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November, 1996 Dear Friends and Fans,
Some of you I have known for years, others I have met only once after my concerts. To all of you I would like to share a little bit of the experience I have had the last two years in putting together the album More than 12 Stories under the Sun. It started one January morning early in 1995. Or rather, something came to me that morning that had actually started years earlier when I began writing my first songs. I looked out over the snow-covered Wasatch front, then across the valley to view the expanse of a sun-glistened Great Salt Lake. I realized it was time to start living the person I pictured myself to be. And it didn't appear that any record companies were lining up at the door to escort me there. So I would find a way to do it on my own. A few days later I witnessed the most brilliant and furious sunset I had ever seen (no, it wasn't in L.A., it was Utah and it was winter and I would spend four months there writing songs). The clouds were on fire and I thought to myself "sunburst like sunflowers over steamy skies." As the words formed, a melody came. This phrase would be the starting point for writing "One Story under the Sun." With several new songs under my belt and springtime burgeoning, I returned to Los Angeles and put in a call to Margaret McIntyre. I didn't really know her that well, but there was something about her and I remembered she said she was a singer. We started working together on my songs and she would come up with these great harmonies. Then she told me about Blake Windal and how he was this phenomenal drummer. So Blake and I got together and all it took was one night of playing and I knew he was the man for the job. As we started rehearsing regularly, one of my best friends and housemate, Liz Shropshire, started to join in our band practices--adding all kinds of ideas for accordion, flute, penny whistle and creating arrangements for strings and brass. It was kind of funny, because at this stage half of the band was Mormon and half Christian Scientist -- so none of us drank or smoked. I guess we needed someone who at least drank a few beers to round out the group as bassist. We're still not sure what Bart Samolis is religiously speaking, except that he's one of the best human beings ever put on the face of this earth and he's got a feeling for rhythm and melodies and bottom end that gives the music a lot of heart and soul. I guess it's not surprising he's in such demand for all the sessions he does. So we had a band. A good band. And we needed a great producer to help us capture the magic in the studio. To our good fortune, Dick McIlvary, the owner of the Sound Chamber where we would be recording, told me about this producer/engineer who was just finishing a project for Atlantic Records and had great credits working with artists like the Talking Heads, Cindy Lauper, Robert Palmer and Squeeze. I'll never forget how, Dick described Eric Thorngren as "a kind of gruff guy from upstate New York, but a sweetheart underneath it all." He was right! We started recording in June of 1996 and continued through the end of September. I never felt so at home as in the studio. The moments sparkled with exhilaration as each layer of music came straight out of our hearts, into the air, and onto the tape. It was the project of a lifetime. A dream come true. My love to all of you, Other Letters: |
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