> Jeff, nice work! This is somewhat of a departure
> from your earlier albums with the addition of a horn
section.
> > J:Well it's just what comes out of me. I have no
control of that. The Horns were a blessing from an
engineer in NY. I said I would love to have horns on
"I'll See Ya" and he knew Arno Hecht from the "UPTOWN
HORNS". He said they only play on things they like- so
lucky me! Arno arranged it and when they came in and
played it I was really knocked out!! They are so great
to work with and really nice guys.
> > You also employ the use of different musicians
> throughout - care to elaborate?
> > J:Another lucky break came with Joe Craven. I was
working on some tracks at Sound Farm in vacaville, Ca
and I mentioned I needed a fiddle and mandolin on a
few songs. The engineer said Joe works sometimes in
the studio and that he lived just 5 minutes away. As
luck would have it, again, Joe was in for two days
from the road and he came in and knocked the tracks
out. Beautiful work!!! One of my favorite moments on
the CD was Bill Payne;talk about a gem. I met him and
the band (Little Feat) a few years back, opening up
for them at a show. When I asked him to play on a song
I thought it was a long shot but he said send the song
and he'll get back to me. Trying to catch him between
the Little Feat touring schedual was tough. Finally
they came through San Francisco and Bill said he could
do it at sound check. Talk about butterflies watching
Little Feat play, and then stepping on stage to try
and get a track from Bill. He played the song one time
and nailed it. When I asked what he wanted for the
track he said: "Jeff, I love the song; thanks for
waiting for me, I don't need any thing." I really was
blown away and felt extremely blessed!!
> > What's the story behind doing the U2 remake?
> > J:This one was really fun. I was in NY and I asked
my old band mates if they would come in a do a couple
of songs we used to do just to see if there was some
magic left. We knocked out 3 songs in about 2 hours,
one which was Trip Through Your Wire. I really didn't
want to do it U2 style. I wanted it to be more CSNY
with a brass section. I asked the Uptown Horns again
and Arno did his thing again. Crispin, Bob and Larry
kicked it in. My friend, Tom White, was also one of my
old band mates I had kicked out of the band years
prior and we became friends again, gradually, over
time and I really wanted him to be in the project so I
asked him to play some harp. He did the track at a
friends house and e-mailed me the track and thank God
for modern technology. The thing about that situation
was the Uptown Horns had a 2 song minimum so I said
see what you can do with "Summertime in Brooklyn " and
there ya go!!
> > > Curse & a Blessing, a beautiful song, has a John
> Prine feel to it.
> Other influences throughout the album reveal Willie
> Nelson, Bruce
> Springsteen, and John Mellencamp.
> > J:Thanks you for that compliment! Although I was
never a real Mellencamp guy. Bruce was huge, growing
up in Brooklyn. We would go to the Meadowlands and pay
the guards to get us closer to the stage. Great
shows!John Prine is a monster of words and Willie,
well, what can you say.He's in his own world by
himself.
> > You have a great ability to spotlight different
> guest instruments on each song, which wrap around
your guitars and vocals. Whether it be Arno Hecht's
sax solo, Joe Craven's fiddle, Tom White's harmonica,
> Desiree Parker's vocals, the list goes on.
> > J:I wanted everybody to be up-front. It was hard to
explain to the engineers because background vocals are
usually "background" vocals but my favorite bands were
all about harmonies. I drove engineers nuts in the
studio yelling "bring them up in the mix!" Finally, I
would just grab the fader and say: "No, here is where
I want it!" Tim Gray at Mrytle Street studios in
Eureka was the only one who got it. Arnos solo, Whew!!
Yeah man, that's the shit! hat a great thing to watch.
Joe Craven, the fiddle in "Shed that Skin" was a
mistake, kinda. I asked him to do a rythmn track and
when the solo came up he just ripped through it. I
said to the engineer I was gonna solo on that part. He
said what do you want to do now? I said absolutely
nothing! LOL
> J:The story about she's drunk is just a song I wrote
on the way to a gig .I always wanted to mix comedy
with music and thats my first attempt at it using and
old experience I had and embellishing on it.The band
never heard it before we got to the radio station and
I was hoping to catch the feeling live and
offbeat.They did'nt even know what key it was in.it
was alot of fun and the guys from the band "Old
Dog"from Hombodlt County CA made it kick.Of coarse
Steve Vandewark is histerical with his comments from
the Drums >
> Is This World your personal reflections of 9/11?
> Yes - that was a tough one. My cousins firehouse
was one of the first companys in and we lost him and a
few other friends as well. I wrote that after coming
back from a tour in Europe and it was so wierd. The
airports were deserted and everyone was looking at
everyone on the plane like "he's a terrorist" or
"she's strange looking"...just terrible. We had gone
over to France right after it and regardless what is
said about the French, we were treated so nice over
there. I sat on the song for awhile because I did'nt
want to be another one jumping on the band wagon to
benefit from it. I was finishing the last verse and my
cousins picture fell off my refrigerator floating over
to my feet. I was'nt sure if it meant he liked it or
he didn't but My cousin, Larry Veiling, was one of the
Laurie gershgorn - NY journal (Sep 11, 2008)