So, the pandemic hit and we had to cancel our CD release party. Such a bummer. But we had some demo recordings with great takes. I asked a pig farmer to help with production and began work on our self-titled album featuring our older, more acoustic sound.
me and the pig farmer
I was so happy, I went to Vegas and played a song in our hotel room
We needed some standout guitar solos and Joe knew just the guy. Timbo is a gunslinger in the most awesome sense of the word. By the end of the session, Jason Reed had captured 3 EPIC overdubs…
What would a Rock and Roll album be without horns? Luckily I worked on Char’s house a number of years ago so I asked him to stop by Frogville. With Jason Reed at the controls we layered horns on two different tracks and still made it home in time for dinner. The clip below shows him laying down tracks on “Gainesville” -our Eulogy to Tom Petty.
Since our esteemed soloist was not at the initial recording sessions, his parts were handled as overdubs. Steve plays electric guitar, mandolin and dobro in addition to providing nuanced backup vocals. We captured his tracks both at Dave’s studio and at Frogville. By the end, his signature was all over this album.
The celebrated mandolin player was was back visiting, and Joe asked her to stop by Dave’s backyard studio. By the end of the session we had beautiful melodic and rhythmic tracks. One of Sharon’s overdubs can be heard on the album’s closing song “Whatever Works”. If you listen closely at the ending you can hear Joe West say “Perfect!”
We knew we wanted to add keyboards and it happened that Joe’s piano player was in town. Earl is something of a legend having played with Johnny Cash back in the day. I watched amazed as he tore into tracks that he had never heard before. By the end of a couple hours he had added exciting rhythm parts and gorgeous solos to a handful of tracks.
My wife and toddler went out of town for two weeks so Dave Waldrop and I turned my house into a recording studio. We played in the living room, the amps were all over the house, and my daughters room was the control booth. I got inspired and wrote 3 new songs. After these sessions we had captured all the drums, bass and guitar. The project was off and running.
Dave really made these sessions possible with his mobile recording gear and technical prowess.
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After about 5 yard of gigging with original music in SF we decided it must be time to make an album. I was feeling happy with the newish rock and roll sound of the band and wanted someone to help me bring this sound to the album. I was at the Waldrop’s crawfish boil wearing my Joe West t-shirt when who should I see but the man himself. It wasn’t long before we were talking music and he agreed to consider working as our producer.
Our current line up is unchanged from the last installment except (of course) for the bass player. Joe replaces Casey and solidifies our old-school rock n roll sound while I put a little distortion on my guitar. We also experiment with different percussion solutions in order to sometimes play without drums.
Ok, so we go through bassists like Spinal Tap goes thru drummers (without the spontaneous combustion). Justin moved to Austin and, as luck would have it, we were joined by the amazing Casey Andersen. We also started arranging new songs with more electric instruments representing our shift toward a more rock and roll sound.
Eventually Joseph moved on and Justin joined us on bass. Around the same time Arne Bey joined on drums representing our first move away from a strictly folky format. The rhythm section was in the house!
Andre moved to California, but by then we had picked up Steve Linger on mandolin and slide guitar. We ran an ad on craigslist which was answered by Joseph Saleck on bass. I wrote more songs which the band arranged with the tools at hand. Besides having a great beard, Joseph had good ideas for introductions and riffs -the music grew and we started playing Second Street and the Cowgirl regularly.
I was tired sad, and alone. Not really, but it felt that way sometimes. I was living in my little house on Alto Street -spending lots of time with friends. Playing some acoustic music, I was surprised to find myself writing songs for the first time. It seemed like a lifetime of listening and playing was coming back in the form of abstract melodies. With a little effort, I was able to turn these melodies into songs.
Inspired by local musicians like Joe West, I decided that I should have a folk band. I bought a cheap upright bass when I was in CA and gave it to my friend Andre. Andre was a quick study and another friend (Bob) was passing thru for the summer. Bob is an expert on guitar and played lead over my rhythm. Alto Street music was born. One song I wrote was about an especially bad breakup.