I recorded and released “I Can’t Help It” this week last year. Here’s this year’s version. Recorded last night.

This tune wound up on the full-length album I released last August, which is fairly similar to the original recording (which is right here). This was also one of the last songs I wrote before I started recording that album. I kept writing songs last year and releasing them, but I had to stop myself at some point with some group of songs.

Anyway, you can still buy the album. Download or CD. The money goes to my next recording, so it’s a donation on your part, in a sense.

So, now, the new recording. You’ll notice I used an electric guitar on this one. So that’s different. The song’s basically the same structure, other than singing it a little different and I broke out the last two lines of the original first verse and used them as a chorus throughout instead of a repeating line. And there’s some occasional phrase/word changes here and there, but nothing major.

I like this song though. It’s a little bizarre to hear, I guess. Let me know what you think.

And, for those of you who’re interested…I plugged the guitar right into my Tascam USB Interface. Used no effects or anything like that in Garageband. Just turned up the volume and got some good old unfiltered digital feedback. I’ve got a 1955 Fender Telecaster. It stays nice and warm in its case. This is probably the first time I’ve had it out in, say, 3 years I think.

Also, the Barehand Jugband is at Fitzgerald’s in Berwyn tonight at 8pm. And we’ve got a big Friday night Double Door show coming up on June 24. We’ll be opening for the Infamous Stringdusters. Gonna be a hot show. Get your tickets now, cause they’re almost sold out.

This week last year I wrote and recorded “Brown-skinned Woman.” This is one of the tunes that ended up on my full-length album. You can check out the original version here.

The new recording’s a little different. Was hard to get away from that original melody, though. Especially since I’m singing this tune out at live shows. It’s gettin engrained in my head. Plus it’s one of those old Carter Family that’s almost too good to mess around with.

So this was a real good exercise.

I came up with something on Monday night, but then when I sat down last night to record I couldn’t remember exactly what that was. So this recording has a little of that and a little something else. I decided to go with the stutter last night. Was doing it all through the whole song at first (it’s something new, so I got excited), but realized that was a little too much of the same thing. So I cut it back a little. It’s still not really where I want it to be, but I like the place where it’s headed.

Anyway, that’s the new version for this week. Like I said, I’ll post the old one tomorrow.

This is the song I wrote this week last year. Was a melody that I lifted from an old Bob Dylan tune, “He was a friend of mine.” In the original (listen to that here) I changed the phrasing and singing and chords slightly, but it was still basically that song. Same general topical idea too, just replaced “he” with “she.”

So I did something a little completely different for the re-recording. Think it turned out fairly well. It’s a little more in my own voice, which’s been easier to come by lately, rather than taggin along on the back of someone else.

Well, here’s a new version of a song I recorded and put out one year ago this week, “Almost always (or most of the time).” Finally I had one to mess around with. I’d taken a break last year for about 2 and a half months because I just stopped writing. But I picked it back up this week and haven’t stopped again yet.

So, I rewrote a couple parts of this tune. The repeating chorus line is different and it kinda changes the way this song comes across. I like this one better, I think. It’s different, though, so it’s hard to compare the two.

Anyway, check out the original recording here and then you can compare the two. Let me know which you like better.

Here’s another song that made it onto my full-length album from last Summer. I wrote it walking down Logan Boulevard after a few beers in the middle of the day on President’s Day. When I went to record the original (which you can listen to here) I think I had a tough time with the music. Nothing seemed to fit.

This new version, though, fits pretty well into the music. It came together really easy even though I had to write an extra verse and re-write a few of the lines. Definitely a complete re-vamp for this one.

So let me know what you think. I’ll probably start playing this version out at shows, cause I always liked the song, but never really the arrangement of the original.

Also, the Barehand Jugband has a show tomorrow at Quenchers. Come out and see us for the first time back in Chicago after our big win at the National Jug Band Battle up in Minneapolis. It’s only 5 bucks. We go on at 11pm sharp.