Rescheduling the gig for two months out was a blow, so we took a week off, but have rehearsed every week since then. We've brought in five new songs and dropped some songs that weren't working as well, which is cool. There was a sixth new one, but it didn't work out.
In the band, I had resigned myself to pretty much never playing songs that I actually like, because there's very little overlap between my taste in music and what actually goes over in bars. With this format, there's a somewhat higher percentage of songs I like (no surprise), but it's still pretty low. Most songs I eventually gain an appreciation for, just as I did with the band. I mean, a song can be fun to play, a good challenge, sound good, all that, and I still don't really like the song, but at least it's fun to play.
The greatest challenge with our format is that I'm "the band". If the song is basically voice and piano, it usually works well. A lot of voice and guitar songs can be adapted as well, and I've even been complimented on what I've come up with. Then there are songs that were done by a full band, which usually means guitars, bass, drums, the works. Can I do something on piano that captures the essence of the song, so that by time Patty sings on top of it, it sounds good? Usually I can come up with something, but sometimes the answer is just No. There are songs we put a lot of work into but had to drop because they just weren't working. Patty floated the idea of getting a drum machine, or adding a drummer, or a guitarist, to help fill out the sound. I shut that shit down. Sorry, but that's not the gig I signed up for, and after three years, I'm not looking to change it. There are songs we can cover with our format, and there are some we cannot.
I'm also "the background vocals". Similar issue. If I can pick out a harmony that works and it sounds good, cool, we go with it. The result is often a "folk" harmony (dancing thirds and sixths with occasional fourths and fifths) which works well with our format. But sometimes there's glorious three-part or four-part harmony on the original, and we're just not gonna emulate that. Last night we were working on a song where the lead and backgrounds are in a call-and-response, meaning I have to somehow emulate a three-part harmony. I didn't want to do the song in the first place, but she loves it, so we're doing it, which means I had to try something, but nothing was working. I finally said I just shouldn't sing on this one. I only sing on maybe a third of the songs anyway, which is fine by me, but this is the first one with obvious background vocals and I'm just not gonna do them. I didn't actively sabotage the backgrounds, but I didn't really try that hard because to me it was pretty obvious that nothing was going to work. I tried a few things, but there was no way I was going to sound like three-part harmony all by myself while she sings the lead. It sounds pretty empty, and honestly kinda dumb, without the backgrounds, but I'm going to let her reach that conclusion herself. I've done what I can.
Oh well. The gig is this Sunday, and we'll be ready.