Insider Info

Pray It Forward: This is a song of love, optimism, faith, perseverance, karma, and my life story in a nutshell. When things are going your way, be thankful. When things aren't going your way, be thankful still - and reach out for help if you need it. That's what friends are for.

The lyrics (printed below) are pretty self explanatory except for perhaps the final verse. I was living in Laguna Beach, California, when I met the woman who would later become my wife. It wasn't long before Wendi and I had a beautiful baby girl, Tess, who was such a bright light in our already bright lives. Tess was (and is) such a gift from God that we thank God for her every day. She's still our little baby girl but, okay, she's a grown woman with a husband of her own now, so we're also thankful and grateful for our son-in-law, Joey.

During our years together, Wendi and I have had smooth sailing and, like anyone else, we've had our share of setbacks and worries.Through it all, though, we're thankful. God is good. Love is good. We're blessed.

"So we'll just pray it forward, me and my wife."

The Tale of the B&G Little Sister Guitar: A friend of a friend (who is now also a friend) got in touch with me one day asking for advice on an electric guitar purchase. What would I buy for myself, given a certain price range. I told him, "I'd get a Little Sister, made in Israel by B&G Guitars." The Little Sister has a unique tone based on dissecting vintage guitar builds from the 1920's to mid 1950's and can sound "chimy" like a Strat OR "thick" like a Les Paul, all the while singing with her own voice.

He bought one and, when she arrived, let me play her. Ooh... fun!

Fast forward to a month ago, and my anonymous friend (Jim Keller, I won't mention you by name, unless I slip up) had to go into the hospital for some surgery and wouldn't be able to play guitar for a while. He sent his Little Sister (uh... his guitar, not his sister) to me so I could play around with her until he got better. This "Pray It Forward" recording is the result.

Thanks, Jim! Er... I mean, thanks, anonymous friend. That's a cool guitar, and fun to play.

We're praying it forward for you, by the way. Get well. Be well.

The Recording: What??!! This is the first recording in the GtSD series that hasn't featured my Larrivee C10-E acoustic guitar, named "Angel." Angel didn't even make a guest appearance on this one, for reasons told in the tale above.

I recorded Angel's usual acoustic guitar part on my friend's B&G Little Sister Crossroads guitar (which I've taken to calling "Sis") then added bass, drums and percussion. If I currently had my synth set up, I probably would have added a nice bluesy organ, or at least a smooth synth pad, but I went with the keyboard I had readily available. Okay, shoot me. I played the accordion.

I actually quite like the sound of the accordion on this song, but I needed something to build things a little more for the next verse, so I panned the accordion to the left of the stereo stage and brought in a mandolin on the right. That's the ticket!

I wanted to really feature "Sis" on this recording so, after adding the harmony vocals, I went back and spent the better part of the day figuring out and recording a lead guitar part for the break section. It actually took me hours to get it right, but it showed off a really nice tone from Sis.

Long story short, when I listened to it the next day, the lead section was just too busy, so I cut out all of the fancy lead parts and left only the ending in place. I had to keep that little nod to Sis and her beautiful, alternate tone.

There ya go. That's the story of this recording. Bass and Sis were recorded direct. Vocals were recorded with an Aston Origin microphone. The accordion and mandolin parts were recorded with an AKG P170. It's fun to have toys that work.

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Pray It Forward

Words & Music by Ron Hall - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Pray it forward in both the good times and the bad
Give thanks when you're happy, say please when you're sad
They say the best way to save love is to give love away
So just pray it forward and it will come back one day

I know a blind man. He clearly sees more than me
One day I asked him, "Well, tell me how can that be?"
He just pointed to Heaven, he said "I see all I need
When I see God's angels, in my memory"

I just pray it forward in both the good times and the bad
I give thanks when I'm happy, I say please when I'm sad
I know the best way to save love is to give love away
So I just pray it forward. I know I'll see it some day

When I lived by the ocean, I thought I'd give love a whirl
Well I married my woman and she gave us a girl
The baby girl gave us Jesus and He gave us His life
So we'll just pray it forward, me and my wife

Oh we'll just pray it forward the rest of our lives