Written by Lauren Rosier
California-based singer/songwriter, Patrick Ames, wows us again with a twangy, raw new track in “Rubber & Glue,” featuring regular collaborators, Jon Ireson (production, added bass, guitar) and Chana and Mikaela Matthews (backup vocals).
“The song, ‘Rubber & Glue’ has been around for a few years in my world and it has that nice worn leather kind of feel. It’s comfortable, you’ve heard it before, you like it, how far along do you start singing the lyrics? It shows my heritage. We were kids in the 1960s, playing baseball on Toledo’s streets at the height of Motown’s pull and songs like ‘Rubber & Glue’ were everywhere on the radio – take a known expression and make it into a song. From ‘I Heard It on the Grapevine’ to ‘Cloud Nine,’ I played my best baseball to those endless songs on a transistor radio tuned to CKLW…
For this ‘Rubber & Glue,’ I recorded by mic’ing to the studio amp and then laying over the vocals. For some reason it got a little swampy, as in Mississippi river blues, which Jon Ireson, our producer, bassist, and acoustic guitarist, managed to save and embellish. The swampiness saves the song from going to close to pop. Dare I say Muscle Shoals. Chana and Mikaela recorded separate sessions, as I watched on Zoom with comments and direction. Chana has the high spots on this one with her Yeah, Yeah voice. Instant classic…
Jon Ireson, Producer, pieced it all together. Playing bass, and guitar, and fixing all he “artifacts” in my studio recordings, and the vocalists home kitchen. Jon really gave it that simple, Motown beat and rhythm and blues.”
This track is a breath of fresh air compared to Ames‘ last two single releases, which were both based upon the pandemic and the events of 2020. This song is more playful and has more lyrical simplicity.
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