An upbeat country pop Americana song, “Just one” depicts a patron who, after having just one drink, unsuccessfully tries to leave a local bar because his friends keep buying him more drinks.
How did “Just One” come to fruition? Well, one summer night in 2008, Siobhan and I were sitting in the Canandaigua Brew Company, a little tavern on Phoenix Street in Canandaigua, NY. Quite often condemned by the righteous, Phoenix Street, also known as Blood Alley, is in the lower socioeconomic area of the city. Despite its problems, I love it and the spirit it generates. It’s a place where it’s hard to tell the sinners from the saints because there is a little bit of both in each soul.
As Siobhan and I sat visiting with our good friend Ray Hackett, the bartender, someone from down the bar yelled, “Hey, Teacher!” The voice came from Terry Beayea, a former student from the late 1970s. “You need to write a tune about folks having just one more,” he said.
“What do you mean,” I replied.
He proceeded to describe a very common situation that often occurs at a bar. When someone is getting ready to leave, the other patrons often encourage him to hang in there for one more. Of course, one more leads to one more and so on…, and before you know it, it’s closing time. Always being open to new ideas, I told him I would give it some thought, and I stashed the concept somewhere in the back of my mind.
Sometime within the next few weeks, the phrase, “just one, just one more,” came back into my mind when I heard someone say it at the bar. I immediately thought of the conversation I had with Terry, and I began to think about his idea more seriously. As I sat at the bar sipping some Jim Beam Black, I envisioned some of the places people go and the things they do after stopping for one after work. Picking up something at a store, grabbing dinner at some restaurant or fast food joint, and heading home to do some work were three ideas that came to me. From there, the words “More” and “Store” created the first half of the chorus, and when I realized “chores” were the jobs done at home, the second half of the chorus quickly fell into place.
From here, it was simple. Each of the verses kept enticing the main character to stay on for one more drink until it was finally closing time, and the episodes in each verse reflected actual events I encountered as a patron of the CBC.
This upbeat party-like song required a driving sound to reflect the festive atmosphere in the bar. So, that’s just what Siobhan and I did with her bass, my guitar, harmonica and vocal. After we put the song together, we went over to record the basic tracks with Rich Cooley, a neighborhood friend. Following this, we brought in two fine musicians, Perry Cleaveland and Bob Spadafora, to add some finishing touches. Perry with his electric mandolin and fiddle and Bob with his acoustic guitar created some awesome sounds. Along with their instruments, they added some terrific backup harmonies to the chorus. We could not have asked for more. In the final mix, Siobhan and I decided to just use the harmonica to kick off the song, and then we decorated the song with the terrific filler and lead work created by Perry and Bob. Hope you enjoy the song, and I hope it finds a place on your playlist!
If you want to get a feel for the song before you stream or download it, we have a video of us playing the basic tracks on YouTube. Here is a link to our YouTube Channel:
Practicing “Just One”
If you liked what you heard on our YouTube Channel, here’s a link to where you can stream it on Spodify and add it to your playlist (If you are not a Spodify member, you need to become a member and download the Spodify Web Player. It is free.):
Spodify Streaming Page for “Just One”
If you liked what you heard on our YouTube Channel, here’s a link to where you can download it and add it to your playlist:
CD Baby Download Page for “Just One”
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