I always promised myself I’d put out a great album some day. I also assumed it would be one of mine. Then, there we were, a year and a half into this project and I suddenly realized, “Oh…this is it.”
After over two years of work, Decades, the first album by the Front Porch Session Players, of which I am a member, has been released! We didn’t know it was going to take two years. We also didn’t know those two years would be as worth it as they turned out to be.
The Front Porch Session Players began as a pick-up group on…wait for it…the front porch of John Kelly’s house. It started with tons of guitar players just swarming and jamming. I wasn’t a part of those days.
Gradually the group solidified into a more Grateful Dead type ensemble of a more dedicated core: Eventually I was asked by Fletch Moore, the bass player, who had just joined, to sign up on keys and accordion. Although I was already in Patience Grasshopper, I went ahead and said yes.
Over the next year, Patience Grasshopper would dissolve, and the FPSP would solidify into a more solid unit of Scott Owens on drums, Aaron Gentry on guitar, Fletch on bass, me on keys, and Brad Kaegi on other guitar. Brad was the de facto leader, and we’d practice at his house. We did some covers, and some originals by Brad, Aaron, myself.
The band had recorded a number of demos before my arrival, and had toyed with the idea of creating an EP. After several years of hemming and hawing, someone found engineer and producer Billy Gewin and suggested that we make an earnest effort with him. We all nodded and dove in.
That summer we recorded parts for seven tracks. We didn’t have much in the way of expectations. A good document of our work, some kind of polished album, or something in the middle.
Then Brad received word that he was going to have to move to France. We hadn’t finished our work on the record, and we weren’t even sure we’d be able to stay together as a band with Brad gone. But he urged…begged us…to stay together.
So we recruited a formidable new songwriter and guitarist named Chris Berney and we kept gigging. We stayed at the EP, re-recording, cleaning and editing. Then we were approaching two years!
We decided to add 3 of the tracks the boys had recorded before Fletch and I came in. Billy edited them to bring them up to speed, and we had a full album. We just needed to close it.
More than two years after we began, we put the final touches on and launched it into the world. We couldn’t be prouder, and can’t wait to share it with you. Please check out the following links to listen to it:
https://open.spotify.com/album/6VBKBI8Qe3MwKksfeHOT5d
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/decades/1406088244
https://play.google.com/…/Front_Porch_Session_Players_Decad…
https://www.amazon.com/Decades-Front-Porch-Ses…/…/ref=sr_1_1
If you have comments, you know I’d love to hear them! Any at all. Positive, negative, affirmative.