Becky Reyes: Music & Lyrics
Vallarta
(Becky Reyes/Todd Stratton)
1998-07
Becky Reyes/Todd Stratton
Back when Todd Stratton was teaching me picking techniques and chords, I came up with a little exercise to help me get more comfortable moving around on the neck of the guitar. I asked him to listen to it and before long, he had created a counter melody/lead that brought this piece to life. We probably played it a thousand times in the years we were together. I told Todd it was in our DNA.
When Todd arrived here for a visit last year from New York, after he'd been driving all day, he still managed to picked up his guitar and we played it as if there had only been a few days since the last time we played it, and not 12 years. It was flawless. We recorded it in 2 takes. It was magic.
My calluses are sloughing a bit so you can hear my fingertips squeak on the strings. I was a little uptight about it earlier, but now I love it. It's real music. It sounds like we've been practicing for weeks when in reality, it had been 12 years since we played it together, and we had only played it about 10 times before we recorded it. It IS in our DNA.
The reason I called it Vallarta is because I was anticipating a trip to Puerto Vallarta where my cousin, Albert Reyes lives. It's hard to explain, but I just tried to feel the vibe of Puerto Vallarta and imagine the ocean, the people, the sights and this is what came out.
Albert opened his house to my friend Sylvia and me and when I finally saw Puerto Vallarta, it was every bit as beautiful as I had imagined. I felt like I was home.