IN THE STUDIO

It is with such a great sense of pride and satisfaction that I put the finishing touches on our latest recording effort. Armed with a folder full of original tunes written by myself and my band, a renowned keyboard player, Bruce Katz, manning the piano and B3 organ, and Duke Robillard as our producer at the helm, we entered Lake West Studios south of Providence, RI and cut all of our rhythm tracks live. What a luxury it was to have keys to fill out and embellish every tune. Bruce, can we take you everywhere we go? Someday, when finances allow, and when the right person shows up, I will have a righteous keyboard player.

Duke was the coolest producer! He has a tireless enthusiasm for his work, a mild manner, hearty sense of humor and is, of course, a musical genius. Its' as if everything Duke has ever listened to is at the forefront of his memory; every lick he has ever learned, at his instant beck and call. There seemed to be no horizons to his musical palate; it appears to be limitless no matter what genre one is exploring with him. If needed, he had ideas for all of the instruments involved, for little parts, arrangements, grooves, and needless to say, I couldn't help but employ his guitar prowess more than once, during the sessions.

Duke and I each grabbed acoustic guitars and the band cut a live version of "Was Ya Blue" by Dan Castagno. I was so inspired by the two guitars together that I asked Duke to join me on electric for a tune called, "Love The Game" written by Don and myself. I wanted to get that rockin' T-Birds kind of thing and there is nothing tougher than two guitars locking up tight!

When special guest Coco Montoya arrived, I talked him and Duke into joining me in some background vocals for the same tune. Between the giggles and laughter, I think we got some great stuff.

I've been thinking for a while that it would be fun to get Duke and Coco together in the studio. Though they are very different and unique blues artists from eachother, knowing them both as the deeply talented, consummate pro's that they are, I know they would connect! Each having a great backlog of studio experience, wacky senses of humor, and a love of gadgets big and small, I watched the room catch fire and then we had a ball!

On my instrumental, "Fired Up" we did get just that, plus shared solo duties, throwing the licks back and forth toward the end.

For my funky, Albert Collins' style tune called, "Can't Live Like This No More," I got Coco to sing some almost Gospel inspired backing vocals with me, and Duke to be my guitar foil. Man! did the Duke take off and do some pyrotechnics on this one! Says Duke, "Everybody hires me to play jump-swing blues. I never get to do this stuff!" It's one more example of his multifaceted musicianship. Right now we're hoping for a March release. . . Stay tuned!