The Final Round up:
I can't tell you how grateful to God (I am to) have lived long enough to finally see my “children” get the opportunity to move out into the world and make their own way, as it should be. I lived a piratical existence (but always moving forward). I lived in Europe for many, many years slogging through the music business there. I found enough work to keep food on the table as a lead guitarist, songwriter, producer, etc.
I did just about anything there is in the business to keep going. And (all) along, of course, I was writing. In fact I've been writing songs since I was about 12 years old or so. They were terrible as they should be. I had no life experience to write about. A child's imagination is limited …
My childhood was a hardscrabble one, with hobos and tramps begging at our backdoor and every night Mother would sing us the blues. Oddly enough I was the youngest of a family of six and because of the large age differences (me 4yrs, 7yrs, 10 yrs, 12yrs, & 14yrs) I was alone.
So, being poor my playmate was my “imagination”. I grew up in the 1960's when children were left to their own devices. We were booted out of the house in the morning and not expected to show up again except for lunch, dinner and then be home when the street lights came on at night. No one asked or cared where we went or what we did. Since, I didn't (have) the playmates to share this freedom, I learned to read early, dream easily, and felt music deeply. I haven't changed much since then.
My life long dirty secret has been my illness.
I became ill while serving in the military in 1982, I was twenty and came within inches of dying… and this happened while I was in Germany. Alone. But though I survived, the virus silently lurked within me, slowly eating me alive. For my part, I did everything to beat it (within reason) I am a musician after all. I couldn't do drugs because my body was so hypersensitive I had allergic reactions to them. However, oddly enough, I could drink (mostly hard liquor) and merrily smoke my cigarettes which (for) me has been my lifelong (almost) companion. It's true, it helps give you that raspy bluesy vocal sound. But I'm not advocating any of this. I was the only one lighting up after working out lifting weights at the gym.
Anyhoo - I'm wandering like a lost doggie here like some flannelmouth. For those of you reading this who've never graced a stage to perform in public, performing is a workout, and not for those who are out of shape. Later in my career when I encountered the “big stages” with all that running, dancing, moving, whilst playing and singing under the ungodly heat of stage lighting… I started to have problems. Real problems. Like passing out problems. The answer to that was I had to constantly eat (between sets) or even while on stage (behind the backstage area) the backline to get through a gig.
Along this journey I, of course, went through the usual record company rejections, false signings, badmanagement, and bad relationships. Which By 1997 left me unable to perform “live” at that professional level. So, being stubborn and not a quitter of dreams, I built my own studio and really got to work on my songwriting. The majority of my catalogue starts there and ends here in 2026.
Over this time period 1997-2026 I devoted myself to being a “solo” singer/songwriter and focused my efforts entirely on myself (and not a band ensemble). This gave me total control of my work load and direction, without having to explain away my obvious decline (health wise) on a daily basis. For me the biggest problem over those ensuing years was that the original virus had become bored and invited others to join it. First, it was Parkinson's and then … came MS, and finally I developed Addison's disease too. Which, in turn ravaged my thyroid, pancreas, and now my liver.
By the year 2012 - I was left homeless and dying in a Michigan Hospital with one hour left to live. For whatever reason God intervened literal (Literally) and I am still here agains't all odds Though I've (having) suffered numerous heart attacks, two strokes, and multiple seizures. Obviously, I'm done yes?
“I live entombed inside a subsidized senior club home and like Lazarus I lie day after day holding on to my dreams of release.”
And so it went. (The poetic quotes are my own, forgive me.)
Thanks to finally (after fourteen years of fighting the VA) I was finally awarded my 100% disability rating and was able to get proper housing and care. My nurse is now my wife, and I can finally have some degree of comfort before I kick off. But music? It ate away at me just like the virus that will kill me.
So, I bought a guitar again to see if I could just strum a wee bit and croak out a few tunes to satisfy my yearnings. Surely that can't be to much? Yeah. It was. But not before I wrote and demo'd four songs. Which by the way appear on the albums. Finally, I had to give the guitar away to the boyfriend of my grand-daughter. Because that way someone could and should use it for what it was intended. I hope he appreciates it.
After I had a massive seizure, I was laying in bed incapacitated at 3:00am in the morning and scared to death that these were my final moments. To keep from further panicking, I grabbed my laptop and pulled up Apple's GarageBand program and started to fiddle with it. (Honestly I'm not a fan of it) but I started using my voice as an instrument (or a croaking really) and composed the song “Cowboy on the Range ” goofing around with this. Believe it or not, the original demo is very similar to the final product. That track can be heard on the “Swaying in the Saddle” record. But I ramble…
Apart from these 5 songs from 2018, I was forced to quit music in 2009 until in February, 2026, I saw a YouTube Video by a music producer at around 3:00am in the morning. (I also have insomnia now). Who He was talking about (how) AI was going to decimate the music business as we know it. Having already lost almost everything I owned due to “Napster”, I watched it.
He demonstrated how AI with just simple prompting could generate music. And as I am already not a fan of the art it produces, I was not surprised at the “plastic” quality of the tracks he composed. They sounded very Computer derived and the software seemed to delight in using any effects and (who needs proper keys, structure,or harmonies) and the instrumentation was also electronic driven. Horrible shit.
But, then he did something I did not know AI could do. He uploaded one of his own demo's, and forced the Software to “cover” his material. The results were astonishing in comparison to his own work. Modern Recording Consuls have been incorporating many of these features over the course of this last decade if you can afford the Million Dollar price tag for such equipment. But, as with Pro-Tools and Logic Software - which became the great leveler for Indie-Artists, AI has that same potential. So… to say I was excited about this is an understatement.
The next day I got into the same AI Generated Software Program that he featured (SUNO) and sat down with my laptop and had a go at it. It didn't work. And with all new technology, and operating systems there is a learning curve that you must master to manipulate it or work with it, to accomplish what you're hoping to achieve. As all musicians who enter into the recording studio “hopeful” of some earth shattering results once they're finally hooked up with the best equipment and facilities find out is… it's not the gear that makes the song. It's the song period.(!)
After much frustration, and thank the lord that I've had years of prior experience using every kind of consul, and digital software platforms over my years working in the business, I finally put in a simple, guitar - vocal demo, with no other instrumentation and had real whack at it. I could control what studio it was recorded in. I chose Muscle Shoals (since I'm an old school fan tone & feel wise), and I could assign my AI generated musicians on what kind of instruments they played upon (vintage electric piano's, Hammond B-3, etc) and waited to see what the Software would do. The initial results were beyond disappointing. I have found AI is lazy. It does not want to do the work or be “controlled” as you'd think it would be. It has its own personality. It throws tantrums! At one point when I was working with it … it even deleted the file it was supposed to be working on, it threw it in the trash!
Anyhoo - then this track happened. “For Good…” which appears on the first album “Saddled to the Stream”
If you listen to it. It's incredible! It has all the nuances, emotion, and feel, and moreover the TONE of real music. It's exactly like my initial demo in all regards except “Performance”. The AI Session Players can perform when pushed. They can produce “clams” like any musician. But, if you keep at it as I did. They eventually will “learn” your song, style etc.in an effort, of course, to please you. It enjoys that aspect. The “Like ” award. And But if you don't like its work, the tantrums will begin.
All the songs on these albums are mine. I wrote them, played all the instruments on the demo's, and then over the course of long hours of frustration, (which by the way is the same experience I had working with human musicians in the studio) you sit as the producer and await the right “Take”, the killer rendition of the work. It's what we all pray on our knees for. This is the best of all the “Takes” I got for each song I worked on with the Software. Are they all perfect? Did I get exactly what I wanted out of it? Yes, and No.
Some “performances” of my work to me are mind-blowing. In fact, so many of them are way beyond what I thought I could achieve. They've “realized” the song for me. Meaning that the final “take” comes pretty close to the original divinely inspired spark (that songwriters get on their mental radios). I must admit there were times when this occurred I sat there listening with tears running down my face. I was so moved.
So, this is my “Anthology.” I can't make anymore music again in my life. I don't have the physical ability to do so. AI has been my “Musical Prosthetic." Just like the physicist Stephen Hawkings used a computer generated “Voice” to speak to the World. I too am using one. But remember please - this is my voice.
Please listen to it. I am human too. I want to share myself with you, and this is the only way in which I can do it because of my disabilities. Please don't disrespect that. You might not like the music I make. That is your subjective choice. But at least listen to what I have to say before you cast your stones (musically speaking) my way. In life all one can ask of anyone is to do the best they can. This “Anthology” of my song catalogue is the best I've got. That my friends is mission accomplished for me. And the rest is up to the World to judge.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this. (I am a luddite in terms of marketing and promotion) and an old battered sod at 64yrs of age. My phone is (and I am sad to say this) but, in my diminished illness ravaged mental capacity, it is smarter than me.
Until next time - God willing.
Joel Maslakowski
(Songwriter/Producer)
The BluesWare Cowboys
03/12/2026