BUTTERFLY (4-Track Cassette Video)

Plus, 4K download link for paid subscribers!

Oct 11, 2024

Hi everyone! Apologies for the radio silence. I'm down sick after attending my 50th high school reunion in Endwell -- which was strange and wonderful and I'll be posting about it -- but which turned out to be a bit of a superspreader event. I will be continuing my protest songs series as soon as I'm able, but in the meantime I want to turn you on to Pete Droge and his beautiful song with Elaine Summers called "Butterfly." He also talks about how he loves dropped D tuning -- who knew this was a thing?! If you're in the Seattle area, he's got a concert coming up. Or subscribe to his substack and get access to his music that way. Substack has some wonderful current artists like Pete and Elaine to follow and support. Grab some of that acoustic guitar soul magic! -

Ellen from Endwell

Paid subscribers can download a 4K copy of this video by visiting my rarities page.
https://petedroge.substack.com/p/rarities

Elaine Summers and I have been gearing up for our show at The Triple Door in Seattle on 11/07/24. Tickets are on sale now at www.thetripledoor.net.

We made a list of every song we would consider playing—55 in total. We wrote them all down on small pieces of paper, along with notes about guitar tunings, capo positions, etc. Then, we spread them out on top of our old grand piano and started prioritizing.

First, we put all the songs we absolutely must play in a stack. Then, we gathered all the strong contenders in another stack. It’s been tough, but I think we narrowed it down. We’re excited to include some songs we’ve never played live before.

We’ve chosen our opener and our closer. Next, we’ll puzzle the rest of the set together in a way that hopefully avoids too many guitar changes.

I’ve been using a drop D tuning on a handful of songs. That’s where you tune both the low E and high E strings down to a D. It’s a tuning I love. I’ve used it a lot over the years. For a prime example, check out “Please the Ghost” from Spacey & Shakin’. This post from April 13, 2023 features the demo, the album version and a live performance from French TV.

While I did not use drop D tuning on the album version of “Butterfly,” I love it for my new live arrangement. Check out the video above of me recording the song triple-tracked into my cassette four-track. I love the vibe you get when triple-tracking to cassette. I love it even more with a healthy dose of Deluxe Memory Man echo added in.

“Butterfly” originally appeared on 2006’s Under the Waves. You can find that album on a streamer near you. I’ll save you the trip and post the album version here.

1×

0:00

-4:06

Cover photo by David E. Perry. Design by Coolstone.

Later, when working as composer on Eliaichi Kimaro’s feature documentary A Lot Like You, I reworked the track as instrumental underscore. “Butterfly (Film Version)” was released on the soundtrack album in 2011. Again, I’ll save you the trip to your favorite streamer.

1×

0:00

-1:33

That’s it for now. Thanks for being here.

Peace & Love Songs,

Pete

Rock 'n' Roll with Me

BUTTERFLY (4-Track Cassette Video)

Plus, 4K download link for paid subscribers!