John Paul Spencer Album Release

A jazz musician is someone who puts a $5,000 horn in a $500 car and drives 50 miles for $5 gig.

Now, I'm by no means a jazz musician, but that's the joke that was going through my head as I drove the 12 plus hours out to Milwaukee to play at John Paul Spencer's Album Release.  If you have read this blog previously, you may remember in 2012, when we went to Georgia to record what would become the album, which you can now purchase here http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/johnpaulspencer .


The gig was at the Tonic Tavern, which was a nice space to play.

 

 

Opening for J.P. Spencer, was his friend Eric, who goes by the name E is for Epic. He played a great set on both 12 and 6 string guitars.

 

E is for Epic

 

After E is for Epic, we went on, and played a set consisting of J.P.'s songs and some covers of Richard Thompson, Camper Van Beethoven, Van Morrison and others.  Check out the videos at the link below. (I've been having computer issues, and can't load videos directly , but this sort of works.) The link goes to a Picasaweb page, and has two videos of E is for Epic, a couple of pics and two videos of J.P. Spencer. (the last video is approx. 30 minutes.)  Also playing with us were J.P.'s friends Martin and Leigh Ann. If you have any problems seeing the video, send me a comment. I hope you enjoy the videos.



John Paul Spencer Album Release

Road Trip - Pt. 1 – Recording

So I just got back from spending a week in Marietta, Georgia. I was in Georgia to do some recording with a friend of mine.

Let me start at the beginning. Around the end of January, my friend Paul, who I’ve known since junior high, called me up asking if I’d like to go record some songs that he’d written. I didn’t have to think about it too long, and agreed. The recording was going to be done by Paul’s friend Steve, who lives in Georgia and has a small studio. After checking to see that my family was okay with it, and making sure I had enough vacation time, it was confirmed, and we were ready to go. Paul sent me a packet of song lyrics and chords, plus a copy of a cd that we had recorded of his songs from 12 years ago, plus some new demos that he had done. I gave them a quick listen and picked a number of instruments that I thought would work for the songs. Then on Feb. 18^th after a 12-hour drive, Paul arrived at my house at 5:00 in the morning and we loaded up his car (except for the upright bass which didn’t fit) and headed south.

                                                      Paul with guitar

After another 11- to 12-hour car ride, we were in Georgia and ready to record. Paul writes his own songs in a style which could be best described as darkly humorous folk rock. They usually have a lot of words, and fairly intense vocals. Having played music with Paul, off and on for a number of years, I am familiar with his style, and I guess he likes what I bring to his music, because after meeting his friend Steve, and hearing how he plays, I said to Paul, “Why am I here? He can play everything I do, and better.” But Steve just wanted to set up the microphones and press the record button, so I had to play the music. Not that I minded.

Steve at the controls

We recorded 10 tracks of guitar and bass, and then I overdubbed some mandolin, slide guitar, and ukulele, and Paul of course did the vocals. We more or less finished 9 of the 10 songs. The 10^th song was not finished because the vocal part was too tricky, and Paul’s voice—which had been giving him trouble all week—was just about shot.

Paul working on vocals

 We wrapped everything up on Friday, and drove home Saturday. It was a fun week, and other than the recording we went out and saw a band, had a brush with greatness, and met some really cool people. I’ll write some more about that soon. Stay tuned.

Still Life or How I spent my time off