We got a lot of work done on the record in July. After the steel sessions covered in the previous post, we came back a week later to get Joe Kyle Jr.‘s upright bass onto three tracks and for me to add ukulele fills to another.
As I noted in one social media post, “Picking up the pace here a bit, we got Joe Kyle Jr. into Goody Sound Studio last week for overdubbing and had another fantastic session. This project keeps exceeding my wildest dreams on the regular.”
(As always these “Pleasant Valley Sessions” are produced by David Gans and Jeremy Goody at Goody Sound , with Goody engineering.)
Moses
The “Moses” track is starting to get a bit busy (these are rough mixes, may I remind you) and Joe’s upright bass provides a propulsive groove that pulls it all into focus (also on this track: Dan Brodnitz on piano, David on guitar, Myles Boisen on pedal steel and lap steel, and myself on vocal, with Jeremy Goody engineering and co-producing):
The Long Haired Kings
“The Long Haired Kings” has also been crying out for a “spine” to pull together the accumulating parts, and I really love how Joe Kyle Jr.’s upright bass gives it the bounce and propulsion it needs.
This one also has Javier Navarrette on percussion, Myles Boisen on pedal steel, David Gans on guitar and backing vocals and myself on ukulele and lead vocals. Produced by David, engineered and co-produced by Jeremy Goody at Goody Sound Studio:
The Ghost Door
The third tune to benefit from Joe Kyle Jr.’s upright bass at this session is “The Ghost Door,” which has myself on vocals and ukulele, David Gans and Robert Wade on acoustic guitars, and Myles Boisen on pedal steel. (Now that we have the bassline in place we can probably clean up the rhythm parts a bit more.)
Rough mix produced by David and engineer Jeremy Goody at Goody Sound Studio:
All I Know
We had a little time to spare in this session, and I had been diligently rehearsing a ukulele fill part for “All I Know,” so we managed to get that down on tape as well. On “All I Know” (also known as “Song for Finn”) my ukulele fills replace my earlier scratch track, alongside David Gans on guitars, Robert Wade on bass, Javier Navarrette on percussion, and myself on vocals (rough mix produced by David and engineer Jeremy Goody):
I think I’m starting to see the home stretch!