WHEELS - aka TOM has a new CD

[charlene]

you can listen to some sound samples from Tom's CD here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/TomGranata

great stuff Tom!

[Wheels]

Thanks, Char. I'm really glad you like the clips!
This project was a 2 yr on again off again thing that I ran out of gas on a few times. Finding all you corfid folks kind of pushed me to the finish line. Gord's songs are just so solid that I felt that I couldn't go wrong
on my first pro studio venture if I recorded only them. I guess most are in the same ballpark as Gord's originals with the exception of "Don't Beat Me Down" which turned into kind of a rocker.
So far I'm getting nice feedback from friends and family but I'm anxious to hear what all you hard core Gord fans think.

Anyway, if anyone would like a better deal than you see on cdbaby feel free to PM me.

Cheers,
Wheels (Tom Granata)

[Jesse Joe]

I have not received my CD yet but as I told you in PM Tom the samplings are very promising. And I am really glad you included "Black Day In July."

[jj]

terrific, Tom...and congratulations!

i love the mix, it has your honest, smoooth vocal right up there

digging most of the snippets i've heard from these interesting selections

Talking in your Sleep and Lost Children really stand out but no clunkers here

are you playing the keyboard in the interesting DYMK arrangement?

i don't really like Cotton Jenny no matters who does it...SFAWN seems like it might be more in the pocket down a few bpm...nice photo, interesting pick guard placement...are you left handed, left footed?

hats off to the producer...hope this is the first of many trips to the studio

[Wheels]

Originally Posted by Jesse Joe

I have not received my CD yet but as I told you in PM Tom the samplings are very promising. And I am really glad you included "Black Day In July."

Hi Jesse Joe,
Pony Express still not there?? Maybe I messed up your address?
Anyway, if you don't get it by this coming Friday I'll send out another one.
Please let me know.
Black Day was always one of my favs from Gord. Had fun putting that harmony chorus thing on the end of it, too. Hope you like the full length
version.

Tom (Wheels)

[Wheels]

Originally Posted by jj

terrific, Tom...and congratulations!

i love the mix, it has your honest, smoooth vocal right up there

digging most of the snippets i've heard from these interesting selections

Talking in your Sleep and Lost Children really stand out but no clunkers here

are you playing the keyboard in the interesting DYMK arrangement?

i don't really like Cotton Jenny no matters who does it...SFAWN seems like it might be more in the pocket down a few bpm...nice photo, interesting pick guard placement...are you left handed, left footed?

hats off to the producer...hope this is the first of many trips to the studio

Hi JJ,
Thanks for the great feedback! You sound like a fellow musician especially with that bpm thought.
Yeah, I did play the piano on DYMK although you can probably tell I'm not really a piano player. It was fun making up that intro, outro and arrangement but trying to play it became grueling. I thought the album needed some piano to balance out all the acoustic guitar on it so I plodded thru it.

The engineer/coproducer, Glenn Taylor has very big ears and we were very musically sympatico thru the whole project. He works with Tommy James (remember him?) and Adina Chastine (another unknown indie artist on CDBaby)
I went for Cotton Jenny to add a little country flavor to the stew.
Gord's catalog is amazing, isn't it?
Thanks again,

Tom (Wheels)

[Jesse Joe]

Originally Posted by Wheels

Hi Jesse Joe,
Pony Express still not there?? Maybe I messed up your address?
Anyway, if you don't get it by this coming Friday I'll send out another one.
Please let me know.
Black Day was always one of my favs from Gord. Had fun putting that harmony chorus thing on the end of it, too. Hope you like the full length
version.

Tom (Wheels)

The Pony Express did make it this way today Tom & I now have Left Foot Lightfoot !

It is very good; great selection of "LIGHTFOOT GEMS."

I like very much how you did "The Way I Feel," it is probably my favorite one with the exception of "Black Day In July". A little french @ the end of "Does Your Mother Know", sounded good (cool).

Everything we hear on the CD... vocals & instruments all by you is really 'AMAZING'.

Can we hear you on the Internet @ the FM station you are DJ ?

Granata guitars by (your bro) Pete !

This is the first I hear of that guitar, talent runs in your family for sure then !!! I did go & check out the WebSite.

http://www.granataguitars.com/

And finally thanks a lot for thinking of me by sending this great cd which I will cherish & add to my collection of Gordon Lightfoot music, it is very much appreciated.

Long Lives Lightfoot !!!

[Wheels]

Jesse Jo, Glad the pony made it. Thought maybe he got stopped at the border for having the wrong visa or something.

Very glad you like it! The Way I Feel also turned out to be my fav.
Do you think it holds up well next to that really good Fotheringay version? Would love to hear what Gord himself thinks. I guess eventually I'll get up the nerve to send one to him.

Hey there, Sir John Fowles and other
NJ, USA area folks-it looks like I'll be having a CD release party playing somewhere in the Union County area in mid to late July.
Not sure about which weekday or weekend night it would be.
If you have a preference or non preference feel free to let me know and I'll work around that.

Just an FM DJ at heart, not in real life but would love to be. I've got a whole wall of CDs of underappreciated artists waiting......

Tom Granata

[Jesse Joe]

Wheels aka Tom !

Yesterday I went to the city of Saint John NB which is about a 2 1/2 hours drive from my place, and I brought 2 cd's w/ me.

Yours of course to get a listen to more of it, I do enjoy it all but now "Love & Maple Syrup," & "Does Your Mother Know" have become new favorites.

The other cd was "Sunday Concert Plus" which Gord's voice on that one is very powerful. The man could not only write them but what a great singer... nobody else really sounds like him. He was in a class of his own.

[jj]

Originally Posted by Wheels

You sound like a fellow musician especially with that bpm thought.

i can bluff through with my random juggling of 3 chords on guitar and 4 or 5 on the piano, lol

i was just being frank but GL probably wouldn't mind your kicking up the tempo a bit at all, whereas the opposite likely not the case according to his lyrics

"And the song that you sing should not be too sad
And be sure not to sing it too slow"

i'll have to be in touch so i can hear this full key arrangement on DYMK...i love to explore alt arrangements, whether they appeal to my taste or not

[charlene]

I listened today and enjoyed it immensely! The only thing I didn't like was Love and Maple Syrup but that's ok cuz I don't like it when Gord sings it either. It is my least favourite song.

I think my fave on your CD was Go My Way, then The Way I feel, then Talkin In Your Sleep.
Terrific job with all the instruments and the vocals were wonderful.
on to CD # 2 !!

[Wheels]

Originally Posted by MistyMoppens

Great job on the CD, Tom! You have a superb voice - so rich, full, tender yet strong and soulful. The listener does not merely hear the words... they feel them. It makes me purr.

That's a very nice thing to say about a singer. Thanks for the great encouragement, Misty!

[Wheels]

Thanks, Charlene, and the rest of you guys for the kind words.
Love and Maple is also my least fav of the bunch, btw.

Here's link to a review where there's some nice things said about Gord
and my cover CD. acoustic music.com or this one (I think)
http://www.acoustic.com/frames/fame.htm

Tom Granata

[charlene]

Originally Posted by Wheels

Thanks, Charlene, and the rest of you guys for the kind words.
Love and Maple is also my least fav of the bunch, btw.

Tom Granata

well on your next album you can make up for it!


I don't know why I don't like that song..it just never sat right with me for some reason.
I think it's the melody...something always seems off.
Hard to explain!

[jj]

Originally Posted by Wheels

Here's link to a review where there's some nice things said about Gord
and my cover CD. acoustic music.com

nice stuff, cosmic bro

http://www.acousticmusic.com/fame/p06386.htm

[Wheels]

Hey guys and gals,
I just heard my version of Gord's The Way I Feel on an internet station called festival radio! What a rush! Better than chocolate ice cream!

[charlene]

Originally Posted by Wheels

Hey guys and gals,
I just heard my version of Gord's The Way I Feel on an internet station called festival radio! What a rush! Better than chocolate ice cream!

AWESOME!!!!!

[Jesse Joe]

Congrats Tom ! A great job you did with that one. It is such a beauty of a song that every time I play a Gord Cd & it comes on, it takes me back to the late 60's & exactly where I was when I first heard it.

Margo Timmins of the (Cowboy Junkies) does an awesome job with it on "BEAUTIFUL" 'A Tribute to Gordon lightfoot.' Move over Celine Dion!!!

[Wheels]

Hey all, internet grapevine has it that one of my Gord song versions will be played tomorrow 8/23 around 6 am PST and 9 am EST on KBOO.FM.
if anyone wants to give an ear.
TG

[jj]

congrats....are you on youtube, tom?

[charlene]

good news Tom!!

[Jesse Joe]

Congrats Tom... you very well deserve it.

[Wheels]

Aw shucks, thanks, y'all. It is a pretty cool thing to hear oneself on the radio.
No utube yet, JJ. the release party was videod so it may happen down the road. Did you get the CD yet? Still waiting for yours.

[jj]

naw, but i check at the post office weekly cos we've no mailbox the past month

seems joyriding teens use country mailboxes as pinatas during summer months

[jj]

Originally Posted by Wheels

No utube yet, JJ. the release party was videod so it may happen down the road. Did you get the CD yet?

yes, last nite, and what a terrific sleeve that is! looking forward to first listen once a next opportunity of solitude knocks

hey, i've got 3 different versions of Two Tones from over the decades and that was the finest...that is like audiophile stuff compared to most of the 'unlistenable' quality GL stuff i've got here, lol ...happy hunting