Will Dailey: Rise

The other night, I watching “CSI New York” and Mac Taylor (played by Gary Sinise) was playing bass behind Will Dailey doing his hit “Rise.” I had seen this episode before, but never paid any attention to the song. Released in 2007, “Rise” has been used on other CBS TV shows such as “CSI,” “NCIS,” the “Early Show,” and others.

Dailey is one of three artists signed to CBS Records which is a new company operated by the CBS Television network and not to be confused with Columbia (North America) and CBS Records (elsewhere) that CBS once owned but sold to Sony. The entire Columbia Records story is convoluted anyway.

Columbia (UK) which was once owned by the same parent as Columbia (US) had to divest of its US holdings but kept the label identity under its new corporation EMI and used the trademark everywhere except North America. Confused? Good – as we all are. Eventually, EMI retired the Columbia Label and sold the trademark to Sony who now markets the Columbia label worldwide.

Back to Daily, I believe he is playing a Gibson J-50 on the main video and he uses an alternate tuning that is primarily a half-step lower than standard for “Rise.” The only difference is that the low E string is dropped to a B. The other notes are dropped a half-step to be G# D# F# A# D#. So when he plays a C it is actually a B and Fmaj7 sounds as Emaj7. Other chords such as Dm, G, and F are sounded as C#m, F#, and E. Still confused? Excellent – don’t worry about it – listen to one of the three versions of “Rise” and try to think too much about it.

Live on the Early Show

Cameo Appearance on CSI NY