Wilson Switch

Wilson Switch (mp3) (pdf)

I created this little blog at the start of 2007. If I am counting accurately that makes this post the beginning of my 14th year of So Many Tunes. In that time I have posted over 300 of my tunes and compositions, almost always with both a sound recording and a pdf of the music in standard notation. Once in a while there's a video.

I have gathered together some of these tunes and issued them as "official" CD collections under the titles Mandolin Tunes 1 and Mandolin Tunes 2. The main rationale for those releases was that the recordings presented here on the blog are mp3s (usually 320 kbps). This is fine for casual listening but mp3s aren't really what the music sounds like. Most of the tunes I share here are originally recorded at CD quality as wave files and the two CDs compiled from the blog are taken from those original, lossless, recordings.

In 2017 I managed to write and record a new tune every week. I'm thinking of something similar this year with the change that I might not write a wholly new tune every week. For instance, today's tune was mostly written a few years ago and has gone through several revisions since then. I decided that this version is a good place to stop tinkering with it and let it go. (There might even be an earlier, different version of the tune here on this blog, under a different title. I can't remember for certain.)

I like this version because I let myself improvise a bit, both in the actual notes played and in some spur of the moment arrangement ideas. It's sloppier than usual but also more fun for me to hear. I hope you enjoy it too.

Yes, the sign in corner of the photo says dead end but there's no hidden, cosmic meaning intended. I didn't even see it when I took the shot, the setting sun was in my eyes. I just liked the way the Upper Iowa river looked that afternoon.

Happy New Year and Decade!