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| Dead Man Walking |
© 2000 Woodward-Weiss, Spatula Ranch Music/All Hit No Cattle (ASAP) All Rights Reserved
BW: Lead & harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, footsteps, jawbone, castanets
Jon Graboff: Pedal steel
Pete Green: Drums
Mick Hargreaves: Harmony vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
Chris Mehos: Acoustic 12 string guitar, harmony vocals, footsteps
Danny Weiss: Lead guitar, 6 string bass guitar, acoustic guitar
This is a rough mix from our most recent recording sessions in Hoboken last summer. Can't wait to give 'em the final spit & polish, but meanwhile you get an exclusive preview.
Remember when you were about 20 years old & you'd do damn fool things like waking up next to some strange person after a wild party, & your pants are nowhere to be found...so, like, you have to walk home in your skivvies & Beatle boots, wondering how you'll explain it when you get home? That's what's known as "The Last Mile," the distance from the cell to Old Sparky, with the guards cheerfully shouting, "DEAD MAN WALKING!" to clear the hall as they escort you to your doom...those were the "good old days," er, right?
Mick, Danny, Chris & I all gang up on acoustics for the rhythm tracks, with a bit of foot stomping in the storage room. Thanks to Chris Butler for loaning us the Danelectro tic tac guitar.
| Stream: | LoFi (Modem) HiFi (Broadband) | Download: | DeadManWalking.mp3 DeadManWalking.m4a |
Recorded at: The Think Tank, Hoboken, NJ June 2003
Engineer: Matt Azzarto
| Other Man |
© 1998 Woodward, Spatula Ranch Music (ASAP) All Rights Reserved
BW: Lead & harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12 string guitar, electric piano
Jon Graboff: Pedal steel
Pete Green: Drums
Mick Hargreaves: Harmony vocals, bass, acoustic guitar, telephone
Chris Mehos: Harmony vocals, acoustic guitar
Danny Weiss: Lead guitar, acoustic guitar
Inspired by Loretta Lynn's "The Other Woman," & an old riff I've had kicking around since the Lost Patrol days. What if...the "other woman" also had another man on the side, how would HE be feeling? And can he find his trousers?
Mick sang that line on the bridge through a nifty boutique mic that was built using the mouthpiece from a circa 1940's bakelite Bell telephone. I was trying to avoid the McGuinn vibe this time & instead shot for one of those cranky old Burns 12 strings from the 60's. Peter Stuart was out of town, so I double-tracked the Tele & Chris's Yamaha 12 (with Bartolini sound hole pickup) through a Line6 on the "AC-30" setting, then Matt put a little swirly on it. Works for me!
| Stream: | LoFi (Modem) HiFi (Broadband) | Download: | OtherMan.mp3 OtherMan.m4a |
Recorded at: The Think Tank, Hoboken, NJ June 2003
Engineer: Matt Azzarto
| New White House Blues |
© 1996 Woodward-Molotov-Gold (ASCAP, SOCAN), Used by Permission, All Rights Reserved
BW: Banjo, guitar, vocalProduced by BW, engineered by The Bicker Brothers, BW
Mick Hargreaves: Bass, vocal
Gary Gold: Guitar, vocal
Dave Rimelis: Fiddle
Richard D. Smith: Mandolin
Mike Levine: Dobro
Recorded at House of Vibes, Highland Park, NJ, & Spatula Ranch II, Jersey City, NJ.
Released on Bootlegs
| Stream: | LoFi (Modem) HiFi (Broadband) | Download: NewWhiteHouseBlues.mp3 |
Here's a forgotten little gem from The Ghost Rockets days, exhumed just in time for the 40th anniversary of the JFK assassination / U.S. military-industrial coup.
This is a re-write of the old fiddle tune "McKinley's Gone (White House Blues)" by Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers, updated, of course, to 1963.
| Roses (To You) |
© 1994 Spatula Ranch Music (ASCAP), Used by Permission, All Rights Reserved
BW: Lead vocals, drums, bass, acoustic guitar, Nashville acoustic, electric guitar, percussionProduced by BW
Gary Gold: Harmony vocal, Nashville acoustic
David Ribyat: Harmony vocal, lead guitar
Bob Hoffnar: Pedal Steel
Scott Finter: Harmony vocal
Recorded at Spatula Ranch, Hoboken, NJ; mixed at House of Vibes, Highland Park, NJ
Released on Spatula Ranch Sessions, Vol. 1 (Pop The Balloon Records)
| Stream: | LoFi (Modem) HiFi (Broadband) | Download: Roses.mp3 |
This was cut at Spatula Ranch's first location on Park Ave. in Hoboken, not long after the 2nd GRox line-up imploded, sometime in 1994. In fact, Gary & I cut a lot of the GRox signature tunes between '94 & early '97 in that manner — just the two of us, with the occasional "Guest Rocket," or friend we were trying to steal from someone else's band. Recorded on a brand new Tascam 488 8-track recorder I destroyed my credit card buying, Berringer AutoCom compressor/limiter, DigiTech & BOSS DSP's, an assortment of Sure, ElectroVoice, PZM & CAD mics, Martin acoustics, Telecasters, Chris Mehos' Rickenbacker bass, & a set of '65 orange sparkle Premier drums. We called David Ribyat back in to reprise his lead guitar & middle-8 vocal, as well as a rare appearance from the elusive Mr. Scott Finter on the high harmony. Both stayed & raided the 'fridge while we were working. Mixed at House of Vibes, with the Notorious Bicker Brothers. Usually, we'd cut the drums on to four tracks (kick, snare & two overheads), bass (through a Tech21 bass direct box), two tracks of me & Gary playing rhythm acoustics (Martin D-1, D-16A, Dian plywood model, Shanandoah dreadnought Nashville strung), + a percussion track, then mix it all down to a stereo pair on DAT at House of Vibes, fly it back to the 488, take it back to the Ranch for guitars, steel, vocals, etc., then mix it all at HOV.
| With Care From Someone |
© 1968 Irving-Almo Music (ASCAP), Used by Permission, All Rights Reserved
BW: Lead vocal, high baritone vocal on chorus, banjo, acoustic guitarProduced by Jay Sherman-Godfrey & BW
Mick Hargreaves: Lead vocal on chorus, Beatle bass
Gary Gold: Tenor vocal on chorus, Nashville guitar
Pete Green: Drums
Bob Hoffnar: Dobro, pedal steel
Barry Mitterhoff: Mandolin
Recorded at SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY; Jay's House, Queens, NY; Sonomat, NYC
Released on Full Circle: A Tribute to Gene Clark (Not Lame Recordings)
| Stream: | LoFi (Modem) HiFi (Broadband) | Download: With-Care.mp3 |
This Dillard & Clark classic has always been one of my faves, so I was thrilled to record it for "Full Circle," the Gene Clark tribute CD. It also happens to be the GRox's last studio recording, co-produced with World Famous Blue-Jay Sherman-Godfrey. Bob used a Hughes & Kettner RotoSphere to get that great Leslie effect on the steel. Rhythm tracks were recorded on ADAT at a very large symphony rehearsal room at SUNY Purchase (acoustic guitars up in the stairway), with the dobro, steel & vocals being cut at Jay Sherman-Godfrey's home studio, & Skyline superstar Barry Mitterhoff's '39 Gibson F-5 mandolin at Sonomat (where I do a lot of cartoon voice over work). I wanted to do the harmonies at the symphony space, with all five of us ganging up on the chorus, but we ran out of time so they were double-tracked at Jay's: Mick takes the lead during the choruses, Gary sings tenor above him, & I jumped from lead up to high razor baritone. Works better in the studio than on stage! Last recording with the Deering Maple Blossom (with a rag stuffed in the resonator, loads of compression, & the D-string tuned down a whole step). I got the Terminator a few months later... As I remember it, Jay didn't have to do a whole lot of fader moves, we worked the mics with the acoustic instruments pretty carefully during initial tracking. I love the interplay between the mando & dobro.
