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What's New
April 12, 2008
Hello and thanks for stopping by!
I know it’s been awhile so I’ll try and hit the high points and try to keep my ramblings at a minimum. It’s been what..uh..about seven months since I posted anything here. I’ve been a procrastinator when it comes to me writing about me. Thanks to those who emailed and missed the updates. The continued interest and support is truly appreciated.
If you were to scroll down to the last entry here, it was August of 2007 and I had just gotten to play as a sideman guitarist with Cheap Trick at the Hollywood Bowl doing The Beatles Sgt. Pepper. Well, it happened again in December of ‘07 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Cheap Trick revisited Sgt. Pepper with some of the same guest singers (Joan Osborne , Rob Laufer and Ian Ball from Gomez) and, fortunately, the same sidemen (Danny Louis from Govt. Mule and myself). It felt like a more relaxed replay of the Bowl gig with a reunion-like atmosphere. Even famed fab engineer and producer, Geoff Emerick, was on hand to mix. Cheap Trick will be back at the Hollywood Bowl at the end of June 2008 and I’m scheduled to join them once again. If you go to the trouble of LEARNING a whole album you MUST go play it occasionally.
Which is also the case with The Long Players. We’ve had pretty much nothing BUT incredibly fun shows here in Nashville over the last four years. We take a classic album and play it in it’s entirety from front to back with the vocals performed by guest singer from the amazing talent pool this town has to offer. We always donate a portion of the proceeds to a charity and it’s been a great way to honor “the album” as an art form as well as showcasing our community of artists willing to be in a high-concept cover band for a night. It’s truly a blast.
Let’s see.. looking back at 2007.. there was Derek and the Domnos’ Layla then Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust.. then Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours…then Led Zeppelin IV at the end of the year. We JUST did the Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers a couple of weeks back. There’ a whole list of these shows, the performers, the dates we did them and some photos at the LONG PLAYERS link. Please take a second and click it and you can see what’s it’s all about. Here is, also another link to the NPR story they did on us in late 2006 that is still available:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6556455&sc=emaf
The guest artists over the last few years have been stellar. We’ve had world class singers like Wet Willie’s Jimmy Hall and world class guitarists like King Crimson’s Adrian Belew. From country chanteuse Suzy Bogguss to Dez Dickerson from Prince’s Revolution, it’s a real cross section of our community. We’ve done Dylan albums with Al Kooper and Charlie McCoy and Stones records with Bobby Keys. It’s so amazing to look over your shoulder and see the guy who played on the original record. I’d like to proudly add that our band has pulled it all off with skill and heart. It’s a love thing. What started off as notion for some fun has turned into a real musical event every few months.
For me it’s great to reconnect with old friends and bandmates like John Cowan or Radney Foster and getting them to play covers for a night. Tom Peterson from Cheap Trick joined us for our Fleetwood Mac encore when we were doing the Peter Green era stuff.
I’ve also met some tremendously talented young artists through putting these shows together as well. Our next public performance, not including private engagements will be May 24th, 2008 doing Paul McCartney and Wings Band On the Run album. Please check here or on my My Space page for an update. http://www.myspace.com/billlloyd
One last thing. We have t-shirts for $20. Order form here:
I’ve been promising a new record for awhile and I’ve still been writing between all the different projects I get to be a part of. Besides The Long Players, I still play in First Amendment Center’s Freedom Sings program which is coming up on our tenth anniversary this year. And I still have the “best real job ever” down at The Country Music Hall of Fame working in their archive with the musical instruments. It’s been busy to say the least. What I was getting at is that I’d like to emphasize that I have not quit recording and have been in the studio working towards another album. I’m still writing songs. Recent co-writers include Bill DeMain (from Swan Dive), Mark Olson (The Jayhawks), English songwriter John Peppard and some through-the-mail writing with Jamie Hoover of The Spongetones. Their new album, called Too Clever By Half is a real winner. Of course, with THREE co-written songs on there I might be prejudiced. Both Jamie and The Spongetones have My Space pages as opposed to websites that are easy to find.
Keith Anderson, who has the current hit “I Still Miss You” and scored big on the country charts with “Pickin’ Wildflowers” has a new album called “C’mon” that has his version of “Crazy Over You” ..which was Radney’s and my first hit twenty years ago. Jeff Steele produced the record and it sounds great..more of a turbo-charged version than our rockabilly-ish record, but it rocks hard. There’s a version that exists where Radney and I are guests on.. taking the second verse. I don’t have the album yet so I’m not sure if the record company went with that one. Radney and I joined Keith and band at the Country Radio Seminar showcase and we did Crazy Over You at the end of his set and we all got a standing ovation from the, usually not so demonstrative, deejays. I’ll take that as a good sign and hope that our song has a second life with Keith. He’s a really nice guy.. very cool and unaffected by the showbiz stuff from what I’ve seen.
Another project that I feel compelled to plug here is the new album by Nashville’s Aqua-Velvet. Specializing in instrumental exotica, their new album, “ A Splash of Aqua Velvet”, has some cameo vocals from Brad Jones, Daniel Tashian and myself on the Brian Wilson classic, Warmth of the Sun. Jim Hoke and Randy Leago, who lead the band, are frequent sidemen with The Long Players and both have incredible résumé’s that reflect their strong talents. Anyway, check out our Beach Boy bit on this Amazon link and then support their cause.
http://www.amazon.com/Splash-Aqua-Velvet/dp/B000WCBR58
Anyone who knows me, has most likely found out what a fan of The Kinks I am. I knew my luck in this life wasn’t completely spent when I got called to be a guest guitarist on Ray Davies most recent album, “Working Man’s Café”. I played on a track called The Real World and I’d readily recommend the album.. even to the most Kasual of Kinks fans…
http://www.amazon.com/Working-Mans-Cafe-Deluxe-Combo/dp/B0012IWK0W
I’ve never stopped playing songwriters nights here in Nashville and I’ve been somewhat of a regular at The Bluebird Café for many years.
I’ve missed out on promoting these shows in advance with my sporadic posting here... So it’s down to foggy but sweet memories of all the songwriters’ in-the-rounds I’ve done over the last seven months.
Some highlights? One group of writer/song singers that has played a lot together over the last couple of years features Swan Dive (Molly Felder and Bill DeMain), Don Henry, Jason White and me. We had some great gigs at the Bluebird here in Nashville but a real special one back in January ’08 was a show in New Harmony, Indiana. What an amazing place! Too much information to spill here. If you’re a history buff like I am and if this picques your interest, just Google it and be amazed for yourself! We stayed in homes built in the 1800’s.. it was great.
Another highlight was getting old friend, Peter Holsapple who used to be in the dB’s and Continental Drifters to agree to come to Nashville and do a Bluebird in-the-round. I was a dB’s fan before I ever got to meet him.. and I met him back in the mid-80’s. Besides being a talented songwriter, he’s also been a sideman to groups like REM and Hootie and the Blowfish. So Peter finally made it over to play.. and so did Darius Rucker from Hootie. Darius has been working on a new solo album for Capitol Nashville. Filling out the round was Marshall Chapman (who I’m playing with again on May 3) and Tim Krekel (who has a great new record) and myself. Here’s a shot of the happy group after the show. Just for fun, Beth Nielsen Chapman came down and sat in as well. Beth’s new album is a stunner as well. I didn’t have any co-written songs with her on this one but I did get to play bass on a track. New Grass Revival founder, Sam Bush also joined us at the Bluebird that night. Here’s our happy group post-gig.
Speaking of Beth, she’s hosting one of her songwriter workshops in a few weeks and I’m one of her guests. Here’s a poster. She just got back from the UK where she got to play at The Royal Albert Hall with Kris Kristofferson. Now that’s a good day.
Speaking of good days, I had ,what I would call, one amazing day, not too long ago over at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. I’m in the archive working at my desk seemingly transfixed by the computer but ALSO picking up a Martin D-28 that Marty Stuart had brought in as a donation. It was calling me and I was listening.. then playing it. Then putting it back down and going back to work. Then picking it up again because it had such a great sound. The interesting part of the story is that it had belonged to Lester Flatt before Marty had it. If you’re a Flatt and Scruggs fan, you know it. That one. I had polished it up and re-strung it with heavy gauge strings (as Lester would have) but had it tuned pretty far down so those heavy gauges wouldn’t stress the neck, It had this deep resonance and just sounded amazing.
This back and forth lasted all morning and I’m counting my blessings that I’m even getting to play this instrument when I heard a commotion and CT, my boss, wheels in a load of artifacts from the Williams family for the current Family Tradition exhibit. Included in that batch of stuff on loan is Hank Williams’s Martin D-28. So I get to play THAT one as well. Same day. It’s not always like that. Most days aren’t. Both instruments are currently on display and I don’t know when I’ll get the honor of playing them again. But that was an amazing day.
Sometimes I get to meet some great singers and players I had not met before. Classic honky-tonk singer, Gene Watson, a guy who is still fighting the good fight and performing the kind of country music I like, was at the Hall not long ago and I enjoyed meeting him. Here’s a photo from that hang time. If only the picture could have been a close up…
I still put together and host the Nashville Cats series down at the Hall of Fame, a program that, every few months, takes a session player/sideman and celebrates their career with 90 minutes of career recap that includes audio, video, sometimes a live performance. It’s great fun for me and these guys certainly deserve the attention. So far the guests have been Lloyd Green, Charlie McCoy, Don Helms, Harold Bradley, Pig Robbins, Bob Moore, Ray Edenton and Jerry Kennedy. Reggie Young is the next guest on May 3th. Here’s a link to a streaming video of our last program with Jerry Kennedy.
http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/multimedia-video.aspx?cid=2397
Speaking of legendary musicians, another fun thing I’ve gotten to do recently is play a couple of shows with my friend Peter Cooper who is known in Nashville as a music journalist but increasingly as a fine songwriter/performer. I played guitar on Peter’s new album Mission Door and we’ve done a couple of shows. Legendary steel guitarist (and the very first musician who agreed to be my guest on the Nashville Cats series) Lloyd Green co-produced Peter’s record and plays fantastic stuff all over it. Here’s a link to Peter’s My Space page and you can hear some for yourself.
http://www.myspace.com/petercoopermusic
I’ve had some feedback that it always takes me a long time between albums. I can’t deny that’s just the way it’s always seemed to go. For those who would like to look into some of the out-takes and demos I’ve collected over the years, I’ve made some of that available for the “truly interested”. Here’s a link.
That’s about all for now I think.. thanks for checking in and I’ll do better next time with a more timely update.
Bill
August 25, 2007
Hey
Thanks for dropping in.
It’s been several (give or take) months since I updated this site last but that’s because I’ve been kind of busy and busy is good.
I have several things I want to plug and yak about in this update but I’ll probably go on a little about the first thing on the list. In my modest musical career, I’ve had more than the usual share of moments where I have to stop and think, “How did I get here?”. Like David Byrne’s lyric in “Once in a Lifetime”.. “My God..what have I done?!?”. In the last update, I tried to casually drop in the information that I got to play on Ray Davies record in progress. As a fan as well as a musician that was huge for me because he’s always been great and still is.
Well, that was scant months ago and that feeling has happened again when a couple of weeks ago I found myself onstage at The Hollywood Bowl with Cheap Trick playing The Beatles music with a fifty-piece symphony orchestra at my back.
Huh? No, I’m not kidding! I get to play complete albums from front to back with regularity in The Long Players and it’s always a fabulous time with a great band. However, joining one of my FAVORITE bands onstage to do The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with an orchestra at the F’n Hollywood Bowl was a surreal experience. With two sold-out nights (August 10-11) and guest singers that included Aimee Mann, Joan Osborne, Ian Ball from Gomez, Rob Laufer and Al Jourensen from Ministry, to say it was fun is a complete understatement.
Here’s a picture from the first half of the evening.
After an introductory Beatles medley, Edwin the conductor introduced Cheap Trick and we come on and play Cheap Trick’s version of Magical Mystery Tour and it simply blazes. I’m sitting down as is the orchestra but I’m still playing pretty loudly through a Vox AC-30. I sang the low-harmonies while Rick Nielsen did the high ones. It sounds like Cheap Trick and it was. Rick, Robin, Tom and Bun E. All the original members except that I’m in the band. I’m totally enjoying being there but still very conscious I have a job to do. Sgt. Pepper was not a record made for a single guitarist to do without leaving out parts. Hence, my gig. Fill in the blanks. Sideman-itis doesn’t allow for complete immersion in the moment :) I know Danny Louis from Govt. Mule (who was the other sideman playing keys) and I were both in that place where you know you got a job to do but you’re still having the time of your life.
Pepper is saved for the second set so the first set is a series of Beatles songs with the guest singers and the orchestra. It was all amazingly good considering how quickly the whole thing came together.
Regarding the picture above. Irony of ironies, I’m playing Robin Zander’s acoustic Martin 12-string while Al and Sin from Ministry are leading Cheap Trick and orchestra through an ultra-heavy She’s So Heavy. Al liked the baroque feel. In my monitor, it was like I was playing heavy-metal-harpsichord.
Favorite moments? There were plenty. I’m assuming you’ll know the songs I’m talking about here. I got to trade the solos at the end of The End from Abbey Road with Rick and Robin. I stood up for that part :) After the intermission and we came back to play Pepper, I switched out between electric and acoustic and sang lots of background vocals. I really loved it when it was (vocally) Robin and me on the section “I used to be cruel to my woman..” on “It’s Getting Better”. I was on acoustic on Day in the Life and the end with the orchestra was especially amazing. The encore of All You Need is Love with all the guest vocalists coming out to sing put a lump in my throat. Add in the fact that a sold-out crowd there is around 17,000, it was a real trip with the whole place singing along. The only part I didn’t get to play on during Pepper was Rob Laufer’s fantastic version of “Within You Without You” with the Indian musicians.
Okay, Bragging Billy, good for you. Glad you had fun. Time to come down off that cloud. But I’m not finished. Cheap Trick decided that since they had learned the songs and because The Beatles/Abbey Road engineer Geoff Emerick had flown in to mix the show; why not re-record these songs? I know I, for one, would love to hear Cheap Trick versions. So following the weekend gigs, I went in with the guys to help in the studio as well. This was in Capitol’s studio in the basement of their LA Tower, the same studio where Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Paul McCartney and many others have made historically significant records. That studio experience was, for me, just as good, if not better, than the live experience because I got to work with Geoff and the guys in a controlled environment where your chops and musicality are under the microscope. It was a gas. Thank-you, Cheap Trick.
So what ELSE is new? I’ve still been writing songs. Playing songwriters-in-the-round shows at the world-famous-but still my local bar, The Bluebird Café. No, I still don’t have a new record ready but please check out my Bill For Sale link for some new cd’rs I’ve made available for purchase. If you’ve looked over this link before, you can tell that the home demos and studio out-takes far exceed my official releases. If you like what I do already, I think you might find stuff here to enjoy as well. One of the CD-rs is my out-of print import EP called Confidence is High but I added on another TEN songs to make it a fifteen song album. There’s also another Home Recordings/ Off the Shelf Vol. 2 collection. Please, check it out.
Here's a link to find out more about a tribute record I took part in recently.
Jimmy Guterman’s labor of love has been putting out a tribute record to The Clash’s Sandinista.
I did a version of The Sound of Sinners. Check it out.
http://www.conqueroo.com/sandinistapr.html
I also took part in a tribute album to The Byrds that is, so far, a virtual downloadable album.
Here’s a link
http://cdbaby.com/cd/timelessflyte2
My old singing and writing partner, Radney Foster, and I just recently sang as guests on Keith Anderson’s new album as he has re-cut a version of our hit, Crazy Over You. It’s been twenty years since it hit the top of (most) country charts and it was fun hearing a new take on it. Keith is a very nice guy and sings great. Jeffery Steele is producing. Speaking of the country world, Radney and I are scheduled to be on the radio program, American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks this coming Tuesday. We’ll be taping it Tuesday. It may go out live. It may not. I should know these things. But I don’t. Great. Hope you can find it. No help from me :)
The Long Players have TWO shows lined up for this Fall/Winter.
Our bassist, Garry Tallent, has a full schedule with some other band he’s playing with so our November 10th show we’ll have a guest bassist, our friend Brad Jones. Brad is a longtime pal and an amazing producer on top of a lot of other musical skills and he has also played with us on one of our more recent shows while Garry was busy elsewhere. We did David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars album.
November 10th, 2007, we will be back at The Mercy Lounge in Nashville to do Fleetwood Mac’s Rumour’s album. That should be a fun night. Bringing back the estrogen! We’ll try and kick into some earlier Mac during the encore so we don’t leave the Peter Green era completely overlooked.
We’ve also got December 28th, 2007 booked at The Mercy Lounge to do Led Zeppellin’s fourth album. Garry is planning to be back for that one. Call it ZOSO, the runes, Zeppelin 4, what have ya’.. it IS a classic and we’ll have a large and loud time with that one.
Here’s a set list and a couple of photo collages done by our friend Curtis King from the night of the Spiders.
The Long Players perform David Bowie’s 1972 album
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
and the Spiders From Mars
THE MERCY LOUNGE JUNE 15, 2007
9:30pm / $15.00 cover
Proceeds in Part to Benefit The Tennessee Environmental Council
Presenting these guest singers:
Five Years : Melissa Mathes
Soul Love : Jordan Lehning & Buddy Hughen (Eureaka Gold)
Moonage Daydream: Joel J. Dahl (De Novo Dahl)
Starman: Adrian Belew (King Crimson/The Bears/etc..)
It Aint’ Easy: Brendan Benson (The Raconteurs/etc..)
Lady Stardust: Britt Savage
Star: Mike Grimes (Guilty Pleasures/The bis~Quits/etc..)
Hang On To Yourself: Steve Allen (20/20-The Long Players)
Ziggy Stardust : Zac Lindsey (The Secret)
Suffragette City: Will Kimbrough (Daddy/Bushman/etc..)
Rock’n’Roll Suicide : Ed Peterson
The Long Players are:
Steve Allen, John Deaderick, Steve Ebe, Bill Lloyd with
Brad Jones and Jim Hoke
If it looks like fun and you wished you had been there, come see the next show! We have folks flying in from everywhere these days!
The Long Players ALSO played the Derek and the Domino’s Layla album front to back on July 27th. Here’s the lineup for that one.
The Long Players perform the 1971 classic album
DEREK AND THE DOMINOES / LAYLA
July 27th @ The Mercy Lounge 9:30 PM- $15
With this amazing assortment of guest vocalists..
1. I Looked Away (Jim Photoglo)
2. Bell Bottom Blues (Jimmy Hall)
3. Keep On Growing (Mark Selby)
4. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out
(Gary Nicholson)
5. I Am Yours (George & Dave Daeger)
6. Anyday (Josh Leo)
7. Key To The Highway (Dave Perkins)
8. Tell The Truth (John Cowan)
9. Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad (Pete Mroz)
10. Have You Ever Loved A Woman (Danny Flowers)
11. Little Wing (Ashley Cleveland)
12. It's Too Late (Phil Lee)
13. Layla (Tom Kimmel)
14. Thorn Tree In The Garden (Fred Knobloch)
The Long Players are:
Steve Allen, John Deaderick, Steve Ebe, Bill Lloyd and Garry Tallent
Proceeds in part will be donated to a cancer treatment fund for our friend and musician Dave Perkins
Here's a link from Nashville journalist Lucas Hendrickson with his thoughts about our Long Players Layla performance
http://largelandmammal.blogspot.com/2007/07/catharsis.html
So, what else? I had a recording of mine that’s up for a Honda commercial. I’ve not heard back yet. Hmmmm.. not so good a sign but it’s not over ‘til it’s over. Hey, opportunities present themselves and we do our best to keep the faith.
I’m still working at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum as the Stringed Instrument Curator. It’s still very rewarding work. The next public program I get to host will be on October 6th ; Nashville Cats honoring session guitarist Ray Edenton. If you’re here in Nashville, please check it out. These musicians who played on all these classic records deserve a little bit of the limelight.
My good pal, Jamie Hoover from The Spongetones and I have written a few more songs that they’ve recorded for their next record. Looking forward to hearing their new one when they get that finished. There will be a tribute show to The Spongetones in Charlotte, N.C. on October 6th. Unfortunately, I found out that it’s the same day I’m doing my Nashville Cat’s program or else I would be there for sure. Somebody film it! These are situations you wish you could simply clone yourself and be in two places at once.
That’s about all from me for now. To quote both John Lennon and Arnold Schwarzenegger, I’ll be back.
Best regards
Bill
April 25th, 2007
Hello and thanks for dropping by.
The last update was only…uh.. December of LAST year.
That’s only just about nearly five months..almost..nearly.
Ti-ti-timing has always been one of my least appreciated qualities.
For those of you new to this site, this is the spot where I attempt to play catch-up with those folks who have enjoyed my music and still check in with me for updates, gigs, new releases etc..
It’s been hard NOT to notice the influx of folks who are now emailing me with the express interest of finding out about The Long Players and what THAT is all about. The All Things Considered piece on NPR as well as the AP Wire story on our band has created some much-appreciated interest. Until there’s a separate site for The Long Players, please feel free to read on here but also notice the LONG PLAYERS link at the top of this page to get updates on our upcoming Nashville performances. The Long Players have also been playing some “band for hire” private shows using a slightly condensed band from our regular community-oriented gigs.
We have two of our regular public shows coming up in June and July.
On Friday June 15th, we’ll do the David Bowie ; “Ziggy Stardust” album and the following month on Friday July 27th, we’ll do Derek and the Dominoes “Layla”. The venue is The Mercy Lounge here in Nashville. The cover is $15 and we always make a donation to a different charity for each event. We don’t have our guest singers scheduled as of yet but will soon.
Our last show was great fun. That was back on March 15th. We did Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” album and Al Kooper came down from Boston to play along with us. He had done that one time before when we did “Blonde On Blonde” a couple years back. Al, of course, played on the original album and has just about the best resume in rock history. You probably don’t need me to tell you..
Here’s who did what as well as a photo collage that was kindly sent to me.
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1. Like A Rolling Stone (Dan Baird) 2. Tombstone Blues (Chuck Mead from BR 549) 3. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (Al Kooper / The Blues Project/ Blood, Sweat & Tears ) 4. From A Buick 6 (Jason Ringenberg from The Nashville Scorchers) 5. Ballad Of A Thin Man (Mark Volman / Turtle / Mother/Flo) 6. Queen Jane Approximately (Dan Baird from The Georgia Satellites & The Yahoos) 7. Highway 61 Revisited (John Cowan and Pat Flynn from New Grass Revival) 8. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Tracy Nelson) 9. Desolation Row (Heath Haynes) |
So what else is new? I’m still working as Stringed Instrument Curator at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and still enjoying that job immensely. There’s even an article on me in the new CMA Close Up Magazine. It’s not on the magazine shelves.. it’s an industry magazine for CMA members. Nevertheless, a nice article about my relatively new position. Besides working in the archive, I’ve continued hosting and putting together the Nashville Cats/A Celebration of Nashville Studio Musicians public programs. Famed bassist Bob Moore was our last guest back in January and Hargus “Pig” Robbins is our next guest on May 18th. We do these public programs in the Ford Theater there in the Hall of Fame on Saturday afternoons. They last for about 90 minutes. I interview the guest and we go through their careers in a chronological fashion using audio, video and even some live performance.
Here’s a link to read about the upcoming program :
http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/news_detail.aspx?cid=2027
I’m still playing a lot of solo songwriter nights here in Nashville. Usually the songwriter in-the-round shows at the famed Bluebird Café. I have two this week. Check into the Concerts link at the top of the page for info.
I always say that I keep songwriting whether I plan to or not and that’s a very true statement. However, my work schedule combined with all the other projects I’ve been doing has affected the co-writing scheduling. I do get around to it but I’ve been enjoying writing long distance recently. Jamie Hoover from The Spongetones and I did a record together a few years back called Paparazzi that stemmed from the bulk of co-written songs we had. I’m happy to report that we’ve written a few more in recent months. I also wrote a song with Chris Church whose music I really love.
There’s a band from my old hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky called The Secret that I’ve been mentioning in these updates for the last year or so. We’ve been working on a record together and I’m happy to report that we’re very close to being finished. The album is called “El Campion” and they wrote most of the songs themselves. I did co-write one song and I produced the record. I love what they do. I wouldn’t have spent the last year and a half working with them otherwise! It’s definitely rock’n’roll. Great hooks. Powerful arrangements. They play hard. They’ve been on an MTV reality show called “My Super Sweet Sixteenth Birthday” already and we have hopes that you’ll be able to find and hear this record soon.
Here’s a link to their website and their My Space page
http://www.thisisthesecret.com and
http://www.myspace.com/thisisthesecret
They look a lot like this :
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I think You Tube is a lot of fun. I love going on there and seeing music performances I never thought I’d ever see. Having said that, I’ve been a professional songwriter and musician long enough to feel obligated in saying that they don’t pay royalties for usage. So, there I said it.
Here are links to MY one video that someone has posted as well as a tv appearance with The December Boys from 1986 or so.
Channeling The King
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vKkzB7Yd3wo
Nothing Comes Close
http://youtube.com/watch?v=A11_t6nb0eA
Nostalgic for that 80’s rockin’ country? There are also some old Foster and Lloyd videos on there too.
Fat Lady Sings
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aG6w72Q-dUE
What Do You Want From Me This Time
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pAGncA1BlQ8&mode=related&search=
Before The Heartache Rolls In
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OnKVBrLMSu8&mode=related&search=
Texas in 1880
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WEBgRF1hkDA&mode=related&search=
I recently got to play some guitar on Ray Davies new album that he’s been cutting here in Nashville. Ray Kennedy is producing. My buddy, Pat Buchanan, got the honors of doing most of the guitar work, but I was called in as a guest on one song and it was great fun and a real honor. I’ve recorded a couple of Ray’s songs before. I did “This Is Where I Belong” on my “Set To Pop” album in 1994. That track showed up on a Mojo sampler not long ago. Tommy Womack and I did a version of “Picture Book” on The Songs Of Ray Davies on the Praxis / Rykodisc label five or six years back as well. It was a great hang and the song I played on was truly wonderful. I’m a lifelong Kinks Kultist so I admit to my bias. Thank you, Ray, for the invitation.
My pal, Bill Davis, from legendary New Orleans stalwarts, Dash Rip Rock, invited me to do a short recitation on their latest album called “Hee Haw Hell”. This album is basically a cowpunk version of Dante’s Inferno. That won me over right there. It’s out now and find out for yourself.
In the midst of the load of benefits, songwriter shows and neighborhood bars where I still play here in town, I recently got to play a special songwriters night for The Climate Project.
What fun it was to play with old and dear friends like Beth Nielsen Chapman and Don Henry for Al Gore and a room full of environmentally conscious music fans! Here’s a group shot with The Man Who Shoulda’ Been President (sounds like a Hitchcock film..)
Besides all this I’m still working with The First Amendment Center and their Freedom Sings program. We’ve traveled a little over the last few months..from Lincoln, Nebraska to Fisk University here in Nashville. These programs are sporadic but still fulfilling. Mixing music with civics and American history, it’s all about the importance of Free Speech.
Since my time is so tied up with all of the above, I’ve not been working as diligently as I’d like to say I have towards the next solo record. I have compiled a few more CD-R compilations that I’ll soon put up on the CD-R page of various odd’s’n’ends from the home studio. I appreciate you folks who have delved into this with me. Thanks for the kind emails and for enjoying the out-takes and demos as much as the “real” records. There will be more on that next update.
One more thing.. I’ll be the special guest on Alan Haber’s radio show this coming Sunday afternoon. Here’s a link to his Pure Pop radio show with details
http://www.buhdge.com/pure_pop/pure_pop.htm
That’s about it for now. Much thanks for checking in and hope to see or hear from you soon
Best