Pushing back the release date has relieved a lot of pressure on myself, and no doubt my producer Eric.  My mother has fallen ill and with an unfinished record less than a month before the release date, things were getting way too crazy.  As much as it pains me, this may end up being a great decision.  Nothing kills the sound of a record more than pressure.

The next step for us is to get Max Marshall and his rather large…….bass into the studio for some standupaliciousness.

Having put Johnny West’s parts into the songs, an amazing coincidence has happened.  In one of the songs (the one Ron Leary wrote, in fact) I decided to go with a fiddle-piano combo along with my voice and guitar.  I had Johnny play the piano part (which he came up with on his own) without the fiddle.  The I had my fiddle player Mike Brown, play his part (which he came up with on his own) without Johnny’s piano part in the song.  I had doubts that it would work…to say the least.  What’s amazing is that the two COMPLETELY worked together and in fact, there were a couple times where they seemed to follow each other on the melody.  Insanity.

Anyway, today I sit with some whiskey I found in a closet, listening to Townes Van Zandt in a dark room.  Depressing?  Maybe.  Still an awesome time?  Hell yeah.