Mayfly Melodies

Thirty-Four

Bailey

I was captured by the songs as much as the singer. They grabbed my heart. The reality of Country Music moved me. Even when I was a kid, I liked the sad songs...songs that talked about true life. I recognized this music as a simple plea. It beckoned me—Harlan Howard

"No, I don't think that's working.  Can we try the mandolin instead of the banjo?"

Bailey looked round at her band.  They were sitting in a recording booth in Old Town Records, a small independent record label based out of Ardmore which was thankfully only a forty-five-minute drive from Tishomingo.  Her musicians were the studio band at Old Town and played on the backtrack for most of the artists who came through the studio. 

The exception was Mike Fletcher.  He was young and handsome with a boyish grin and spiky brown hair.  He had played guitar in the Chasing Mayflies band since the early days and had been a good ear to bounce lyrics off of whenever Bailey had found herself out of inspiration. 

She was lucky that he'd been free.  Not only was he a fantastic guitarist, he was also a loyal friend.  While the other musicians were under contract by Old Town not to divulge any information as to what was going on in the recording sessions, Mike, as an independent musician who'd been invited into the session, was not.  Bailey felt no reservations about having him there.  She knew that he would never tell anyone what she was working on.

He'd been surprised to get her call.  Bailey had, for all intents and purposes, vanished from the music scene almost entirely.  With the exception of the one song uploaded onto her YouTube channel, she'd been virtually silent.  She hadn't reached out to anyone in Nashville, not her manager or her agent or her band.  She was just gone.

It wasn't a surprise that some of her old band had found work in other areas.  Her drummer and pianist had started recording with an up-and-coming group that was rumoured to be in the running for Best New Artist and her fiddle player was now working with Jacqueline Thomas, the woman who would be opening act of the next Grammy awards.

But Mike had been available.  He, like Bailey, had taken some much needed time off.  He spent some time with his new wife—they'd been married only the previous March—and had gone to visit his parents at their vacation home in Florida.  And then, two days after he'd returned from his vacation, Bailey had given him a call.

She wasn't sure how long her independent music career would last but she had the assurance from Mike that, as long as she was willing to have him, he would be there to back her up.

"I think the mandolin will work better," Mike agreed as Jason switched the instruments out.  "I also had a few ideas about changing up the lyrics in this one section."

"Show me."

And the process went on.

By lunch they'd fully recorded one song.  It was a relief to have Love Song finished but Bailey knew that the road ahead was long.  After flipping through the songs she'd brought with her, it had been a unanimous decision to scrap Back Home and After You.  They were too slow and melancholy for the feel she was going for, especially with tracks like When I Think About You, Dirt Roads, and The Hero which had more emotional ties to her and her new team.           

So, instead of six songs, Bailey had four that had completed lyrics and guitar chords.  She knew she would need to write at least another four but with Mike on board and Caroline puttering away in seated area on the other side of the recording glass, Bailey was optimistic that they would get it done.