Celebration What For

2004 Blue Rose Records

Tracklist:

Take Away
Take It Back
Eye Of The Moon
The main Thing
King Of The Worl
Fire Exit
Blues Walk
Celebration what For
High Noon
The Wish

“Celebration What For” is finished now and we're just awaiting its pressing and distribution. I was a bit late in delivering the master to Blue Rose and so the release date got pushed back until late in March. It is on the way though now so stay tuned.

What does it sound like? How this: Acoustic oriented, sparsely arranged, vocally centered and lyrically driven pop record? A collection of songs. Vocals centrally placed and prominent, the lyrics are the main focus here. The music and musicians support the song if that makes sense. For me, this album is not as melancholy as “The Blue Room” but more like “Leaving West” perhaps . It's varied, contemplative and “bluesy” but much more forceful. Paint with stark and simple colors.

Generally the songs are reflections, pointedly directed outward and “aimed”. A man is present and at work here. And as it should be, my most mature work to date. Self-produced along with the recording/mixing engineer Davor Rocco AND expertly assisted by Dalibor Pavicic (Bambi Molesters). This was all done in Zagreb, Croatia. 10 songs with a running time of 45 minutes. 5 songs with Dobro, 4 with steel string and 1 with nylon string guitar. 5 songs are with a band composing of drums and double bass. Sparse arrangements. One song is solo (guitar and vocals) and 2 songs have guitar with only brushes and vocals.
I sing, play guitars, banjo, keyboards, brushes, harmonica and bass. The lyrics are mine. The songs are all fairly new except The Wish, which is 7 or 8 years old.

The songs:

Take Away - A slow starter, Dobro, brushes and vocals. The real “end” of it all mood. The last song written ever. This song was a favorite of Hardpans but I couldn't wait until that next CD. Think Leonard Cohen, John Cale or even Gillian Welsh.

Take It Back - introducing the band. Groove jams, smoky bar, blue sparkly velvet curtains and Iggy at the mic. Harmonica and trumpet solos. The song for the radio. File between Dido and Calexico. New ground for me.

Eye Of The Moon - Country blues pure and simple. Dobro, brushes and vocals. Direct and clear as that walk under the full moon, alone AND perhaps after finishing that last glass.

Main Thing - A song story…graveside, questions asked. Infidelity perhaps? Youth? Just life? What, we don't know. Getting the priorities straight or perhaps it's that last cigarette, flicked away with the carelessness of long practice. Watch it sail. A shrug of the shoulders. Well…

King Of The World - This song goes back to the time of the Blind Dr.'s and myself. It's still played with a band here but we “swung” it differently for this than what I did with the Doc's or even the way I played it as a solo act. No frills here, just push the accelerator and go.

Fire Exit - A wedding song believe it or not. Definitely written with the ole TLH twist though. Tongue firmly planted it cheek but love is in the house. Always leaving an out though. (Is trust really so difficult?).

Blues Walk - This song was supposed to be the real end of The Blue Room CD but it wasn't quite finished at that recording time. It was meant to be played directly after “Postscript”. Put it together with you CD burner. The cycle is completed here. That's Alain Le Cloirec on lead guitar.

Celebration What For - This reminds me of Cheyenne (Leaving West) in a way. Has a cool vibe to it and that's me making my professional debut as a banjo player. Bela Fleck doesn't worry! The overview afterwards. I love the words on this song.

High Noon - The instrumental number and my ‘tip of the hat' to Sergio Leone and the music of Ennio Morricone.

The Wish - Bookends with the opener. Just me singing with nylon guitar and Dobro fills.