On the Record

I recorded at Signature Sounds studio in northeastern Connecticut with Mark Thayer acting as engineer, co-producer, coach, and occasional chef. Mark has a well-earned reputation for recording acoustic music and he created warm, spacious, and just plain yummy tracks.

The first two days in the studio were spent with my dream rhythm section. Jim Henry(Tracy Grammar, Mark Erelli) played all but one song on acoustic guitar and he patiently learned to play them very close to how I do (but better). For the song "Compass" I told him not to worry about playing it how I do and to go ahead and do his thing and he came up with the most beautiful arrangement. When I asked him to show me how to play it, he replied, "It's really hard". Hokay. So if you see me playing that song live and it doesn't sound quite the way it does on the record, now you know why.

Richard Gates (Suzanne Vega, Patty Larkin) arranged and played electric bass and did so in such an understated and beautiful way. He created especially beautiful lines on "Mainesong". Eric Platz rounded out the rhythm section with drums. I didn't expect to have percussion on all but one track, but because Eric played to perfection it worked out that way. I've never played with a drummer before. Let me tell you, I could get used to that.

Over the next few weeks we brought in other musicians and laid down the vocal and harmony tracks. Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jonatha Brooke) came in cold and put down guitar, mandolin, and banjo tracks. He has an uncanny sense for shaping a song and taking it to a whole different place. Janet Taggart Blake wrote beautiful cello parts and learned and sang my harmony parts easily. Seth Glier - a fantastic keyboard player, singer, and songwriter in his own right - came in on very short notice (as in the morning we called him) . He's a natural and has what seems to be an unlimited amount of energy. Ah youth. Finally Chris Turner, a world class harmonica player, came in and did his thing and a record was born.