"Dust in the Wind" by Kansas (cover)

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by noledog

Yo Glenn,

You jam a lot of excellent stuff bro and I enjoy 'em all... but dude this is some next level jam that is outstanding! Being a lead vocalist most of my life I can really appreciate your vox and especially your harmonies because I always suffered from lead vocalist syndrome and had a hard time with harmonies. Your guitar work here is beautiful from every aspect. Most enjoyable bro!

eric

Hi Eric!

Thank you! I really appreciate your comments, Eric! It's very gratifying that someone who does music for a living like you appreciates my efforts. Thank you so much!

I worked over three days on that 12-string solo, and I still don't have the timing as accurate as I would like it. Sometimes I would listen and think -- ah, it sounds okay. And then other times I'd listen and think -- man, you need to do that again!

Thank you Eric! Very much appreciated! I hope all is well for you down there! Stay safe!

- Glenn

[Acousticado]

Hey Glenn,

I love your playing, singing, overall style, recording skills...but when I saw the title of this Kansas cover, I wasn’t sure you could pull it off as it seemed away from the songs you tend to cover.

Boy, was I wrong! Beautiful rendition! You seem to have become more comfortable stretching the upper register of your vocals since tackling the Graham Nash harmonies of your CSN covers. Do you think so? Anyhow...brilliant!

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by islandguitar

Hi Glenn!
Saw your post last night, but opted not to listen as I was tired and wanted to listen with "fresh ears". So glad I did.
This work is stunning Glenn. Even to the point of giving me chills in a few places! (12 string lead and harmonic being one of them).
How you hit the high notes.......we'll never know! LOL!
Congrats on a beauty, both performance and with presentation technically.
I'm off to a good day because of that!
Stay safe!
Fred

Thanks so much Fred!

I'm so glad to know you are still listening out there! Thank you for the thoughtful and kind comments!

Interesting that you mention hitting the group of octave harmonics on the 12-string at the end of the solo section... I had been practicing all those scale runs and some of the tendons in my left hand were starting to get tired and on the edge of hurting. I thought, "I better quit before I injure myself." I was in the middle of practicing with all the other recorded stuff and sort of out of frustration hit those harmonics. I realized then, wow, that actually sounds like it works in there!

I thought, well, you wouldn't normally hear that from a violin -- though a violin does have the ability to generate harmonics -- but then again, this isn't a violin solo so I can take some liberties here...

I'm so very pleased that you enjoyed how this came out! Thanks so much for taking the time to listen and comment, Fred!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

Hey Glenn,

I love your playing, singing, overall style, recording skills...but when I saw the title of this Kansas cover, I wasn’t sure you could pull it off as it seemed away from the songs you tend to cover.

Boy, was I wrong! Beautiful rendition! You seem to have become more comfortable stretching the upper register of your vocals since tackling the Graham Nash harmonies of your CSN covers. Do you think so? Anyhow...brilliant!

Hi Tom,

Thanks for listening and for your astute comments!

Yes, I think you are right. I learned some things about my voice when I was working on the very high Graham Nash harmonies. Odd to be figuring out how to sing a little better at age 72! I was able to apply some of the lessons learned from that experience to "Dust in the Wind."

I wasn't sure I could do a good job on this song either. With that song stuck in my head in the house, I sat down with my old Martin D-35 and started playing what I remembered of the intro and then started figuring out the song totally from memory. Of course, some of what I figured out wasn't quite accurate, (later I played with the Kansas recording to make sure I knew what I was doing), but it was close enough for me to see if I could even sing this song in the original key. My wife came in and said to me, "Gee, you actually sound good up there -- I didn't think you could hit all those high notes!" Well, neither did I!

Thank you, Tom, for your very kind and supportive comments! I'm so glad you are listening and I very much appreciate your input!

- Glenn

[The Doc...]

Glennwillow -

This was outstanding...Loved the guitar work, mix and tones...The Olson was killer...Your vocals and harmonies were fantastico!


Really, Really nice... I mean really nice...

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by The Doc...

Glennwillow -

This was outstanding...Loved the guitar work, mix and tones...The Olson was killer...Your vocals and harmonies were fantastico!


Really, Really nice... I mean really nice...

Thank you Doc!

How nice to hear from you! Thank you for the kind, supportive comments! I'm so glad you appreciate this effort.

The choice of the Olson SJ for the main guitar part came about because I knew I was going to double the 6-string picking with 12-string picking, but with the 12-string at a lower volume level. My understanding is that this is how Kansas got their sound on their original 1977 recording of "Dust in the Wind."

I have a fair number of very nice guitars, as you do, so I went through them all. In the end, I liked the slightly mellower sound of the Olson, especially because I didn't want the added jangle of the doubled 12-string to overwhelm the listener with irritating trebles.

Thanks for your kind comments overall, too. Once I started on this, it was a fairly big time commitment, but I have the time these days since I am retired now. My big worry was that the end result wouldn't live up to people's expectations since this song is so very well known. I'm very glad you felt it came out well!

I hope all is well for you! Stay safe out there!

- Glenn

[Methos1979]

Well done! Love Kansas and that song in particular. That's a lot of work you put in recording all the different parts and mixing it together!

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

Well done! Love Kansas and that song in particular. That's a lot of work you put in recording all the different parts and mixing it together!

Hi Methos!

Thank you! Yes, it was a lot of work, but I have the time since I'm retired, and I really love working in the studio. I think the combination of creative and technical stuff used in the studio tends to appeal to my engineering personality.

Some of the creations a person tries in the studio don't work out all that well. I spent a bunch of time on a cover video of Gordon Lightfoot's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy." I never put the song up on YouTube because I really didn't do justice to his song. So, a person tries something and you see if you can do it.

I feel that I was lucky on this one. I'm so pleased that you felt this came out well! Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment!

I hope all is well for you and your family! Stay safe out there!

- Glenn

[Organic Sounds Select Guitars]

Hi Glenn! How cool is this?!! You vocal range continues to amaze me - excellent job here! Great solution also with using the 12 string for the violin solo. I really enjoyed this!!

One of my earliest rock and roll concerts was in 1981 at the Oakland Coliseum. There was a recurring summer concert series there that they called "Day on the Green", and several bands would play all day long. On that day, Kansas was one of the headliners, along with REO Speedwagon if I remember correctly. It made an impression on me. They were a unique band with interesting guitar work and vocal harmonies. Your "Dust in the Wind" brought back some great memories - I'm sure glad you shared this with us!

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by LWSog

Hi Glenn! How cool is this?!! You vocal range continues to amaze me - excellent job here! Great solution also with using the 12 string for the violin solo. I really enjoyed this!!

One of my earliest rock and roll concerts was in 1981 at the Oakland Coliseum. There was a recurring summer concert series there that they called "Day on the Green", and several bands would play all day long. On that day, Kansas was one of the headliners, along with REO Speedwagon if I remember correctly. It made an impression on me. They were a unique band with interesting guitar work and vocal harmonies. Your "Dust in the Wind" brought back some great memories - I'm sure glad you shared this with us!

Hi Larry!

I'm really pleased that you thought this came out well. And I'm glad you liked the use of the 12-string in place of the violin solo.

I thought about this incessantly over about a week, wondering if I could make this work -- a 12-string is so percussive compared to the sustained notes of a violin. I had to add a few notes to fill in a lot of blank space and I really wasn't able to play both violin parts at once. I also tuned the pair of low E strings down to D to get all the notes the violin was able to play. You can hear how low the 12-string sounds. I'm so glad you felt this worked. I wasn't sure about it until I asked my wife to come up to my studio and listen. Should I add some sampled strings? No, she thought it was fine with just the 12-string, so I left it as it was.

And I kept hearing all these timing errors in my playing. She told me it was fine.

That's really cool that you had that experience of seeing and hearing Kansas live. What a memory! That would have been very cool!

Thanks for your comments Larry! I hope all is well for you!

- Glenn

[Stratcat77]

You never cease to impress me!

Your playing sounds great, of course and your vocals - wow! That is not an easy one to sing!!!

Bravo!

[Lkristians]

Stellar Glenn!!! You know how I feel about your Guild 12 string, and not many better songs to nail it with than Dust in the Wind. You nailed it!

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Stratcat77

You never cease to impress me!

Your playing sounds great, of course and your vocals - wow! That is not an easy one to sing!!!

Bravo!

Thank you Marty!

How wonderful to hear from you! I'm so glad you thought this came out well!

I agree, it's not an easy one to sing. It is, however, easier to sing in the studio, where I can do it multiple times, even over a couple of days, until I get something that's usable, as compared to doing this live.

I really appreciate hearing from you and receiving your comments, Marty! Thanks so much!

I hope all is well for you! Stay safe out there!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Lkristians

Stellar Glenn!!! You know how I feel about your Guild 12 string, and not many better songs to nail it with than Dust in the Wind. You nailed it!

Thank you Larry!

I really appreciate your kind words! I'm glad you like this!

Regarding the 12-string, it did take on a much bigger role in this song since I used it for the solo as well as for doubling the 6-string on the Travis picking. It really does give the song a different flavor, which is not what I intended when I started out. But... my choice was, play a sampled violin on a keyboard -- and I really did not think that would appeal to people -- or play a solo essentially live with a guitar. I thought, well, I can get a bunch of sustain from an electric guitar, but I don't think people want to hear me emulating Eric Johnson's "violin tone" on an otherwise acoustic song. I thought, well, the 12-string has a punchy enough tone and a unique sound, so hopefully that will work. I was fortunate that the 12-string seemed to work out okay.

And who knows... the Eric Johnson violin tone might have been just the thing and here I chickened out!

I'm really glad you like this! Thanks very much for listening and taking the time to comment, Larry!

Take care and stay safe!

- Glenn

[cedartop52]

Wonderful job singing and playing a song that seemed special back in my 20's and feels even more profound as I approach 70. Thanks for sharing such a terrific performance and your high level production. Dan