I get asked this question a lot. My career in music rarely takes me in the direction of pop music and most that know me were initially surprised by the subject matter of my most recent release, On Steel Strings A Tribute To ABBA. Typically, I can be found performing rock, classic rock, and some blues. Sometimes a little bit of Jazz, Country, and Americana. Because of this, I wasn’t surprised when someone would ask with a bit of a puzzled look, “So, why ABBA?” In my mind, though, I felt that my music covered so many bases that it wasn’t much of a stretch to go one more.
ABBA’s music was all over the place when I was young in the late 1970’s. For me, at that age, I didn’t think of the music as dance or disco backdrop. I think I liked the production of the recordings. I know I liked the songs!
Twenty five years later, I set out to arrange one of those songs for unaccompanied acoustic guitar. No singing, no other instruments, just six strings and the music. The arrangements for several other songs quickly followed. Along the way, the idea to release an album of these songs seemed to make sense. I considered just about every one of the band’s most popular recordings and several lesser-known titles for arrangements and narrowed my choice to the final eight songs that were included.
It was a fun challenge to create these arrangements. I didn’t want the songs to be overshadowed with too much dense or speedy guitar playing, but I also wanted to be sure they were musically interesting especially considering the absence of the lyrics. Fortunately, the songs were so well crafted originally that neither was really a concern, though I did allow for a few occasions to “step out” and stretch the music a bit for the guitar’s sake.
The guitar is the star of the recording, but the songs make that possible.
ABBA’s music was all over the place when I was young in the late 1970’s. For me, at that age, I didn’t think of the music as dance or disco backdrop. I think I liked the production of the recordings. I know I liked the songs!
Twenty five years later, I set out to arrange one of those songs for unaccompanied acoustic guitar. No singing, no other instruments, just six strings and the music. The arrangements for several other songs quickly followed. Along the way, the idea to release an album of these songs seemed to make sense. I considered just about every one of the band’s most popular recordings and several lesser-known titles for arrangements and narrowed my choice to the final eight songs that were included.
It was a fun challenge to create these arrangements. I didn’t want the songs to be overshadowed with too much dense or speedy guitar playing, but I also wanted to be sure they were musically interesting especially considering the absence of the lyrics. Fortunately, the songs were so well crafted originally that neither was really a concern, though I did allow for a few occasions to “step out” and stretch the music a bit for the guitar’s sake.
The guitar is the star of the recording, but the songs make that possible.