Something about the songs:
Hardest Button -- This track was a fun, unexpected find. Songs call to me; I go by attraction. Jack White's each-lyric-erases-the-last-one vocal drew me in. We hadn't played anything this stripped down before. Jerry played fills so obvious that we were laughing while mixing. We compressed drums and bass together -- a dance mix trick that worked surprisingly well.
One Love -- I love what happened here: zeroing in on what Bob Marley sang, then traveling: being in the song, veering sideways, even leaving entirely. Like reading a blog but clicking on the links before finishing. This track could be one of the oddball contestants on So You Think You Can Dance, charming and bewildering...
Black Horse And The Cherry Tree -- I was listening to Scottish musicians before playing Edinburgh for the first time. I heard KT Tunstall's breakout performance on 'Later... With Jools Holland'. The song became a bit of a signature piece for us, featuring Jerry. There were nice opportunities for word-painting: stopping her own heart, what the black horse said... All the 'red notes' come from from the lyrics. I love what the band does with this. Ryan played a great solo. Jerry's playing -- well, Jerry and I have developed a language together, or perhaps two languages we both misunderstand... Remember that old-school hiphop sound, where a few of the rapper's words get shouted by the group? That's in here too...
Home -- We've played at South Beverly Grill for three years. Jana, one of the managers, asked if we'd play some Michael Bublé. 'Home' acquired a sparse, bluesy persona over time. The intro and outro are roots-y; more "down home" than "home"! They're in a remote key, but somehow that just feels expansive, like remembering the world is bigger than we think!
El Mango -- We play a few Mexican corridos. Difficult for musicians who haven't grown up playing them. Two of them made it onto the CD. This one wanted to keep erasing the key, erasing the last phrase. It also received a little of the bass-and-drums compression like 'Hardest Button'. Mostly I try to listen for what each song wants; follow a direction until it feels rich, right, finished. Pianist Tamir Hendelman suggested the big brass 'power chords' Mariachi bands play.
Nine Eleven -- Along with millions of people, I was stunned by the events of Sept. 2001. I wrote this two or three days later. I was hoping to portray the sort of beauty necessary after deep wounding, when life feels too fleeting for anything else.
According To You -- Orianthi is the Australian guitarist in the Michael Jackson film, 'This Is It'. This was her 2009 pop hit , with crunchy power chords and an in-your-face vocal. I liked the angularity of the melody. We played it a few months and it went somewhere else entirely; hard to believe that the one came from the other. Larry Steen plays some nice electric bass on this and on 'Hardest Button'.
Living For The City -- Several of the songs on the record changed pretty drastically late in the day (and I'm glad they did). We recorded a nice version with full drums, came back the next morning and went with this very different feel. It was nice getting to really know Stevie Wonder's original version -- what a great track.
Back In The USSR -- As a kid I kept moving the needle back on the LP to replay the jet landing that begins the song. This seemed like a perfect song for us, but wasn't working out. One time I went over to Jerry's to rehearse this and a couple of other 'problem children'. When I walked in he played another song, a ballad he'd written. We started experimenting with USSR but nothing was working. Frustrated, we took a walk, came back. He put the other ballad back on, then joked, "we should try it like this!" We did, and knew we had it as soon as we started playing. Later, I wanted to change the intro. Ryan nearly got me in a headlock, saying 'don't change a note!' So that's what you hear.
Un Canadien Errant -- A song from a time when people lived in a village for generations. This one is about an exiled French-Canadian, aching to return home. He tells the ocean current to remember him to his friends at home when it reaches Canadian shores. Folksingers Ian and Sylvia did this in the 60s. The version that inspired me came from "Chakazoo" on YouTube: an engineer or ranger in his 60s in a remote part of Alberta. He's sitting in a barrack or dorm, his uniform on a hook, Bailey's Irish Cream on the sink. He plays a twelve string and sings hauntingly. A different language really changes the sung line. This might have been a completely different track had I started from an English version.
In My Life -- I've enjoyed playing this for years. It came together pretty effortlessly. We recorded this playing very softly. It changed the sound of the instruments, the whole trio sound.
La Puerta Negra - The other corrido on the album. From the Los Tigres Del Norte version. I can imagine scenes in a film when I hear it. It seemed a perfect ending for the CD. ~Cdbaby

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