A Noteworthy Moment

You can remember that humans made this if you can catch Craig knocking his pick against his mandolin towards the end of the song. The sound is similar to someone kicking a mic stand. AI generated music? Not here, baby!

"Stranger" from Carried Along

“Eclipse” follows the form of a traditional old time fiddle tune, the folk genre at the heart of the Upstream sound. Beginning with a simple melody played twice (the “A part”), the tune moves into a contrasting but complimentary melody (the “B part). The B part gets repeated too. And then you do the whole thing again until you’ve had enough.

“Eclipse” is a great example of how we love to tell stories through our music – even when there are no lyrics. Craig’s arrangement of the tune, with layers of percussion, synth and guitar, add to its mystical nature. Listen closely and you can hear the complete story of the day, from anticipation, to darkness, to gleeful celebration.

A Noteworthy Moment

Listen for the moment in the very middle of the tune in which the sun completely swallows the moon. Can you feel it?

“Eclipse” from Carried Along

If you’ve ever experienced a total solar eclipse, you can probably relate to feeling like you’ll never quite be the same again. Will that be the case after listening to this song? Likely not, though the delight we get from translating an unforgettable moment into a jammin’ tune that strangers all over the world love listening to is really something. Might we say… cosmic?

You get “Somewhere.”

Driving, fun and just a little desperate, this lively tune credits its inspiration from the style and spirit of the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ rendition of “Cornbread and Butterbeans” on their 2010 album Genuine Negro Jig.

Aubrey hatched the chorus after re-tuning her ukulele to sound infallibly harmonious as her toddler strummed along with her banjo practicing. In an attempt to kill cabin fever that chilly spring afternoon and feeling only slightly frustrated that the kids had mutinied on naptime (again), she finally set down the banjo, picked up the re-tuned ukulele, and pounded out a melody over some power drones. These words came through almost immediately:

Give me them corn and taters

Give me that butter and bread

Give me a happy baby

Somewhere to lay my head

Somewhere to lay my head

With the chorus effectively stuck in her head on repeat, she sent the idea to Craig. Craig, on his way to work the next day, had the novel idea to overlay the chorus with the story of a canoe misadventure he had with his brothers on the Scioto River in southern Ohio a few years back.

On their trip, the canoe really tipped, they discovered that a 24 pack of Pabst floats, and one of the brothers donated his phone and most of his clothing to the bottom of the river. Who is at fault for the collision is still a hot topic to this day.

Just as the tune “Cornbread and Butterbeans” pairs a chorus that celebrates love around the table with anecdotes from daily life’s frustrations, “Somewhere to Lay My Head” matches a chorus of yearning for creature comforts with the humorous tale of a canoe capsize. Somehow, it works.

A Noteworthy Moment

While recording the vocals on this song, Ron noted that “you guys just seem like you’re having so much fun.” Yep.

Listen Here: Somewhere to Lay My Head from Carried Along

We hope the energy and delight that we feel comes through the airwaves as we sing this song for you, reliving vivid memories of good times mixed with desperation. When struggle and joy meet, we sing! It doesn’t have to be pretty. That’s how we are all carried along.

This is the first song that we wrote as a true collaboration, sparking a flurry of songwriting through the spring of 2024. Though the tempo is laid back, there’s a driving energy that builds throughout. A simple banjo melody is repeated with layers of synth, bass and guitar added upon each repetition for texture and energy. The song builds toward an improvisatory bridge, then repeats the melody and bridge briefly before the close.

Joy Fell Up is like a door to another realm. It is an invitation to step into a world of wonder, where in the midst of struggle, contentment finds us.

A Noteworthy Moment

Listen closely to the sound of the seed rattle and the wind whistle at the bookends of this tune. Ron Flack suggested that Craig pan the instruments across two mics which resulted in a super cool effect. It's as if the wind and the rattling seeds blow across the room when you listen on stereo speakers or headphones.

Joy Fell Up

From wherever you are tuning in, we hope that this tune finds you with joy. And that it moves your toes to dance, your mind to dream, your day to delight.

Calibrating to the Studio

Recording our first album was a huge learning process, every step of the way. Our eyes were opened to how much effort, care, and decision-making goes into even preparing to record (ie song maps, demos, fixing up instruments, and learning to play to a click, eek!)

Once we got into the studio, the first step was to create scratch tracks, the bones of a song that we would listen to while recording but not actually a track that would be included in the final. As musicians who thrive on the energy of live performances, it was a huge shift for us to build our songs in the studio layer by layer, often playing alone while listening to the scratch track and a click.

Another challenge we faced was that the vision we had for our new songs included a full band, but at the time of recording, it was just the two of us and all the instruments we (mostly Craig) could play.

Things got especially entertaining when it was time to lay down the bass track. Craig had salvaged his bass from the trash and in refurbishing it apparently neglected to ground the electronics. This resulted in some considerable feedback in the studio. Obviously, a no-go. Turns out, the solution was simple: as long as someone was touching the metal bridge, the feedback would go away. Aubrey’s attention span was challenged but they prevailed. For the following recording session, Craig fashioned a neck strap made from some heavy gauge wire and the problem was again (albeit uncomfortably) resolved.

After the bass came banjo, guitar, and mandolin, followed by synth and auxiliary percussion. The vocals were the last to come.

Then came the process of selecting the best tracks and finalizing initial edits – including the removal of a daggone click that somehow plagued us to the bitter end. Finally, two months after starting the recording, it was time to send files off to John King for mixing and mastering.

With the final high-res files in hand, we turned our attention to learning the “game” of music distribution. Aubrey created and designed our album art, we picked a distribution platform, made a release plan, pitched to streaming service playlists, printed artwork, drop cards and CD’s, pitched to radio stations and reporters, and alerted all our bff’s on socials. And just like that, it was done!

Through the whole thing, the RealGrey team was such a help. Anya (van Rose) was instrumental in helping us wrap our heads around the distribution process. Ron Flack and Adam McCloskey were rock star sound engineers, and as already mentioned, John King did a fabulous job with the mixing and mastering.

Album successes

In the first month since its release, Carried Along had some great wins. “Eclipse” was selected by two editorial playlists on Spotify - NewGrass and Instrumental Bluegrass - and gained over 10,000 streams. Our monthly listener count reached over 6,000. We’ve gotten some media interviews and booked a full calendar, including some stages like the Rialto in Akron and our first festival, the Central Ohio Folk Festival in Columbus.

Sometimes we look at each other and wonder, how in the world is this happening? Amidst juggling full time parenting responsibilities, jobs, community work, etc, etc, etc, our lifetime goals of writing, recording and releasing our own music is becoming reality.

Around the bend

We are now wrapping up the mixing of our second album, an LP, to be released in late spring 2025.

the ARCHIVE

Album: Carried Along

Joy Fell Up

Somewhere to Lay My Head

Eclipse