Kickstarter

I wanted to take a little time to recognize our awesome friends who helped us out with the recording of the album.  Actually, to say they “helped out” is probably an understatement.  These guys and gals really came through at pretty short  notice, lending their talents to the record and really making the record what it is.

 

Marion Grace is a sweet young lady from Maryland who has been appearing on stage with us pretty frequently over the course of the last year.  Whenever she comes out to sing with us, its always a treat.  She was kind enough to lend her beautiful voice to several tracks on the album, and we are very grateful to her for doing so.

 

Luisa Lopez and I have known each other for about 5 years now.  She was one of the first songwriters I met in Nashville.  A couple of years ago she and I wrote a mess of songs together.  One of those songs is on Salvation.  Its called “Payback”.  We wanted to do a kind of Marvin Gaye/ Tammi Terrell Motown thing.  I think we came pretty damn close. 

 

Luke Bulla is a fine fiddle player.  He’s probably my favorite in town.  Shit, the dude plays for Jerry Douglas and Lyle Lovett!  His playing is as wild and adventurous as that of Scotty Stoneman or Vassar Clements.  But he also can be very tasteful and deliberate with the lines he chooses.  He just dropped by to say hello during the sessions and we pretty much forced him to play with us.  I’m glad he went for it.  The stuff he did is just phenomenal.

 

Micah Hulscher is one of the finest keyboard players around.  He’s played with Wanda Jackson, Caitlin Rose, Heath Haynes, and many many others.  He was originally just going to put a little piano on a few songs, but we were having so much fun that he ended up playing piano, organ, accordion, and electric piano on the whole record. 

 

Fred Eltringham came to us in the eleventh hour.  Our old drummer left us to return to North Carolina and we were scrambling to figure out what to do.  Fred stepped in and really played his ass off.  He’s so good.  He’s also one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.  I’m fairly picky about drummers.  There’s a very specific drumming style that I like to play and sing around, and most drummers don’t really get it.  Fred gets it. He plays with a lot of heart. Fred plays with up&comer acts like the Wallflowers, KD Lang, and Sheryl Crow.  Seriously?  Seriously. 

 

Don Gallardo is a dear friend of mine.  He and I met a few years back playing at a Gram Parsons tribute show.  We became fast friends and started writing together almost immediately.  The song “Dirt To Dust”, which contains the line that is the album’s title, was written with Don.  He provided vocals on that song, as well as a few others.

 

These guys are our buddies, and we are so happy they agreed to work with us on this project.  Their contributions are immeasurable.  The record wouldn’t be the record it is without them. 

 

Stay tuned for more info about the band, the album, and the future in the coming days. 

 

Take Care,

AT