Hi Everyone,

Stephen here, some of you know me but for those who don’t, I’m producing Tony’s record. Thanks so much for your support during the Kickstarter campaign and for your patience since then.

I just want to fill you in on what to expect and explain why it’s not on your iPod just yet.

When Tony and I started planning the record, we wanted to knock it out in a few weeks. Reality (remember that word, you’ll see why soon) told us we couldn’t afford the team we wanted for the amount of time we needed to do a first-class job. We could have just made a lesser record with a lesser team, but we decided to shift gears and work when the people we wanted were available. That is ultimately the root of why this has taken longer than any of us expected.

Of course, the most important person was Tony. He’s a busy guy, and there’s always a lot going on in his world. He and his wife just had a baby, for crying out loud! He was a joy to work with, coming to the studio for a few hours as many days each week as possible and cranking out some amazing music. But let me be clear, Tony isn’t at fault for how long this has taken.

I had some major schedule conflicts as well. I had to go on the road a couple of times as well as work on some other records, too.

As you know, we went up to Woodstock to mix with Joe Blaney in February, which was fantastic. We got eight of twelve songs mixed before that scheduling window closed. SXSW got in the way, then Joe had two other records to finish, and then I had to go on the road again.

Now some good news. Over the next week or so, Joe will be working on the final four songs plus some revisions on the first eight. After that, there’s mastering and artwork and manufacturing as well as setting up promotion and publicity for the true release. It’s those last two “p” words that make the release date murky. But for everyone who’s due a copy of the record, we will make the digital download available the very minute we have it available for you. We won’t make you wait for the retail release. Because anything can go wrong, I can’t set a specific date for when the download will be available, but it will be soon. I can’t wait for you to hear it!

We worked hard on this record and I think you’ll be able to hear it. Tony has some great songs for you, and I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as we enjoyed recording them.

Thanks again for supporting Tony, and for your patience along the way.

Best,

Stephen

It's taken about a year longer than I expected to make this album but it's finally ready to be mixed. Producer Stephen Belans and I will be taking all our tracks up to Woodstock, NY for Joe Blaney to give us a classic mix. Then it'll be mastered and I should be able to start sending out files of the pre-release album, in it's entirety, to all of the backers. (That's you!)

It wouldn't have taken so long but my wife and I just welcomed our baby son to the world on Jan 14, plus there were numerous other distractions that impeded our progress. However, I can assure everyone that this album will exceed expectations in every way. A host of super solid players on this, including Billy Cassis of Soul Hat and Jon Sanchez of Roky Erickson's band on guitars. We also managed to enlist the organ mastery of Small Faces/Faces/ Rolling Stones/Bump Band keyboardist, Ian Mclagan. A seven piece string section anda horn section to boot!

I will be posting more now that we are winding down the production portion of this project. Still no definite release date but we plan on releasing this nugget on vinyl as well as cd format. It will also be made available on most of your digital outlets. Thanks for not only your generous contributions but also your infinite patience. It will be worth the wait. More to follow...Tony