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This is
obviously the record that has brought me the closest to
my blues roots. It's the record that so many of my peers
have commented "It's about time!" Anybody who has seen
me play live know that I'm not opposed to the occasional
spurt of blues rock inspiration, when Chuck Mitchell, my
new A&R person at E-1 music saw me play live he said
he'd really like to capture that on the recording. When
John Porter agreed to produce it I knew we would be
headed into new territory for me. I've been a fan of
John's for so long, the Taj Mahall record he produced
has been a regular on my ipod playlist since I've owned
one.
I
then made the some calls that I've made so many times
before trying to get this band in the studio and for the
first time they were all available on the same 4
consecutive days!
I wanted to capture as much of a
live performance as possible. I've played so many jam
gigs around New York with these guys and it's ALWAYS
been magic. The only problem is that they are also the
busiest musicians on the planet so in the past I've
found it difficult to get their schedules to coincide. I
really wanted to cut the entire CD with the same band so
when 4 days actually lined up I booked
it.
Now
I had Shawn Pelton on drums (from the Saturday Night
Live band and almost every record that anyone's recorded
in NY over the last 10 years or so) Kenny White on
keyboards who's been very busy with his own career as a
solo artist and Tony Garnier on Acoustic and electric
bass. Tony's been playing with Bob Dylan for many years
who seems to keep him extremely busy. Other than all
being individually great musicians, there is a chemistry
that happens with this band that I've never experienced
before.
We
booked Skyline recording studio in Manhattan and John
and I started choosing material, and I started calling
in from some of my friends, who also happen to be great
singers ( and sax players, keyboard players,
ect.).
Here's a play by play on each tune
1.
SHUFFLEBOARD - I wrote this song with Chris
Palmaro who I've co-written many songs with in the past.
Since he happens to also be one of the best Hammond B-3
players there is I thought it only fitting that he play
organ on this song
2.
ROOSTER BLUES - Pete Wolf is such a good friend
and great musician. I'm so happy that he consented to
being a guest on this song. This rocks only the way Pete
can rock!
I think it helped that we are all good
friends and have all recorded on Peter’s records in the
past so there's a lot of chemistry.
3. GOIN'
ON - Kirk Whalum IS my favorite tenor sax player. I
love his playing on this because he gets a chance to
stretch out. For my taste this is Kirk at his
best.
4. EVERYBODY WANTS YOU - Billy
Squier was the first person to see potential in my
playing and really gave me my start in the music
business. Having him play and sing on this record just
adds to the debt that I owe him. It was so much fun
having him come in the studio with us. Billy had a lot
of arrangement ideas but was really in the spirit of us
coming up with the song approach as a band. I think you
can really feel that when you listen to it
5.
THE BLINK OF AN EYE -
I sat down in my home
studio one day to write a song and my 6 year old,
youngest son Matthew came in to get me to play tag with
him. I was in the middle of telling him I can't because
I need to work when it hit me, instead I said "I'm going
to blink my eyes and you'll be going to college". Of
course he took me literally and wanted me to do it. I
couldn't (not that I would want to) but I did play tag
with him. Then later that night I went into my studio
and wrote this song
6. I DON'T WORRY
ABOUT A THING -
This is song that was
written by Mose Alison many years ago but lyrics have
never been more poignant than today.
Marc does such a
great job singing this. I just love where he sets the
feel on it. Then again I love where he sets the feel on
everything!
7. NIKKI'S WALK
-
My friends Bob Davis and Neil Artwick who have a
great band out of Chicago called LAKE EFFECT. Wrote this
song. I heard it and thought it would be perfect to
capture the blues feel of the record, but still have a
contemporary jazz instrumental. I'm so glad they gave me
consent to record it.
8. LOST MIND
-
John Waite is one of those singers who can
sing ANYTHING and it will sound great, AND uniquely his
own. This is a great song that was written by Percy
Mayfield that we gave a totally different feel to from
Percy's version. I cab hear a bit of an "OH DARLIN'"
feel and there's never anything wrong with sounding like
the Beatles!
9.GONE FISHIN' -
I also wrote this with Chris Palmaro.
It's just
a catchy little tune we could jam on. I really like the
bent guitar double stop note that ends the melodic
phrase.
10. FISH FARE -
This is one that was originally recorded by Freddie
King. I've
been carrying a chart around of this for
years that I've been using as a springboard for jam
sessions at gigs around New York. I've played it with
this band at gigs before so I knew if I broke it out in
the studio I wouldn't be disappointed by the outcome. I
wasn't.
11. I'LL PLAY THE BLUES FOR
YOU -
This was originally recorded as a
vocal tune by Albert King
The 3 Kings have been a
huge influence on me ( Albert, BB and Freddie ) I like
them all so much I really couldn't pick a favorite. We
were going to do it strictly as an instrumental but when
Marc Cohn was in the studio to sing "I DON'T WORRY ABOUT
A THING", I asked if he wouldn't mind singing this one
line. Luckily he was nice enough to do it.
Itunes
bonus track
EASE-E -
This is
ONLY available as a download on Itunes and on the
Japanese release. I wrote this with Jeff Lorber who I'm
such a fan of. That's not only him playing keyboards on
the track. He played rhythm guitar on it
also!
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