers...sounds like more than one guitar, but that's played straight through. My fingers hurt.I have no idea what sells...the few songs I've had signed sure didn't strike me as commercial, so I'm just trying anything these days. Thanks for the input!-mk

This is very cool Mark! Fantastically haunting, spooky, eerie... really plays on the imagination on lots of different levels... it has real potential to sell to tv/film listings IMO as it gives off a powerful vibe from the very first 4 seconds.Ok.... so I'll just make some suggestions on production, take 'em or leave 'em. I think more development could be very powerful as long as it's not in the standard way of trying to make it fit with the songs of today. Delta blues is so clearly NOT modern, why try to fight it?I think going more cinematic (symphonic) on this would be great to provide more of a background to ramp up that eeriness even more -- but restraint would be key here, as I think a minimal effort would bring huge impact. So string drones and touches of percussion perhaps, but nothing overproduced. Also, adding banjo, slide work, and other instruments (again, a minimal approach... just as a touch of environment) that will conjure up images of a movie like "Deliverance" or some of the darker pieces in "Crossroads" and "O Brother Where Art Thou?" could be extremely cool too. Again, just one opinion on where it could go...But I'm sure that as a master of musical ADD your mind is reeling with the possibilities! HTH

I love this tune...another great collab. I think both the lyric and the music are really good. That guitar track is fantastic Mark.I totally picked up the "hanging tree" reference on first listen, before skimming through the posts that followed. If you wanted it to be just a bit more obvious (and therefore universal), replacing the "notches" line with "rope marks on the lowest branch" or something similar would give folks a faster link. I really like it the way it is, mind you (maybe it's just the way my mind works ).I also think the "oak" and "smoke" lines come across a bit awkward.I'd second Zoom's though about more "stuff" starting about half way through...some good strings swelling in the background.Just my $0.02, as always...given towards a song that I'd really like to hear in a commercial capacity some day. Dang you two work well together!There have a been a few listings this year asking for "darker/Cash-style" lyrics...I'd certainly vote for you to keep working this one up. It deserves to be heard, IMHO.

GuysVery moving. Very. As Matt said, goosebump stuff. Loved the guitar and vox, and Robert, that is a power lyric. Top drawer words.Like Devin and Zoom, I'd've also liked to see some development to the soundscape as the song progressed. That's probably conditioning on my part, though. In these days of over-production I may well have forgotten how to appreciate a simple arrangement.Liam

I'm with Bill on this too.... atmospheric would be really cool... don't get it too complicated!

So...............................No marching band????