OK, So we got the brilliant idea to make a recording of our original music to sell at our shows being born and raised in the Capitalist system and all. We are also firm believers in the idea of the "Nashville dream" so we asked ourselves, "Is there a better place to make a Hillbilly recording than Nashville?" When the answer came back, "Maybe there's a better logistical location not to mention probably a cheaper way but, what the heck, that's old school." We decided to go for it! Now we only had 3 days and were trying to make an entire CD so we roped the talented guitar virtuoso of High Noon and producer of many fabulous recordings, Mr. Sean Mencher to produce the session. Sean did a great job motivating us to perform to the best of our abilites. Ultimately however, 15 songs turned out to be a bite too big for us to chew both work wise and money wise so though we did get a TON of music done in 3 days, we still have many things to do before this project is completed. What we did get done sounds great though so rest assured it was not all in vain. Our mantra now is: "Good things come to those who wait"

We recorded with some former Chicago exiles we know who moved to Nashville and after a few years opened a studio called Roswell East. This is Jordan Richter at the control board who just did a bang up job and was the fastest working engineer I have ever seen! Unfortunately we didn't ever get a picture of the other fella Mark Robertson. He can however be seen playing upright bass on Those Legendary Shackshakers website. More on those guys later.

Here we can see a tired J.V. relaxing between takes. He thought he would be "smart" and "save" a bunch of time by avoiding the scenic 8 hour drive from Winter socked Chicago to Nashville in full Spring bloom. I mean, who wants to see all the fabulous Indiana farmland, the Spring engorged Ohio River rolling under Louisville bridges and hills full of Kentucky bluegrass and budding trees slowly transform into sun drenched Tennessee hills? As it turns out the poor guy got stuck on the tarmac in a blizzard for 6 hours before the flight was finally cancelled and he spent the whole night in O'Hare Airport curled up on a piece of carpet or some such horrific story while the rest of us automobile drivers were in Nashville eating Jack's Barbeque and watching the Television. There's nothing like a little 21st century convenience biting you in the ass!

OK, now it's time to earn yer pay!

Dave and Sean go over the score. We were so very lucky to have Sean Mencher come down to Nashville to produce the session for us. He brought alot of positive ideas and attitudes to the studio with him and don't get me wrong, he can be pretty tough to work for too. It's all for the best though.

Buddy is happy he nailed a take...and so is Sean. Phew!

One cannot produce "art" on an empty stomach, can one?

We had a couple of tunes that needed some fiddle on it and needed to hire a session guy. Our very first choice was Jason Carter who was very unassuming, humble and down to earth. Many folks we know asked us how we procured his talents and our response is always the same, "We called him on the telephone," and just like a country boy, he came in from laying shingles on his roof, put in a plug of tobacco and started sawing some pure unadulterated "garden seed" fiddle. It about brought tears of joy to this ol hillbilly.

Jason added some FANTASTIC fiddle licks to the tunes we asked him to. He has been a full time member of the Del McCoury band since 1991 when he was just 19 and aside from recording with many other musicians, Jason also has a great album of his own on Rounder Records called "On The Move". Click on the link to go and hear some samples of his playing from that fabulous recording. Thanks Jason.

It was at this point in the control room someone was heard to say, "With great mercenary players like Jason Carter in his band, it's no wonder Del (McCoury) always smiles so much!"

We had another song we needed something on and the solution was provided by Colonel J.D. Wilkes of Those Legendary Shackshakers. J.D. blows some serious mouth harp and for our purposes laid some crazy Onie Wheeler type sounds down on one tune as well as a spoken vocal part. We tried to pay him but he wouldn't accept any money! Do you believe his generosity?

OK, we paid him. His standard fee is a mere $700 a song and is TOTALLY worth it. Thanks Colonel! Go see him play. He's a complete wild man on stage! Man, we owe him some beers...

Oh yes, and to top off our wonderful and exciting trip to Nashville where we got to meet and hang out with so many great, talented and fabulous folks, we somehow roped the cute as a bug Rockabilly Philly, Rosie Flores to generously provide a little vocal "icing on the cake" so to speak. Thanks Rosie!

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