Stub Lee’s single, Dyin’ by the Bottle
This instrumental is an ambient blues track that was a one-take recording session that just kinda vibed with me and I kept tweaking the track until I was happy with it.
It tells a story that takes you through the journey of someone struggling with alcoholism. There’s a point where you might think the bottle has taken another life, or you might consider that there were angels that have saved that person. It’s up to you how you interpret the song.
Listen, follow the song, and let your imagination lead you.
I played the guitar part on an ‘18 Squier Bullet Telecaster that I modded with Tex-Mex pickups. It’s a simple, cheap guitar that has a good feel to it and the notes were just there the day I recorded this track.
The blues is a story…really it’s many stories. Some are the same story told by many different people and some are personal and unique to each person. I think this song is similar to that.
A video short of Dyin’ By the Bottle by Stub Lee.
Stub Lee | Little Towns of Pain | New Single Release
Little Towns of Pain is a new single by Stub Lee that was released today on major streaming platforms and YouTube. The song takes a look at how some small towns hinder people because of social and religious pressures. Drama usually starts from those who get nosey and need to know what everyone’s business is. It has a slower blues feel to it and might be better listened to in the presence of your favorite beverage.
Artificial Intelligence and Blues Music Art
The world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing exponentially and the technology is maturing daily. I’m experimenting with this newfound technology to make blues and rock music-related art. I’m using words to make the Ai model generate the image and if I want to tweak something I have to refine my words, terms, and phrases, called prompts. This isn’t such a stretch because musically we do the same thing with lyrics. The words we use help color the sound of a song in many cases.
When making these images I had to particularly think about how I wanted the image to look and then write the description, or prompt. The computer then digitally realizes that and if I’m happy with the results, I clean them up in photo editing software, maybe adding or taking away an element, text, or some other graphic. It’s a new medium for me to experiment with as I have never been very good at rendering images with paint or drawing. My images have always been generated by various cameras and rendered digitally or physically by chemicals and paper in film media.
What I find fascinating about these images is that the colors fall right in line with my own vision in most cases. But the best part is that if they need to be tweaked, just rewrite the description. It’s an infinite creative outlet for me.
Here’s a small gallery of the results I’ve been able to achieve.
Who the Hell is Cherry? Stub Lee Talks About the Song and the Video
I’ve been asked…who the hell is Cherry?
In the song, it’s not anyone specifically by that name… Cherry. But, we all know a girl as I wrote about in this song. Maybe that girl doesn’t have every one of these traits or problems, but there are people you know who have been through some things or are currently going through these types of things. Some people will identify with Cherry. The name, by the way, keeps the song somewhat generic. It’s not meant to be someone real. It’s like the old song, “Sarah”, from Hall and Oates, if your name was Sarah, then this song seemed like it was written about you and for you whether you liked it or not. I didn’t necessarily want to do that with a common name.
Rylee Ivins
The face of Cherry in the official video.
In the video (below), the actor’s name is Rylee Ivins. She’s a student-aged young lady that has a background in theater and has even worked behind the scenes in movies. I’ve worked with her before and she was the first person I thought of for the part of Cherry. She had the look, the experience to take instructions, and turns out, patience with me as this was my first video to direct. I really enjoy the collaboration between creative minds.
When thinking about the video for this track, I had a mental image in my head of how Cherry acted. This story I was seeing became more like seeing scenes from a movie. It was pretty vivid, and when we made the video I tried to capture those scenes with a real person- Rylee did an awesome job.
We all have things we wrestle with and things that we are trying to overcome or maybe sweep under a rug so others don’t see. We have to choose how we deal with these things and Cherry’s way is sadly typical in many ways. Substances that alter our reality, that free us from the life we’re living, or hang-ups on social things like in her case, traveling outside her comfort zone. It’s easy to shut yourself in and let the world revolve around you outside your walls, your fortification. But the good news is that in the video, Cherry chooses to turn her back on the pills…maybe it’s her first step in saying no or starting a recovery. We always hope everyone finds that strength.
When I wrote that Cherry “dances in time with her anger”, I’ll admit that at first, it seemed like a lofty poetic line. I’ve since convinced myself that this could mean many things to as many people asked. I think that the listener can (and should) assign their own meaning to some lyrics. It may help them identify with the song and make more sense of their current condition. All I’m doing is writing some of the lines that get their mind going and then they start filling in the blanks as needed.
Stub Lee Bluesman in the Cosmos Music AI Art Series
Introducing new AI art images in the style of oil paintings by Stub Lee: "Bluesman in the Cosmos." These pieces capture the beauty and majesty of the cosmos, with a mesmerizing nebula swirling in the background. The central figure of the image is lost in the music of his guitar, and the expressive features are captured in artful detail.
Stub Lee uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate these images, which takes some forethought as to how the images should look, then he translates that into text prompts that the computer can understand.
The vibrant colors and rich texture of the oil paint style bring the scene to life, inviting you to get lost in the mesmerizing beauty of the universe.
Add these one-of-a-kind pieces to your collection today and let them serve as a reminder of the limitless potential of the human spirit and the boundless wonders of the cosmos intertwined with blues music.
There are four in the series and could be a great addition to a man cave, music room, music-listening lounge, or den.
