RIP Pearl

The DjBGB suspended recording this weekend as we mourn the death of our friend, Kitty Ray & MJ’s dog, Pearl.  Pearl girl was a fixture at the studio and a finer hound dog there never was.   She has gone on to her great reward.  I think there’s a song in there somewhere….  RIP, Pearl.  You’ll be missed.

Day 1, Project 2

Chief Engineer Jonesy had everything ready to roll and did a fabulous job keeping us on track and rolling

More than expected.  For Day 1, we had a goal of the five of us getting familiar with the setup, used to the equipment, and maybe, just maybe, getting 1 or 2 usable rhythm tracks.  MJ was so prepared for the session with proper tempos, drum tracks to keep us on time, and a set-up that worked right out of the box.

MJ manning the board through the studio glass with lyrics to “Gold Paper Sides” in the foreground.

We ended up with the complete rhythm tracks to 3 songs: a gospel waltz “Gold Paper Sides”, a mid-tempo bluegrass song called “Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone”, and a traditional bluegrass tune in the tradition of Mama Don’t Allow called “On the Radio”.   For not having played a note together in almost 2 months, we felt very good about that.  

JB and Todd ready for the session.

Joey leaves for Spain for about a month in February, so we are concentrating on getting material down that we are supremely familiar with before he leaves.  While he’s gone we’ll do some solo work, work on scratch tracks for when he returns, and clean up some loose ends. 

TC, Keith, and JB look on as Chief Recording Engineer Jonesy works on troubleshooting some mic positioning.

We were getting a little bit too much bleed from the bass so the last half of the recording session poor Todd had to be quarantined behind one of the carpet walls to cut down on the bleed from the fiddle.  In an effort to create a more “live” feel to the project, we are recording together in the same room, which makes it all the more important to concentrate because, unlike recording in separate rooms where we could clean up one person’s mess by recording over mess-ups, if one of us screws up on a rhythm track it affects the entire band, and we have to scrap it. 

RW tuning up getting ready for “Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone”…lyrics in the foreground

So we’re off till Thursday when Mark and I will get together and work on a scratch track for a new song that the band has yet to play.  We are using Thursday nights as our proactive attempt to get material ready to be “consumed” by the band.  Last Thursday we recorded a couple of “potentials”, one called “$8 Beer”, and another (a fiddle tune) called “Uncle John’s Creek”.  Whether they make the cut or not remains to be seen. 

More to come in a few days….

Follow along with us on our new CD Project

The DejaBlue Grass Band begins a new chapter in earnest today, January 9th, 2010.  1+9=10.  Nice, huh? After a nice long break, we are embarking on our 2nd CD project and we invite you to follow along.   It’s something we’ve had designs on since shortly after we released “Bucket Full of Rain” in May 2008.    After finding a sound we were comfortable with on the title cut, and covering 14 other songs on the first go-round, the question began to surface: Could we do an entire project of original material?   And so it began, with putting some ideas down on paper and noodling around with some tunes, and bringing them to the band for us to wrap our minds around and make our own.  Flash forward two years and here we are.  We have written, finished, and performed about 6 originals, fooled around with 3 more or so, and have about 5 songs written that we have yet to work up.

One of the most exciting things about the project is that we happen to have a PhD in Electrical Engineering who plays a mean banjo, and who has agreed to be executive producer, engineer, and task-master.  Our own Mark Lehi Jones has already spent countless hours converting his old office into a full-fledged recording studio for us.  One thing during the first CD project that we thought was missing was the ability create a live “vibe”  when recording, (We recorded in different rooms and then mixed), so Mark has ingeniously designed this recording room that will simultaneously allow us to sing in a room together, while not allowing the sound to bleed from mic to mic.  It really quite innovative.  You’ll notice in the picture here that each red box is lined with sound absorbent casing and a mic in the middle.

This will be a totally new experience for us, creating our own sound with our own music in our own studio.  Should be fun!  I’m going to take pictures and video and update after each recording session.  I’m hoping that official DjBGB photographer/videographer Kitty Ray Jones will join me in that effort, too.  So follow along, give us feedback, and let us know what you think!  We’re very excited!

DjBGB

DejaDog November 20th, RedLight Cafe

Winter creeping ’round the corner?
You need a DejaDog to keep you warmer
Before the holidays and family drive you nuts
Come whet your whistle with us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nelson Nolan, Bradley Cole Smith, Morgan Baruzzini, John Willingham of Olde Dog

We are very excited to announce a special pre-holiday jam we call “DejaDog!” The DejaBlue Grass Band team up with our special friends Olde Dog at the Red Light Cafe in Atlanta, Friday Night, November 20th!

If you’ve never Olde Dog, you are in for a treat. Excellent instrumentation, and there isn’t a better voice in all of Alt-Country music than Bradley Cole Smith.

OD goes on about 8, DjBGB about 9ish, and then stick around for a special jam set with both bands.  The place will sell out quickly so get there early and stay late.  We promise a great time just in time for the holidays!

Opening for Trampled by Turtles Friday 10/23 at Smith’s Olde Bar

Trampled By Turtles

We open for Trampled by Turtles on Friday night at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta.  Really looking forward to hearing these guys.  I’ve heard a lot about them, and actually got wind that I should give’m a listen from a guy in Zac Brown’s band in casual conversation on the tarps in Telluride this Summer when we were at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.   They’ve got this great frenetic energy and Appalachian-rooted sound that reminds me of Old Crow Medicine Show meets the Del McCoury Band.   Young guys makin’ it happen on the bluegrass scene…most of the time sitting down as best I can tell.  Fabulous sound, and a different approach.  Sign me up!  I love discovering great new bands and these guy fit the bill for sure.

Y’all come join us won’t you?

HOToberfest, THIS weekend!

How ’bout the DejaBlue Grass Band and oh, say, 170 world-class beers to choose from?  That’s what we promise if you join us for HOToberfest Atlanta 2009, this weekend, Oct 3rd. This is sure to be one of Atlanta’s best festivals.  How could it not be?  Killer Fall weather in a funky in-town neighborhood, with a fabulous musical line up, in a people watching paradise, and like I said, while you trip the light fantastic in the biergarten for $30 bucks.  Atlanta needed a internationally reknowned Beer festival, and this is it.   The DejaBlue Grass Band goes on about 2PM or so.  Join us won’t you?  Meet us in the biergarten and the first one’s on us.

Brewtubin’ Asheville

Video by Kitty Ray Jones, Cat’s Eye Editorial

We had a blast in Asheville!  What a fabulous festival.  ‘Course, how can it not be with 40 breweries, killer live music from some great bands, including Dehlia Low, Black Lillies, Blueground Undergrass, and Jim Lauderdale, set in the Smoky Mountain crown jewel of Asheville…and best of all NO RAIN!  It poured all Friday,and all Sunday on the drive home, but for whatever reason, on Saturday it was a clear as summer pilsner.

About an hour after we finished out set, unlaxed from the Brewgrass stage, and began sampling all the deliciously hoppy goodies being poured about the festival, it came to our attention that Barley’s Taproom had already advertised that we were to be their feature band that night.  Good thing we got word when we did.  A little more “sampling” time, and it might’ve been curtains for the DjBGB.   I have no idea how we got that gig, but the place was packed when we got there.   Since no one know us, we felt like we needed to hit’em with a sing-a-long to get us off on the right foot, so we played “Wagon Wheel” by OCMS, and on cue, about 150 people began belting it out with us at the top of their lungs, from the first syllable to the echo of the last note.   So loud I could barely hear myself sing.  Even though it wasn’t one of our songs, it was quite a thrill, and it made me wonder what it must be like for a crowd to sing one of our original songs.  I plan to make that happen.  It was as good as it gets.  I think we plan on being there next year, even if we don’t play!

Rollin’ up to Asheville

After a month off, the DejaBlue Grass band cranks it back up and hits the road this week to play the sold-out Asheville Brewgrass Festival on Saturday, September 19th.   We have all been pulled in completely different directions over the past 30 days, and haven’t so much as picked up an instrument for more than just a little livin’ room pickin’ here and there.  We’re gonna hit the streets on Friday night and jam in the downtown streets and alleys and hopefully get a good groove going, then after a brief rehearsal on Saturday morning, hit the stage on Saturday afternoon.   Hopefully, the venerable Kitty Ray Jones will bring her soopabad photo and video equipment to make us look like rockstars, and we’ll post some fun stuff about the weekend.

Sights and Scenes from the Decatur BBQ, Blues, and Bluegrass Festival

Decatur is without a doubt, the coolest hamlet in the city…the baby bear of Atlanta: Not too small, not too big, not too far, not too close, not too uptown, not too downtown, just beautiful in every way.  I wouldn’t live anywhere else.  So it was a thrill for the DejaBlue Grass Band to play Decatur’s BBQ, Blues, and Bluegrass Festival.  After we worked out a few songs and sound kinks  (gonna happen at a tightly scheduled festival setting…no sound checks) we rolled for 50 minutes or so.  Great music preceded and followed.  That’s a fabulous festival, and I hope we’ll be invited back.

In case you missed it, please join us this Saturday,8/22.  We’ll be headlining the Cliff Valley Bluegrass Festival not too far down the road! (Off Clairmont Road in North Decatur).  Hope to see ya’ll there!

6th Annual Cliff Valley Bluegrass Festival

Decatur BBQ, Blues & Bluegrass This Saturday!

Join us for the Decatur BBQ, Blues, and Bluegrass Festival this Saturday at Harmony Park in Oakhurt Village.  To promote the festival, the DejaBlue Grass Band was onFox 5’s  “Good Day Atlanta’ this morning.  Watch us! Click on the “Good Day Atlanta” Tab, then the Road Warrior: Decatur Blues link.  I would post the video here but WordPress must not be able to accept the flash player they have on their website.   We played “Little Bit of Life”.  I’ll try to post the video some other way, but as of now, I can’t figure it out!

Saturday will be a good time.  Lot’s of good barbecue and music, even vegetarian selections, so ya’ll c’mon!