RMMGA 1999 CD
INFORMATION
DISCOGRAPHY
LINER NOTES CREDITS
REVIEWS
Page Last Updated 03/26/01 23:14:24
LINER NOTES:
pdf liner
notes (must have Adobe Acrobat Reader) 
D1T1
Straight and Narrow
Alan Horvath
Reason for choosing the song: I like the guitar
work on it ...thought it appropriate.
Genesis of the song: This song talks about life ... religion..
money ... popularity ... all of the illusions that the world presents
as “reality.” There
is nothing “religious” about me ... but everything “spiritual.”
I see us living in two worlds ... one we can only see with our
physical eyes, and one we can only see with our “spiritual” eyes.
The latter seems like the illusion, but isn’t. “Straight &
Narrow” is like a flag along the roadway ... that says, “Yo. This
game we call Life can be lethal. You are paying attention, right?”
http://alanhorvath.com
D1T2
Benediction Al
Evans
This is the first new song I wrote after a
fifteen-year layoff from playing music. It’s dedicated to everyone
who’s working too hard, helping evolve a better human civilization
on this planet. Guitar:
Gevers SJ, Standard tuning, Recorded and mixed in my living room.
D1T3
Underdog Steven
Dillon
Reason for choosing this cut?: It’s an original
tune, universally neutral in tone and dynamics.
Genesis of the original tune: I was feeling more worn down by
life’s daily pressures and challenges than usual.
The song emerged out of the feeling of not being able to catch
a break. Hometown:
Yorktown, Virginia; Born & raised in Grant, Michigan
more notes
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D1T4
Autumn Wind Randal
Smith
Guitar: Minstrel by Godin (makers of Seagull
and other fine guitars. This one, unfortunately, wasn’t one of them.
For more info, please see my website.) Tuning: CGDGAD.
Recorded in Nashville in 1996, at the home studio of a friend
of the engineer, whose name I don’t recall.
The inspiration for this song came from a column in Acoustic
Guitar by El McMeen about alternate tunings. I had already been
fooling around with DADGAD, so I retuned to CGDGAD and this is the
first thing that came out.
D1T5
Fritz The Cat Greg
Neaga
Fritz may appear friendly at first glance, but
he climbs the curtains, peels off the wallpaper, claws up my
furniture, and bites my friends.
In 1996-99, when I lived in New York’s Hudson Valley, this
whacko tiger moved in without asking my permission.
Now I’m stuck with him. My revenge was getting him fixed and
eventually abduct him back to my home country Germany.
So don’t you dare claw up my furniture.
So much about Fritz. If you’re interested to get to know me
and hear more of my music, visit my web site at http://www.neatone.com.
D1T6
Nothing Lost John
Williams
Larrivee C-19 with one AKG C411 through a Joe
Meek VC3. I just sat down
and felt like playing the blues.
D1T7
Always On My Mind Charles
Park
© Thompson, Christopher, James/Screen Gems-EMA/Budde
Songs (BMI)
I chose always on my mind because it was the
first song I sang at the first East Coast RMMGA gathering’s open mic.
D1T8
Clear Mountain Aire Tim
Wampler
One of my favorites. I like strange
tunings/capo arrangements and this one sure fits the bill. DADGBD
tuning (note this is a correction to the original liner notes on the
CD, my fault folks!) with capo on 3-4-5-6 strings at 5th
fret. Song Genesis: This
song started with lyrics and the first part was just the intro to the
song then when playing with another “song to be” I found that they
worked together quite nicely and since I hate to sing I put them
together, added a little more and created the instrumental. Thanks to
my wife and children, without them there would be no music.
D1T9
I’m So Glad
Mort (Mike Salmon)
© Nehemiah “Skip” James/Wynwood Music
(BMI) By Nehemiah James. You
could put my address down as: Birmingham - United Kingdom.
D1T10
A Cowboy’s Life Bob
Clayton
I decided that, as a songwriter, I should write
a song for my western-song trio, Sidekicks, to perform.
Bob Clayton, Lead Vocal & Martin D-28; capoed two, drop-D
tuning, D formation (Key of E) Pete Kraemer, Harmony Vocal &
Gibson J-200; capoed four, C formation George Stephens, Harmony Vocal
& 12-string guitar, tuned 3 frets low, G formation.
That covers the basics.
D1T11 Blowing
In The Wind Donna/Charles
© Bob Dylan/Witmark M. &Sons/Warner
Chappel Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
The duet with Donna Madden was the most fun. We
had not sung together so we tried a few songs and finally opted for
“Blowin’ in the Wind”, quite simple. A little practicing and
then we recorded and took the first take figuring we got lucky and
should quit while we were ahead. One of my daughters heard it and it
made her cry with pride so I figured that was enough for me. It just
doesn’t get any better than that.
D1T12
Time Will End
El McMeen
© Jeremiah McClane/Used with permission.
This is my guitar arrangement of an accordion
tune by Jeremiah McLane, called “Time Will End”. It is copyright
1994, Floating Bridge Music, and two different (both great!) versions
can be found on Jeremiah’s solo album, entitled “Smile When You’re
Ready”. My recording
was made into a Sony Walkman, and EQ’d by Tim Wampler! Information about my albums, books and videos may be found at
my website, http://www.elmcmeen.com
D1T13
Dixie Blues Neal
McDuffie
Location: Yanceyville NC . Instruments: Martin
D-1, Hohner Blues Harp. Recorded
on my PC. I came up with
the tune after listening to the Bellamy Bros. “You Ain't Just
Whistling Dixie”. No fancy guitar work. At the time of the recording
I had been playing for 1year and 1 month.
D1T14
Wasatch Mikey Fred
This song was written while away from my family
on a business trip in Utah. I
had just purchased this guitar in Salt Lake and was sitting alone in
my hotel room looking at the Wasatch mountains out of my window when
this song just flowed out from the guitar. It kind of reminds me of
driving up and thru the mountains and the rag piece at the end of the
song is driving down the winding roads much faster than I should be
driving! Guitar: Taylor
514C.
http://www.concentric.net/~mikekeo/
D1T15
Blackberry Blossom Jeff
Sherman
I’m not really a bluegrass player but I
played this song a few times doing some side work and found that I
liked it. Tacoma JK50CE4 (Jumbo) Shure SM57, Tascam 464 Portastudio.
D1T16
George Brabazon #2
Art Edelstein
Turlough Carolan/Public Domain; Arrangement ©
Edelstein 1999
By Turlough Carolan 167-1738 Instruments: Taylor GAMC guitar 1995, Joe Foley Bouzouki
1993, Gibson A3 mandolin
circa 1920. Recorded and
mixed on a Roland VS880 Digital recorder. Mastered on a 166mhz PC with
96 megs ram using Sound Forge 4.0 software.
This is a cut from my soon to be released CD, “The Water is
Wide” which will be available this fall.
D1T17
Baroque Robin
Thomas
Hometown:
Fairfield, Ohio, Guitar used:
Taylor, 814ce - Played with a capo on the fourth fret.
This is the only song that came out in one complete package the
first time I played it although it’s been tweaked since then.
D1T18
Renaissance Man Ed
Edelenbos
The words of a 20 year old, the music of a 30
year old, and the execution of a 40 year old.
(A lot of people would like to watch the execution part
(grin.)) The lyrics are
my somewhat idealistic vision of myself, how I thought I fit in the
world, and views on death and the afterlife in my late teens.
I still believe most of it.
The music was an attempt to make it a pop tune.
The execution was how I play now.
Just belt it out and hope for the best.
D1T19
My Funny Valentine
Dick Schneiders
© Hart and Rodgers/Chappell & Co.;
Williamson Music (ASCAP)
Representative of the style of music that my
wife, Twila, and I do in our gigs.
We both love the jazz and blues standards from the 1920’s,
‘30’s, ‘40’s and ‘50’s.
The guitar I used is a very unusual flattop made by a luthier
named Keith Kersenbrock who lives in a small town 30 miles from us.
He has made only 6 of these guitars to date, and mine is one of
2 that has a myrtlewood body. This
very guitar was pictured in an article on guitars of the future in
Acoustic Guitar in the fall of 1998.
D1T20 Dust
Mop Howard Emerson
I wrote this around 1973 in the “Sunset
Marquis” hotel in LA while touring with Eric Andersen. It’s in the
key of E, open D tuning, capo 2nd fret.
It’s played on a ‘27 Gibson TG L-5. Built originally as a
tenor guitar (hence the ‘TG’ L-5), it was converted (amen) to a
six string around 1933 at the factory. Mother Maybelle Carter had it
right!
D1T21
Stairwell Suite David
Lamkins
Stairwell Suite is an original improvisation,
recorded in one take. The
title recalls stairway jam sessions in my college dorm, many years
ago. I played a Tacoma DR8CE4 and recorded directly from the
transducer output (I didn’t own a microphone at the time).
My acoustic guitar amplifier added a tiny bit of stereo chorus
and reverb. The master
recording is on a minidisc, which was later transferred (via analog
connections) to a CD.
D2T1
A Winter’s Night
Dan’l Nestlerode
It was November, I was pining for snow and
wintry conditions. But I
didn’t want my wife to feel like I wanted to leave her, so I just
put her in the song as the resident of the cabin. Daniel
Nestlerode: guitar & vocal, Ron
Atcheson: mixdown engineer & lead guitar, Jan Friedman: production
engineer. Technical info: This was recorded at Jan Friedman’s house
with the help Jan and Ron Atcheson.
The set up was direct to digital via a MIDI hookup to Jan’s
“Franken-Mac”. Recorded live in one take with a Shure SM-58 vocal mic and a
Shure SM-57 instrument mic. Guitars: I played a 1990 Alvarez-Yairi
DY-80 “Canyon Creek” 12-string, Ron played a 1940s Martin D-18.
more
notes Acrobat
pdf
D2T2
A Summer Night Steven McCluskey
This is a work in progress.
Performed on a Martin D-16. Open D tuning. Recorded on
equipment salvaged from a dumpster.
D2T3
The Paths of Swannanoa Larry
Pattis
This sweet little tune was written while at the
Swannanoa Gathering (a series of summertime folk arts workshops) about
a year ago. My hope is
that it evokes an image of the South, the rolling pathways of Warren
Wilson College nestled in the Smokey Mountains.
Recorded direct to DAT in my home studio on a terrific Jeff
Traugott guitar with Elixir strings.
http://www.liberalpalette.com/artists.html
D2T4
Renegade
Bill Chandler
©
Warren Zevon/Zevon Music/Warner Tamerlane (BMI) By Warren Zevon.
Guitar Used:
1985 Guild D-16M with John Pearse Medium Phosphor Bronze
Strings, Shubb Capo at V on one track.
Recorded on 4-track Yamaha MT44X Cassette, using Dolby “B”,
with Shure SM57 microphone, and a couple of cold beers.
D2T5
Night Games Tom
Maynard
About a year ago I attended the Summer Acoustic
Music Week (SAMW) hosted by WUMB in Boston. While there I took a
songwriting workshop with Linda Waterfall. Linda’s style of writing
was very inspiring to me: very chordal, with gorgeous harmonic
content. This tune is for Linda... Guitar: Thompson T1, Tuning: Drop-D
(DAdgbe), Recorded at The Backroom, Wrentham, MA, Engineered by Mike
Danielson
D2T6
Springtime in Paris, Texas Harold Hedberg
Guitar (000-28) recorded with Shure SM81, vocal
with AT4050 direct to DAT. I
chose this tune because of my originals it is the one that I find
musically interesting and because Paris, Texas is under represented in
the genre of love songs—a sad commentary on contemporary American
music.
D2T7
Come Again
Jan Freidman
....I’m sorry Jan, I didn’t have these on
file, even after the fact.
more
notes
D2T8
Dreams of Eden Stan
Milam
Song Choice:
Although I have a good singing voice I chose this piece because
it is the only instrumental piece I have ever written. Also, I believe the piece conveys a message without a word
ever spoken or sung. Dedication:
To nine year old Jessica Lauren Smith who was tragically killed in an
auto accident while vacationing with her parents in Colorado on
21-Jul-1999. She was a
delightful child, and I had the privilege of calling her my friend.
D2T9
Spindrift
Chuck Boyer
© Al Petteway/Used with permission.
(DADGAD - capo V)
Al Petteway’s “Celtic-inspired” compositions inspire me,
and this particular one more than most. It incorporates “tricks” I
wanted to learn on returning to the guitar after years away from it.
Thanks, Al & Amy! ( http://www.fairewood.com)
Guitar: Tacoma C1C Chief (cedar top / mahogany B & S) using D’Addario
Lights (nearly dead, by the time I got ‘good’ takes!) Recorded
with a pair of Sennheiser E-835 mikes, through a Tascam 424 4-track’s
preamp / mixer section onto a Sony MZR-30 mini-disc.
Digitized via Turtle Beach Montego / PCI sound card.
D2T10
The Chosen Male Bob
Dorgan
The inspiration for my submission came from my
back yard. Fireflies! I read an article about fireflies that stated
there were two breeds of the insect with one big difference between
the two. One breed has a
natural toxin in their blood to ward off predators. The other breed
does not have any defense mechanism, but the female of the weaker
species has learned over the years to emulate the blinking pattern of
the stronger species thereby attracting the protected males. When she
attracts “The Chosen Male”, she attacks, kills, and eats him,
ingesting the toxin, and becoming protected from predators herself.
Pretty close to human behaviour in a lot of ways!
Equipment: Tascam 424 (single track, single microphone).
Goodall GC.
D2T11
Fair Oaks
Joel Wummer
After the first guitar introduces the piece,
the second guitar accompanies with layered harmony and melody. Fair Oaks is the name of a nice little street in San
Francisco between Noe Valley and the Mission.
I met my wife Caprice while living there.
Recorded my HD-28 with an SM57, a Radio Shack condenser mic,
and a B-band, using Mackie 1202 pres into a layla pc soundcard system
using cakewalk. Blended on playback and piped through a Lexicon MPX-1
effects, Alesis meq230 eq., and RNC compressor.
D2T12
Only One Shirley
Worrall
This is the first tune I’ve written - it came
to me last week as I was sitting around with my guitar and feeling a
little melancholy. I thought I’d play it for the CD since I like it,
it doesn’t involve singing and I couldn’t decide what else to do!
And it’s short :) Equipment: Northworthy Tasmanian Blackwood guitar, AKG C 1000
S mic, Tascam 414, Gore Elixir Custom Lights, Shubb Capo, bare
fingers.
D2T13
Conscience of the King
Jas O’Growney
I play acoustic~Progressive guitar and vocals,
both original and cover songs, that run the gamut from Rock & Roll
to Latin Jazz to West African High Life to Celtic music. I can be
found playing in and around my hometown of Chico, CA.
http://www.shocking.com/~jas.
Equipment: Shure PE588, Peavy xr-600 mixer/amp, Fostex x-15,
Baby Taylor with Elixir lights. Drop-D
tuning on September 4, 1999 at 1 am.
D2T14 Oh,
To Be Back With You Donna Madden
© Steve Forbert/Universal MCA Publishing
(ASCAP)
I was recording my Olson SJ on an ancient
Clarion 4-track and was not able to pick up the subtleties and nuances
to do my project justice. Past
the deadline! I heard
this Steve Forbert tune, loved it, learned it, recorded it and
submitted it in a matter of days.
ee-YIKES!
D2T15
Philia Tom
Loredo
This tune is meant as a tribute to Phil Keaggy,
whose composing and playing has been a source of great joy and
inspiration for me. Much
of it is bits and pieces of some of my favorite Keaggy compositions.
The title is meant to be a pun; first, it’s meant to suggest a “plurality
of Phil” reflecting the origins of the tune.
Also, “philia” is the Greek word for the love between
friends, which is something evident in Phil’s life and work, and
something I feel for him personally, even though we’ve hardly met. I
recorded “Philia” with my cedar-topped Olson SJ cutaway (with
month-old Elixir strings that had been through several gigs
already---I was in a rush!).
D2T16
Anywhere Charles
Park
My instrumental “Anywhere”, if it gets on
the CD, was written in bits and pieces and finally put together. When
I play it I feel as if I can close my eyes and go anywhere, hence the
title.
D2T17 Maybelle
Mort (Mike Salmon)
©
Chet Atkins/Athens Music (BMI) By Chester Atkins.
You could put my address down as: Birmingham -
United Kingdom.
D2T18
Selector Ed
Edelenbos
A short thing I came up with for testing
guitars. I know how I
want it to sound. If I
can get it to sound “right” on a guitar, then the guitar is right
for me. It has lots of
open strings, and lots of stuff way up the fingerboard so I can get a
sense of the balance and clarity of the guitar.
Oh, I like the sound of it.
Equipment: Taylor 422 small body maple with spruce top.
Has Fishman undersaddle pickup.
Fostex 260 multi-tracker, various mics.
For these tunes, I basically set up a vocal mic, a guitar mic
on the sound hole, and ran the pickup on another track.
I mixed down through a Midiman Dman board to hard disc with
CoolEdit. I tweaked it a
bit with CoolEdit, and then burned it to a cd with a Mitsumi
CD-burner.
D2T19
Kinvarra’s Child
Dick Schneiders
© Adrian Legg/Used with permission.
Kinvarra’s Child written by Adrian Legg is a
beautiful song that always seems to make me happy when I play it.
I used the same guitar (see My Funny Valentine) and it is in
standard tuning, capoed at the 4th fret.
D2T20
Crossing Crystal Lake Howard
Emerson
Dedicated to Andy, Celia & Naomi Rose. It’s
an actual place in upstate NY and Andy has us up every summer. The
song is in the key of B, open D tuning, capo 2nd fret,
cross-tuned off the V chord of the open key. It’s played on a ‘54
Martin 00-18 with 3 week old strings.
D2T21
Stop Breaking Down
Steve McCluskey
©
Robert Leroy Johnson/King of Spades Music (BMI)
Robert Johnson...This is one of my favorite
songs to play. Performed
on a Martin D-16. Open D tuning.
Recorded on equipment salvaged from a dumpster.
D2T22
North Country Moor
Chuck Boyer
©
Al Petteway/Used with permission.
(EADGBE-capo II) This was the first new tune I
learned upon returning to the guitar after some years’ hiatus.
Travis picking in first position, using basic chord forms. Thanks, Al
& Amy! ( http://www.fairewood.com
) Guitar: Tacoma C1C Chief (cedar top / mahogany B & S) using D’Addario
Lights (nearly dead, by the time I got ‘good’ takes!) Recorded
with a pair of Sennheiser E-835 mikes, through a Tascam 424 4-track’s
preamp /mixer section onto a Sony MZR-30 mini-disc.
D2T23
Grow Old With Me
Joel Wummer
©
John Lennon/Ono Music (BMI)
I played this at my brother Karl’s
wedding in May 1999. HD-28
recorded in the same manner as on “Fair Oaks”, though the mic
placement and gains were adjusted to suit my fingerstyle arrangement
for this. Vocal was done with the SM57 mic.
All credits for copy write and/or ownership as
listed. Please assume
materials not listed as “copywrited” are original songs and not to
be messed with...unless you contact the “owner” directly and GET
permission. Duplication
without permission, however, is encouraged, since WE aren’t going to
make any more of these puppies.....
<<<NOTES
FROM BOB ALMAN>>>
Bob Alman, project boss and responsible
for everything to do with this whole shebang...
I want to extend a special thank you to all of
the people who really helped make this a successful project. Without teamwork, it would have been impossible to have
pulled this project off.
First I would just like to thank all of the
contributors for giving a bit of themselves to share with you. I especially want to thank those who recorded music for the
first time, and those who have only played a short while and still had
the courage to face the “red light”.
I want to thank Chifuru “Chief” Noda for
providing me guidelines, advice, and knowledge from his experience in
similar projects that RMMGA guitarists produced on cassette tapes in
the past.
John Williams and Mort (Mike Salmon) were
extremely helpful in the early stages when I hadn’t a clue what I
was doing. They provided
guidance and offered to help me master the work, and recommended
programs and techniques to adjust the volumes, reduce noise, etc.
Dan’l Nestlerode collected the notes from the
various submitters to put in the CD booklet.
Detailed notes are available on a website as well.
Greg Neaga, Tom Maynard, Jan Friedman, and Tim
Wampler all submitted artwork for our cover.
Tim provided a web site where we could view the works and vote
for the winning artwork. Tim’s
artwork can be viewed on the cover of the set.
Dick Schneiders boldly volunteered to collect
the orders, and ship the sets to you.
Many thanks Dick, this was an enormous job!
John Sorell offered to collect pledges from
RMMGA’rs to see how many sets people would want.
This was a big job, and John did an excellent job collecting
the advanced orders, and responding to those who wanted the sets.
The number of sets ordered is largely due to John’s efforts!
Without Jan Friedman’s help with DAT’s and
Zip discs, I would have had a tough time with a few submissions.
Finally, I’d like to extend a huge thanks to
Larry Pattis who took on the editing of the CD booklet, layout, and
the pressing of the CD sets! Larry
got quotes for everything, and the low cost of the CD set is mainly
due to Larry knowing where to get this done.
It was perfect to have a vendor someone has used before that we
could count on. Along
with the booklet, Larry worked with Dan’l to coordinate the
collection of the notes, and track down those who hadn’t sent theirs
in.
It has been a real pleasure to have worked with
all of the people involved with this project.
I hope the music you will hear will connect you a bit with the
person who played it, and next time you see their name attached to a
post on RMMGA, think back on the song you heard them play for you.
Perhaps in the future you will have an opportunity to return a
bit of your music to them.
Bob Alman
RMMGA
A virtual guitar community...
1999 Release
CREDITS
Project Manager & Main Boss Man
Bob “Too many jobs to mention”
Alman
Mastering Guidance
John Williams, Mort, & Jan
Friedman
Liner Notes Gatherer
Dan’l Nestlerode
Artwork
Tim “Van Gogh” Wampler
Shipping & Financial Administrator
Dick “Sticky Fingers”
Schneiders
Master Order Taker & Promoter
John “P.T. Barnum” Sorell
Booklet Layout & CD Procurement
Larry “Why did I volunteer for
this?” Pattis
Advice & Spiritual Support
Chifuru “Chief” Noda
Web page upkeep and design
Tim "Just one more thing on
my plate" Wampler
REVIEWS:
Mort
Jeff
Sherman