Last June I did some sessions in Nashville with the mother of all studio bands. It was incredible. Unreal. My songs have never, ever sounded so great.
I brought the tracks home and got busy with other projects (The Silver Key) and other songs, and didn’t do my work for the longest time. In part, too, ’cause it’s a daunting thing to hear the songs played so well, and I’m not *enter great singer here* and I want to measure up as best I can. To help me do so, I invited over George.
I must have met George Reiff right after I moved to Austin. He’s a fine, fine musician and bass player. Bass players normally don’t hang out much. There’s only one of us on any particular gig, and the only times we’ll run into each other is between sets when one is moving stuff off stage and the other is putting stuff on. But somehow back-in-the-day we met. And we’ve played for about 5 of the same bands (usually he first, and me after). Off the top of my head: Kacy Crowley, Kitty Gordon, Cotton Mather, Patricia Vonne, Billy Harvey. I think that’s right. There are more, most likely.
Of late George has been doing quite a bit of producing. He’s very good. And he agreed to come over, bring a great mic, and then twiddle knobs and offer perspective on my performance. And he did. And it was great. Not perfect, maybe, but about the best I’ll ever sing those songs. And I am very happy. My smile is wide.
NOW all I gotta do is write & record horn parts. Then find someone to mix. I might mix it myself – it was recorded so well it’d be difficult to mess up – but then it’d sound even better if I got a pro in. Plus, someone owes me a favor, so….
All of these songs, and more! will be available on my annual The Weirdo Deluxe album. This year’s, (Vol. 6), should be done in August or so.