Hey Everyone,

I'm just coming up for air for a minute to tell you about my new recording project:

Rob Barteletti (RB) and I spent much of the week with producer Rob Stroup (RS) at 8-Ball Studio in Portland working on the first tracks for my next solo CD. 

RB, my manager, also contributed five of his songs to the project.  Add five of my own, plus a Steve Earle cover, and we have the makings of my next album!  I'm very excited about the quality of these songs.  RB invited me to "edit" his songs, and that turned out to be rewarding for us both.  Neither of us had done much musical collaborating before, so we were happy with the results of this synthesis.  I'm thinking that all the work I've done with the poetry projects these past two years has helped me approach another songwriter's songs more effectively.  (RB said he's going to write about that more in his blog: www.myspace.com/robbarteletti).

During our first week, Drummer Drew Shoals and bassist Arthur Parker laid down the best rhythm tracks we could have asked for.  These guys are so creative and musically invested in this project, and they are also professionally top-notch players.  I'm very happy that Drew will accompany me on percussion at my show opening for Tracy Grammer on August 10 at The Bite of Oregon (see my schedule for details).  The bonus is that they are also two of the nicest, smartest, and funniest musicians in town!  I really enjoyed hanging out with them.

At the end of the week I added my acoustic guitar tracks and three lead vocals, all under the patient and expert guidance of RS, who also produced my previous two CDs, The Good Horse and Avalanche.  RS is a magician at the board and a brilliant arranger.  As an outstanding musician and songwriter himself, RS brings amazing gifts to every project he works on.  On top of that, he added some rich guitar textures to the track to round out the week.  No wonder Don Campbell said in The Oregonian that RS is becoming Portland's hottest record producer!

Next week: I'll finish my guitar tracks and lead vocals.  Then Tim Ellis (lead guitar), Jean-Pierre Garau (keys), Tony Furtado (banjo, slide guitar, and dobro), and Paul Brainard (pedal steel) will add their talents to the project.  More on that next time.

Special feature: Young, talented filmmaker Derrick LaMere will be videotaping sessions on Monday and Tuesday for a music/documentary "behind the scenes" video we're planning to make available either with the new CD or online, or both.  More about that in my next blog.

(Thanks to Stevi Marie & Jackson Road for introducing us to Derrick. You can check out Derrick's work at http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&channelID=9603076&searchid=d8be0d29-8c6a-4735-8ca0-b04ea64f848f.)