The big rehearsal

Well, last Saturday the band got together Jeff Root's studio to see what havoc we could wreak. Pretty nice havoc I might say.

In the control room was Jeff Root on acoustic guitar, Steve Gilligan on electric bass, and myself on vocals.

In the outer room were Rob Carlson on dobro, Bob Francis on mandolin, and Tom Ruckey on drums.

Now, mind you, these guys in the outer room had never played together on this material, but they pulled out some pretty fine stuff. We hadn't specified any arrangements, so they were playing it by ear and trying to see what fit where.

Tom decided that a full kit was appropriate for some songs, and a shaker, or stick might be fine for another. But whatever he chose it was creative and provided that bottom that each song needed.

After 6 hours and pizza, we were done and Jeff burned us each a CD of the day's work. We took it home and perused. Sure, there were a few conflicts between the dobro and mandolin as you might expect, but it was amazing how little conflict there was.

So, Jeff made some executive decisions and moved the dobro off one song in exchange for Rob playing an electric lead guitar. The mandolin then, would play a 'chunkier' rhythm except for filler and not come in until the 3rd verse. On another very legato song that will have piano, he decided to keep both instruments out of the intro. But other than that, there wasn't a whole lot to change.

Tag Vennard, on keyboard, wasn't able to make it on Saturday, so Jeff had him over on his own later in the week, and they found the perfect keyboard voice for my song "Short Endings to Long Goodbyes." Tag also had some interesting things to offer on some other songs I'm told, such as washboard-- hmm? Sounds cool.

So, all looks to be ready for Thursday.

Unfortunately, I lost my harmony vocalist, Camille Breeze, who was in a bad accident that shook her up pretty badly. I still have Jon Swenson doing harmony on one song, but it looks like the other harmonies might have to be added in the studio. Camille will be there though, cheering us on, and getting a feel for the arrangements.

So just 5 days away! Don't miss it. The room is filling and the excitement is building. Come be part of the audience!