Hard Times Come Again No More

Just installed new strings and set up my new 3-mic stand; I figured I'd test drive 'em both.

While the song's traditional. My arrangement is heavily derivative of both James Taylor's arrangement on Appalachian Journey and Harvey Reed's 12 string arrangement on Chestnuts.

This was recorded using a Behringer B1 large-diaphragm condensers for vox and two Samson C02 pencil condensers at the 12th fret and the bridge for the guitar.

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posted by The White Hat (6 comments total)

This is really nice. I dig the arrangement, and the guitar sounds great with your voice. (And, of course, that's a dang good performance.)
posted by uncleozzy at 4:19 PM on March 30, 2008

What a beautiful arrangement, your playing is amazing! Love the song, and it's a really nice recording.
posted by pazazygeek at 12:03 AM on March 31, 2008

Hey, The White Hat, this is fantastic! You're really working those mics. Rarely does anything pump out of my monitors that sound so sweet, rich and clear! Kudos.
posted by snsranch at 6:15 PM on March 31, 2008

Love it!
posted by danb at 8:55 AM on April 1, 2008

Nice, TWH. Love your guitar playing.

Just for the sake of accuracy, the song isn't traditional, exactly. It's just rather old, that's all. Written in 1854. But it has an author, who was a professional songwriter: Stephen Foster.

He's one of the songwriters I name-checked in this song posted to MeFiMu a while back.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:00 AM on April 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

Well I'll be damned. Let it be known: Stephen Foster's the guy.
posted by The White Hat at 4:33 PM on April 6, 2008