"Okie Moon" on SoundClick

[Stephen & Marilyn Suffet]

Greetings:

After bouncing around SoundClick's daily Folk chart for a few years, I
decided to break out and cross over to Country. My first attempt, "Okie
Moon," just hit the Traditional Country chart this morning at #109. That
may not seem like very much, but I'm entering unfamiliar territory and I
had no idea how I would fare.

"Okie Moon" is a "just plain fun" song written in traditional old-time
country style. The melodic structure is verse+chorus (A+B parts) without
a bridge (C part). The instruments are acoustic guitar, fiddle, and
5-string open back banjo, nothing else. There is no bass, no keyboard,
and no drum. The modulation from the major key (G) to the relative minor
(Em) in the last measure of the chorus is a trick taken from many
old-time tunes of Scottish-Irish origin.

You can listen to "Okie Moon" or download it as an MP3 file from my
SoundClick music page:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=106201

It's the first song up.

Oh, "Okie Moon" is dedicated to the lovely Jeannie Stork, living proof
that that "The prettiest girls come from Oklahoma." For the sake of full
disclosure I must admit that Jeannie is not from Cherokee, but from
Oklahoma City. Cherokee, however, gave me the rhyme I needed. That's
poetic license at work.

Enjoy!

---- Steve Suffet

[Stephen & Marilyn Suffet]

Post by Stephen & Marilyn Suffet
After bouncing around SoundClick's daily Folk chart for a few years, I
decided to break out and cross over to Country. My first attempt, "Okie
Moon," just hit the Traditional Country chart this morning at #109. That
may not seem like very much, but I'm entering unfamiliar territory and I
had no idea how I would fare.

[snip]


Greetings again:

Let me give a big THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to listen to
"Okie Moon" on SoundClick. There have been 38 real time plays and 5 MP3
downloads since I moved the song from the Folk to the Traditional Country
category.

If you liked "Okie Moon," you will probably also like my version of "Mole
in the Ground." It's a traditional song found throughout the American South
and Southwest, and it was a favorite of many old-time country singers and
banjo pickers. My own particular version borrows verses from several
sources. The woman Alberta in "Mole in the Ground" is known by several
other names such as Kempie and Cappy, but she always wants a $10 shawl.

"Mole in the Ground" is the third song down on my SoundClick music page:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=106201

It is also the second song I have moved into Traditional Country.

You can play or download all the songs for free. Of course, I wouldn't mind
if you bought my CD. It's available from CD Baby:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/stevesuffet

It has quite a few songs that are not on SoundClick, and you can listen to
2-minute samples of each for free.

Yes, I admit this is a piece of totally shameless self-promotion, but I'm
having fun. After 31 years, 9 months, and 10 days on the job, my position
was abolished in 2003, and I was facing either layoff or accepting another
position from the same employer that paid less significantly money for the
same hours. How kind of them! Fortunately I had worked long enough to get a
full pension, even though I was only 56 years old at the time. I took early
retirement and never looked back.

Since then I have been working one day a week for a woman I used to
supervise -- she's about half my age! -- and I have been spending the rest
of my time in music. I've been doing a little bit of everything, including
performing at festivals and clubs, songwriting, arranging, organizing and
leading a band, presenting teaching workshops, hosting a song circle,
handling publicity for other performers, MCing and sometimes running the
sound system at a club, serving on a festival committee, and, of course,
producing my own CD. I have even produced several small but successful
concerts, including the annual Woody Guthrie Birthday Bash at CBGB's
Gallery in New York.

I do not claim to be a great musician, but I think I'm OK at what I do.
Anyway, I've been having the time of my life. I got a chance to perform in
a children's concert with Pete Seeger in January 2005, and right now I have
an invitation to appear at a festival in northern Israel next year. It will
cost me more in travel expenses than they will pay me, but I'll probably do
it. Since I don't have to depend upon music for making a living, I'm free
to accept gigs like that.

OK, enough background. I won't go on like that again. Now go ahead and
enjoy the music.


--- Steve Suffet