It’s been almost a year since my last Studio Notes update, but there’s been a lot happening at MPM Studio.  I’ll skip the expected commentary on the effects of the virus on the music scene, suffice it to say that I think we’re seeing a way forward.

A bunch of musicians, songwriters and podcasters have taken advantage of the live music slow-down to catch up on recording projects, and the studio has been busy.  Almost all sessions have been small, one or two well-distanced participants, and here’s where my somewhat unorthodox control room/live room separation has proved a surprising plus factor in these unusual times.

The year’s client list is long, and starts with a few projects which we finished up in the pre-Covid early months of the year, notably ex-pat Brit and Ed Sheeran mentor Luke Concannon’s fantastic and utterly original new CD Ecstatic Bird in the Burning. Here’s a charming video:

And, a lovely Irish jig-inspired piece with a twist: instrumental ‘A’ section, vocal ‘B’ section-something I’ve never encountered.  Luke was kind enough to enlist me on rhythm acoustic guitar for this one:

More music from across the pond, the UK’s popular acoustic country/bluegrass trio Lunch Special

Here’s a sweet re-working of a late-career Beach Boys number:

A very young talent, just starting to get her ‘feet wet’ in the studio is UNH student and NY native Meira.  We’ve been exploring all kinds of music from the ‘Great American Songbook’, plus some favorites from the 50s and 60s and the classic Country repertoire.

Here she is, with my guitar accompaniment, on an Everly Brothers piece, followed by an early jazz-era standard:

Local songwriter Dick Gsottschneider is an experienced and well-developed craftsman whose music reminds me of Townes Van Zandt and John Prine.  We did pre-production for his latest collection here at MPM, recorded basic tracks down in Nashville with a cast of A-teamers at Studio 19, and finished up back here.  I’d prefer to add all the songs we did to this post, but in the interest of brevity, here’s a great cajun-inflected ‘side’ with Matt Combs on fiddle, Jeff Taylor on accordion:

One of the most enjoyable and gratifying projects to ever come my way!  Dave Hamil, who sadly passed away in 2019, was an immensely talented folk musician, singer, virtuoso banjo player whose name would ring bells in the memories of his 60s/70s contemporaries and colleagues, people like John Denver, Judy Collins, Michael Martin Murphy, The Smothers Brothers, Roger McGuinn, The Dillards, Randy Sparks, the list goes on.  The stories he had!  I had the privilege of getting to know Dave and his wife, who spent their summers on the ocean in Rye.  His widow Ellen asked me to dig through dozens of solo recordings he had done in his home studio and pick out a dozen or so for me to overdub guitar, mandolin and background vocals to his vocal/concertina tracks.  An honor, to say the least.  Most of his material on this project comes from the Anglo/American and Maritime Folk tradition, but he was an excellent songwriter.

Newburyport’s Lee Biddle has a deep, warm country-flavored vocal style which he very ably accompanies on his beautiful vintage WWII-era Gibson J-45.  We had a lot of fun working out arrangements with a couple of acoustic guitars, mandolin, train whistle (and real whistling!) on his latest project:

It wouldn’t surprise me to hear one of  Harrison Guptill’s songs as credits roll at the end of an indie film festival winner. The Kittery Maine singer/songwriter brought in a talented group of friends (one at time, of course, in this contagion-sensitive moment) to augment his unique guitar style on his first foray into the world of studio recording.

Nantucket native and Portsmouth resident Meg Hunter has woven yet another couple of tapestries, original compositions that follow right in the footsteps of the great 60s-era topical writers.  Again, the arrangements featured a cast of her friends and family, notably her sister Cathy Aguiar, who contributed a number of her own charming songs.

And there’s more, sound clips and cover art to follow:  Tere Kipp has started a project of original acoustic blues music; Sarah Hydorn winding up a collection of her library-program-tested children’s songs; Mike Harrist, stellar bassist surprising me with excellent finger-style guitar and vocal poetry. Then there’s the Chickenshack Bluegrass band, Andrew Raywood, Bob and Jen Strom with a second trad project, fiddler/banjoist Ryan Thomson and his virtuosic son Brennish, old Nashville compatriot Richard Helm, Irish flute legend Peter Maguire restoring some very old recordings of his accordionist father’s, Sabrina Movitz and her father with some Great American Songbook duets.