Here is a run through of MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS and activities for me and KALIMBA STUDIO from this year. It has been a satisfying year and as always, I'm honored to be able to play and hang with such great people and players!
** There are a few titles and names that I can't remember while I'm writing this out-of-town. I'll have them up when I get home and look them up~!
*Transferred and Remastered Two LP's: BIG AND BOB and THE PIPER ROAD SPRING BAND. JUNE 2005. This is the Bob Mason's Bluegrass band of over 25 years. These are being re-released as CD's.
*On the weekend of May 13-15, I played with Chapel Hill's FOOTLOOSE at the LEAF FESTIVAL in Black Mountain, NC. We played for 4 dances and had over 200 dancers for each dance. We shared the dances with THE GUILLES, from Scotland, a wonderful trio with highland pipes/tin whistle, fiddle and piano.
*I recorded a percussion part on "I've Forgotten You" on RHONDA VINCENT'S new release, LIVE. It was recorded at the Dog House in Nashville, engineered by Neal Cappellino. Unfortunately, there are no credits for the few studio musicians used on this cd.
*Recorded and Produced a 2 song demo for PAT LAKOTTA, a writer from Maryland that I met at Paul Reisler's song writing intensive camp. The song, "Window Shopping, is a funny story about a lady looking for love, trying it on, and returning it.
*Vanderbilt professor, DR. GREG BARZ has mastered a cd for his book, SINGING FOR LIFE HIV/AIDS and the MUSIC OF UGANDA. I mastered it in a new program called "PEAK". It consists of field recordings that he made while in Kenya. The cd is an accompaniment to his book. This was done in June, 2005.
http://www.routledge-ny.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?sku=&isbn=0415972906&parent_id=&pc=
*BOB MASON and RANDY VINCENT have recorded 4 different song pitches at Kalimba since the summer. The first two were called On Behalf of You and Moon Tower. Previously in October, they recorded, End of the Sky and Dancing Up a Storm. These were song pitches for Blake Shelton and Montgomery Gentry.
*On September 17, I played with GABRIELLE MAREN, a bluegrass artist produced by BOB MASON and RANDY VINCENT at the French Quarter cafe in Nashville. In the past year, I have recorded 6 songs for Abby and currently they are being pitched to JOHN DORIS and RICKY SCAGGS for a possible artist development deal. Her songs were written by Randy and Bob and include, Thinking Like a Mountain, Agnes Coats, Faith is Blind and Winter Dreams.
*Acoustic trio, THE FIELDS, lead by Scottish fiddler, JOHN DAVIDSON, recorded a 4 song demo live in Kalimba Studio in October. The trio consists of fiddle, vocal/guitar and upright bass. This is a unique sounding group with a vocalist in the style of John Mayer. I really dug'um! John also plays with Nashville artist, Shelly Williams.
*The former voice of the HISTORY CHANNEL, HARLAN RECTOR, recorded vocal and choir tracks for the continuation of his Christian release, AM. The project is being produced by RICK TELLARI.
*Jazz harmonica player, PHIL GAZELLE, recorded bass, drum, scratch guitar and scratch harmonica tracks for his new release, Swinging Easy, Hitting Hard. The players were drummer, CHRIS BROWN, bassist, ROGER SPENCE, guitarist, ANDY RESSE and Phil. The session went down live with no overdubs. This is Phil's first cd in almost 30 years and boy is it a treat. He plays jazz standards with a diatonic harp - in others words he plays notes that don't exist naturally on his instrument.
*On January 24 and 25th, I recorded percussion for Seattle artist, LEVI WARE. The sessions took place at the famed, CASTLE STUDIO, noted for being the former hideout for gangster, AL CAPONE. The session was produced and engineered by NEAL CAPPELLINO. The music was contemporary songwriter pop. This SSL room is a joy to record in and some photos are located on the My Life page on this site.
On September 9 and 10, I did a mini tour with FOOTLOOSE. We did contra dances in Lexington and Cincinnati respectively.
*On the weekend of April 29-30, I went as a guest to BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN'S first annual SONGWRITING WORKSHOP at Vanderbilt's Dyer Observatory near Radnor Lake in Nashville. She had PAUL REISLER, JULIE PORTMAN (PERFORMANCE, THEATER TEACHER AND ARTIST) and herself. I highly recommend this event to any aspiring songwriter! Her method is gentle and direct and she imparts a great deal of information. Look for her upcoming cd, WORLD HYMNS. It will contain her performance of "Yemaya" from my cd, Ancient Hand. I'm really excited about this one! Beth's site is http://bethnielsenchapman.com/
This song is available through itunes or the cd is at www.CDBABY.com
*I attended PAUL REISLER'S SONGWRITING INTENSIVE from July 11-16. For more information see the previous listing in this blog on the camp. This event is HIGHLY recommended for any aspiring songwriter.
*On March 15, a memorial gathering was held for Irish musician, HUNTER LEE at the Sherlock Holms pub in Nashville. Through an article written by JACK SILVERMAN of the NASHVILLE SCENE, Hunter's brother was located and came down from Missouri to attend. Hunter recorded on three different projects at KALIMBA STUDIO, SECRET COMMONWEATH, Uninvited Guests, CADY'S FINLAYSON'S, Shines Like Silver and FUTUREMAN'S, The Seamless Script. He died while living in New Orleans in July of 2003. A short film was shown by independent film maker, JEFF WILSON who had accumulated footage on him while shooting a film that Hunter was going to play the lead in.
*SHANE THERIOT and I recorded our annual Christmas track to be released. Last year we recorded "What Child is This" and "Deck the Halls" as a percussion and guitar duet. We made cd's and sent them out with our Christmas cards. Since that in itself was so labor intensive, this year, I will be posting our Christmas Gift here for a free download, hopefully in time for Christmas!
If you just can't wait, What Child is This" from last year is available under free downloads in the media section.
*FUTUREMAN of the Flecktones has been working at Kalimba this month (November) preparing his new epic orchestral piece, "The Americans" and "Secret Kings". I have recorded some percussion parts to used including some marimba parts. He'll be back in December to record a bass parts from a new young talent coming down from Indiana. I do not yet know his name.
*In late October, I participated in a KID PAN ALLEY teaching day with PAUL REISLER. I went with a handful of other musicians and Paul and helped compose a new song with the kids in several elementary schools in Nashville. Each musician got to demonstrate their instruments to the kids. This is a really wonderful organization that Paul has started with great success and I urge you to check it out and see if you can Paul at your school!
http://www.paulreisler.com/
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