Artists I've Performed With . . .
Russ Taff
Marshall Chapman
Amy Grant
Phil Keaggy
Kevin Welch
The Imperials
I have actually been on stage playing music with these people.
I was once on stage with Chet Atkins, well . . . sort of. He was being interviewed by Ralph Emery on "Nashville Now". I bumped into him backstage and he told me I sounded good, but I have the feeling he would've said it no matter how I sounded . . . he seemed like a nice guy.
Accomplishments . . .
One of my finest moments was when a record I made in my basement (Under Their Influence—Russ Taff) on a busted tape recorder won a Grammy. It was especially satisfying as several industry insiders, including heads of record labels, had characterized the project as, "commercial suicide". I was contacted by Michelle Shocked to produce a track for her on the CD "Sweet Relief"(a benefit for Victoria Williams) as a direct result of her hearing "Under Their Influence". The track, "Ain't No Grave", appeared on the Grammy winning soundtrack for Robert Duvall's, "The Apostle". All in all . . . not bad for "commercial suicide".
I picked up a Dove award in 1990 for co-producing Russ' CD, "The Way Home".
Another personal highlight was being one of Marshall Chapman's original Love Slaves. What began as "a month of Mondays" at "The Bluebird Cafe" in Nashville in the early '90s took on a life of it's own. Our slogan was . . . "let the bondage set you free".
Along with a steady string of live performances, including opening for Jimmy Buffett, I recorded three CDs with Marshall and the Love Slaves, my personal favorite being "It's About Time", which was recorded live at the Tennessee State Prison for Women. It was the only time I've ever experienced that genuine, spontaneous explosion of applause, just three notes into a solo on a blues number. It was the real thing . . . nothing at all like that polite smattering one gets for playing jazz.
I got an opportunity to play on an Emmylou Harris record as a direct result of my association with Marshall. She wrote the song, "Better Off Without You", and I recorded the demo for her. I played a slide solo on the demo. When Emmylou's producer Richard Bennett, heard it, he decided I was the only one who could do it. That's often how things happen.
Work as Producer . . .
I've had the opportunity to work with an eclectic blend of personalities in a production capacity.
Ironically, living in Nashville . . . the closest I've come to production work in country music was on comedian Jeff Foxworthy's "Totally Committed".
I've done a lot of work in the gospel/contemporary christian genre. One of my personal favorites was the song "The Sound of Your Voice" for Kim Boyce, on her CD "As I Am". This song is done in the classic style of "the standard", complete with strings, french horn, and woodwinds.
I've worked in the wild and wacky world of independent artists, with everybody from eleven-year-old-future pop stars to rock & roll paleontologists . . .
and I haven't even mentioned . . . the mind reader.
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