Steve’s new solo recording River has just been released. To hear some samples please go to the
Listen Page.
A CD Release Event is being presented in Calgary by Fish Creek Concerts on Friday, June 8.
For online tickets to Steve Fisher's solo release click here.
Some Notes on the Making of the Album
Background
For the last couple of years I’ve been thinking about recording some songs and tunes that that I’ve played for a while and always liked but hadn’t recorded except in demo form. Last year I also started writing tunes which is a new thing for me. By the fall of 2006 a collection of a dozen songs and instrumentals had taken shape. Some had a bluegrass flavour, a few were blues related and the rest were just well written songs that needed nothing more than a sympathetic treatment to make them sound good.
“Great”, I thought, but who is going to play this stuff with me? I had been performing some of the material with my duo partner Jim McLennan but I was hearing a band treatment in my head. Though Restless Lester is still going strong and I love the band and what we do with the music we play, I realized that most of the tunes weren’t really suited for driving bluegrass.
After a bit of thought I came up with a list of musicians that I wanted to play with and started making calls. To my very pleasant surprise, everyone said “yes”. And so in late November of 2006 we started recording with as good a studio band as we could have: John Reischman on mandolin, Sally Van Meter on dobro, Chris Jones, Sally Jones and Ron Spears on harmony vocals, Paul Bergman on bass, Jim McLennan on guitar, Bruce Blair on fiddle, Cedric Blary on clarinet and Robin Tufts on percussion.
At the helm directing traffic was Dave Clarke who was co-producing the album with me. Dave was also my first choice and graciously agreed to be the ‘voice behind the glass’ after hearing the demo. Fortunately my favourite place to record was also available. Rocky Mountain Recording Studio in Calgary is a very congenial setting for an acoustic music project and Rob Smith is an excellent engineer. My run of good luck continued when Richard Harrow agreed to mix and master the recording. Richard operated Living Room Studios in Calgary for many years and engineered projects for Ian Tyson, Gordon Lightfoot and Ry Cooder as well as numerous local artists. Richard has great ears, a superb grasp of sound engineering and the good sense to use technology only when the music needs it.
The sessions lasted about two weeks and were a lot of fun. But they were intense as well with musicians coming and going every couple of days. Everyone from out of town stayed with Renay and I, which was convenient as the studio is only five minutes away from our home. This was also just fine with our guests most of whom said they ate more good food in a couple of days at our place than they usually eat in a month, thanks to Renay!
There were many high points during the sessions but what moved me most was how well everyone played to the tunes. In spite of the virtuosity that was often in the room, everyone played or sang to what was already going on rather than laying down patented licks or a sound that may or may not have suited the music. For me it was an opportunity to experience “a level of real understanding and mutuality in music” as Ry Cooder once called a certain ideal state and I will always be grateful for that.
The Players
Paul Bergman - Acoustic Bass
I first heard Paul at the Shady Grove Bluegrass Festival in Nanton, Alberta when he was on stage with Slow Drag. I was immediately struck by how deep the band’s groove was and how much Paul was playing from inside the music. He reminds me a lot of Charlie Haden because he has a jazz player’s harmonic knowledge on the one hand, but plays in a very rootsy way. Paul is quite well educated, widely read and has a lot of interests outside of music. I could happily listen to him talk for days without ever hearing him play a note.
Bruce Blair - Fiddle
I have known Bruce for twenty years and have played with him regularly since 2002 when we formed Restless Lester with Brad Lindberg. Bruce is one of the finest fiddle players around and it’s always a pleasure to be on stage with him. Although retired now as a competitor, Bruce is a former Grand North American Fiddle Champion and a very well regarded teacher.
Cedric Blary - Clarinet
Cedric is a new find for me. I heard him with the Highwater Jug Band at the Karma one night and while the whole band was hot, Cedric’s solos were something else. He not only has formidable technique on a difficult instrument; he also knows the sound of jazz from the 20’s and 30’s intimately and he swings like crazy.
Chris Jones
I met Chris for the first time back in 1988 when he was playing with The Weary Hearts. He was then and is still one of the best singers to come along in bluegrass music in quite a while and he’s also a fine guitar player and songwriter. Chris has just released a solo album on Little Dog Records which was produced by Pete Anderson, Dwight Yoakam’s former lead guitarist.
Sally Jones
Although she grew up in Cherry Point, Alberta, Sally has made her home in and around Nashville with her husband Chris for many years. I first heard her music at the Shady Grove festival in Nanton where she had a killer band with Mickey Harris on bass, Kirsten Scott-Benson on banjo and Cody Kilby on mandolin and guitar. Sally sings in a very pure and unaffected way which is unusual in bluegrass and country music where too many people spend too much time trying to sound like somebody else, in my opinion.
Jim McLennan
When I moved to Calgary in the early 80’s I took guitar lessons from Jim. At that time he was well known as a master ragtime guitar player and he had the best guitar arrangement of The Entertainer by Scott Joplin that I’ve ever heard. Jim and I reconnected a couple of years ago and have been playing as a duo as much as we can. His beautiful song for guitar ‘Prairie Rose’ was a solo piece for most of its life but Jim kept encouraging me to come up with a second part and so, one day, I did.
John Reischman
John is indisputably one of the modern masters of the mandolin. He was a key part of The Good Ol’ Persons for more than twenty years, made several ground breaking albums with Tony Rice and has recorded two excellent CD’s of Brazilian and other South American music with guitarist John Miller. For the past few years John Reischman and the Jaybirds have been one of the best traditionally oriented bands in bluegrass music. It was a privilege to have him take part in these sessions.
Ron Spears
Ron is originally from Salt Lake City but now lives in Nashville. In the early 90’s he came up to Alberta and B.C. a number of times with his band The Bluegrass Conspiracy. Since then he’s been a member of Rhonda Vincent’s band, led his own group Within Tradition for a number of years and now plays with Special Consensus. I got to jam with Ron at the Mile 108 workshop in B.C. last year and it was a blast! He has one of the most powerful tenor voices in bluegrass and is a fine mandolin player and songwriter.
Robin Tufts
Though primarily a jazz drummer, Robin has wide musical interests and performs in many different settings. He is a member of Alberta celtic unit Seanachie and has played or recorded with many of the musicians in the Calgary roots music community. Robin is quite technically accomplished but is also comfortable playing a part that is felt as much as it’s heard. That quality made him an ideal choice for an acoustic string band recording.
Sally Van Meter
It seems to me that I’ve been listening to Sally’s dobro playing for as long as I’ve been listening to bluegrass music. Somehow I was put onto The Good Ol’ Persons in the mid 80’s and was totally captivated by the band and by Sally’s sound. I didn’t know it then but part of what I liked about the GOP was their openness, their willingness to incorporate other sounds into the bluegrass music that they played. I am grateful to Sally not only for her incredible playing on this recording but for the very supportive feedback she gave me on each of the tunes in the weeks leading up to the sessions.
Dave Clarke
You won’t hear a note played or sung by Dave on this record but his musicality is still very much a part of it. Dave is a superb guitarist, harmony singer and songwriter and is well known for his work with Steel Rail, Penny Lang and David Francey. He is one of the most astute musicians I know and was quietly relentless in his pursuit of just the right take from each of us. Thanks, Dave!
The Tunes
Riding The Reservoir
I came up with this melody after an invigorating ride around the Glenmore Reservoir on my bike. The tempo and feel are much like my cycling style: not too fast but steady and inclined to take in the scenery as it goes by.
River Keep A Rolling
This song was written by Dick Weissman who was a member of The Journeymen in the 1960’s with John Phillips, later of the Mamas and the Papas, and Scott McKenzie. I first heard the song on an excellent album by Mac Walter and John Cronin called “Cousins”. When I contacted Dick about the publishing information for “River”, which is the title he preferred, he thought the song had never been published or recorded but knew that it was often performed by east coast folk singer Raun McKinnon. That is apparently where John and Mac heard it and I learned it from their version: a modern example of the folk process and aural tradition in action. Check out Dick’s book ‘Which Side Are You On?’ for an interesting take on the folk music revival in America.
Lost Dog Blues
This song was written by Fred Carter, Jr. who was a well known session guitarist in Nashville in the 60’s and 70’s. Fred played on some of Ian and Sylvia’s recordings and is the father of country singer Deana Carter. I heard this song on a cassette recording called “Labour of Love” that I got from Kathy Chiavola at the IBMA convention in 1990.
The Red Haired Boy & The Dark Eyed Girl
I’ve always liked the celtic tune ‘Red Haired Boy’ and the sound of it played on the guitar in A without a capo. But I’ve never been too crazy about the usual chords that get played behind the melody. The E major always struck me as out of place. To my ear the tune sounds better with an E minor and the substitution of a B minor in place of the usual D is a nice change. As well I decided to stick pretty much to A and G chords in the first part of the tune which made it sound more primitive and more powerful to me.
Dark Eyed Girl came about because I wanted a fiddle tune medley in A mixolydian but couldn’t find a slower tune that I liked, so I wrote one. As far as I can tell, the scale of this tune is the same as Red Haired Boy but for an occasional B flat which pops up now and again giving the tune a middle eastern flavour, hence the title.
Walk on Boy
This song was co-written by Mel Tillis and was recorded by Doc Watson on one of his early albums. It’s a little different from what is usually thought of as country blues, but deserves that label all the same in my opinion.
Prairie Rose
This tune was written by Jim McLennan and was a solo guitar piece for many years. At Jim’s suggestion I came up with a second guitar part and it has now become a very nice duet that we often play in our shows. Jim named the tune after one of his favourite hunting dogs now long since passed.
Streets of Calgary
This song was written by Kate Wolf during a rainy weekend at the Calgary Folk Festival in 1985. Boom times have again returned to our city and Kate’s song is as meaningful as ever.
Florida Blues
This bluesy fiddle tune has obscure origins but has been played by many fiddlers over the years including Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith and Vassar Clements as well as guitarists such as Doc Watson and Larry Sparks both of whom influenced my version of the tune.
The Letter
This song was a hit for The Box Tops in 1967 and was covered by Joe Cocker on ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ in 1970. Joe’s version is the inspiration for the acoustic version we’re playing here. Great dobro solo from Sally on this one.
I’m All Through Throwin’ Good Love After Bad
I used to do this song in the Hot House Bluegrass Band with Al LaMonaca, Bill Figeczki and Boh Woodward. It was written by Guy Clark and Richard Leigh and recorded by Guy on his album ‘Old Friends’. I‘ve always loved the song for its melody and the way that it says something quite profound in just a few words.
Stack O’Lee
When I was a university student in London, England a friend played me this song by Mississippi John Hurt and it literally changed my life. I’ve been on a musical quest ever since and while I’ve played many other styles of guitar, I’ve never lost my admiration for John Hurt and his music.
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Bob Evans from Regina covered this tune on an EP of the same name that he released on Little Records in 1979. There are probably not many of us who have this recording but it’s a treasure. Bob says he learned it from the first record by The Original Sloth Band. This lazy lullaby seemed to be a great way to close the album and say “Goodnight”.