A Bit About TIME IN THE TALL GRASS

The twelve songs from TIME IN THE TALL GRASS were written approximately seventeen years ago as a follow-up to my sixth CD, A LIKELY STORY (2002). Unfortunately, my band splintered before recording began, leaving me to complete the project with only the rhythm section intact.

Realizing I was unlikely to perform again in the foreseeable future but determined to begin recording anyway, I booked one of two sessions with drummer Steve Mitchell at David Houston's Moon Studio in Sacramento. Before the session, bassist Paul Knutsen and I put on a "scratch" acoustic guitar, vocal, and bass at my house to guide Steve, intending to re-record our parts with more care in the studio later.

As luck would have it, no sooner did we finish recording Steve's drums than I developed a nerve condition in my lower jaw called Trigeminal Neuralgia. TN is quite painful and can limit your ability to speak and sing. The illness curtailed our recording project and forced me to give up music entirely until it went into remission ten years later. In those ten years, I occupied myself by writing a book while Steve and Paul joined other bands and continued to play music. Though I felt disappointed about leaving a record unfinished, we had no plans to revive it after so much time had passed.

Sadly, in 2017, Steve died from a brain tumor after a long battle with cancer. At Steve's memorial, Paul told me he had recently listened to our old demos, thought Steve's drumming sounded solid and wondered if I might consider finishing the CD. It struck me how nice it might be for his friends and family to hear him play again even though he was no longer with us.

Having been away from making music for so long, I was unsure of my ability to pull off another record. My ears were rusty, and I had neither played guitar nor sung a note in seventeen years. Music-making was quite literally out of my system. If I was going to get back into it, I wanted to work with old friends and people with whom I felt comfortable. David Houston was the obvious choice to co-produce. I'd known David since I was nineteen, and it was with his encouragement that I got into music professionally in the first place. Another obvious choice was to reunite with vocalists Gail George and Kathy Elzey. Gail and Kathy were good friends, and they sang beautifully together. With David, Gail, and Kathy's husband Ray, the four of us enjoyed making a couple of records back in the nineties.

It isn't easy to pick up a creative project you abandoned years ago. You are generally not in the same frame of mind, and to some degree, you're an entirely different person. As a reminder of what my intentions might have been and to keep us on track, David and I decided to salvage as much of the original recordings and demos as possible: nine of Steve's studio drum performances, much of Paul's scratch bass, my scratch acoustic guitar, and one scratch lead vocal on THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW YOU'RE LOVED. After that, most songs needed a lyric rewrite, a re-sing, new arrangements, playing, overdubs, and harmonies, just as required on any new recording. Early in 2019, we discovered three of Steve's drum parts were lost or damaged, so drummer Jim Caselli kindly came by to finish the tracks. Jim's presence was a "full circle" moment for me, as he was the drummer in my first band, Crayon.

 David and I slowly chipped away at reviving the recordings every Monday afternoon for two years until Covid hit. Then, he and I took a year off while Jim occasionally came in to add percussion. In March of 2022, a week after the final mix was complete, we were saddened to learn Kathy Elzey had also passed away. It was unexpected and heartbreaking, to say the least, for those of us who had only recently had the pleasure of working with her again.

So, here it is, TIME IN THE TALL GRASS, ready for release seventeen years after it began. The recording process was more arduous than I imagined, but I'm glad we stuck with it. It's gratifying to see a project to its completion no matter how long it takes. If nothing else, it was a joy and privilege to reunite with many old friends, some for the last time, to create a bit of music you will hopefully enjoy.