Musicians
- Ryan Montana - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
- Leo Dombecki - Piano, Keys
- Kevin Cooper - Bass
- Seth Blumberg - Guitar
- Bill Ray - Drums, tape dispenser
- Todd Gunnerson - Engineer
Released 2006
This album holds dear to my heart on a number of levels. For starters, the band consisted of the younger set of the Ike Turner group; The Kings of Rhythm. Also I was in the thick of my divorce and there were a ton of emotions floating around.
Every day I would go to the studio if not just for something to do. The "studio" was actually a palatial residence up in the hills of Del Mar, CA. We tracked everything live in the "Great Room" and even had one of those outdoor canopies that we draped with packing blankets and surrounded with plexiglass as a sort of makeshift iso booth (hey, it worked).
The song "Cinnamon Girl" was sort of a lesson in creativity for me; the original drum part with a funky syncopated mess that would percolate in the vein of David Garibaldi or Mike Clark. It didn't really flow as we wanted it to so every day we tracked, would make a pass at that one specifically. After about 4 days of making passes at it what you hear on the CD is the final outcome.
But the really special tune on the disc for me is "Ullswater Creek". When I would arrive usually Ryan would be out on the back stoop having a smoke and strumming out the chords to this song. There was a Koi pond and I would sort of hang out around that and watch the fish swim. There was a certain red dragonfly that would "visit" me and I built up enough trust that it would land on my finger. When we got around to finally cutting this track I had a fair amount of emotion invested in it. The guitar solo is quite possibly one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.
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