Rainbows Over Paradise

[Ethan Shaw]

Byrd of Paradise, by Jerry Byrd is one of my favorite all-time albums. This song always stuck out to me. Here's my version, I hope you enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL5vQXJvmCg

[Mike Neer]

Very nice. Great tone (and room).

I really enjoyed playing the bass pedals too but it became too fatiguing for me unless it was an easier piece, so kudos for keeping up with that. I don’t know if people appreciate how difficult it is to play both at the same time.

I even bought a few books on classical organ pedal technique. Unfortunately, it didn’t help a ton because I didn’t have a set up like an organ (for heel playing). Using MIDI, though, was insanely promising. There are so many cool plugins and VSTs available. I ended up spending a ton of money on it. If playing the steel parts wasn’t already so difficult, I’d be doing it with ragtime pieces.

[Ethan Shaw]

Thanks, Mike!
You're right, it's tricky and makes it harder to concentrate on the steel. My mom is an organist, and I talked to her about it. I realized I could never do what organists do for multiple reasons, so I kind of came up with my own, albeit limited, approach. I've gotten to where I really like it for solo gigs, because I can play whatever on the spur of the moment, and it definitely fills things out more than just steel and vocals. I'd love to see more where you took it- midi definitely opens up new worlds, and I admire your outside-the box thinking!

[David Matzenik]

Such a great tune! Thanks. And I love the pictures. I'm think "Quiet Village" Les and Martin.

[Ethan Shaw]

Thanks David! My wife and I had been collecting all that tiki stuff for years, but it was just scattered around the house. We finally realized we had enough to decorate our living room, so it's pretty fun to "escape" to our own living room!