Hey Ladies and Gents of Summer! The heat and heaviness of July is behind you (and half of August even), and here come those fine, fine, slanted and golden days of early autumn--- Hot Dang!! Up here, there are still mammoth hornworms to be plucked off the tomatoes, the potatoes are mostly still in the ground, the peaches are coming in and the okra's still going strong, but we're getting there.... At this point, I'll try not to bemoan the growing pile of musical material that I've labeled "Crap I've Got to Do", and just get on to it.
This week we're headed back to fetch some more quality goods from the Woodpile. This is actually a second and separate batch of acoustical numbers, cleverly entitled "Woodpile 2". Working again on re-learning and figuring out how to mic these wooden contraptions, there are some minor technical differences from the first set, but don't kill yourself listening for them. If you notice the presence of the "dobro" (actually a National Reso-phonic Model D square neck/ spider bridge/ single cone resonator guitar), well, good on ya! Gold star!
"Arms of this Town" is another in a long line of Baltimore songs I've written over the years, this one coming after I'd decamped for MA yet again and dating back to '02 or so. Yeah, sure, if you break it down there's probably some Bob Dylan in there, and some Eagles and Tom Petty even, but it's a song that I've come to love on its own melancholy terms. Just now taking a spin of the original, I'm reminded that at some point, I really should do a back-to-back post of the original and prior versions together with these re-dos... We shall see.
"Ashley Magee" is a tad older and bears the name of an actual person whom the song in reality has little or nothing to do with. Sometimes all you need is a fragment on which to hang a song, and in this case it was mysterious and southern enough to get the ball rolling. The original is a '98 vintage or thereabouts, and written whilst staying in the "Kacynski Cabin" behind Anne Arundel Veterinary Emergency Clinic (where the roses grew by the stairs), commuting weeks on/ off between Annapolis, MD and Somerville, MA. Crazy days, those.
Enjoy all the strumming and plinking and plonking!
JK
Links:
"Arms of this Town": https://www.box.com/s/c0578ee5a5b8b3a9a341
"Ashley Magee": https://www.box.com/s/76a43ef4c8360b65c0e0
