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What's
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December
21: After a brief break, one recording session remains
to finish Long Walk Home. Hopefully, my voice is in better
shape by then. The following day, we start mixing.
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November
23: The recording sessions are finally coming
to a close. Today we finished Same Road and Take
It Back. That's 9 down and 2 to go. We have a marathon session
on Wednesday and should finish the final 2 songs, Begun to
Fly and Long Walk Home. After a few weeks break for
the holidays, Ben and I will mix right after Christmas. The
final product should be available In late February.
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November
18: Big, but not necessarily good news for Prairie Soul.
Linda, one of our principal vocalists and bass player,
has decided to leave the band. We wish Linda the best in her
other endeavors. She will be playing only the 12/4 and 1/12
gigs with us, so come on out and send her off on the right
foot! In the meantime, the three remaining members are looking
for an upright bassist who can sing. Any ideas?
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October
18: We start new songs this week. The first seven are turning
out wonderfully! This week I hope to get basic tracks down on
Same Road and Take It Back. Next Sunday, I'll
be working with Andy and John on their guitar and dobro
work. Too cool! Soon
after, we'll start the last two songs: Begun to Fly and
Long Walk Home.
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September
28: Making significant progress on the first batch of songs.
Added harmonies to three songs tonight. The string
quartet is nearly finished on two other songs. We're experimenting
with a couple of other parts, but should finish up in a couple
of weeks. We'll start on Take It Back and Same Road
soon and look forward to Andy Ploof and John Moulton
trading some hot dobro and guitar licks.
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September
6: Will be finishing the first seven songs in a series of
sessions later this month. Looking ahead at pre-production notes
on the next batch.
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August
17: Added a beautiful cello part to Night Train.
Also, spent some time mixing and sweetening several other tunes.
We're getting there slowly but surely.
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August
6: Currently reviewing all the details associated with the
first seven songs. Mostly, we have "sweetening"
to do-- harmony vocals, an extra guitar line, maybe a shaker.
We hope to complete these songs by Labor Day and then dive into
the final five. We're now looking at a Christmas stocking
stuffer, I'd say.
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July
22: With Prairie Soul heating up for the summer,
Ben and I took another break from recording. Next week, we're
in the review stages of all seven songs. After a critical listening,
we'll decide if there's something missing or move on.
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July
2: Just a few tracks left to record to finish the first
seven of twelve songs. Andy Ploof comes in on Monday
to lay down a mandolin part and Calvin Simmons lays down
percussion on Tuesday.
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June
20: Ben and I are working on a series of gigs that
will allow us to feature our original music along with
a few new covers ranging from some jazz standards to some blues
tunes to a few rootsy things. Join us at CooperElla
on 7/24 and look for other gigs soon.
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June
12: We got quite a bit done this week and feel like we've
regained some momentum. Ben played some of the string arrangement
we've created for my song, Harry, and it's truly awesome. We
also discussed one of the second batch of songs and may reinvent
it as a keyboard driven song. Too much fun!
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June
2 : We start recording sessions again next week.
We've got a bit of clean up to do with bass parts, but will
soon follow that with some mandolin on two tracks, some backing
vocals, and lastly starting the string parts for Night Train.
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May
16: What a great time at Third Degree Glass Factory
last night! While the stormy weather kept a few of the less
intrepid souls away, we had a nice contingent of folks who enjoyed
two fine sets from Caravelle and a healthy dose of RichSongs
too. Especially fun was sharing the stages with my Prairie Soul
cohort, Ben, on several tunes and then debuting the string-section
behind my song, Harry. Thanks to Rachel for joining on
cello!
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April
27: Taking a much needed break from the recording process.
Each project requires a bit of objectivity, so the break will
be spent reviewing our progress and being sure we're
headed in the right direction. Recording begins anew in mid-May.
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April
14: Now that the project has passed the halfway mark, I've
begun to look at some packaging options and think about
the artwork. That's almost as daunting as the recording
process! I'm still hopeful for a summer release, but a lot of
that depends on how fast we can complete the remaining five
songs.
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April
8: The sessions with Doug went beautifully and were full
of quite a few laughs as well. Doug *has* a way with a story.
The last two weeks have included adding some strings parts,
harmonies, and editing some of the tracks into a final form.
These first seven songs have started to take form now. Next
week, a bit more editing and then overdubbing some percussion
tracks.
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March
30: The songs are starting to take shape now. With basic
tracks done on seven songs, we've begun adding fiddles, mandolins,
string sections, and harmonies now. Tomorrow we'll add Doug's
pedal steel to three tracks. I expect we'll focus on finishing
these first seven before working on the remaining five tracks.
We're still hoping to finish recording in May, but we
want to make sure it's right too. I'm hoping the new CD will
be ready in late summer.
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March
19: Started laying down tracks for the three songs I'll
be doing with Doug. We also got some "sweetening"
done on a few songs including a mandolin parts and the beginnings
of the string section on another.
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March
10: I was able to confirm Doug's session with us
yesterday, so tonight we start on basic tracks for You Just
Go On, My Evil Twin, and These Voices.
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February
26: A new wrinkle in the recording process presented itself
yesterday. John Moulton's friend, Doug
Jones (pedal steel player extraordinaire), will be passing
through town late in March. We're hoping to sneak Doug into
the studio to play on a couple of extra tracks. Too fun!
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February
19: We've now completed basic tracks on four songs:
By Heart, It's Really Rainin', Harry, and Night Train. We'll
start adding additional tracks next week. I'm really excited
about the prospect of a string section on two of these
songs.
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February
4: I had my first session for the new project last
night! It's fun to finally be laying down these songs for posterity.
Ben and I have some ambitious ideas, so we'll see where this
goes. Here's hoping!
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January
19: The songs for the new CD have been chosen.
For those of you playing along at home, they are in no particular
order:
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By
Heart
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It's
Really Rainin'
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Take
It Back
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You
Just Go On
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When
the River Rises
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Night
Train
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Long
Walk Home
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These
Voices
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Harry
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My
Evil Twin
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Begun
to Fly
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Same
Road
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I'm really
excited about this mix of some very new songs, a couple of songs
that I've played for awhile but will take a fresh approach to,
and even a couple of songs that are now nearing twenty years
old. I'll keep you posted as we go along.
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January
14: My first recording session for my yet-untitled album
is February 3. Prairie Soul's fiddler, Ben Smith, will
be engineering and adding his instrumental and vocal talents
to the project. John Moulton, also from Prairie Soul,
and Andy Ploof (he of the many stringed instruments and
Rough
Shop founder) will be joining me in various capacities along
the way. My sincerest hope is to complete the project before
summer, but I want to do it right so who knows. I'll keep you
posted.
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January
8: Two Million Stupid Women has had continuing post-production
problems, but things are looking much better and a spring 2009
release is now likely after a couple of festival showings. I'll
let you know when trailers, etc. are up.
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