Music

It was almost 4 years after I released Living on Melody Lane. There were a few tunes that didn’t make it to that album that kept lingering in my head; taking a while to “finish” themselves and a few having alternate endings, as usual. Sometimes songs write themselves it seems, like highland dreams and night so bright for example, I just did my best to get out of the way and let them do their own thing. I have to admit, after teaching for a few years and having worked with so many other musicians, my views on music had changed, or grown I guess. But writing, at this time, wasn’t as intuitive as it used to be. When I was working on the songs that became Collection Of Sounds, I really had no idea what was ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ with music, what was hard or easy to play, what ‘looked’ or sounded cool, or what others thought of guitar music. I just knew what I liked and it was a very personal thing that I shared with only a handful of people. Expectations and labels were never apart of the music making process for me, then.

I’ve always been attracted to and driven emotionally by very sparse arrangements. Very simple and straightforward melody, uncluttered – having “just enough” there to draw you in and let you journey to wherever it is we go when we let music take us away. Not amazing technique or skillfull ‘mastery’ or incredible precision – and the long list of things reviewers seem to point out so often in music. I just wanted to have a new album of songs that people liked to listen to…guitar fans or not.

Pete Huttlinger and I did a radio show in Cleveland(WKSU). Pete and I sat and played thru a couple of fiddle tunes together (we realized we were a couple of fingerstyle guys who also flatpicked quite a bit) and I found myself thinking he was such a great player. We became friends after that and he was my only choice for a producer. It took a while before I actually asked if he would be interested in producing a few songs and he agreed to do the whole album after hearing the rough ideas on tape.

He invited me to Nashville to work in a studio that he spent a lot of time in. Most of what is on “just enough” was recorded in 2 days. It was an interesting experience trying to get comfortable. Pete made me feel fairly relaxed. Each day we recorded, we went over that batch of tunes and talked about any changes he thought were necessary in arrangement and any other ideas he thought to mention. I went straight in and played trying to remember the changes we discussed? I think the end result was worth it.

It was great to have Bluegrass/NewGrass legend Sam Bush on 2 tunes with his ‘powerhouse’ chop on mandolin. I was lucky to get him in between projects and that he agreed to do something so unlike the typical situations he plays/records in. And the fretless bass & percussion really did a lot to round out other songs on the record, bringing me into a very different place than my usual solo guitar world.

I should also say Pete Huttlinger was the 2001 National Fingerstyle Champion and has really been a presence in the guitar world these past 2 years. Pete was asked to do a couple of DVD?s for Homespun Tapes (breaking down the songs of John Denver, whom Pete played with for 3-4 years before John?s untimely death). These DVD?s have gone on to be some of their biggest sellers and Pete is simply a monster player and one hell of a great guy.