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Yacht Rock?! Who has experience.

Jimmy4string

Jimmy4string

Sep 6, 2006
3,936
9,910
Austin Texas
#1
As the Blues Image plays in the background and the coffee kicks in this morning I wonder.
Maybe yacht rock?! Any you guys do any Yacht rock bands? OR any tunes like Doobies or looking glass?
I am curious about audience response? Aquiring band members. Harmonies are a must!
Your comments are most welcome!
YachtR.jpg
 
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#2
1) What is "the Blues Image"?

2) We are a three-part harmony band. Most of our songs would not fall under yacht rock. We do, however, do the ever loving crap out of "Takin It To the Streets".
(106) Takin' It to the Streets - YouTube

Gotta have keys. Gotta have a patient guitar player who will play exactly what's needed, and not a note more. Gotta have harmonies. Wish we had a conga player.
 
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#4
Jimmy4string said:
As the Blues Image plays in the background and the coffee kicks in this morning I wonder.
Maybe yacht rock?! Any you guys do any Yacht rock bands? OR any tunes like Doobies or looking glass?
I am curious about audience response? Aquiring band members. Harmonies are a must!
Your comments are most welcome!
View attachment 4727057
Click to expand...
Yes, and it is not easy, but the audience response is huge. People love this stuff. The biggest problem is that it has to be done right, and well. You can't throw together janky players and make it work. And good players want to be paid. I will send you some video from a recent show via PM and I'm happy to answer any questions if I can.
 
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#5
Jimmy4string said:
As the Blues Image plays in the background and the coffee kicks in this morning I wonder.
Maybe yacht rock?! Any you guys do any Yacht rock bands? OR any tunes like Doobies or looking glass?
I am curious about audience response? Aquiring band members. Harmonies are a must!
Your comments are most welcome!
View attachment 4727057
Click to expand...

Paging @4Mal . His primary band is on something more or less like that wavelength and stays as busy as they want to be. And yeah, I'd definitely say harmonies are a must.
 
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#7
We have a couple of Yacht rock songs in my main band. They go over well mixed into our generally classic rock vibe..

The biggest problem with this genre is finding musicians who will embrace it. I believe there are plenty of events and venues where this would go over well.

BTW, I don't consider the Doobies to be a "Yacht rock" example. Yes they have a handful of songs that would fit in that mix, but their catalog as a whole is a lot rockier than a typical Yacht rock artist (Jimmy Buffet, America, Seals and Croft, Loggins and Messina etc)
 
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#8
Harmonies sell... period. In our book we have 60's through early 2k light rock. Generally presented at low volume. Many folks here would despise the setlist and approach. Audiences respond and as @Passinwind indicated, we work a lot.

Beatles, Hollies, Spirit, Poco, Eagles, Marshal Tucker, Pete Anderson period Dwight Yokam, Cyndi Lauper, Sheryl Crowe, Al Green, Bill Withers, Tom Petty and especially the Petty duets like Stop Draggin' my Heart Around, Buffet for the Parrotheads... the list goes on... CSN, Neil Young but with the light rock treatment - See Roxette Heart of Gold... We also do some of the Buddy and Julie Miller duets. Male and Female duets simply sell. and on and on... a dozen years of assembling a book... got to give the people... the people what they want....

I do some classic country- Brooks and Dunn, Byrds, bluegrass done for the harmonies, swing and western swing. Very deep in our book we have classic Doobies, Wild Cherry, Commodores... We are an unabashedly commercial enterprise.

We are kinda like a Yacht Rock band with a Country side. You kinda have to be in this part of the world.
 
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#11
I don't know if I'd call my band a Yacht Rock Band. But, we do play Doobies, Eagles, Foreigner, Journey, Styx, CSNY, Orleans, and throw in some Motown, a little newer Country and a current(ish) Jason Mraz and Ed Sheeran. Definitely 3-part harmonies, no drummer and no keys.... Acoustic guitar, Electric guitar, Bass and female lead singer.

We're staying as busy as we'd like snd have been doing this for 8 years.
 
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#13
mrcbass said:
We have a couple of Yacht rock songs in my main band. They go over well mixed into our generally classic rock vibe..

The biggest problem with this genre is finding musicians who will embrace it...
Click to expand...

I think that is kind of a problem with any cover band. The 'art' is doing like you mean it, not being a poser and phoning it in...

buldog5151bass said:
It is difficult music to play and sing - you cannot half@$$ it.
Click to expand...

The singing part makes it for me. When our harmonies are on for a song like Teach Your Children.. it is a joy to sing with my band mates. Our harmonies are mostly on but hey, sometimes iffy happens in which case I back off a bit. I am the weakest singer in Willy & Nelson. I am second singer in Ravin' my blues, Zydeco, R&B thing. We are new and the harmonies are a work in progress. I'm getting a lot more lead vocal time and I'm enjoying that.
 
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#14
My trio performs Ride Captain Ride often, a lot of Doobies and Yacht Rock chestnuts as well. In a (3) pc format it's a bit different but we arrange it around our sound.
Simply put the genre works great with folks when you hit the notes, when you don't it's an instant train wreck.
 
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#16
mrcbass said:
BTW, I don't consider the Doobies to be a "Yacht rock" example. Yes they have a handful of songs that would fit in that mix, but their catalog as a whole is a lot rockier than a typical Yacht rock artist (Jimmy Buffet, America, Seals and Croft, Loggins and Messina etc)
Click to expand...

You need to watch Episode 1 of Yacht Rock. Which doesn't refute you.
 

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