My New How Guitar...

Here she is all purfled and such. John's going to put a fancy aged-looking-amber sunburst of sorts. He has a nice touch with color. Check back to see, and eventually, hear more!

Recording In Progress...

Here's a couple of shots of the new recording setup...

There's a Blue Kiwi at the 12th fret , a Mercenary Audio KM-69 behind/below the bridge, and a Crowley and Tripp Studio Vocalist for the words and stuff. It's all going into an Apogee Ensemble and on to a Mac running Logic. Most of the time  I'm tracking guitar/banjo and vocals together. After I do the basic tracks, I'll be calling in a lot of favors and probably paying a few folks to come in and do some overdubs and such. Plus, there's all the incredible stuff I got in Nashville from the session guys. They tastefully put some accordion, upright, clarinet, pedal steel, dobro, and mandolin on four of my tunes (I'll be sure to put up a post when I get the pictures). Check back later to see the album's progress, maybe I'll even have a few sound files and whatnot up here.

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Florida

Sitting in with the band at my sister's wedding reception. This was in Everglade City, Florida at the Camellia Street Grill. We played "A Day's Gap Keening" and then I did a dedication of "I Am Undone" for my sister and her new husband. All in all, pretty fun. The folks here were incredibly nice and the food was good. You can sit in the evening and watch the Crab boats chug by while you sip on a frothy Yuengling Lager (from America's oldest brewery... 1829) and listen to some fine Classic Country.

Nashville 2

A couple people asked about pics/sounds from Nashville. It's going to take me a little while to get them up here, as I have to get them from the photographer AND I'll be at my sisters place in Florida for her wedding all next week. All in all, it will probably take a couple weeks for me to do a worthwhile post. In the meantime, remember to check out the new Shaun Cromwell guitar being built for me over at John How's "building blog" When you get there, click the arrow next to February and look for my name.

Nashville

I'm writing this from the communal-lounge-internet-depot at Omni Sound Studios here in Nashville, Tennessee. Tomorrow I'll be doing some recording on Tracy Newman's new album and putting together some of my new tunes as well. Tracy's producer, Travis Allen is hooking me up with some of the same Nashville session guys scheduled to do Tracy's session; guys like Russ Pahl, Dave Francis, Pat McGrath, and Jim Hoke (these guys have played on many a fine recording for famous artist types!!). I'll be sure to post some pictures-and maybe even some sounds-from the session up here in a few days.

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John How's "Roots Guitar"

Go check out www.johnhowguitars.com to see a little mini-profile on me and to listen to a Guitar Rag that I wrote, performed, and recorded for John as a demo for his new “Roots Guitar.” There is also a recording of "Three Deaths" that I did with the "Roots Guitar." I made the recording with my newly purchased recording rig which you can read about in subsequent blogs. Just click on the picture of the “Roots Guitar” at the bottom of the home page and then scroll down to the bottom until you get to the “The Turning Of Clocks” album cover and do some reading and clicking. John is also in the process of building me my very own custom guitar that I’m incredibly excited about. John is blogging about the guitar he’s building for me; go check out the pics on his "builder's blog" on the home page. Upon the completion of the instrument, I’ll be recording some additional tunes for John’s site! Stay tuned…

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Recording has begun!!!

In a few hours the last microphone in my little recording setup will be delivered via fed ex, thus  beginning the recording process for my next album. Please check back here for semi-daily updates on the album's progress.

John How Guitars

This past weekend I took the 45 minute drive from my place in Hollywood down to Anaheim, CA. I went not to attend the NAMM conference but rather, because John How would be attending the Luthier's Consortium - an after hours conglomeration of like-minded luthiers dedicated to the craft of hand made guitars (and other stringed instruments). I saw John's work on the Dream Guitars website (www.dreamguitars.com) and was immediately struck by his unique take on traditional guitar building. John had some of the most beautiful sunbursts I had ever seen and his bridge and pick guard designs were inspired. I thought, if these guitars play and sound half as sweet as they look, I'm going to buy one! So when I found out that John and his guitars would be within a stone's throw, I was off. John had one of his ladder-braced Guitars, a cross-braced guitar and two of his "Roots Guitars". The one I couldn't put down was the Ladder Braced Grand Concert (a little larger than a 00 smaller that a 000). It had a Lutz top, Maple sides (I usually don't care for maple guitars, but this one was sweet....) and a Rosewood fingerboard. The tone was well balanced and smooth. John can definitely nail the growly plunky tone that charaterizes L-oo's and similar traditional guitars (as evidenced by The Roots Guitar and the smaller hog top I played), but where he excels is in his ability to blend the old and the new. The ladder-braced GC  had the feel and basic tone of a small bodied Pre-War Gibson or Martin but with slightly more complex overtones and a smoother midrange. While I'm sure that John's guitars will sound incredible 20 years down the road, they sound amazing right out of the box. I'll be sure to let you know how mine is working out as I'm in the process of putting together the Specs on my very own custom John How guitar! Also look for a feature on my guitar and some sound clips on John's website in the months to come. I'll keep you posted.

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Jobs

I'm back mixing television. Not super rewarding, but also not a bad way to make a buck. I do occasionally run into people who have watched the shows I mix and they seem to genuinely enjoy them. The problem is, as a musician, any time not spent with friends and/or family is best spent making music. And to be the best one can at music really requires that a person spend as much time as possible doing it. That's not to say that great songs haven't been written by people for whom music was not their vocation, but I'd be willing to bet that most of the people who wrote those great songs spent a heck of a lot of time listening to, thinking about, and making music. Anyway, when these few months have past and another season of television has ended, I'll be back at the music full-time, at home and on the road...

Mel Bay's Internet Woes???

I learned some Bluegrass style banjo this weekend! I relentlessly practiced forward rolls and reverse rolls. I just used my fingers though, no picks, never could get used to them darn finger picks; someday, maybe... Anyway, I basically just found a bunch of stuff on-line that had the patterns tabbed out. So much for basic instructional books; I think the Internet has just about quashed the market on beginners instrument instruction booklets. I'd be interested in what publishers have to say. I wonder if Mel Bay is sweating the Internet revolution???