I’ve forgotten if I used my Guild D-4 or not, sometimes Rich had me use his ’67 Gibson J-45. Rich laid down a simple kick and shaker. Vocal, one pass. We had a basic in a pass or two, then bass. I used Rich’s jazz bass. After playback we judged things were indeed sturdy.
Then the real fun. We invited Joel Martin down to play pedal steel. I will be dedicating an entire post to Joel later. He was MVP on this record.
Joel is an anomaly on the LA session player scene in that he actually has soul and takes risks. His tracks tend to reveal their genius on repeated listenings. Now I cannot imagine these recordings without him. If you are ever lucky enough to hire this guy, his playing will start to seep into your DNA
He came in with an old tweed Fender Princeton, his new pedal steel, and trusty Les Paul black beauty w/bigsby. We had done this song live once or twice, but not on steel. Joel nailed it, one or two passes, but I think we used the first. On playback, my jaw hit the floor. Listen to the surefooted way he keeps the verses dissonant and brittle, but when the chorus comes, he opens things up like a flower. What an amazing musician.
The song ends prematurely, like a life interrupted. I let a minor sixth ring out with the tonic. Joel threw a beautiful fifth overtone feedback over that. We didn’t fuss over it, it just happened.
Next post: Werewolf on my Nightstand.
