Choosn Love
We had long thought about a tag team exchange between rapper and rocker, and when I approached S. Kool Busz with the idea, this is the result. We went from the initial concept (and the lyrics seemed to write themselves) to distribution in 13 days - certainly a new record for our music consortium.
Kool Man did the rap sections, yours truly The Steward on the Stevie Wonder homage. (Hey - that's my name, too!) Both vocals were first take. Many LARGE thanks for his time and talent - AND TO: Fingers Arachnid on the clav, Sings Two Bears & Ludwig von Slingerlund on drums and percussion, Motown girl vocals by Floral Clustah, Sara Ann Green Eagle, and Maxie Ripnit. ALSO: special mention to the newest member of our team: Eddwyna Itting. She handled the tech, engineering and mix chores, and worked the wee hours tirelessly in post-production to make our deadline. As one of our favorite people says, "Hard work is GOOD work!", and Edd did both.
Take a Ride on the Coast Starlight
The piece was written onboard this American passenger train, the modern offspring of Southern Pacific's historically famous Coast Daylight, and was in early production when the demo was played the following year on the train's in-car music system while travelling at speed. A lot of folks, including the conductor, staff and car attendants loved it, and encouraged me to finish it. An early version was placed on the old Farmhouse Garage album, but it never got bells and whistles nor the mix it deserved until we upgraded our studio and had unlimited tracks to use. Wow, did we have a lot of horny players ~ but what d'ya expect? They're musicians.
The idea, of course, was to capture some of the fun and taste and feel of a 3-day train excursion in audio form: the sights along coast, like that pair of dolphins happily racing the train!, (represented by some dual guitar work), the sounds of the wheels on the rail, and the people, (that little girl's "whoo-hoo" is authentic!), and the constant changes of pace and surroundings: slow, then fast; tense, and then calm; bumpy and rough, then smooth sailing along the welded rail.
These trips were a lot of fun for me and 'my baby'. Developing and producing this remake with my SE cohorts was, too.
Relax. Take a ride...
definitely The COOLEST GIRL
We were finishing a song called "Make it Go Faster", (not released, BTW), when I got the mystery disease. It got my heart beatin' like a rabbit, as John Candy would say, and we wondered if the song title had something to do with it. Eventually I dragged myself to the hospital. They threw me into Intensive Care, and I survived and am back at work. But while there, I underwent this deal where they electrically shock your heart to scare it back into running normally. It didn't work since not much is normal about me.
But anyway, I go into the procedure with my rock & roll locks tied back in a pony tail, nice and neat, and wake up with my hair yanked up on top of my head in a tangled mess. Totally wrecked. Why? I don't know; I was out to lunch at the time. Seemed to be no alternative but chop it out.
I was effing pissed. Early the next morning, I asked some aides if they could get me shampoo and conditioner, and one wonderful young lady did. But they told me there was no way I could take a shower. With IVs in both arms and electrodes all over me, I managed to shampoo/condition just the farkled-part in back. OK, it was wet, now what? I wondered. I told Halley what they'd done to me ~ and that they were gonna do it again, and it would be even worse. "Oh, no", she said, "I could braid it for you..." Yeah, but you're busy, girl, I told her. She said she'd come later if she could. She did. When she left Room 444, I was brushed out and braided, cared for and well loved. This song is (obviously!) dedicated to her AND that smart blond who posed for the single's cover art.
Keep Wakan, yes indeed
Eclectric’s mix of "Wakan" almost sounds acoustic at times, but is not; obvious rock underpinnings never go balls out. Lakota language title and everyday spirituality intended for all tribes. The arrangement includes a multitude of indigenous instruments, five different basses, and bow-played saw.
Wakan (pronounced wah-kahn) honors that Lakota word for sacred, spiritually big and powerful - part of the bigger 'Wakan Tanka', which is usually translated to ‘The Great Spirit’, but an alternate is offered: The Great Mystery. That’s closer…
This is the SE single version, (a remake of the R,D,W album cut). Playing around in the artistic audio sandbox, I couldn’t ignore the opportunity to juggle the English and Lakota words ‘wakan’, ‘walk on’, ‘walking’, ‘walkin’ in different ways for double entendre in both lyric rhyme and meaning. Cameo appearance by bass singer Big Lurch Hooper. Instrumentation includes musical saw by specialist Mr. E. S. (a.k.a. 'Mysterious') Carpenter, and native flute by the versatile Dawn Busz-Rider. Sings-Two-Bears handled native drums, rattles, heavy toms, etc., (and obviously had a pretty great time doing it all. He and the studio had been collecting these authentic indigenous instruments for years, and he managed to use every one somewhere in this production at least once!) Multiple basses, but the main bass used was a Coral Jazz 5-fret , a.k.a. ‘SSLIDER’ [the first prototype]. This is an instrument with 5 just frets, (otherwise fretless), designed, built and played by the Director, Stephen H. Steward.
Do Ya Wanna Drive ?
While auto racing season was in full swing in the northern hemisphere, we released retro pop rocker Do Ya Wanna Drive? on 7-14-23, although it was actually written a while ago.
So underneath the high octane carguy format, what's it about? Well, ultimately we think it's about whatever it means to you, the lissner. But the lyrics were written about two separate musicians that I was trying to work with - in different ways - and are a composite of those difficulties. One was a well known singer and guitar artist I spent years on the road with. A major problem was that he didn't have a driver's licence and refused to get one, expecting me to chauffeur him around from home to rehearsal, to the store and the gig. And I was doing this to keep an old, tired out gig? Got me thinking about my options. The other was a very talented keyboard-player and singer, a friend that I pinned hopes for the future on: the plan was to move our musicmaking into my studio, to collaborate with him in mutiple ways musical. But then he got into the white stuff. Large. It took over his time and energy; it took its toll, and he never regained what had been lost. So I was losing on both counts. Both bets were off, since, with the white stuff now predominant, I couldn't believe a word either of these people said. I realized that I was on my own, professionally speaking. I needed to get the hell outa there, and I was gonna do the driving. Hear the hot rod leaving at the end? That's me saying Goom-bye...
Thanks to D. Snyder, [no - not Dee Snider], for the loan of his ’70 Plymouth Superbird at the Watkins Glen racetrack. I was there for a run-what-ya-brung race driver training course. And we also used it for the song's cover photo, but the highly-valued classic wing car only made sort of a whooshing sound out on the track. So the accelerations you hear were from my 1979 Dodge Lil Red Express pickup. Recordings of it were done on the street in front of the studio with one microphone at the ‘line’ and another one positioned for the second-gear chirp, then blended together. Exhaust from the original smallblock HP360 V8 was straight out headers with nothing aft, NOT from Red Express stacks. It took numerous attempts - can you say 'take 14'? - to finally get it right, and with a posi rear, I burned the tires off that pooch. It's OK, they were junk anyway. Oh yeah: it had no brakes. None.
Performers included the usual cast of characters plus one. The list includes The Steward on bass, guitars and lead vocal; Billy Vella on slide guitar; Fingers Arachnid on vintage synth and Hammond B3; Floral Clustah and Serena Ann Green Eagle on backing vocals; Sings Two Bears and Ludwig Von Slingerlund on drums and percussion, and of course the old Dodge LRT 'sound effects'.
Nudder Revolution
...is a Stewards Eclectric rock exposé, correcting American history. A lot of Eclectric current was fed into this long-running project. Production started July 2021, but the chords and the groove fell out of a $39 el-cheapo guitar, late at night back in 2001, travelling welded rail westbound at 90 mph on The Super Chief... This is the last production using our old recording devices. As for the subject matter: start looking in the attic for your oldest flags... I mean seriously OLD ones, great great grandma stuff! These are the ones we're gonna want to be waving. And let's all get wise and forget about the importance of the US president, whomever it is – now, today or tomorrow. Doesn't really matter. They no longer have any real power. All they can do is be a cardboard cutout, and set some kind of example.
Given that this song deals with the alien presence and its coverup, associated murders, and the inevitable resulting major social changes that will come from even partial disclosure of these truths, don't look for this one on 'Your Hit Parade' or a middle-of-the-road playlist. For everyone struggling to come up to speed, (including yours truly), we offer clarification of some lyrics below, and challenge studious lissners to google any and all for factual details.
Lyrics from the song are in "quotes":
“Washington DC mid-July, back in 1952” = 'The UFO Flap'; “Klaatu” = Michael Rennie’s character in the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951); “Lancer” = CIA code word for US president JFK (murdered); “someone felled the forrest tall” = James Forrestal, first US Sec. of Defense (murdered); “made Dorothy quiet” = Dorothy Kilgallen, investigative reporter (murdered); “afraid of a riot, if the truth be told…” = The Brookings Report (1960); “Honest Abe” = US President Abraham Lincoln; “Ike” = US President Dwight D. Eisenhower; “new allies” = the second group of ETs Ike met with, (1955) – when he had no choice but to sign (the equivalent of) our surrender in return for significant technologies; “crop of wheat” = humans, animal & human tissue and genetic material; “the chaff” = humanity subjected to a greatly-reduced lifespan due to previous and ongoing DNA manipulations; also: unrestricted abductions of individuals; “the father of our country” = General George Washington; “little green men”: a long time aide to Washington disclosed that the General reported meeting with ‘the green skins’, who GW assumed to be an unknown race of Native Americans; “the plurality of worlds”: Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and many other founding fathers accepted the existence of various life forms from other planets; “big G or little G?” = God vs. god(s) – something the King James bible may unintentionally confuse.
some Bluegrass was strictly Corn
...during the 2021 farming season of making hay, without which, take NOTE: we would have no cheeseburger, no fries and no shake – among other things! Written in response to a conversation with a farm family patriarch and my expert hay guy, Hey Gotta Make Hay was our down home bluegrass tune about bluegrass, released on the Summer Solstice, (and the 30-year anniversary of our buying the farm and living to tell about it).
Almost all of the tillable acreage that surrounds the farmhouse music studio is planted to hay grasses, and we try to grow the highest quality hay possible ~ without using any herbicide chemicals or GMO seed varieties. Besides benefitting the human equation, growing large expanses of grass has healing properties for the living planet, (and we think makes Mother Earth happy), as well as maintaining important ecosystems such as bird and butterfly habitat. So the backstory for the hay song is this: Bob W. pulled in to my green building on one of his John Deeres for a springtime chat to talk about re-seeding. At one point, Bob asked, “Did ya ever write a song about us doing the hay?” “Not yet”, I replied without hesitating, but the seed was planted , and over the next two days, it germinated. I wrote this bluegrass tune about Kentucky bluegrass – and ryegrass, and alfalfa and clover and all of the haygrass plants growing in my fields now or in the past. By chance (or not?), studio production started the day Bob was using the seed drill. Most of the recording took place while they were cutting, raking or conditioning, and mixdowns began just as they were baling that first cut. The cover photo was taken right at the end. Nothing like the sweet smell of new mown hay wafting through an old no-A/C farmhouse! This goes out to the ag community in general, to the farmers and growers who feed the world, and especially to Bob, Casey and Brian.
PERSONNEL: Floren de Kichen wrote the dual fiddle parts, performed ably with his talented granddaughter Joyenne de Kichen; Chubbie Pickens on banjo; Sings Two Bears on drums; The Steward sang main lead and did the bass and acoustic rhythm guitar; chorus singers include Serena Ann Green Eagle (a.k.a 'S.A.G.E'), Floral Clustah, Ernie Silverback and Lurch Hooper, recording engineer Moréy Polfuss on the mixdown. [It's pronounced Mor-RAY.] She came up with an interesting idea: put extra EQ on certain high-end frequencies so the tractor operator could hear the lyrics better in the cab above the rotating machinery noises. I tried it. It was an interesting experiment, and I think it worked.
goodtimes JUKEBOX rock
A 'goodtimes jukie-box rocker', Gotsome Body was our official Saint Patty's Day release.
Assigned the challenging (if not impossible) task of Public Relations for SE, our advisor, Yawanda Ring, speculated that whatever new fans and followers we might have picked up with bowling ball rock we probably lost with the John Lennon pieces. That's most likely true, but that didn't stop us. Her advice: 'enough with the sad, sappy songs! ' [of late 2020] – and we agreed. Gotsome Body is a goodtimes jukebox rocker that should be played loud for your next in-house party night with friends and/or that special someone when the mood is elevating.
The Eclectric Players recorded it by referring to an old demo. Long ago I got the song idea while driving the Comstock Band's 4x6 Dodge B300 RV camper rig westbound over the George Washington bridge – leaving the Big Apple and heading back upstate. We had been in the city for 2+ weeks recording some foolish music at the Record Plant for Don Kirschner, and capped that ordeal with an enjoyable gig: a Friday night oldies concert backing Chuck Berry (and many others) at Madison Square Garden. Everyone in the band needed some time to catch our breath, so we purposely did NOT book the coming Saturday - and I was very much looking forward to some quality time with my sweets. 'Nuf said, right?
Probably because I'd just come off a show with 'ol CB, [we called him the grandfather of rock - but not to his face, of course!], I purposely wanted to write the piece using just 3 chords - something Chuck made a million $ doing. The challenge: keep it from getting boring. It's up to the lissner to judge this as success or failure. We salvaged much of Billy Kelley's original piano part from the demo, and it was augmented by Musicians' Consortium irregular Fingers Arachnid. Then we rounded up the usual suspects for the rest of it. Lotsa fun.
In one review just after release, a lissner claimed "this track is on fireee !!! ". What higher praise for such a cool track ? It deserves good speakers (or cans or buds) and large volume. Just don't hurt yourself...
40 years to finish ONE SONG?
INTERVIEW [excerpt] with acclaimed Music & Art Critic Crow ‘Birdland’ McCaw: I understand that after the tragic events in NYC on Dec. 8, 1980, you wrote a song that evening, then recorded it – and gave it the deep six shortly thereafter. Only now has it been published, so your new STEWARDS ECLECTRIC single isn’t really new, is it? It’s 40 years old! Why didn’t you release the blessed thing back when that news item was current?
The Steward: Why? Because I hated it, that’s why. OK, not the music or the lyrics, not the song itself. No. I hated having to write it. I hated the reason for writing it. Still do. And I was pretty sure back then that no one wanted to hear it. But one of my cohorts at our musicians’ consortium, Sings Two Bears, (precussionist & in-house wise guy), insisted that the artistry of the piece should see the light of day, and when I re-listened I reluctantly agreed. Waited long enough. So we finished it using modern recording tech, and pushed it out for the 40-year observance to see if it would resonate with anybody. After various titles, we ended up calling it simply J. Lennon Blues. To honor that fallen musician ~ and also Beatles record producer George Martin , an audio hero of mine ~ we used words, phrases and instruments in an arrangement that is a love letter to both, right down to some backward vocals – originally done while crying in the beer. Granted, it may be a little sappy, but considering the time and circumstance, it was, if nothing else, honest and expressive.
Crow: Yeah, wow, at well over 6 minutes in length, it’s quite the old-school album cut. But your digital singles often have two songs or ‘sides’. You're hardly known as a rap artist, yet you claim the flip side is ‘left-handed hip hop”. Just what in the name of Rolling Stone is that? Would you please explain?
Steward: Well, I don't stock my closet with embroidered Nudie suits either, but that hasn't kept me from turning out country stuff. No – I won’t explain. Our lissners aren’t shitheads. Whether they’re experienced audiophiles or just curious, they’ll get it. Side B is titled Nonnel J. Blues, and many of them would get it simply from that. It’s a completely new production that trips off the old one. It started with the idea that someone might want to know what the backwards vocals in J. Lennon Blues were saying, and we might provide that in some way. Then it took on a life of its own. Whether our audience or any of my rapper brothers and sisters accept it as hip hop is up to them, but it is meant to honor the genre, however obliquely. We had a lot of fun doing it, which was welcome after finishing the rather depressing A side.
© Reprinted with the kind permission of the publishers of WASTING TIME magazine (Dec. 2020)
Gone to Richard's & Thanks for Stoppin' - Bye
Reaching way back into The Steward’s song archive, the reworked versions of Gone to Richards and Thanks for Stoppin’ – Bye actually are from the original cassette tapes personally given to a few select bowlers and restaurant staff back then. [See photo of the 'lost' giveaway cassettes in PHOTO/ART GALLERY.] The studio master had been stretched beyond re-use, and the cassettes were thought lost for many years. When the only two remaining tapes known to exist were found at the studio, using them posed a technical challenge but they were deemed workable, so the SE consortium took on the task of bringing these songs back to life just in time for a quarter century observance. We decided it would be wrong to start a new production; instead, we worked with those rough demos and low quality (slow-speed!) analog recordings, and in doing so, maintained the sound and feel of those times, but added instruments and voices, made improvements and clarifications, and took full advantage of the many upgrades in music technology since then. We’re proud to make these songs available long after their upstate NY introduction, and hope our lissners, especially local ones – loyal patrons of T-Burg's Camel's, or anybody who ever had a date, ate a great meal, took a cocktail or rolled the big marble at Richard’s Tri-County – might enjoy them. If you do, let us know. [Go to Q&A/CONTACT page.]
PERSONNEL: On the original recordings, that’s Billy Kelley on piano, and T. M. Shorter did the sax and the horn arrangements on 'Gone to…'. The Steward performed most of the other parts and multi-tracked them together. Heard or involved on the reworked productions were SE regulars Fingers Arachnid (piano), Ludwig Von Slingerlund (drums), Thaler N. Shorter (reprising his solo sax & horn arrangements), plus Dawn Busz-Rider and Trombone Lefty (making up the horn section), Morey Polfuss, (she’s the recording engineer responsible for the ‘rainbow sounds’ as well as the final mix - and it's pronounced Mor-RAY), The Steward (bass, guitars, vocals, solid lefthand pocket hit strike), and of course at the end of Side A, there’s Richard Updike himself in his only known recorded interview. Also: thanks to Pro Shop manager Terry Riddle for allowing me to descend on the alley with microphones, tape recorders and bowling ball one afternoon. That's where the bowling ball audio came from. (It was on lane 12.)
Call Me Tornado
After the millennial shift, longtime fan and friend S.J.Giffen authored and offered a poem for our consideration, knowing that most of us here were Zorro fans as kids (even though we were too young to understand why everyone was named Don.) Its particular charm was that it gave a first ‘person’ voice to the big black horse, Z’s heroic four-legged companion and an integral part of their missions of justice and mercy. Suzy and I collaborated to create song lyrics from the poem, and Call Me Tornado (Tor-NAH-doh) was born. A demo was made, but it immediately went into archives since other projects took precedent. Recent renewed attention to justice and mercy seemed to call this big, beautiful black entity forward once again – and squarely onto the director’s desk. The piece received the TLC production it deserved, and we’re proud to offer it to you. As usual, it sounds nothing like any of our previous pieces. Music by yours truly and the SE consortium players, lyrics by Steve and Suzy Steward, with love to Walt Diz and Johnston Mac.
Gran Caballo
Knowing that many engaged in the ag and farm profession play music in the tractor cab or outbuilding, we wanted to present a horse of a different color, and Gran Caballo (Grahn Cah-BAHL-yoh) or Big Horse is that. The 100% instrumental has some elements of …Tornado and adds other instruments, most notably that big, twangy, one-note guitar done with a definite nod to Duane Eddy. We send this out to: the equestrian, the horse lover, the trainer and the wrangler – the roper, the rider, the reiner, the mustanger – for all cowboys and cowgirls at rodeo or on the open range, for all those fascinated by a big horse. Ride on.
Here's to a Soldier of the King
Not long after the ...Tornado demo was made, Suzy and I went cross-country training: Coast Starlight, Superchief, Empire Builder, Surfliner, etc. via Amtrak first class, and one of our stops while playing on the lovely left coast was to attend late actor Guy Williams’ Hollywood Walk of Fame STAR ceremony, August 2, 2001. A famous hotel hosted the event, and a gala reception party followed for Williams’ fans, friends and family plus many of the actors that appeared on the popular and highly acclaimed Zorro TV show – and when in tinsel town, celebrations go into the wee hours. Here is the live, off-the-cuff, one-time-only performance lifted from the mono cassette tape as Steve “The Steward” and his $39 El Cheapo guitar entertain an intimate gathering just around midnight at the Hollywood Roosevelt, conducting a singalong with Sgt. Garcia’s wine drinking song first heard in the episode “Zorro’s Ride Into Terror”.
Heard (beside Steve & Suzy) are many Zorro aficionados, some well known and famous in their own right. Among them were Wendell Vega, (Don Diego’s cousin?), with his sharp fencing energy and perfectly rendered “I-yi-yi-YI!” – and that clear, operatic-quality singing voice is Mary Sheeran (who quite easily aces out The Steward here to win the Henry Calvin Big Powerful Voice Award ). Were it not for these folks' enthusiasm, (and great prompting!), we never would have propped up this archival oldie for ya. (And, hey, if you were there, drop us a line!) ‘Kazoo Girl’ remains uncredited. At the time, I wanted to tell her what to do with that kazoo, [I would’ve gladly placed it there for her!], but now, years afterward, her audio presence invokes a comedy bit worth arguably more than the admission fee – which was, of course, free.
NOTE that this is a STEWARDSONGS exclusive. Since this particular track is not an SE original but a ‘cover’ of the song written by Gil George and Joe Dubin, it is NOT being sold or made available for download or streaming. It is here and on SoundCloud only for the private, non-commercial enjoyment of our fans, friends and lissning audience.
* * * * *
CHEF'S SERVING SUGGESTION: Regular patrons of this humble audio eatery should initially (or at some time) hear all three of these pieces consecutively, and in the order the players are arranged: 1. Gran Caballo 2. Call Me Tornado 3. Here's to a Soldier... This modest musical snack will cost no more than about 14 minutes. Bon appetite. [OPTIONAL: Consume wine or libation of choice at least one-half hour before combining ingredients.]
Universal Crossings
Releases from 2019 included “Crossing Across” [instrumental] and “Across a Universe”.
My brother shuffled off this mortal coil unexpectedly in the summer of 2018. His daughter, (my niece), had already established a timeline for her impending wedding, so I felt compelled to write music for the occasion in a style that he would have liked.
The wedding version of “Across a Universe” was played at the reception, with special lyrics for Shawna and Joe. This second version has significant additional instrumentation and new lyrics dedicated to my Susan Joan.
The instrumental version “Crossing Across” was freed up from lyric constraints, allowing for more emotional expression. “Crossing Across” is in loving memory of Gale Albert Steward, a.k.a. ham radio's K3ND, a Zeppelin and Floyd fan, car guy, race fan, Dodge trucker, lefty bass player and devout 4-speaker audiophile. In that SPIRIT, both of these pieces are meant to be played LOUD.
Few Words from the Bass Commander...[very few*]
“Postwar Jump” and “March No More” were released in April 2018. We consider these a mated pair, in some hybrid JAZZ genre. (We'll let others figure that out.)
"Postwar Jump" is a quick (2 minutes, 14 seconds!) modern /‘40s jazz number paying homage to the horn arrangements of the vintage Big Bands, while possibly furthering the contemporary philosophy. The piece is described by percussionist and in-house self-appointed name-giver Sings Two Bears as: 'Trombone Lefty with Dook Ellingtun and The Steward .'
"March No More" is nearly 6 minutes of 'roughly-charted' funk/jazz/rock studio jam, and has been described as: 'Herby Handcock Meets Blud, Swet & Phish' . Heroes are where you find them - and come in all shapes and sizes, ages and genders, colors and nationalities. Therefore, "March No More" is dedicated to: James V. Forrestal, Dwight D. Eisenhower, JFK, James Penniston, J. Allen Hynek, Maria Orsic, Bob Lazar, Danal Meza, Phil Schneider, Pat Price, Milton William Cooper, Ghost Army (23rd Hqtr. Sp. Troops) and all others who have offered themselves unselfishly in service and who will, for whatever reason, march no more. In addition, the marching drum 'roll off' is dedicated to band directors Prof. R. R. Llewellen and Clyde Scott, and to my bandmate brothers and sisters of the Berwick Bulldogs High School Band.
Composition, horn arrangements and '67 Precision Bass action by The Steward. * Both pieces are 99% instrumental - and those instrumentalists include Trombone Lefty, Toots Headstrong, and Lovecchio Armitage on brass, saxman Thaler N. Shorter, the lovely Dawn Busz-Rider on woodwinds, Billy Kelley on piano (March..."), and percussion by Ludwig Von Slingerlund and Sings Two Bears.
Those FRACKIN' Songs...!
Another 'mated pair' of songs, in the country genre. Guest vocalist Ernest J. Silverback gives a patina’d sterling performance as the old man who made the wrong decisions for all the right reasons in “Frackin’ Fool” (a.k.a “The Old Frackin’ Fool”), a cautionary tale ballad on a contemporary subject. (The description from Two Bears is: 'Mister Carpenter sawing wood with the Oak Ridge Boyz.' The uptempo "Frackin' Hoedown" is designed to follow. An interviewer once asked what he thought of his newfound audience. He replied, “Ya gotta love these kids. They know we are ALL stewards of this place." (But so who is E. J. Silverback? See Q&A.)
Up-tempo “Frackin’ Hoedown”, (a.k.a “Another Frackin’ Hoedown”), brings The ECLECTRIC Music Players together for a barn thumping follow-up to the old man ballad. Under Steward’s direction, veteran instrumentalists Floren deKichen (fiddle) and Mr. E. S. Carpenter (musical saw) team up with new blood as well as old friends from Steve’s 2010 album Ridin’, Drivin’, Wakan... . Within the devilishly angelic ECLECTRIC CHORUS, the voices of Serena Ann Green Eagle and the lovely Floral Clustah are joined by recent standout inductees Li'l Maxie Ripnit on the high end, and the one and only Big Lurch Hooper on the bottom. Also we must mention that the SE ensemble is joined here in the person of Chubbie Pickens on banjo, (and you'll be hearing more of Chubbie's work in the future). Describing ...Hoedown, Sings Two Bears says: 'Sounds like Earl Skruggs' cousin and The Oak Ridge Boyz - and Girlz - all pissed in the barn.'
For strictly artistic reasons, we offer a combined edition available at our distributution sites (and on SoundCloud) where the material is presented as it was originally written, produced, and was intended to be heard. The label loses money on it, but a promise is a promise. “Frackin’ Fool Frackin’ Hoedown” is true to the author’s vision, and a good $ value. This is the 'Storyteller’s Special', and it works the way it was supposed to. Running time, both songs together, about 8 1/2 minutes. If you invest the time to listen, please stay for the end.
NOTE! It would appear that one or both of these songs have ruffled a few feathers: for example, see the entry on Q & A page from 'Deereman66'.
Something like Blues
The solo performance of "Pennsy Train Blues" is unique output from this musicians' consortium. It was an impromptu ad lib studio creation by a very tired artist in the wee hours, a one-shot deal. With one microphone, a few lyric ideas and a white Hendrix Strat, it can be generally blamed on the 2 picture postcards of bluesman Elmore James' six-string guitar (with signature four strings) sent from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Recorded entirely as is in one pass, no editing, no overdubs. It is what it was. In-house wise-guy Sings Two Bears bet the director he didn't have the guts to publish it. He loses.
Meant as a toast to the great old bluesmen, it is also dedicated to the Pennsy RR, the Lehigh Valley RR, Milwaukee Road, NYCental, Erie Lackawanna, and Amtrak and their excellent sleeping car attendants Kartoon Kioshi and the Lovely Grace, and especially to that girl Suzy in the yellow dress. [Album art in PHOTO/ART GALLERY]
