Oakland, Caliornia
I recorded these songs between the winter of 2006 and spring of 2010.
Most of them were recorded in my garage in Oakland, using a Macintosh PowerBook
and "Garage Band" software. I played my old standby Washburn Flattop acoustic
for the acoustic guitar tracks, and a hollow-body Gretsch on the electric
tracks.
The songs are each special to me, for various reasons, and I put my heart into
these. They will never stand up musically or technically to a commercially
recorded piece, but they do pack a power and a feeling that to this day I
enjoy when I listen to them - I offer them to you in the same sense, they are
a musical postcard of this moment in my life.
| Only Dyin Slow | Jackie Green's masterpiece of melancholy and insomnia. | ||
| Something (acoustic) | Gary Nelson and I, in his living room Sunday afternoon. Perfectly done lead, wonderful song. Thanks Gary! | ||
| The Benkowskis | A bunch of us got together a band and played for Bill Benkowski's wedding reception. "They Love Each Other" came off really well. Also "Route 66" though we had never played it before. Check out that 'Love Me Tender' too. | ||
| If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day | Me and Roland playing around in the living room one night. | ||
| Love Gone Blues | Gary and I playing around with an old blues tune. | ||
| Suzanne | Suzanne, haunting tune by Leonard Cohen. | ||
| Waitin Round to Die | Townes Van Zandt. A love song to loneliness. | ||
| Human | Human, by the Killers. For Genevieve. | ||
| Some Splainin | My pal and ex-boss Chris would sometimes imitate Ricky Ricardo on the 'I Love Lucy' show and burst out with "LUUUCY! You got some 'splainin to do!". Well thats where the title comes from. The song is about mixed and mixed-up emotions. | ||
| Fields of Gold | Sting wrote this, but Eva Cassidy made it so much more... these chords are closer to her arrangment but i have of course taken my liberties. "I never made promises lightly, and there have sure been some that I've broken.." and I am sorry about those. | Lyrics and chords | |
| Make you Feel my Love | Bob Dylan wrote this ... not Garth Brooks or Billy Joel. Just great chords, such a sweet tune. | Lyrics and chords | |
| Wagon Wheel | Great tune by the Old Crow Medicine Show... learned this from some naturalists at Yosemite on a St Paul's School field trip. | Lyrics and chords | |
| Shenandoah | Dylan's version of the lyrics to a traditional folk piece. I've always loved the 'leaving' feeling of this tune, sad and hopeful together... and the notion of waiting many long years for something, too. | ||
| Spanish Harlem Incident | Bob Dylan again. Old song off of 'another side of bob dylan'. I added a slide track here. The song is done in open G tuning, so has that appalachian feel to it. | ||
| Man of Constant Sorrow | Bob Dylan's arrangement of the traditional tune. It's hard to do his version now without referencing the "O Brother Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, but this one is at least closer to Sir Bob's... | Lyrics and Chords | |
| Box of Rain | They say that this is the song that will turn around a bad trip.. | Lyrics | |
| Winter | Stone's tune off 'Goat's Head Soup'... this one is especially poignant this winter, it's been a long hard one.. but we can make it through with a candle and a warm coat. | Lyrics | |
| Early Morning Rain | Here is some traveling music for those long-distance moments.. | ||
| Me and Bobby McGee | More of the travel motif.. Kris Kristofferson and Janis each put their own part into this song, i just honor them both, i hope. Done in the night kind of quietly, trying not to wake anyone up. | ||
| Midnight Moonlight | Bluegrass Tune, from "Old and in the Way" for Eleanors ear ache. | ||
| John Barleycorn | Fruit of the vine! | ||
| Little Wing | A little more electric | ||
| Ricks Blues | just screwing around with the new Gretch | ||
| Diamond Lil | David Bromberg tune, with lead wah track, tasty. This was recorded for the most part in my living room one Wednesday afternoon as I supervised some guys working on my driveway. David Bromberg, who was a favorite of mine from my teenage years, wrote this song. His version of it was slow and dark; I always felt it should have been more angry and a little harder-edged, so I added the electric side to it. This was the first time I ever tried using the 'wah' effect on the electric guitar and the result was so satisfying that I had to go out and buy a wah pedal. His condemnation of his friend's actions in this song hit a little close to home sometimes for me! | Lyrics and Chords | |
| Eight Miles High | too much garage band distortion but fun. | ||
| Friend Of the Devil | Greatful dead tune, with lead track. Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia, of the band 'The Grateful Dead', wrote this. I was a huge fan of these guys, and have played many of their songs and been to dozens of their concerts. They were more than simply an act to my friends and me; for about 20 years their songs formed the soundtrack of our lives. This one is a particular favorite of mine. I love the way each verse leads into the chorus, blending lyrically with the moving action of a man out on the run. | Lyrics and Chords | |
| When I Paint My Masterpiece | Bob Dylan tune, single guitar. | ||
| Heart Of Saturday Night | This song is by Tom Waits. It's a lovely tune and somehow I always think of my wife's family when I sing it; that line '... the telephone's ringing, it's your second cousin' reminds me of how large her family is. I played it in the key of C for years until one day I saw Tom play it, and realized it is supposed to be in D ... so now it is! | Lyrics and Chords | |
| Sign In a Window | Another Dylan tune, this one with goofy lead guitar | ||
| Wild Horses | This one is for a friend, you know who you are! | ||
| Indoor Fireworks | One for all you neo-pagans out there. Dig the Burning Man reference. | ||
| Mr Johnsons Coffee | I wrote this in December... the story of Robert Johnson's untimely demise. No, this is not autobiograhical so dont get any ideas! | ||
| Sweet Virginia | Rolling Stones tune, from "Exile on Main Street" recorded 6/10/07 in the garage | ||
| Long Way From Nashville | Song by Michelle Miller-Phelps, a friend and neighbor. Recorded 6/10/07 with Paul Farrington on guitar, and Ron Wurtz on bass, on Ron's back deck. Hence, a piece of music completely produced in Redwood Heights. | ||
| Fly Like A Bird | A Tune by Ken Canado. We did this one for the Baccalaurate Mass at St. Martin De Porres, on June 8 2007. Evelyn graciously re-recorded the vocal track for us on June 11th. | ||
| Route 66 | I recorded this one-off to help the singers for the Flaming Kitties prepare for the band's debut at the Redwood Heights Variety Show of 2007. Eleanor likes this one a lot. She listens to it on her "Hello Kitty" Walkman. | ||
| Ship of Fools | We've all lent a hand to raise that flag.... | ||
| Delicate | This tune by Damien Rice is so fine... it slows, and speeds, as if moved by wind. I loved it from the moment I first heard it but it took me two years to get it down, and then only at the urging of a friend. It was recorded in my bedroom using a usb headset, so the sound is unfortunately not the best. This was the second take, as Garage Band did not record the first one, which was even better. It was recorded in Feb. 2008, a little after the others. The look on your face..... | Lyrics and Chords | |
| Cheap Is How I Feel | Ahhh the Cowboy Junkies... | ||
| Lean On Me | Me and Eleanor, practice for the Talent Show. | ||
| Knocking on Heaven's Door | Trying out the new Boss Micro-BR recorder on this one. 32 tracks, bout the size of a calculator, woot. | ||
| Tiny Dancer | Lovely Song, loved it on 'Almost Famous" but played it long before that.. transposed to A for my vocals | ||
| Dry River | Heard the Knitters play this at "Hardly Striclty Bluegrass" in San Francisco in 2007, what a set! Excene was just wailing, Dave Alvin was animated and happy, and John Doe was friendly and mysterious at the same time... they did 'Go Down Swinging' too, just a few days before Porter Waggoner died. I'll have to record that too. | Lyrics and Chords | |
| Pancho and Lefty | Willie Nelson had a pretty big hit with this one, but it was written by Townes Van Zandt, and he really played the heck out of it. I jammed with a guy down at the Missouri on this one night and fell in love with the song right there... but the first time I tried to record it, well, lets just say it wasnt pretty. This one is. | ||
| Ripple | Greatful Dead tune, courtesy of Robert Hunger. Is based on an older spiritual 'There Is A Road', which I have heard but I am really straight covering this marvelous Dead tune here. | ||
| Subteranean Homesick Blues | Bob Dylan.. he says it so well. We used to play this one in "The Lemmings", band I worked with in college. Loved it then, loved it now, always will. I owe Tom and Guy for turning me onto this tune originally. Well more than that. But that, at least. | ||
| Tangled Up In Blue | Bob Dylan again... I played this one in the hospital for my dad just before he died; he used to live in New Orleans and kind of liked that part of the song. I still remember looking up and seeing the whole crowd in ward listening to me there, and clapping. | ||
| Sugar Mountain | Niel Young - always loved this one. Recorded on first day of summer vacation, day before fathers day. In a newly-cleaned studio garage, yay. | ||
| De Colores | A lovely folk song, about the love of colors and flowers... for Tomas. And his grandmother! May you always share the music you inspire. | ||
| Rose of Sharon | Inspired by the Song of Solomn, and by Sharon. |
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