Tammy just started up a new website for me at www.wix.com/alexandangel/music. Its under construction and right now the cover page is a battleground between our family & the sleeze that took our daughter...an underage minor & bascially ruined her life & ours. But their are a few new songs and some good stories...My first guitar for instance. go check it out.
My latest work is not like anything I have previously done. In the late 50's we moved from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Gore at a time when Open Range was still in place. At the end of the "mile long bridge" at webber falls,Gore was wedged in between the Arkansas and the Little Illinois River.
And it was on the banks of the Illinois that we finally caught up with the band of wild horses we boys had been chasing for so long. And it was here that "The Ride" took place. It was winter. I vividly remember not just the frigid water, but those tiny panes of ice that stung my face, arms & hands as we crossed that river to the other side.
Funny- the things you recall in a moment such as this. A moment that sets itself apart from all other moments. Oh the endless hours we spend with nothing to distinguish one day from the next. A year passes.. then another...& another...until one day we wake up Old with our memories all faded & folded together like worn out blankets we wrap around ourselves to warm old bones from the cold...& to hide us from the inevitable truth we know all too well. The end of the trail is patiently waiting for us... just down this road.
Snuggled securely in our fantasy of denial we look back over the endless hours weeks and years. In the distance...here & there...we see those moments that sparkle & shine like diamonds in the moon light...or sun light on the snow. Rare and beautiful beyond our wildest dreams. Moments that take your breath away...with no assurance they will ever give it back. In a voice of wisdom-cracked with age... forget the years...Enjoy the moments. They may be all you get
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HOW IS THIS SINGER/SONGWRITER ANY DIFFERENT THAN ALL THE REST?:
He's a 7 time decorated combat vet.
Most of his songs are taken straight from his own life experiences
He records at home on pc/solo/one man/one guitar
& still...he'll make you forget that it's just one man. In songs like "Rollin with My Boys in this Damn Humvee"...you can hear him playing bass, lead & rhythm at the same time on that raggedy 12 string guitar.
No studio. No band. no bass, no drums
On some songs he sings 4 part harmony to his original compositions.
His music is as diverse as it gets, ranging from rock to country. His 2nd & 3rd songs...Just A Dream & Carolina are perfect examples of that very thing. He takes you from the city-to as far back up in the hills as you wanna go in one jump
He is older than color television...a great grandfather of Cherokee descent
Seen many musicians wearing a live 5 1/2ft Diamond- back rattlesnake around thier neck, lately?
Trust me, this one...is DIFFERENT.
Did I mention he is nearly deaf?
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He writes award winning songs. He entered two of his songs in the Song of the Year contest. Both of them placed. This is an established National Contest w/1000's of entries. UPDATE: I have just received notification that a 3rd song has won Suggested Artist Award. That's 3 for 3. Novembers results just came in & my latest song recieved suggested artist award (my 2nd). That's now 4 for 4
This link will take you to his Award page:
http://www.songoftheyear.com/webawards/s/steveraygreen.htm
Never mind. I just learned that songoftheyear is a sham. Dont waste your money like I did.
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WE ARE A FAMILY OF SOLDIERS.
We all are warriors/singers/songwriters & musicians, playing multiple instruments. We're pretty good shots too.
www.steveraygreen.com my personal website.Is now kaput
On the above site you will find some of his medals, more of his music & history...His son's music (rock) and the AMAZING story of father & 2 sons being decorated for valor on SAME DAY-37 & 38 years apart!
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'THE STORY BEHIND THE HIT'".
"Don't Take This Away From Me".
In 1977-78 the music giant JIM HALSEY started a record co. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My brother Randy was a streetcop that moonlighted as a limo driver. Thru his work he met a stockbroker, Bob Bell, that was working for Mr. Halsey developing a prospectus for his new business Churchill Records. Randy played my demo tape for Bob who asked me to audition. I did so in my brothers home on Riverside Dr.
Mr. Bell took my songs & got me an audition with Mr. Halsey in Dec of 1978?
At the time I was a skid row preacher. When I say skid row preacher...I didn't just cruise down town on weekends. I lived with my "congregation" in Sallies' missions, abandon vehicles...& warehouse docks.
You see... SEIZURES DON'T JUST COME ON SUNDAYS...
...& sometimes when a seizure comes a man'll bite his own tongue. I learned the hard way if you aren't there when that happens, they might not be there for your next sermon.
Much to my brothers dismay I felt the call of my Master & left for the Union Rescue Mission in Wichita just before the audition was to take place.
As a Christmas gift Randy gave me an airforce parka. It was a peach. It had wolverine fur around the hood. This baby would keep you warm in the coldest of winters. I was soon to find out.
I stayed behind the mission the first month or so in my 66' van. Just before I left Oklahoma I rounded up all the hides I could get my hands on, that the boys had taken during Deer season. I had long ago learned the art of tanning.
Armed with "The Parka", 6 deer hides, my van & the Love of God I hunkered down & waited for spring.
The Weather was deadly cold that winter, but I managed to stay warm for the most part. But then one night the temp. dropped to -15 with -32 windchill.
I was struggling to make it thru the night. Suddenly around 3:am I jumped up from the back of the van! My survival skills jolted me into reality! While my body was at least warm enough to keep me alive... the AIR I was breathing was so cold my lungs were stinging! My core temp had dropped in spite of the cover & I was in danger of Frost Bite from the inside out!!!!
I jumped to the drivers seat & fired up the Amarillo Armadillo . I had to get inside somewhere fast. There was an all-night Burger King down on broadway so off I went.
When I pulled out of the alley on Douglas I looked to the left... & there was Hassle'.
Hassle was a derelict I guess, tho I never saw him drunk or drinking. No one knew for sure because he never talked to anyone. He would snicker & laugh in a whisper all the time. But no words were ever spoken. He was much like the wild animals I had lived with in the Mojave Desert & up in the Rockies. You'd see him out in the open only when he needed food or water. So tho it cant be proven, I'm going to call him homeless.
This was the first time I had ever seen him out on the street after the mission closed it's doors as he always disappeared after he got his share of beans. No one knew where ...or IF he slept.
Anyway, there he was... pacing frantically back and forth in front of the Renfro hotel or maybe it was the pawn shop next door. He was dressed in ragged slacks & a long sleeve shirt. I remember thinking...
"Hassle, you are one strange dude"...
As I pulled out of the alley & turned west on Douglas, what I had come to KNOW as God's sweet voice... SHOUTED at me
"HEY, STEVE!!!" Yeah boss. "It's KILLING COLD out tonight!"
Yeah boss. Why'd you make it so cold tonight?
"Hush a minute. Steve-
YOU... are wearing a fur-lined, insulated parka & are in danger of freezing to death... basically running for your LIFE!
HASSLE... is wearing a THIN LONG-SLEEVED SHIRT! Hassle isn't pacing back & forth because he's STRANGE...
He's pacing back & forth because HE'S FREEZING TO DEATH!!!...
Duhhhh. I circled the block & came down the alley again. I pulled up to the street & rolled down my window. I doubted I could ever get this man in my van...but I had to try. I called him over. Many times. Just like a scared wild dog, he WANTED to come to me...but he could only cover a few inches. I took the parka & held it out the window. Still, bad as he wanted that sucker...he's feet couldn't make the journey.
My brilliant plan was if he got close enough I would GRAB him & wrassle Hassle into the van. I figured if I could get him inside before he bit, kicked & clawed me to death...the warmth of the vehicle would calm him down.
It wasn't going to happen. Each time I cracked the door he bolted a few yards & stopped. I knew if the door swung open...Hassle would be gone, & in the morning he would be dead.
Finally I threw the jacket out the window as far as it would go. I had decided I was not going to leave until I knew that I knew he was wearing that jacket. It worked. He tip-toed over inch by inch to the jacket. Looked down at it, up at me...6 0r 5 times...then eeever sooo slooowly reached down & picked it up.
As I drove away I saw him cinchin down the hood strap good n' tight.
We both made it thru the night. I saw Hassle the next morning "STRUTTING DOWN THE STREET LIKE A PEACOCK"... with the parka hood still tightly cinched to his dirty head.
But we lost Jim. I found Jim around 6:am...in the alley between the mission & the Broken Wheel/Spur? bar sitting on a gas meter covered by a snow drift. Clasped between his legs & his frozen hands...a bottle of Annie Green Springs . His eyes were open & he had a smile on his face. I thought he was alive. I said "Hey, Jim how's it goin?....oh Christ, Jim."
The next victim had no name, so that's what everybody called him. No Name was sittin in the mission with his coat wrapped around his feet when I left that morning to take care of Jim. When I came back several hours later...he was still sitting there with his coat around his feet. This was unusual as Brother Thomi made everybody hit the street after breakfast.
Hey No Name...does brother Thomi know you're still here? "Yep. He told me I could wait until my feet got warm". I started to pass on by, when once again that "voice" I told you about said..."Steve...(God called me steve back then)...He said "Steve...take a look at his feet."
"Let me see your feet, man"...not really knowing why I was asking. He pulled that coat off & whew!!! THEN I knew! Jet black & swollen clear up to his ankles where his legs were fire engine red with red streaks running up inside his pants...
I said "Okay. Can you walk?" Oh sure. My feet don't hurt at all. I said "No. I don't imagine they do...but thats because they're DEAD. Now lets go I'm taking you to the hospital....
"Oh I don't have no money for that". I said..."Look, No Name. Your feet are frozen.They are not going to warm up or get better. You have gangrene. If you don't get to the hospital NOW...you will die. So...can you stand up...or do I carry you?
No Name lived. But without most of his right foot & nearly half his left. He had found "shelter" in an abandoned Steffens Dairy delivery truck box. When I went to get his "things" out of it...there were several army blankets, some candles, piles of dirty clothes, a broken hot plate...and a tattered picture of a little girl sitting in a swing.
Being insulated the truck box normally would keep him "warm" as long as the candles were burning...But not this night. The last time I saw No Name, it was spring. He was shuffling down St. Francis with wooden sandal-like shoes the hospital had given him that were designed to help him walk. In his hands...
That damn "Brown Paper Bag"...
The irony to this story is, wino's often refer to alcohol as Anti-Freeze. Not because it keeps you from freezing... but because it keeps you from CARING that your freezing.
That "Cardboard Box" in this song is sometimes all that stands between life & death for these boys...& often it is the only possesion they have in this world. And sometimes...they will defend that piece of cardboard as if it were Castle Grey
As you can see this isn't just another made up song. When you see a cardboard box in an alley you see trash & think nothing of it. I see someone's house & wonder if anybody's home.
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Where'd you get YOUR first guitar? I got mine on an abandoned air strip in a combat zone half way round the world...Now, theres a start to a dandy country song right there...
gotta go.
What you see below is a list of my original songs categorized as best as possible.
Most songwriters & performers tend to be "normal". Business people. Entertainers, yes...but people who have lived relatively normal lives & built careers intentionally...As opposed to a wild radical tearing-thru-life (& vice-versa)...THEN writing songs about it approach that I have adopted.
For example, I think it's safe to assume that by & large the majority of Today's singer/songwriters when confronted by a 5 1/2 ft Diamond back...if given the opportunity...would un-a** the area, quick fast & in a hurry...
one way to test this theory...take a large rattler to a toby (fonda) keith (or The Fourth Dixie Chick, as I like to call him) concert & toss it up on the stage...Not that I'm recommendin such behavior...it would be WRONG to do that...you will go to jail.
but...I'm seein boots flyin over the drums where the drummer USED to be sittin. I'm seein that poor snake bein pummled repeatedly with the finest electric guitars & mic stands blood money can buy.
This life-style if you will has made me crazy, no doubt. Locked down psych-ward crazy. (They tried to make my "stay" permanent.....but I got away!
Down the fire escape, to be precise. It's okay tho cause they stopped looking for me years ago.Besides...I'm MUCH better now!)
I said all that to say this...I'm NOT normal, so my music is also not normal. If all you are lookin for is standard...you will only find a few.
Dont Take This Away from Me Spiritual (written for James Taylor)
Distant Fire.......................Old West/Outlaw/Ballad
Terry Dawn........................Modern Day/Outlaw/Ballad
Number Song.....................R&B
She thinks she lives in Monterey........easy listening/love song
Til You've Heard Them Sang..... Country/Hillbilly
Dixieland Reaper..................Southern Rock
Perfect Strangers.................Country/duet written for Lee Ann Womack/Clint Black
Almost Home.......................Military/Iraq/ (In memory of Micah Shaw KIA Dec 9, 2007- Kut, Iraq)
HE comes, we go.................Spiritual
Red Neck-Country-male (written for Bocephus)
Hard assed Red Neck Woman..................Hard ass red neck country
Burnin Old Glory....................Military/Viet Nam/ ballad
Smoke Me Lakadoobie...........Comedy/country/religous?
Lovin Her Tonight...................Country
Carolina................................Folk/Mountain music-Appalachia
We Died for you.....................Military/Viet Nam/ Ballad..in Memory of SSGT. Sam Jarrell Small Jr.& SSGT. Frank Frangella KIA Aug 11 & Aug 17 Nui Ba Den (Black Virgin Mountain) David Lassen, Terry Schell and the 28 men killed at the battle of illingsworth April 1st, 1970 South Viet Nam
I've decided not to list all my songs. There are too many. Someday I hope to complete my own website and have them all on there along with a few of the stories about some of the things I have experienced over the years... Like the "Rollin down I-40 thru the Arizona desert doing 80 plus miles an hour ...in my blue vw ...laying flat out on the roof...reaching thru the window to steer and using a window squeegie to operate the gas pedal....naked" story.How I got in this situation is very interesting.
[Country Rock, Christian, Pop-Rock]
