recording notes 4-09

from 4/23

studio: house of david, nashville

cut 4 songs today, in this order:

Gloryland
Don’t Stop Me This Time
Black Dog
Pecolia’s Star

producer:
Joe McMahan

band:
KG, Joe Mc, Scott Martin, Ron Eoff, Paul Griffith

engineer:
Adam Bednarik


I’m a little brain-dead this morning--another night of abbreviated sleep. But I’m excited about how things went in the studio yesterday.  We got (what we think are) great tracks for four songs--the band sounded incredible. In this order, we recorded:

Gloryland
Don’t Stop Me This Time
Black Dog
Pecolia’s Star

We had cut Gloryland previously, with the same band, at Wow and Flutter back in September, but because of my own lack of allegiance to the click track, it was obvious we’d need to do it again. (For everything recorded back in September, we recorded my guitar and vocal first, to a click, then the rhythm section came in and played to those tracks--which worked fine, except for this song).  So because everyone was familiar with it, we cut it first. Several good takes, but the first ended up being the best overall rhythm track. My own effort wasn’t the best, but we’re probably going to re-cut my rhythm guitar track anyway, for tone-related reasons. We took a lunch break--everyone else had been working on sounds for a while before I’d gotten there, dragging in a little later than expected, so after a couple of hours on G-land, a break was in order.

Don’t Stop Me This Time is a new song--or a song I’ve finished in the last few months, after revisiting one of my favorite work-tape fragments from a cassette dated 2002. I’ve been playing it out some, so some of you have heard it already.  Got two good takes; I’m personally not sure yet which one I like better. It’s a little early for that.

Black Dog--another newly completed song--and again, based on something I started a few years ago. I’d had the refrain section, musically and lyrically, for years--only in the last couple of months did the rest of it reveal itself.  This is gonna sound funny, but it’s one of the most musical songs I’ve written yet.  I don’t know how I found all the chords for the bridge, but I know they didn’t arrive because of years of formal study.  All I can say is, when I was writing it, I could hear the notes in my head, and that told me where to put my fingers when I was singing the melody.  This will make more sense when you hear it. I hope. I’m saying this more out of astonishment than pride. I think it works, and the track is great. (Again we have two hell-yes takes to choose from). Both Don’t Stop and Black Dog are intensely personal songs, facing some of my own drama and demons, which, I think, resemble those of a lot of other people.

Pecolia’s Star is about a woman named Pecolia Warner, whose voice I encountered in a book by William Ferris called Local Color, about folk artists in Mississippi. Warner was an African-American quilter from Yazoo City. Each chapter of the book is written as a first-person monologue, so it’s like you’re hearing her voice in your head while you’re reading.  Something about her voice made the song happen, that’s all I can say.  The verses are written in her voice, and the chorus shifts to third-person. I don’t think I’ve done that before. It’s a quieter song than the others, so was a great way to finish up the session. I had used the ES-125 on the first three tracks, but for this song, on Joe’s suggestion, changed to a Telecaster. I played through Don Hamilton’s beautiful blackface Deluxe amp for all four tracks. Thank you again, Don, for the loan.

We’re going back in today to try to get four or five more. It’s a good groove--working in a studio like House of David creates a kind of focus that’s hard to get when recording at a home studio. Windows are all covered, so you don’t know if it’s dawn or dark outside. Makes it easier to listen, somehow.

I was posting updates on Twitter yesterday (kevingordonmuzk, if you want to follow)--until my phone battery died, and will do the same today, time and work permitting. (Yes, I know, those updates are called tweets, but I still can’t use that word and not LOL.)  I'll post some photos, too.

Hi everyone,
just wanted to let you know that I've posted a new live track (of a previously unreleased song) on my page on reverbnation (www.reverbnation.com/kevingordon). Just sign up to be a fan, and you can hear it, as it is a "fan exclusive". I transferred my mailing list there a few days ago--many of you have probably received an email from them asking for confirmation of your status, re: me.  Agreeing to receive messages from reverbnation only means that you'll be getting them from me, through them--not that they're going to bombard you with solicitations, etc. It's just an easier way for me to reach you. You would only get other emails from them if you've signed up to receive them from other artists on that site. Email me if you have any questions--and thanks, as ever, for your support!

blog 3-5-09

This is one of those blogs I do occasionally just to say, hey, I’ve been quiet, but I’m still here. Working my ass off, trying to finish a new record, and book a four-week tour for early summer. I’m not complaining--in fact, I’m enjoying every bit of the challenge. My own bad habits might get the best of me yet, but so far, things are moving along nicely. There is much to do over the next few months. In addition to the record and the tour, I’m still working on publishing some sort of book before the year’s out, and tearing down and rebuilding my site and all other web stuff relating to yours truly. Will probably be moving this here blog over to wordpress or blogspot.

We’re about halfway in to making the new record; I am still sorting out the available options for funding, etc., so we can do it right this time, as opposed to not-so-right, like last time. I appreciate the ideas that you’ve come up with--feel free to contact me with anything you think makes sense.  In the meantime, I’ve had another good writing streak, and have finished three new songs that will almost certainly end up on the recording. One of those came from a work tape (yes, as in cassette) from 2003 or so; it was a fragment that I had always liked. Five, six years later, I found myself putting that tape into the van stereo (I’d forgotten it even had a cassette player in it) while on a solo run.  On the Monday after I got home, most of what’s now in the song dropped in on me, quick and heavy. You don’t know how good that feels. Doesn’t happen to me very often.

Thanks to all of you who’ve been coming out to the shows lately--between the weeks of being homebody & multi-tasker, I’ve had so much fun hitting the road and playing for you. My diet has suffered but my soul has thrived. I’m home for a while now, and that feels good, so far.

So, yeah, a 4-week tour that runs from June 11 thru July 11. (Some of you may be questioning my sanity at this point in the narrative). Slowly, the dates are being filled in, but if you happen to live within the general trajectory, and have any tips on venues (or, by chance, want to host a house concert), please let me know. My good friend Sean Garvey, a fine singer-songwriter who made a killer CD at Joe's studio a couple of years ago, will be joining us on some of the California dates.After the Portland OR area dates (July 3-6), we’ll be coming back down thru Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and ending the tour somewhere in the great midwest on Saturday July 11. I’m really excited about the adventure, but want to make the most of our time and effort by playing as much as possible.

We had a fairly schizophrenic February here in Nashville; one day it’s 65 and sunny, the next it’s 36 with a spitting rain. But slowly, the warm days are winning out, hallelujah.

Happy (early) Spring--see you soon, I hope.

Okay, the little what're-ya-reading, etc. thingy seems to be broke, so . . .

Reading:  Campbell McGrath, Seven Notebooks (poetry)
Listening: my dogs barking, and . . . venerablemusic.com

 

What follows is a tag-request that's been circulating on facebook for a little while--I got tagged for it several times this past week, so today I sat down and did it.  I'm not usually much for this kind of thing, but this one was fun, and more challenging than I imagined. (And I don't know why the myspace formatting gods shortened the lines below--it ain't supposed to be that way).

1. I love snow and how it visually transforms a landscape, but can’t
stand really cold weather. Driving on frozen pavement is one of my very
least favorite things, right up there with surgery.

2. I’m allergic to just about everything that blooms in the Spring.

3. I love the Cajun people, and their culture, but get tired of being
referred to as one by well-meaning folks who must think everyone from
Louisiana is a Cajun. This usually prompts my polite and brief
“Louisiana is a State of Three Countries” speech.

4. I regret the property-related crimes I committed as a juvenile. I
never got caught. For this I am thankful. (really sorry about tagging
that Mercedes, and, well, there was that episode with the bus window
and pellet gun . . .). I am also thankful that my youthful experiments
with explosives were not successful.

5. I am someone who has faith, but who is never sure about much. I
guess doubt is a natural part of faith, otherwise . . . it wouldn’t be
faith, would it?

6. I often question whether I am in the right place, literally and metaphorically (see #5).

7. The thought of being buried after death terrifies me. (or before! Watching Uma in Kill Bill 2 just about did me in.)

8. I love playing/writing music more than I ever have; the longer I do
this, the deeper I seem to go--and it’s hard to explain, but I don’t
mean that in a cheesy poetic way. I also think that from a
psychological perspective it’s probably true that I am still trying to
please my parents every time I play or sing a note.

9. I have a terrible time remembering the names of people I have just
met, or other things I should be able to recall easily, like rules of
grammar or math, or historical relationships between art and history.
Things that, if I were to teach, I’d have to have down cold. Most of my
intelligence seems to be intuitive in nature. I get it right, most of
the time, but can’t always tell you how I got the answer.

10. I don’t have a fear of flying; I have a fear of crashing.

11. I don’t like deep water--and this must be something from way back,
like pre-birth, or past life, because it is one powerful vibe. Neither
do I care for fast boats over shallow water (see my Key West blog from
last spring).

12. My two children are smart, beautiful, and healthy. For this I am thankful every day.

13. My dear wife Boo is a supremely talented baker and gifted teacher
of small children. She also seems to have heroic patience with her
husband.

14. I consistently sell myself short.

15. Denial seems to be a major component of the adult psyche, no matter how much we try to say otherwise . . .

16. I can only recite one poem from memory, for some reason: Denis Johnson’s “Sway”

17. One thing that still makes me LOL in a stupid silly way is
remembering the poor guy in college who farted violently in the middle
of our philosophy of religion final exam. Dude . . . I’m trying to
deconstruct the problem of evil here . . .

18. It’s amazing what I remember. And what I forget. Drives me
crazy when I almost remember something--a fragment of a memory or
object from childhood appears in my mind, because of some present-tense
trigger . . . and then vanishes almost immediately.

19. Twenty years ago I was verbally assaulted by Pulitzer Prize-winning
poet John Ashbery at a party in Iowa City, when, higher than Flagpole
Joe, I made the rhetorical mistake of saying that Des Moines had a
"nice" art museum. He turned to me and said scathingly, "Young man,
there is NO SUCH THING as a NICE museum". Thank you, Dr. Buzzkill . . .

20. I am not good with chopsticks.

21. I get vertigo when driving over steep and narrow bridges/overpasses.

22. I am often unusually kind to incompetent service-industry employees.

23. I think art should question our most dearly-held convictions, rather than confirm them.

24. Night before last I dreamed that there was a falling-down
cathedral in my backyard; I was trying to turn it into my workspace,
but I had so much stuff stored in it that I could barely breathe.

25. From Basho, 17th century Japanese poet, translated by Robert Hass:

“Year after year/on the monkey’s face/A monkey face.”

Last night driving home from our gig in Atlanta, at about 3 a.m. somewhere west of Manchester, i’d been scanning the radio ad nauseum, clicking thru the available options over and over . . . but not even the man’s story of being abducted by aliens (and making friends with an alien child) seemed worthy of interest. On “Classic Top 40”, Chic’s Le Freak; hadn’t heard that in a while. That’s some damned good rhythm guitar playing. “Summer in the City” , Loving Spoonful . . . “hotter than a match-head”, sung so fast it’s almost a throwaway  . . . I always liked that line. I went around again. On 88.3: out of nowhere it was Dylan, singing It’s Alright, Ma--and it was so immediate, and so immediately timeless, like I’d never heard the song before. And I never thought I’d experience Dylan that way again, after listening to him so much, for so long. Line after line, like swings of a wrecking-ball, an early post-modern mashup of images and emotions, all coming thru that singular voice--cutting through the dashboard, ringing in my head, colliding with all the pomp-and-circumstance images I’d seen from the inauguration earlier in the day.

Doesn’t the sky feel a little bit lighter out there today?  I’m so glad the folks in Midland, TX are glad to have their W. back.  Y’all hang on to him for a while.

Now, for you, dear reader, a few questions:

I need to raise money to finish and promote the new record. Quickly. One thing I’m considering is to release a limited edition (say, 200 copies) collection of home recordings, live stuff, maybe an outtake from a previous release.  Any interest???

I’m thinking about moving my blog to blogger.com or elsewhere, since my myspace blog never shows up in google searches. I need a name for this blog . . . any ideas?




Okay, I’m going back to bed now.

Happy Trails,

kg

Hi folks,
someone sent me the following message regarding the current proposed amendment to the Nashville charter, which I personally pray does NOT pass. 6-1-5ers, please vote against this very unwise (to put it politely) proposition!

"I think letting your myspace friends know about the true economic impact on Nashville that the passage of this amendment would have is a great idea! Be sure to let them know that although metro will save $200,000 in cutting translation services, it stands to LOOSE $278,000,000 in lost funds from Title 6 of the Civil Rights Act! This is huge!
Direct them to http://coalition. nashvilleforallofus. org/ so they can see the coalition list which includes many organizations, the chamber, clergy leaders etc. and of course http://www. nashvilleforallofus. org/About. html for extensive information."

Looking back on the old year, looking ahead to the new. A predictable move for this time, I guess, but if you're like me, the last week or so has been the first chance I've had in a while to do any sort of reflecting, be it forwards or back. I'll probably list some other stuff in the coming week, but for now . . .

2008

Shows I enjoyed the most: Fitzgerald's American Music Festival, Berwyn IL; IOTA, Arlington VA; North Delta Music Project, Monroe LA--spring show, w/Paul Burch; New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest, (w/Kenny Bill Stinson); Black Box, Belfast; Jovita's, Austin (SXSW), Kenny Pipes' house concert in Houston; Americana Folk Festival, Burns TN; Music Cares benefit/Bike-Build, Gaithersburg MD

Most embarrassing moment: Closing party, Belfast-Nashville Songwriters' Festival, Belfast, N. Ireland, without a doubt: Honoring the insistent request of gracious party hosts and festival founders, Anne and Colin, by attempting to render Watching the Sun Go Down after having a wee bit too much of the jolly juice, but not realizing it til I'd sat down with guitar in hand. Embarrassment quotient multiplied exponentially by having Nanci Griffith 6 ft away as eyewitness. Point taken (again). Thanks to my old friend Dave Duncan for bravely joining me on this short ride to shame. Later found myself outside smoking a cigarette, a sure sign that ol' Had-a-Few had arrived. He ain't allowed around here, anymore.

Strangest gigs: Flying Saucer, (w/Downtown Wigs), Nashville (I wrote a pretty good blog about this particular night). Is this thing on?; private NAMM show party, for Roland, which included jamming with Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, (Doobie Bros., Steely Dan), weapons expert and iconic instrumentalist. If ya wanted Van Hagar or the Mothers of Invention, why'd you hire US? But, really, honestly, thanks for the work.

Memorable book: Dave Eggers, "What is the What?", quasi-bio of one of the Lost Boys of Sudan

Best on-the-road meal: El Sibonay, Key West, FL; Mohawk Seafood Tavern, Monroe LA; Sims BBQ, Little Rock AR; Mandina's, New Orleans

Worst on-the-road meal: BLT, Waffle House, Hot Springs AR

Most daunting on-the-road meal: "ulster fry", breakfast, Belfast; cheeseburger supreme, "floated", Tony's Grille, Monroe LA.

Best hotel/lodging for the money: Motel 6, Newport TN(talk about exceeding expectations)

Worst hotel/lodging: 1) Park Place Inn, Jonesboro AR. So quiet and empty(except for the family of 12 in the next room, who all seemed to be in varying states of anguish and/or drunkenness). Dark, dank, freaky. Doors covered in decades of brown grime. Nice lobby, though. 2) La Quinta, Little Rock; keycard comedy deluxe. Custodian reprograms all the door locks, then somehow gets the codes mixed up, before leaving for the day. It took me 45 minutes, three keys and a manager just to get into a room.

Quintessential American moment: getting robbed at Family Wash, Nashville; me and 7 others, caught between the new gentrification vs. the old-school gangsta powerplay of the violent threat, in one surreal chunk of 3-4 minutes on a Tuesday night.

Gains: new songs I'm actually happy with, starting work on new record; new friends, and reconnecting with old ones.

Losses: only the ones that count--my friends Sig Anderson, Rick Cicalo, Dev Hathaway, Hubert Walters.

for 2009:

Goals: release new record, build new website, eat better, drink less, move from coffee to tea

More: music, interaction, giving, love, cooking, gardening, writing, work

Less: debt, negativity, inattention, fear. debt.

Hello friends,
thanks so much for your support this year. You don't know how much I appreciate your attendance at the gigs, your merch purchases, blog comments, emails, etc. Your enthusiasm for my music and writing has been invaluable. I have recorded basic tracks for 5 songs for the new record, and hope to keep moving forward, with the goal being a June 2009 release date. Mr. McMahan is producing, thank the Lord. I'll keep you posted on the developments here.

My family and I got some bad news last week: my kids' school, East Academy, is now in extremely dire financial straits. I'll spare you the details here, but basically the school needs to raise $250,000 by December 29 in order to remain in business. I can't imagine a worse time to attempt this. Even without the current economic turmoil, it being December alone would make any fund-raising effort difficult. EA is a private school, yes, but is an important part of our East Nashville community, offering a college preparatory education to a diverse student body by keeping tuition low (50% lower than other area schools) and offering financial aid to families who need it. The supremely ironic twist is that if we can raise these funds, and remain solvent, the school will receive $600,000 from a local charitable foundation, over the six-month period beginning in February. And with this foundation's vote of confidence, it will be much easier to attract other donors. The ultimate goal is to construct a new (badly needed) campus that will be home to the first K-12 L.E.E.D.-certified Multiple Intelligences school in the U.S.

I have been trying to think of something I could do to help contribute, beyond reaching out to grandparents, et al. Though I'd wanted to try to issue some kind of limited-edition CD, given the ridiculously short time-frame,I've decided instead to donate a minimum of 30% of gross revenue from all merchandise sales, from now (Dec. 11) thru year's end to East Academy, towards fulfilling our goal of keeping a very special school open. So, if you need a little ear candy or a t-shirt for a stocking stuffer, come on with it: http://www.kevingordon.net/store.html

I'll talk more about that limited-ed. CD in the weeks to come. For more info about the school, try http://www.eastacademy.org, or for specific info about the fund-raising campaign, go to http://www.1420campaign.org.
You can also make a donation via the 1420 page, thru a PayPal link there. (Please do mention that you heard about this from yours truly). Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for listening.

Happy happy . . . merry merry.

Kevin

1) Since the recent merger of Sirius and XM, one of many casualties has been the channel known as "cross country" or "X country". Those of you who are subscribers know that this was the main place in satellite-radioland where you could get your KG on. I have no idea what will happen with the replacement, "Outlaw country" (don't even get me started on THAT), but, if you, like my very own mother, are as pissed off about this as she seems to be, please don't hesitate to contact Sirius/XM with your complaints. I have a feeling that a lot of what was cool about the satellite thang has just been chopped off and thrown to the dogs. For artists such as myself, who are not exactly being embraced by mainstream radio, XM was a great supporter—not to mention a very powerful ally in reaching many people who aren't lucky enough to have a cool station around. And that's a lot of people. So, please, make a hissing noise unto the corporate monolith. Whether or not the beast responds, time will tell. I'm not holding my breath on this one, though.

2) I've been working on expanding my online profile, and you can now find me at facebook, iLike, imeem, and most recently, reverbnation.com. I like the reverbnation site—easy to use, for folks on both sides of the server. I've put a mailing list sign-up window on my myspace and facebook profile pages—please sign up. If you are already on my email list, I'll do my best to not send the occasional updates to you twice. And of course, won't share your info with anyone. Plus, I make a little change, based on the amount of action my page gets. Find me on those sites, and friend me, fan me, whatever . . . it all helps to spread the good word.

3) With the economy down at the bottom of a rusty tank, it's gonna be an interesting holiday season. I might soon be getting better at homemade crafts than I ever imagined. One of those crafts happens to be the limited-edition 45 (yes, vinyl) 7" that I released late in the holiday season last year. Yes, armed with a hot-glue gun and those wonderfully designed covers by printer/artist extraordinaire Andy Vastagh, I'm back at it, personally manufacturing these fine little sonic stocking stuffers. "Louisiana Snow", the title track, is the closest thing to a Christmas song I've ever written, though very un-carol-ish. Myself, along with Mr. McMahan, Bryan Owings and Ron Eoff, rendered something warm and easy for the soul. On the B-side is an alternate take of the Willie Dixon song, "Crazy Mixed Up World", and I just might like this version better than the one that ended up on the Burning record.

Each one is hand-numbered and signed by yours truly—and with purchase you get a free download of both tracks. Check it out at kevingordon.net/store.html

Last night in this tiny house we had three computer screens and two TVs going all at once, watching the returns come in. Ridiculous, yes, but the overkill was proof of how much we, as a family, were captivated by this election. I was so nervous I could barely sit still—something that I don't remember happening at all four years ago. Yesterday was so tense; like the whole country (world?) was holding its collective breath in anticipation. Today I feel an overwhelming relief—the big exhale—something I probably would've felt no matter who won the presidency.

I'm cynical enough to refuse to put much truck in terms like "mandate"—though last night's margin gives the term a little more credence than the joke we were handed four (or was it eight?) years ago. I'm hopeful, yes: we will have a president who can actually speak his native tongue, and damn well, for that matter, and who doesn't appear to be the lapdog of the extreme elements of his party (or his own vice-president). Who won't mistake pride for power, or power for divine guidance. I hope.

After the unilateral fervor of the Bush administration, maybe now we can return to the idea that true power lies beyond slogan and soundbite; that it is borne of our own individual acts. If we are the greatest nation on earth (whatever that means) it is because our legacy and vision, our acts and their consequences, reflect that greatness, not just because we say it's so. The turnout yesterday was reassuring—that we aren't too cynical to believe in the process, to feel that by casting a ballot we as individuals can make a collective difference.

Countless others will pontificate on the historical significance of Obama's election; no doubt it's a milestone that many people, including members of my own family, thought they'd never see in their lifetime. He is a brilliant politician, and a compelling figure, for many reasons(as is Senator McCain--the dignity of his concession speech last night was incredible). I am grateful to both candidates for restoring hope, for giving us good reason to sit up and pay attention (and vote)--even my kids, ages 11 and 10, who were clicking away at the interactive electoral map last night for hours, reading the incoming results aloud for all to hear.