I'm thrilled to report that a record I got to work on this spring is out and getting some attention! Joey Kneiser and I were called in to do basic tracking and some overdubs for the new Wooden Wand record, Death Seat. James Toth, the singer/songwriter behind Wooden Wand, was until recently a Murfreesboro resident, and he campaigned convincingly to let local players tackle the basics on the project. After overdubbing more parts and mixing, producer Michael Gira (of Swans fame) released it on his Young God imprint at the end of October. It got a favorable review in The New York Times, and the song "Sleepwalking After Midnight" was chosen by NPR's All Songs Considered as Song of the Day!

Local group Glossary (whose leader Joey Kneiser I helped on the Wooden Wand sessions) has also been busy this summer, and I'm excited to get to work with them. They wanted to make an EP to highlight their lady singer, Kelly, who is a great performer, but not a songwriter. Joey worked with several local songwriters to collect new material, and he and the band rearranged the songs in some very cool ways that really spotlight Kelly's voice. I ran the tracking session, and helped Joey on many of the overdubs, which he mostly performed himself, with some great guest appearances by some of the writers. The group has released the project as a free download, and we made a video for yuks a couple of weeks ago, featuring one of my favorite songs, "Happiness Looks Good on You" (my tophat and I got a cameo, too).

These are some clever folks: in addition to selling their records and t-shirts on their recent tour, they also brewed and bottled their own very tasty hot sauce, appropriately called Saussary (currently sold out; a new batch should be ready before the holidays).

I also got to track demos for Those Darlins this summer, which was a blast. Despite incorporating a lot more '60s rock influences than old time music, they're retaining their focus on harmonies. They were able to spend a lot of time working them out on my mobile rig, so that they hit the ground running when they went to a commercial facility to track. Their sophomore release should be out in time for next year's South by Southwest!