I wanted to make another record. I say “another” as I have contributed to several in the past 10 years. First with some of my most favorite people in the world in a band called Great Lakes. Members included Ben Crum (who, along with wordsmith Dan Donahue, still performs under the same moniker to this day, releasing beautiful records), Jamey Huggins (who is now a super star with fellow Athens, GA-tail-end-Elephant Six circa 1998 band Of Montreal), sometimes on again off again members of Azure Ray and Elf Power – what can I say, it was a good year to be in that sweaty attic in Athens. This was the secondary school of music for us. The “Hamburg Years”, if you will allow me to inflate the importance. In reality it was just the opportunity taken to be poor and make music in that pre-adult, post-teen time of our early twenties. I wouldn’t trade it for gold.
In 1999, while living in Los Angeles, I got a phone call from a hometown friend Katharine McElroy of Birmingham, Alabama’s Three Finger Cowboy. Katharine’s brand of guitar pop was like drinking a coke during a hot, Alabama Summer – it’s sweet and burns simultaneously, but exactly what you need. They were gearing up the make record number 2 for Amy Ray’s (Indigo Girls) label, Daemon Records. They lost their bass player and needed a replacement. I missed the south and wanted to play those songs. That call was in April. I was home by June. We cranked out “Hooray for Love” over the summer and were out promoting by fall. We were lucky to get an opening slot on the Indigo Girls “Come on Social” tour. We did a cover of “Don’t Fear the Reaper” with Amy, Emily and the rest of the band. I will milk that story until I am dead.
As bands often do, Three Finger Cowboy dissolved away - amicably. I moved back to LA with my new wife. I bought some recording gear and decided to write a few more songs in addition to the few here and there that I collected along the way, but were never fully realized. Around this time, one of my closest friends from college, Lester Nuby III was spending an awful lot of time in Los Angeles recording, playing and being a bona fide rock star with his band Verbena. They were a lean three-piece combo that made you believe personal demons can only be banished by force – in this instance the force of one guitar, one bass and a thunderclap of drums. I also learned how to roll dice for money in the studio while they recorded. I left with less money than when I arrived. I still believe it was a bargain. I would play Lester the song fragments I was working on – he was encouraging and showed me the magic of a good bridge section of a song. Lester has forgotten more songs than I have written. He is a walking box-set of unreleased material. He is a Dr. Jekyll of psychotic rhythm while a Mr. Hyde of the most heartfelt pop and balladry that Matthew Sweet wished he could have retained. I knew whatever Lester touched was musical gold. This was fully realized while we helped our friend Katharine (yes, that Katharine) record her first solo record called Snow Machine. Lester and I contributed many bass and guitar parts to Katharine’s amazing record. I am proud of that one, too.
Finally, I was ready to let these songs of mine go. I wanted them to be recorded for my own edification; I wanted to make room in my head for new songs. I went back to Birmingham for a cold, January recording session where Lester was waiting for me. We split our time tracking in a friend’s studio (converted from a machine shop) to Lester’s downtown loft. My dear friend Orenda Fink (of Azure Ray and now the beautiful Art in Manila) agreed to contribute trumpet on “First Ocean” and vocals on “Keep the River on My Right Side” via mailed CDs. She was in Omaha, freezing, no doubt. Later I enlisted our friend Brian Willey (of Tiny Park and the black drumset) to give me some assistance in the pedal steel and guitar department. What he gave me was nothing short of amazing. Lester, Orenda and Brian elevated these songs to a place where I can enjoy listening to this record based on their additions alone. I don’t think I will ever be able to tell them how grateful I am. Lester’s drums gave the songs the drive they needed and his & Brian’s guitar work added layers that would have been impossible without him.