MUMBO JUMBO - May ‘09 Edition
SUNDAY, MAY 3rd, Key West
Hey folks! Sorry I’m a little late with the MJ this month but am
literally staggering (or was when I got home at 4am) to the finish line of the
14th annual Key West Songwriter Festival. I have played at Margaritaville
this week with special guest Elsie May and have had the time of my life.
Nothing like hanging with 18-year-olds to keep you young and make you feel old
at the same time! Elsie is already writing amazing songs and was an
absolute joy to hang with. She and her friend Steven were here visiting for a
week from L.A., and along with friend and songwriter Mat Meyers and Justin
Cahill from BMI visiting, it’s been quite a week. I believe it’s fair to
say I did my best to keep up with them and represented my generation pretty
well! I also have to say that these whippersnappers are such amazing
young people that it gives me great hope for the future of the planet!
We played a special show before Mac MacAnally last night at
Margaritaville, which was a purely joyous experience. A packed house of great
listeners
for our set, then a nearly two-hour solo Mac show that was just full of
virtuoso guitar and piano playing, amazing songs and heartfelt stories and a
voice that would send pangs of envy through any singer on the planet. I sat
alone next to the stage and thought to myself that this level of
performance is what every singer/songwriter should aspire to. It’s no wonder
he’s
number one on the charts with Kenny Chesney, the “CMA Musician of the Year”
and headed into the studio to record his own brand new project. CATCH MAC
next time he’s in your neck of the woods!!!!
I awoke bright and early at 11:00 this morning with a phone call from old
buddy Bill Blue with news that a huge manatee was floating next to his
houseboat over in Garrison Bight. I leapt out of bed, jumped into my flip
flops, yelled to my wife and Justin and headed out the door (I was promptly
reminded that my boxer shorts were not proper attire for the marina!). Five
minutes later I was staring down at “Fat Albert,” one of the biggest
manatees I have ever seen! A thousand pounds or more and covered with
barnacles, I was happy to the see the gentle giant looking healthy and
completely
unscathed by any propeller scars. I knelt down on the dock and gave the big
guy a good long back scratch, which he seemed to love judging by the way
his back arched in response. What a fantastic way to start the day! It
made me so thankful to be in Key West on such a lovely morning and inspired
me to rush home and get the Mumbo Jumbo written, cuz there’s lot happening
this month that I want to tell you about.
FINALLY!!!!!!!!!! Itunes!!!!!
Yes sports fans, it’s true! With the tenacious prodding of Gavin, my
fabulous marketing guru at NRG in L.A., and the hard work of my long time
assistant, Terry Lederer, I am slowly clawing my way into the 21st century, one
step at a time. We will also be rolling out a new web site and MySpace
page very soon and all kinds of other new stuff. A whole new look is on the
way (not for me personally, not enough money in the budget!).
Work begins on “ROW ME HOME” produced by Russ Kunkel
I head to Los Angeles on May 21, to begin production on my sixth CD and my
first studio production in about five years, with legendary
drummer/songwriter/ producer (and dad of Elsie May) Russ Kunkel! I’m very
honored and
excited about this chance to work with such a talented and experienced guy.
Russ has performed with most of the artists in my CD collection and even
though we have been friends for only 12 or 13 years, I realized our
connection really goes back to the early 70’s when Russ was a very young
drummer
with James Taylor. At the time, I was a high school student spending endless
solitary days in my room listening to the “Sweet Baby James” album over
and over, trying to learn the songs and figure out those frustrating and
complicated chord patterns that made those songs sound so cool to me.
I never had any guitar lessons back then and to this day can’t read a note
of music, so everything I learned was by ear or by trying to figure out
things by reading the chord symbols over the lyrics. As I look back at some
of my favorite writers and singers over the years including James, Carly
Simon, Carole King, Jackson Browne, Crosby Stills and Nash, Jimmy Buffett and
Lyle Lovett, I realized Russ has worked with all of them and countless
others. He just finished touring Europe with Lyle and is in the studio with
him working on his latest release until we start my project on May 25.
Russ has put together an amazing array of musicians to play on this
recording. His long time rhythm section partner, Leland Sklar will play bass
and
Dean Parks will do most of the lead guitar work. It is not an
overstatement to say that these gentlemen are legendary players and have
literally
played on hundreds of albums and CDs you probably own! Their credits would
take more than 20 pages to list, but just Google them and you can see for
yourself. I’m also ecstatic that Peter Mayer’s longtime friend,
collaborater and band mate Jay Oliver will be playing piano and keyboards.
Jay is
simply a genius musician and arranger and fantastic songwriter and sound
engineer. I’ve known Jay for over 15 years and can’t wait to work with
him.
Several friends have asked me if I’m feeling at all intimated or nervous
about working with such amazing players. The answer would be “YES.” But
let me qualify that by saying I’m always nervous before recording and the
fact is the best musicians in the world can’t make a bad song good. However,
they can make a good song great and my responsibility lies in giving them
good material to work with. I’ve worked hard at writing a bunch of fresh
tunes, just finished writing a new song with Russ and am planning to record
of a couple of jewels written by Russ, Pete Mayer and Roger Guth that have
been in the archives for a dozen years. I feel lucky to have the chance to
put my stamp on these, as I loved them the first time Russ played them for
me.
So you’re probably wondering, hey, what about your guitar player, Country
Dave? Don’t worry, Dave will be making his first trip to LA for the
project (we’ve already alerted LAPD!) to play some guitar and lend his
amazing
vocal talents along with Pete Mayer. Truth be told, Dave is not terribly
fond of doing guitar tracks in the studio. It’s a very different dynamic
than playing live and can be arduous and frustrating if you don’t do it on a
regular basis. There are also amazing studio players who don’t enjoy playing
live as much as the recording process.
We originally set a release date on November 1st, but it’s possible we
might be able to get move that date back to earlier in the fall. I’ll keep
you posted!
SAILING NORTH FOR THE SUMMER!
At the beginning of June, I fly from L.A. back to Jacksonville, where I’m
hooking up with a couple of buddies to sail a 42-ft boat back to New
England. I’m very much looking forward to hopping aboard “Messing
About,” as
it will give me some time to unwind from an extraordinarily hectic spring
and intense time in L.A. The first leg is from St. Augustine, FL, to
Moorehead City, NC, which if done in one straight shot offshore should take 3-4
days, depending on wind. There’s nothing like a few days out at sea to
unwind!
I have to be back in Key West on June 15, to for an engagement at
Margaritaville, so don’t know if I’ll have time to get all the way to New
England.
If you live anywhere on the coast between Norfolk and New Hampshire, you
may see me on your front steps with a sea bag and guitar looking for a
ride to the nearest airport about the 14th of June!
MAY GIGS
SNAPPERS, KEY LARGO, MAY 7, 8 and 9, 7PM -10PM
HOG’S BREATH SALOON, KEY WEST, MAY 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20.
5:30PM-9:30PM (Editor’s note: you can catch these gigs live on the Hog Cam
if you
can’t be in Key West that week: _http://hogsbreath.com/hogcam/stagecam.cfm_
(http://hogsbreath.com/hogcam/stagecam.cfm) )
SUMMER TOUR, July and August
Dave and I have a very busy July and August planned which will take us all
over the eastern half (and a few Midwestern gigs) of the country. We have
put some dates up on the web site and will continue add more as they get
confirmed. If you want to bring us to your neck of the woods please
contact Terry Lederer at _littleflockdistr@..._
(mailto:littleflockdistr@...) .
See you “somewhere between the sun and the moon” and as always… thanks
for listening!
Scott
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Terry Lederer

Little Flock Music
Artist Services
703-476-0268
LittleFlockDistr@...
_www.LittleFlockMusic.com_ (http://www.littleflockmusic.com/)
**************The Average US Credit Score is 692. See Yours in Just 2 Easy
Steps!
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222376998x1201454298/aol?redir=http://\
www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd=M
ay5309AvgfooterNO62)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]