Notes on Down Home

This one was probably the most sheer fun of the collections I’ve recorded so far: songs I’ve loved for years, one new one (Down Home Girl) that was a blast, and a couple of new ones I wrote, with sentiments antithetical to one another. I also came to grips with the challenge of adding harmonies that were out of my own vocal range. I loved singing harmony with Kate on Dragonfly, but had pretty much foregone a second voice on Midnight Shadow and Straight Up, except for a couple of instances where I could reach those notes myself on a second track.

I had added harmonies to my live performances, using TC-Helicon’s amazing G-XT pedal, which reads your guitar chord and the note you’re singing, and adds a perfect harmony note in your own natural voice. On this CD, I tried plugging the pedal into my recording chain; I wound up with an acceptable result on one cut, but in lower-fi than I would have liked, and getting everything plugged in was a nightmare. So I went looking for a pure software solution, and found Antares’ Harmony Engine, a $50 string of code that does some remarkable things. I have Antares to thank for the ‘church choir’ on Jesus Is On The Mainline; for the other songs with harmonies, I’ll let you figure out if I’m singing with myself or the robots.

You’re Every Prayer (I’ve Ever Prayed): This one was for and about Kate from initial inspiration on. Writing a song for a committed atheist, a song that mentions “prayer” in almost every line, could be seen as dancing on the edge. Happily, the subject found the lyrics atheistically acceptable.

Barroom Girls: I’d loved this song since first listening: Gillian Welch’s lyrics and melody, the mood of the piece, and David Rawlings’ brilliant guitar. It was just a joy to learn it and set it down here.

Streets of Baltimore: A signature piece of Graham Parsons, I’d performed this for years in bluegrass settings, playing the lead in Carter family style on guitar. Had great fun here adding the mandolin part.

Jesus Is On The Mainline: a traditional gospel piece, often associated with Ry Cooder’s great version. I tried to take it back to basics (pun attempted): a single marching bass drum, and an acoustic bass playing both accompaniment and melody. And there’s also that church choir, reminding us to “tell Him what you want.”

Every Time You Leave: This one is absolutely “harmony central.” I first heard the incredible version by Emmy Lou Harris with Phil Everly; then listened to the great harmonies of the composers, Charlie and Ira Louvin. TC-Helicon helped me out on my track.

Don’t Touch Me: This is perhaps the darkest song I’ve written, aimed at those lovers of drama who break up with you, and then try to console you. I played it live recently, and an audience member came up after and asked who wrote the song. I told her I did, and she turned around and repeated that, in French, to the crowd. They broke into applause. Turns out they had been betting that it was a Leonard Cohen piece. A very nice compliment indeed.

FFV: A traditional song about a real train wreck in Virginia, performed most notably by Townes Van Zandt. FFV stands for “fast-flying vestibule.” When, someday, someone is killed by an iPhone, someone will write a maudlin song about it, continuing the musical exploration of humans’ relationship to machines.

Down Home Girl: Thanks to Old Crow Medicine Show for inspiring me to learn this one (and steal their arrangement). Jerry Leiber, who wrote it with Arty Butler, is half of the Leiber and Stoller team, who wrote all the songs you love by the Coasters.