Jared Bentley has been writing some terrific new original songs lately and together with Slow Motion Trio and the talented Jeremiah Nave with East Coast Mobile Recording, we’ve just completed ten new songs.
The new music is in addition to the five songs we recorded back in the winter and represent the new sound and textures that we’re molding with the band. Ranging from reggae to soul, rock to country, the music is very different from the original mix.
Over the past several months, we’ve been culturing these songs at several performances and it’s been fun listening to them evolve. It’s also satisfying to have them recorded and part of a complete package. The best part is that we can now pass them along to our friends.
It was great fun to record these tracks at Lance Williams business in the hills of Hampton. They were recorded Tuesday, July 21 – Thursday, July 23rd.
The sessions were unique and didn’t require a lot of effort thanks to the magic and expertise of Jeremiah Nave. He’s an incredibly talented engineer and real pleasure to work.
His recording studio is in the back of a large panel van that he uses to record live concerts all over the Southeast. He’s been at some of the best festivals on the East Coast and comes to the console with an excellent ear for music as he multi-talented on several instruments. More importantly, he’s a wiz behind the knobs and completely patient with the performers at all times.
These recordings are still in their rough mixes and we hope to do a final mix-down and mastering here in the next few weeks. Until then, we offer these up to our friends and hope you enjoy them.
Below are links to the five new songs. Click to download them in their Mp3 formats.
Heaven - a new song Jared wrote for his daughter WindChill - a song written about studies of the Civil War All His Might - nice reggae toe-tapper and hip swagger Wash- love this country outlaw flavor…we like to call this one “worsh” Lucky One – a favorite among several of our closet friends
Last Monday night, we pulled an all-nighter almost…
Tucked back in the forests near Elizabethton, Lance Williams family business is an excellent place for the band to rehearse. Over the past several months, we had talked to local recording engineer and musician Jeremiah Nave about the possibility of tracking a few original songs with him and his mobile studio.
It’s was 4am when I left the hideaway on Okolona Road, but we’re starting the year with four new original recordings. These new sounds are five of several new songs on the way and include material written by Jared Bentley along with the backup from band.
Jeremiah has transformed a large Chevy van into a mobile studio and produces both live concert and video productions all across the Southeast. The truck has been customized and includes a mixing console that came ouf Abbey Road studios in the rear and Jeremiah has a cool setup. He drives the truck to your location, rolls out a large network of cables, a video camera and runs those connections to your room and mixes the sound in the truck with talkback provided by a video setup that’s quite a sight.
These new tunes are several songs we have been performing around the Tri-Cities and it’s fun to finally get these in a pro-format. Sure, the mix is till a little rough and we plan on adding/replacing several of the tracks, but I’m happy with what we’ve got so far.
I arrived at Lances sometime around dark and brought out the Hammond, The Roland, The Nord and the Leslie cabinet and Jeremiah did a great job getting that sounding as beefy as can be. I brought a couple of bottles of red wine and we poured a few glasses while we finished setting up the microphones to record Sams drums, Lances’s bass and the guitar rig from Lance Williams.
For the most part, we recorded all of the tracks live and Lance McCloud and Mike Sams did a great job laying down a good rhythm track. We spent very little time overdubbing through the night and came out with a collection of songs that augments Jared’s voice and his original music. Some of the songs sound a bit country and you might even hear a steel guitar here and there, but it’s a great beginning.
So download all you want. We’re still going to work on a few more songs and continue to shape these new tunes up and we’ll be back on the stage January 9th at Halo in Johnson City, so come see us and request the new music.
One of the most important times of the year is the week between Christmas and the New Year. That’s the time I usually take a week of vacation, gather my senses (get plenty of rest) and clean up my house. I buy a new calendar, box up all the old stuff and get everything ready for the new goals planned for the next go-around.
It wasn’t that long ago my friend Bill Robinson passed along some new recordings of The Retro Rockits. Bill is an extraordinary talent and inspiration and we were fortunate to work together in this oldies band that featured Dave Sieg (bass), David Sproles (voice), Bill on guitar and Alan Wilder on drums.
This project was so enjoyable for me to work with as we got to play nothing but oldies from the sixties and seventies. There are plenty of Beatles songs too. Most of the guys in this band worked together as ‘The Carousel’ back in the late-sixties when they all attended Dobyns-Bennett and it was a real treat for me to resurrect their songs.
These two recordings were from live performances at Rush Street and Rascals and although the recordings are a bit unbalanced (my keys are really loud ) the audio is enjoyable as we it sounds like we had a great time playing the gigs together.
I’ve added these to the overall discography, but here is an index for all of the tunes.
It’s rare moment when a songwriter inspires me as much as Darrell Scott did this past weekend at the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion. Inside The Paramount Center on Friday night, it was standing room only and I kneeled near the front of the stage to take pictures, but I was overwhelmed with a poet who touched the heart and spirits of all in attendance.
I first heard about Darrell Scott from Reagan Boggs. She still sings his popular song, ‘Never Get Out of Harlan Alive’ and although I still enjoy her voice singing these haunting song lyrics, it wasn’t until I experienced this organic performer behind the words that I discovered what so many have been talking about. Leah Ross, festival director for Rhythm and Roots is in love with him too and now I know why.
Scott is a Grammy nominated songwriter, noted for writing songs for The Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, Brad Paisley and many more – but he wasn’t wearing makeup. He didn’t have a black hat or a white hat (required attire for male country artists) and he didn’t have a band competing for attention in the fog and lights.
Instead, he was dressed in a black corduroy jacket, a green shirt, disheveled hair and he channeled a mystical presence through the auditorium last Friday with his native songs that touched the hearts of everyone in the room.
He played an acoustic guitar, a piano and a Weissenborn slide guitar, but what was epecially moving was the rich aura between fans and songwriter. It was a prescence like nothing I’ve experienced in a long time and his attention and humility reminded me of James Taylor, Paul Simon and Sting.
We had planned on taping many of the performances at last week’s festival and captured some great moments at the festival, but when I slipped into a seat in the auditorium, I was startled by Dave Carter from WETS-FM.
Dave and I go way back in time and I am blessed to call him a friend. We’ve shared many musical moments together and he seems to show up at some of my most inspiring moments.
At first, I was still in awe of Scott’s performance, gushing about his soul and Dave interupted my infatuation with an invitation to join him on Studio One the next day. He told me Darrell would be performing a live performance at this popular local radio program and I couldn’t wait.
Matthew Carroll got up early on Saturday and Jared brought all of our cameras to the radio studio on the ETSU campus. We had been there less than a year ago to record Charlie Goodwin and it was great to be back on a beautiful September afternoon.
When we walked in, I was surprised to see Darrell Scott and his father Wayne, seated in the studio.
One of the things that immediately occurred to me was the natural organic talent of this singer/songwriter. He was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt and looked like they hadn’t been up long. He was playing random melodies on his guitar and seemed completely unconcerned about the cameras and confusing rush of cables, and photographers that moved around the studios. We were scrambling to get out of the way too because we arrived about 20 minutes before air-time and they were all completely understanding and calm despite our interruption.
His dad had drove down from Kentucky and Dave had the terrific idea of having them both perform in the studio.
Wayne Scott is 75 years old and had on flip-flops and a black t-shirt. His ’66 Hummingbird guitar was resting in his lap while he sorted his laminated song lyrics on the music stand in front of him.
We scrambled around the room to setup three video cameras. Matthew and I grabbed our hand-helds and set a stationary HD camera in the middle of the room. The lighting was a little dark, but that didn’t seemed to matter. We just tried to stay out of the way of the artists and Darrell had his two teen-age sons with him whom seemed to have a handle on stashing the cases and remaining music gear out of the way.
It wasn’t long before the 1.00 ‘On The Air’ sign came on and Dave Carter began his weekly introduction to one of the area’s most influential and distinguished live music shows. I still have great respect for the passion that he and engineer Mike Strickland put into this weekly effort and they never seem to lose their passion.
Dave introduced Darrell and Wayne and together they had a splendid volley of Q&A and followed by some of the most down-to-earth original music that I’ve heard in a while.
Wayne began with his song ‘Whiskey” with the lyrics – “It ain’t love, it ain’t money – it’s the whiskey that heals the pain.” We taped every single minute of it.
Darrell Scott shared many of the stories behind his songs. He also mentioned a love of poetry of which he spent time in school studying. He shared with me his own appreciation for Walt Whitman and other contemporary authors.
The most important comment made during the show that meant the most to me was the comment that Wayne shared with Darrell early on. The key to songwriting – “tell the truth.” Now more than ever, that’s certainly a distinguishing characteristic for this minstrel poet and one listen and it’s easy to see this instruction has moved across two generations.
Darrell and Wayne played songs from the “Weary Way” project and “Modern Hymns,” plus several other original tunes Scott is famous for including the touching, “My Father’s House,” “Sunday with My Son” and “Never Leave Harlan Alive” which was spellbinding.
After the show, Dave seemed a bit misty-eyed and he stated, “if he never produced another radio show – he would be satisfied with this one being the last.”
He was right too. The stories Darrell and Wayne told about each other and the shared souls that are still creating great songs made for a tremendous radio show and we’re glad we had another chance to document the moment.
Special thanks to Dave Carter, Mike Strickland and production assistant Dan Sewall for allowing us in the studio. Thank you also to Darrell and Wayne for some very special moments.
My favorite music recordings of all time are three records – all recorded during the fifties and sixties. This past weekend, I’ve bumped ‘Kind of Blue’ by Miles Davis from the top spot and moved John Coltrane’s ‘Love Supreme’ back above Thelonius Monk’s ‘Monk’s Dream.’ I had to because after a few spellbound moments in subzero temperatures watching another blazing orange sunset along the East Tennessee countryside, John Coltrane spoke to me with Psalms.
I will do all I can to be worthy of Thee O Lord. It all has to do with it. Thank you God. Peace. (to be continued)
The mountains of East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia are home to many legendary musicians. From the Birthplace of Country Music , The Carter Fold and Dollywood, there’s a legacy of memorable players around the region and when it comes to Big Band Music, you might not guess that Kingsport is home to a legend too.
At 78 years of age, Charles Goodwin is a native son of Kingsport – a rarity whose talents include those of an arranger, performer and band leader and who’s still going strong. In the past, he’s performed with the likes of Charlie Spivak, Woody Herman and many others. The years haven’t slowed him down any either – he regularly performs with orchestras, festivals and many of the most prestigious venues and players in the region.
When Dave Carter called me a few weeks ago to tell me that Charles was going to perform live on his radio program Studio One, I immediately made the date to bring our video cameras and record this iconic musician. The thought had crossed my mind several months ago and when Dave said he was going to be bringing a quartet for this intimate setting, it was a dream come true.
There was hardly a place to park when we arrived at Kingsport’s MeadowView Convention Center a couple of weeks ago to see The Carousel. There wasn’t a convention, but there were plenty of parties going behind those doors on December 1st.
Gary Taylor’s daughter asked him several months ago if he would consider getting the old band back together for her wedding reception. Her dad played guitar for The Carousel in the late sixties and this turned out to be an important era of our small-town musical as this act cultured plenty of talent like Jim Shields, Bill Robinson, Ray Berry, Fred Goodwin and David Sproles. These guys hadn’t performed together for close to forty years and although he wasn’t sure he could pull it off – here they were for one night only – forty years later on December 1, 2007.
Posted by dcate | Posted in Recordings | Posted on 09-07-2007
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After reviewing the old family gospel tunes from Charlie Egan and his brothers, I was excited about putting his discography here on the Net and whatever your suspicions about the past, present and future, it’s hard to ignore how these recordings glow with a shared family faith.
“Buddy” Charlie Egan passed away a couple of weeks ago and working with his family we discovered plenty of inspiring songs that he recorded with his brothers back in the sixities. Charlie is the warm bass singer on these tracks presented here some thirty years ago and I’m not sure which songs are original vs traditional gospel hymns, but it’s genuine all the same.
Click for more and to listen to this touching family collection and thanks to the Egan family for sharing these. I know this would have made Charlie proud.
Last week, I ran into Josh Green’s parents at a funeral here in Kingsport and had the pleasure of meeting this intriguing couple. I heard word on the street that Josh Green momentum. It’s especially exciting to hear the song we worked on ‘Dance With Me’ make it to the big screen!
VOTE FOR JOSH’S VIDEO IN LA BY CLICKING THIS LINK
http://www.star987.com/pages/rockstar/videos.html
Of all of the songwriters I’ve worked with over the past few years, Josh’s passion and direction is so focused it’s scary! He’s got silver-screen charisma and has put an incredible amount of effort into his sophmore project – the pictures are online plus the new video – located here at Josh’s new website.
I recorded the piano tracks to ‘Dance with Me’ with Josh one cold winter night at Greenwood Studios with Keith Smith and I’m still proud of this pop song and wish Josh all the luck in the world. The song is sounding better all the time too – I especially like the new solo guitar work inside the chorus.
Josh has certainly put forth the effort and got himself aligned with the stars and I can’t wait to hear what happens next.
