No Time for the Roots to Grow
By HoolieBrown on March 29, 2026 5:19 am
WEEK 13! Do you folks realize that if you have stayed in from the start you are well beyond the track minimum for a full length record (whatever that means now 
)? That blew me away, and for some reason some of my old ride or die homies back home have been reaching out asking when I'm putting out new music xD. I haven't shipped anything self produced in almost a decade until I took this year's challenge on along with all of you, and I am so grateful for this community for giving me the motivation to start cooking again. Thanks, everyone.
I got an RME Babyface Pro FS this week - was using a lot of consumer grade stuff and was getting far too much color stack and mud during layering vocals. Focusrite 2i2, Volt 276, Presonus IOstation - all great stuff until you get a dozen tracks in or so and you start having problems. Never looking back the RME is absolutely incredible, mainly because once it's set I don't have to think about it at all.
Speaking of stacking vocals - first takes only again, I had to get this out. Noticing I'm spending a lot less time tuning, either I'm not as pitchy or I'm more comfortable with natural note drift.
Everything was sequenced on the m8 but I did stack vocals into Reaper directly and cut the guitar solo through NI Guitar Rig 7 - I've never been able to find a tone I loved in it, but plenty I like so we hit the good enough bar. I had a prechorus built in the M8 original but it just wasnt working - ended up adding the solo instead.
The song is semi-autobiographical - we moved a lot as a kid, not much out of my hometown, but different schools and all that. While raising one of my own I am coming to realize that it made more prone to not get too attached to people and place. I want to give him more of a choice in the matter if I can.
Lyrics
I remember where I left myself
Trying to wrestle with the pain I felt
New town and I’m making some friends
But I just found out that we’re movin again
No time for the roots to grow
Never love for the dirt below
Keep my eyes straight up at the sky
and I never felt the wind when it started to blow
HOME, HOME, I KNOW
My home is a place in the sky
HOME, I KNOW
My home is a place in my mind
Want the truth I got nothing left
Nothing to play since I hedge my bets
No fear got a pocket for hands and I’m
Stepping back from another ledge I guess hey
Be a man for the rest of the night
Be a man now I’m risking my life
Be a man and I’m losing my friends
Never seeing my kids and I’m missing my wife
Audio works licensed by author under:
CC Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works (BY-NC-ND)
