The stories behind the songs ......
COUNTRY TALES AND HOBO TRAILS
Vocals
Dobro
Guitars
Piano
Bass
Drums
Accordion
Percussion
I had the title for sometime and
then one night sitting outside our home in Tennessee, which we love to do,
drinking wine, watching lightning bugs/fireflies, the lyrics just came, the
chorus first. I’d been playing around
with tuning on the guitar, tuned down the top string, and the ‘riff’ played
itself! Having been fascinated with the
lifestyle of a hobo for years, this was the hobo’s song. The theme of trails runs through the album.
TELEGRAPH ROAD
Vocals
Guitars
Piano
Organ
Dobro
Violin
Bass
Drums
Percussion
I had a dream, famous words, not
mine of course, but I actually did, and I remember it vividly, (it certainly
though wasn’t as world changing as Dr. King’s dream!). I was deeply influenced by Rod McKuen as a
teenager, his poetry, and in his books would be little illustrations, roads
with telegraph poles. Also, one of my favourite
songs, as it is with many people, is Jimmy Webb’s classic Wichita Lineman, and
all the pieces just seem to fall into place.
The first line “There’s a road on the outskirts of my mind” set the tone
of the song really. That image also
inspired the drama series we’ve created, based on the song really in some
ways. The song is more about life, and
where we are in our own life, whereas the series is about a small town called
Waterville and a prodigal son.
HEART OF THE SOUTH
Vocals
Guitars
Piano
Organ
Bass
Drum
programming
Percussion
Tim –
electric solo fade
Having crossed the might Mississippi
many times I couldn’t fail but to be in awe of the great river and it seemed to
me to be a symbol of the heart of the southern states. I remember driving out of New Orleans some
years ago, parallel to the river and seeing just how important it is to the
South. I have also been to the all the states
I mention in the song and find the people so, so friendly. I started writing this one day in the theatre
I used to have. I wasn’t sure of it but
played part of it that night on the piano to Julianne Regan from All About Eve,
she sharing the piano stool with me, and she loved it, so I worked on it some
more the next day and finished it. The
only line I changed for recording was “I bought a farm in Tennessee”.
BLUE MOON OVER NASHVILLE
Vocals
Guitars
Piano
Bass
Drums
Keyboards
Percussion
Last year there was indeed a blue
moon over Nashville, (there’s a picture of it I took I think in the Country
Tales lyrics and pictures book). I wrote
the song that night. When we came to
record it Tim and I tried to recapture the Sun recordings feel, this time
though with the Jondonaires on backing vocals!
The effect on the voice is replicating the old microphone used.
HARTSVILLE
Vocals
Guitars
Piano
Bass
Drums
Keyboards
Percussion
I’ve told this story on numerous
occasions, but it never fails to surprise people, so here it goes once
more. I wrote the song some years
ago. I saw in my mind a small town, the
stores, people, Main Street, even down to the sign welcoming you to
Hartsville. Two years later through eBay
I bought our land and when we went to visit it a few months later I was amazed
to see that the nearest town was called Hartsville. The town sign is almost exactly the same as I
imagined it. Spooky eh?
MIDNIGHT IN MEMPHIS
Vocals
Guitars
Piano
Bass
Drums
Keyboards
Percussion
Think of Memphis you think of Elvis,
quite rightly, but there is so much more to the city. The mighty river, separating it from
Arkansas, with the barges travelling north or south. Also of course Beale Street and the
blues! I’ve been to Beale Street when it
was packed, and also when Tim and I were the only ones walking down the
street. In this song though you could be
in any motel room in any city, it just happened to be Memphis and so of course
the spirit of Elvis has to make an appearance, riding shotgun in my car!
GOOD TIME ANNIE
Vocals
Guitars
Piano
Bass
Drums
Keyboards
Percussion
I’ve known a few Annie’s in my life
but this was inspired by a singer who felt it necessary, one morning, to call
me to tell me that she had been up all night, doing line after line. She was still buzzing at nine in the
morning! Her story though is quite sad
in that she so much wanted to be a singer, and was good, but her demons and her
desire, or need, to party, and to be loved, simply controlled her and she blew
it. She was also on the verge of losing
her ‘day job’, due to her coming in late and general appearance and lost her
chance to sing. Every bar in every
country nearly has an Annie.
THE GHOSTS OF TENNESSEE
Vocals
Guitars
Piano
Bass
Drums
Keyboards
Percussion
One afternoon a couple of years ago
we went for a walk along a trail called Holston Trail, between Hartsville and
Gallatin in mid-Tennessee. There’s an
old house there, a coach stop I think, and also a small cemetery from the
frontier days I guess. It was all quite
moving really. Walking down the
tree-covered trail, I just imagined the ghosts of those travellers from a
century or more ago still there in those trees along the trail. The area of course is also known for many
battles of the Civil War and the deaths of many young men. I wrote this in one night, and it was more a
question of editing the lyrics as the visions were blinding me almost, if that
makes sense, making my head spin, they were so vivid.
JAILHOUSE JESUS AND THE PREACHER
Vocals
Guitars
Piano
Bass
Drums
Keyboards
Percussion
I have to admit that when writing
these notes I skipped this track, as I’m not too sure how much to say. It was inspired by a certain preacher and his
life, and also Nashville’s weekly newspaper.
His story intrigued the hell out of me; can someone really change that
much? I’m not so sure, neither is the
paper. I’ve just deleted a sentence
about two of my family meeting him and their personal impression of him, and
his church. Not good. People do ‘find’ Jesus in jail, in
prison. Being skeptical, it helps with
their parole appeal. Some are sincere,
they do repent, they show remorse, (to the best of my knowledge he never has
for the murder of a totally innocent woman, for which he was tried and
convicted); some though will say whatever they need to. I found the recording of the preacher I use
on the track, not the one in question here I hasten to add, and the cell door
Tim found for me – it sets the mood I hope.
With the arrangement I wanted to show the contrast, the starkness of a
cell, the freedom of true faith. Many
people need to believe, believe in something or someone, and many people take
advantage of that.
COUNTING MISSISSIPPI BLUES
Vocals
Dobro
Cigar Box
Guitar
Harmonica
Cajon
Stomp box
The Delta Blues. The blues are of course as American as apple
pie. There was a wonderful programme on
television recently with the cook Rick Stein where he visited the home town of
BB King and also looked in to the history of the blues. He told me he loves the blues, and so do
I. I bought a dobro last year (still
trying to learn to play it properly) and a cigar box guitar, that was made
especially for me. I’m still trying to
really play them. Put them together though
with a cajon, a stomp box and a harmonica and you’ve got Wolfman Jay and the Smokin’
Catfish Blues Band! We put on another
effect on the voice and also Tim found the scratch effect. Do not adjust your set!
GHOST DANCE
Vocals
Piano
Keyboard
Percussion
I originally wrote this as an up-tempo
song, on guitar. I’m a huge fan of
Robbie Robertson, and I’m also fascinated by the Native American culture,
having had someone called Pretend Eagle III work for me in California, his grandfather
had been a Sioux chief. I worked on the
song though, changed the tempo to mid-tempo and then changed it yet again,
slower, when I was working with the female singer Olivia Sparnenn, (now the
vocalist with Mostly Autumn, and who has easily one of the best voices in the
business). I had also changed it to
piano, made it more haunting. I don’t
class myself really as a singer, Olivia’s version is wonderful, but hopefully
the feeling still gets through.
DIARY OF A SMALL TOWN
Vocal
Guitars
Piano
Bass
Drums
Keyboards
Percussion
It
will not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me but I love America and
especially small town America. That’s
it. As I kid I used to dream that my bed
could fly, just like in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and I would inevitably end up
in America in my dreams, in LA usually, with a basketball hoop over a garage! When I first went when I was seventeen or so I
thought it could never live up to my expectations, but it did, and more
so. My father had instilled pictures in
me, he had been in the U.S.A.F. based in San Antonio and had spent quite some
time in New York. I am sure I will end
my time on earth living in a small town in Tennessee. I love the drama of Friday Night Lights or To
Kill a Mockingbird, or the community feel, Sweet Home Alabama (I know, a guilty
pleasure!). Keller’s Bar exists, on the
town limits of Hartsville. My favourite
town though is Watertown, about twenty minutes east of Nashville on the i-40,
although I may change that soon to Lafayette, which is just north of
Hartsville. Hartsville and Watertown
make up the fictitious town Waterville, used in my drama series, Telegraph
Road. All three, Hartsville, Watertown
and Lafayette, are complete with town squares, grocery stores, a grill/bar,
small town high school and again that community spirit. I also used Michael J. Fox’s movie Doc
Hollywood, and imagined him forth years later, still living in that small town
his car breaks down in. “Where all the
days can seem the same ……..”.
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