We are now well on the way to recording “Covering these Tracks| Volume II. The artists on this mini album will continue to be Towse, Harry Orme, myself and Corwin Zekley. The recording process remains the same. I choose the material and then Harry will lay down the guitar parts. I just add my own vocals in my home studio before sending them to Carl, my producer. The subsequent mix is then sent to Towse and Corwin who put down their parts. Carl and I then work on the final mixes for each track. A 3 – 4 minute track will take about 8 – 10 hours in the main studio.
Choosing the songs
Prior to this product I’ve written and recorded five albums of original music. I’d never considered recording any covers of other artist’s songs and to date had never played any covers live. This was therefore a very new iniative and to my great surprise has been really inspiring and highly educational.
You can listen to a song hundreds of times, but when you record the vocals, you step into that client’s universe and that is a totally different experience and one that is quite fascinating. In “Covering these Tracks” Volume II, I’ve selected tracks by Nick Cave, Fred Eaglesmith, Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen among others. Some of the tracks are really well known and some will be unfamiliar to most people. In some ways reworking and recording the more unfamiliar songs is the greatest joy.
When choosing songs for this project I am looking for great melodies, sharp engaging lyrics and a track that engages the listener. The first track released will be a cover of Nick Cave’s “Nobody’s Baby Now” which will be featured on the Rock and Reel CD as well as released globally as a digital download. There will also be a video for this track from Mal Williamson.
This album will be released in April 2024 with a live show where myself, Towse, Harry Orme and Corwin Zekley will all play tracks from the album. This remains a fantastic project and special thanks to all who are involved.
