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RENDERINGS (A WPA vols​.​1​-​4 Retrospective)

by Bill Mallonee

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TALK AROUND 02:54
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Bottoming Out lyrics/music: bill mallonee Guitar player country band too long watin' for the ship top come in the ship to come in Record man said he liked our sound pulled some dust from a bag and he bought us another round he bought us another round Chorus: Religion's neither here nor there when you'r stuck in the middle of the thin air it's too much hunger and not enough cash it's always the cheap stuff that takes us down fast always the cheap stuff that takes us down fast and nothing is turning you about? yeah, you're bottoming out... i remember the bad & the dust 5 sets a night and you do what you must You do what you must look at those ruins you hide among yeah your lips keep moving you don't understand the tongue you don't understand the tongue Chorus Make 'em believe it was love at first sight Make 'em believe they had the time of their lives and grace? Could there ever be enough for the hollow places you can't fill up you fill up or touch Chorus from Works (in) Progress Administration Vol. 1, released 01 October 2008 tags Addiction, Americana country-alt country-alt. indie folk folk-rock indie-folk rock Santa Fe license all rights reserved
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FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER words/music: Bill Mallonee 1. took the tears took the yearning took the spaces in between the ones all August and golden took the Spirit at his word you might say sight unseen and i thought:"hey when we drown we'll all down as one..." but that was jut me wishing in the sun and when thinking trumped the feeling And the cards all fell to you I knew this time i was wrong i knew this time i was wrong 2. I was loyal...i was true i was pretty fond of you at your feet my treasures i would lay here's your heartache and transparency vermillion and blue but you never met my gaze and i thought:"hey when we drown we'll all down as one..." but that was jut me wishing in the sun and when thinking trumped the feeling And the cards all fell to you I knew this time i was wrong i knew this time i was wrong Oh, the sad decay of paper and the books we put away but once they were our mother my soul is still august an gold and the mystery still pervades for one reason or another
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PLOWSHARES INTO SWORDS.... by Bill Mallonee now, the drums they are a pounding and the sabers they are rattlin' flags are running up the pole alotta prayers are getting prayed...horn sections havin' their say. alotta noise to be made... when they beat plowshares into swords when they beat plowshares into swords they're splitting into factions and those knee-jerk reactions generals sitting round getting bored how does a single drop of blood turn into a flood? i guess black magic happens... when they beat plowshares into swords when they beat plowshares into swords You can't estimate the costs; no getting back what got lost ain't no point in really keep score nothing new upon the table since Cain took out Abel repercussions they just happen when they beat plowshares into swords when they beat plowshares into swords Now babe the sky is blue and i'd love to dream a dream with you forever and a day i would adore seems like there's always one man whose got some kind of other plans Ya' keep in step and they march you off to war. now we're waiting for the shoe to drop and they're smiling for their photo-op but it's the boxes on the runway that tell the score and the drums keep on a poundin' peace she's always drowning alotta shit it just happens when when they beat plowshares into swords when they beat plowshares into swords ...and the tears fall like rain and there's no medicine for such pain and darkness wins again when they beat plowshares into swords when they beat plowshares into swords
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about

"A LIL' HISTORY HERE" or "HOW TO FINd TO YOUR VOICE."

"The WPA series was born out of situations both external & internal. Life, in its ideal, is lived by compass points & co-ordinates. Having something to navigate towards is a blessing, I suppose, we too often take for granted.

After the dissolution of my marriage and the "disowning" of my work by a certain cross-section of previous fans, I found I was without label, manager, booking agent or any of the resources that i had to make records & tour with. I had labored long & hard for over 10 years, writing, recording & touring. Now it was all in shambles. There is no doubt life is "hard." For artists there are "never any guarantees" about how things will fall out. These things happen daily in the world, i am under no illusion.
Still, the overwhelming sense of dis-ownership was heart-breaking. Call it a "run of bad luck, " but the litany of betrayals both personal & professional over a 10 year period, seemed upon recounting, staggering.

There is also such a thing as disgust with one's own self.

Sometimes you make songs just to keep the dark away. That was one of the impetuses behind this approaching song-writing differently. With no one to aid, help or abet the fleshing out of new work, it was to become a more solitary venture.
In this foreign land of self-doubt & self-hate the Works (in) Progress Administration EPs were "born." i have always written a great deal and these EPS emerged about every 3-4 months. A limited, unwieldy Zoom H-4 4-track recording device became a path out of the sad terrain.
I slowly learned the recording devices limitations and it's strengths.
Suddenly (and almost effortlessly) a new world opened up. I now had the chance to write & record secondary & tertiary guitar parts, weaving them harmonically and responsively with one another. For hours on end i would play parts over & over (driving Muriah crazy, I'm sure!) until some new aspect, some new musical statement was realized.

Lyrically, I wanted aspects of vulnerability to be hallmark in these songs, even if that was just in the instruments alone. As songs were fleshed out and more parts added, i began to realize more & more, about what sort of melody lines should be allowed to "speak" in a song, what weight to give to vocal phrases. things like this opened a whole new world of just "what" makes a song a wonderful thing.
these initial ideas grew, took shape, emerged and finally were recorded as well as i knew how back then as I learned the machine's strengths. music became a joyous thing a again, something fresh & beckoning; something new to be discovered. Eventually such guitar "discoveries" would up on very large plains indeed, in the national releases of "The Power & The Glory" & "Amber Waves."
(Maybe God "loses" nothing in our lives?)

Call it all a grand-ly "small" experiment. It goes without saying that the themes of grief, all-too-human-humanity and (finally) Hope surfaced here. Whether it was through beat-up old Spanish guitars, or 50 year old arch-tops that one had to wrestle into submission or raw Neil Young "Harvest" era electrics, I was becoming free inside and more confident with each WPA offering. Call it artistic growth. and deeper trusting of one's intuitive senses.

"Renderings" is by no means the totality of musical landscapes that I was traversing, locked away in a small room with guitars & coffee. But these tracks from Volumes 1-4 do represent some of the mile-markers that i crossed as i tried to regain my soul's footing. In the end, something happened. I was able to breathe air once again. Air that was fresh & clean...and full of new possibilities.

I hope you enjoy the excursion as much as i did.
~ bill mallonee
credits
released 10 January 2013
Bill Mallonee: acoustic & electric guitars, vocals, bass, drums, harmonicas piano.
Muriah Rose: accordion

credits

released January 10, 2013

Bill Mallonee: acoustic & electric guitars, vocals, Bass, druns, Harmonicas Piano.
Muriah Rose: accordion

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Bill Mallonee

Bill Mallonee is an Americana artist w/ 80 plus albums over a 30 year career. Voted by Paste Music Magazine #65 in their "Top 100 Living Songwriters" poll. He was the
founding member of Vigilantes of Love. He has worked with Mark Heard, Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, & Peter Buck from REM.
His most recent work, "Lead On, Kindly Light" is a 23song double Cd released Feb 2020.
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