One of three 3-artist singles vying for release this summer, Volume 20 gathers together some of my oldest musical friends in one place!
[ click the pic to be transported directly there ]
Sam Corbin, whose song "Election Day" exhorts us to civic duty even while it underscores the corruptions and negligence that can frustrate us into complacency, also had the closing track on It Takes A Village's first-ever release, the 20-song CD-only compilation "First Hand Accounts, Theories, And Their Repercussions," which was released in 2006 (ltd. ed. of 1,000, sold out, sorry!). Since then he's gigged and played consistently, dived deeper into Americana with his fantastic "Michigan Waltz" album, and gotten married. I met Sam through my friend Daryl Dizon, who brought him by so I could do a little layout help on his first album and we've worked together periodically ever since. Once again, he provides the musical punctuation mark with some elegant fingerpicking and a message that stays true.
By the way, TODAY August 6 IS AN ELECTION DAY, local stuff (the important stuff!) -- go vote!
Joshua Davis, whose solo career has blossomed alongside a longstanding engagement as the guitarist/singer of Lansing-based Steppin' In It, has released three albums worth of original material, including his latest "A Miracle Of Birds," which was written in Palestine during a long visit while he immersed himself in music and the challenges of helping forge peace in the region. I have many memories with Josh, but here are a two of them: 1) The night of my graduation from college, I threw a party at my house and invited Steppin' In It to come play. They had a paying gig somewhere, so they let me know it was an outside chance. The party wound down as it got dark outside and I assumed that their gig had run late or they were too tired to come... but I was wrong! About midnight the band set up in my side yard, with founding fiddle player Jonathan Price still along with them. Bassist Dominic John (currently in Jack White's band) steadied his upright on a tree-ringed slice of wood. Due to the late hour and the mixed nature of my neighborhood, they played the quietest set I've ever seen them play, mellow and magic. 2) It came time for my wife and I to move, somewhat suddenly and unexpectedly, from our apartment. We were not really financially prepared for it, and had lots of artwork and other stuff to deal with, so the Toyota we shared was not going to be adequate for all that we had to move. I called some friends, but with fuel prices rising and rising, it seemed no one owned trucks anymore! So I put out a general call for help, and Josh responded right away -- yes, we could borrow Steppin' In It's tour van, a big Econoline. So we carefully moved all our stuff with the van AND with Josh's vintage left-handed guitars in hardshell cases still inside it, all for the price of a tank of gas. Now Steppin' In It harmonica player/multi-instrumentalist Andy Wilson lives directly across the street from me, and I get to see that van pretty often. Always makes me smile.
Generosity, friendship, and trust characterizes everyone represented on this Volume of the series. I first met Carmen Paradise of The Marvins through some mutual friends, and later frequented her hair salon on Michigan Avenue. It was great to see her and Peter Marvin (from a band called With Special Guest that practiced next to my friend Tom's house) fall in love and get married, become instructors at The School Of Rock in Detroit, and begin making music together as The Marvins. Just this past month they pulled up their roots in Michigan and moved to Oregon, selling their house here and closing on a new one there the same day. I wish them tons of luck and happiness in their new home; but boy are we going to miss them back here.
I hope you enjoy the sounds of old friends making finely-crafted acoustic music as much as I do. Please feel free to share these songs on your blog or social network, I think they make the ideal companions on soft summer nights!
