Whitey Morgan

Session I:

December 2nd- Day 1
The band heads out early morning Tuesday for the long and curvy 11hr. drive. Arriving late Tuesday night, the band heads into downtown Woodstock and over to the Barn for load-in, preliminary set up, and our first meeting with our Grammy Award Winning engineer Justin Guip. You can never beat first impressions and ours of both Justin and the studio could not have been better. Up early the next morning to start our first day of tracking at 10:00 a.m. Not exactly the time the band is used to to get into the vibe but we'll survive (early cocktails always help). The bar tab includes Cabo Wabo tequila, Ole Grand Dad, Dr. Pepper and Cpt. Morgan, and Guinness. First thing on the agenda is to track the drums. Songs on the agenda for the day include Buick City Blues, Honky Tonk Queen, Cheaters Always Lose, Hard Scratch Pride, Where Do Ya Want It, and Bad News. Drum tracking starts out smooth with the new Ludwig Kit, Zildjian cymbals, and the classic DW marine pearl snare. The bass of choice is always the Gibson Thunderbird. After a few passes of each of the first tunes, Justin brings out some big guns: a few alternate snares and a classic 40's Bass drum from Levon's personal collection The day ends with switching out the toms as well to give "Bad News" more of a deeper/swampier tone. Not bad for a first day.

December 3rd - Day 2
Day 2 of tracking begins with a pit stop at our hotel diner for some grub. We arrive at the studio fairly rested, our livers a bit bruised, but anxious to continue the tracking on the 4 remaining tunes: Memories Cost A Lot, Meanest Jukebox in Town, Turn Up the Bottle, and I Ain't Drunk. First thing on the agenda is to get a nice fire roaring, done. After finishing the up the drum tracks the next thing to take care of is cleaning up the bass tracks, Jeremy knocks them out in no time at all. The second half of the day is spent mostly on acoustic guitar overdubs. The day ends with both lead and rhythm electric guitar tracking, Whitey and Ben trade off from tune to tune. The dinner menu includes a full array of Woodstock's finest Chinese fare. A normal studio session starts at 11:00am and ends at around 10:00pm (or whenever the ears start to give out).

December 4th - Day 3
The last day of our first sessions begin with final tracking of the acoustic guitar. Benny James gets right into the groove and comes up with a brilliant idea for tuning which gives the tunes just the right texture. Next onto more lead guitar tracking until a very surprising interruption that immediately stops tracking.........an "unexpected" guest decides to make an appearance. As Benny James is laying down a lead track, Jeremy is catching up on some computer work, and Whitey, Stubby, and Mike are taking a long overdue break out front - 2 cars pull up. Out of each comes two very friendly and excited mothers, one with an adorable little boy, the other with an adorable little girl. What happens next is nothing but a dream come true, to say the least, and probably quite humorous to witness as our jaws literally hit the ground: As Amy Helm and a friend head towards the front door, babies in hand, out comes one very proud Grandpa with arms wide open to greet them - Levon Helm!!! After a quick greeting from Levon they all head back into the studio into the fireplace area where Levon's drums are set up - Levon and the little boy (grandson I presume) beat on the drums while we all gather around for a little fun and small talk. As the dust settles we resume tracking for the remainder of the day finishing up most of the guitar parts on the record. Basic tracks in hand, the band heads out back to Michigan for more shows, the Holidays, and rest.

Session II:

January 27th - Day 4
The band arrives early the night before the sessions and decides to head out to a local watering hole. We unwind after the 11hr. drive at the Havana Club which coincidentally is having a little acoustic open mic night. The place has a great vintage "man's club house" vibe; very dark and quaint with a little stone fire place, leather sofas, and wood paneling. After loosening up with a few, Whitey decides to pick up an acoustic and sing a few numbers.
The morning arrives and we all head on over to The Barn to begin more tracking. Most of the first day is spend doing lead vocals. Whitey is in rare form and belts out 6 tracks without a problem. The second half of the day Little Mrs. Fiddle (Tamineh Gueramy) lays down some very beautiful solos. A very productive and smooth running day!

January 28th - Day 5
As the band awaits the arrival of Benny James (who decided to come in for the second half of the sessions), more vocal tracking gets locked down. As the 2nd day session continues the weather decides to give the band a taste of what mountain weather can be - around 3:00 a complete blanket of snow engulfs The Barn and surrounding mountains which looked absolutely amazing. Benny arrives around 6:00 for a quick load in, thaw, shot of Tequila, and begins tracking some tasty licks. As the guitar tracking gets into high gear Whitey takes a long needed break while the band's drummer Mike, heads out for some sight seeing - 2188 Stoll Road, The Pink House! The remainder of the session is focused on guitar leads.

January 29th - Day 6
First thing on the agenda is for Benny and Whitey to finish up some guitar tracking on Bad News and Where Do Ya Want It before a very special guest arrives. At approximately 12:00 the band's guest performer on the album arrives - ladies and gentlemen will you please welcome to The Barn, Mr. Larry Campbell. This Grammy Award winning Player/Performer has worked with everyone from Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Paul Simon, Jewel, Lyle Lovett, Levon Helm among MANY others. We are in Aw to say the least. Larry quickly meets the band and gets set up to lay down some very beautiful and amazing peddle steel on 3 songs: Bad News, Memories Cost A Lot, and Cheaters Always Lose. A few group shots are taken and off he goes - a true gentleman and amazing talent. Before getting back to the sessions the band does a quick photo shoot on the front steps of The Barn. The final session ends with a bit more guitar tracking on Bad News, I Ain't Drunk, and Memories Cost A Lot.

Jeremy and Benny James head out for home the next morning while Whitey, Stubby, and Mike stay in Woodstock 1 last day to see The Midnight Ramble.

* To Be Continued............................