NEW RELEASE
OLD FAMILIAR STREET
Old familiar street, indeed…….
Some of these songs were written in the early 90’s when I was in college at The University of Colorado and playing with ‘Lectric Bob and the Rattlesnakes. From there the story continued with Eating Peaches in Bend, Oregon. In 1995 I returned to my home town of Columbus, Ohio. The bulk of these songs were written around that time and performed in my band Happy Sac. Ransom Band, in various incarnations, carried the torch for these songs from 2000 to the present.
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In 2002 Smooth Eddie Davis (drums), Michael White (Upright bass) and I tracked these tunes with Brian Lucey at his lovely farm home near Delaware, Ohio. Shortly thereafter, I had the good fortune to meet Arkadiy Gips at the wedding of my close friend. I shared a song I had written on acoustic at the reception and Arkadiy, part of the musical act for the evening, joined in with the most beautiful violin I’ve ever heard. He was kind enough to travel with me to Brian’s home to offer the wonderful tracks included here.
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After years of sitting on the shelf, I had the music converted from the original 2” analog tape to a digital format, hoping to “expedite” the process. We tracked new vocals, my longtime friend, Chris Connor added some tasty guitar tracks, Columbus legend, Richard Bradburn laid down organ and electric piano and my good buddy, Rockin’ Lou Schocken (AKA Bongo Louie) rounded it all out with hand percussion. All of this and the final mixing was done at the home studio of the incomparable Jay Alton. Finally, Brian Lucey mastered the final tracks at Magic Garden Studio, now located in LA. Full circle, for sure!
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As I am finally preparing to release this 20+ year project, I have gone from seeing it negatively for how long it has taken to embracing the history of the project. Thanks to Edward Stern for helping gain this perspective and to my talented nephew, Nathan Hurt for finding the artistic direction for the CD. Yes, it’s on CD! Nostalgic and I think appropriate.
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To this day, these songs resonate with me and carry meaning. I truly hope you will enjoy listening to them. Thanks for taking time to hear my story!