CREDITS:
The
Gladhouse
Produced and MIxed by Derek
and Jon Cooper
Engineered
by Derek
Assistant
engineer Joanna Justice
Basic tracks recorded on location in a house in Ospriala, VA. Additional recording
at the Barn Studio, Media PA
+Recorded at the Barn Studio
Mixed at the Barn Studio
Mastered by Peter Humphreys at Masterworks, Philadelphia
PA
Strings recorded at Studio Strings, Madison WI
Photography by Joey McLaughlin and
Alex Lowy
Music
by
Derek (except Sweet by Derek and Dave Lenat)
Lyrics by Derek
String Arrangments by Jon Cooper (except Sweet by Derek and Chris
Wagoner)
Derek Chafin: vocal, guitar, programming, bass and drums on "May
Be Hours", cello on "Even Though"
Tim Reeder: drums
Chris Sidel: bass
Chris Wagoner - Violin and Viola
Mary Gaines - Cello
Doug
Shaffer - Trumpet on "Huntington"
Larry Toft - Trombone on "Come With Me"
Jim Stager - Upright Bass on "Huntington"
David Lenat - Guitar sounds on "May Be Hours"
Ivan Stiles- String Tree on "Come With Me"
Joanna Justice - Piano on "Twist"
TRACK
LIST:
01.
COME WITH ME
02. EVEN THOUGH +
03. SWEET THAT RUNS THRU
04. WHO ARE YOU NOW
05. TWIST OF FATE +
06. HOME
07. DON'T WAIT
08. MAY BE HOURS +
09. CLOSE YOUR EYES +
10. SEND YOU LOVE +
11. WHAT ABOUT LOVE
12.
HUNTINGTON
MAKING OF:
Jon Cooper
and I met when we were twelve years old. When we were thirteen the very first
day I got my gold top Les Paul he dropped it on the concrete floor when I
took it to his basement to play. No harm though. A few years later he brought
a girl he thought I should meet to my birthday party (a girl I ending up dating
for years). A few years later he was the one I called to record my first songs,
which we did in a little basement in Boston, where he was attending and not
attending Berkeley School of Music. He was also the one I called to produce
my very first record "Cellar Into Eaves" by the Darrows. To say
he's always been there for me would be a vast understatement. It would kind
of be like an offensive lineman saying the quarterback had always been there
for him. When Jon comes into a project it's almost silently and from then
on he brings game.
I was
in the middle of making my solo record, I had just broken up my band (in a
very mutually loving way) with it's last record still floating in space. So
the only thing to do was start yet another record. Actually, while making
the first solo record I realized that much of the material wasn't fitting
in with the rest of the record. It was quiet and extremely intimate but I
thought they were still good songs. I also thought I needed to start playing
out again and needed a quick demo so I could hit the local coffee house circuit.
Just me and a guitar - no fuss, no mess, and down to the bones of a song.
Something in me was saying you need to record acoustically too. With this
idea for a demo to get gigs in mind I arranged for a recording on location
in VA. The same place I had recorded "Flinty Loam" with my band
a few years before. It is a magical place. No other way to describe it. I
wanted this incredibly loose feeling. I wanted it to be candle light and vibe.
I convinced Tim Reeder of my former band to come and play drums. Tim and I
had played for what seemed to be forever together and when I say we know each
other musically I mean when one breathes the other exhales - we are just always
locked in. Chris Sidel, who had also been in my band but only for a brief
time before I put the burden down, was to play bass. Who would work the control
room?? Who?? I called Jon.
Tim and
I had recorded so much together, our first record, which we recorded at Prince's
Paisley Park, to remote on location recording. It was always intense and fairly
thought out. This was not what I wanted this time. I really only cared if
I walked away with one good take on two songs. On purpose I didn't let anyone
hear the material before we were recording. Literally. Some of what you hear
on the record is the band hearing and playing the song for the first time.
It was instinct. This is what I wanted. I'd been listening to Van Morrison's
Astral Weeks and I wanted that same feeling - of being able to hear the musicians
breathe, on the edge and responding emotionally to what they were hearing
instead of thinking about what they were playing. I also knew I could count
on these musicians to not sound floundering, wasteful, or jamy. I relied on
the musicians that they are to interpret the material from the heart. No one
worked out parts before hand and the material didn't feel stale by the time
we recorded it. We were in the moment. I went down the day before to set everything
up so there would have to be no draining, soul robbing sound check. Tim and
Jon arrived the next night. The living room, a big cathedral ceiling, marble
floors, windows all around, candles burning everywhere, was where the drums
and bass were set up. I looked in from another room through a glass door into
that room so Tim and I could see each other but have a little bit of sound
isolation for the mics. Gear was set up and ready to go. He walked in and
picked up his sticks and we were recording. "Don't Wait" and "Come
With Me" were recorded that night. We felt a little drunk. Yes, we'd
been drinking but that's not what I'm talking about. It was pretty heady and
emotional stuff. It was kind of like what we'd always wanted recording to
be and it was a present to each other for being such good friends and having
traveled so long through the music industry together. It could have been a
"Oh no, here we go again", but it was the opposite - it was the
culmination, it was a little personal victory lap for us. Chris joined us
the next afternoon. By the night of the next day it was over. A total of 24
hours in one place all together, then back to Philly. I wanted a tight schedule
because I wanted it to have a definite end while being happy if we only captured
one moment. It surpassed my expectations. Early in the morning, after Tim
and Chris had gone to sleep Jon and I were listening back to the takes of
the day. Jon said "You know this is a record don't you?" It was
all of a sudden an extremely frightening thing for me. Oh, God, NOT ANOTHER
ONE! I'm stretched thin and behind schedule on the one I was already making!
But I also thought he was absolutely right. It was not the demo I'd planned.
No, it was to be its own and fully realized and it was screaming that to both
of us through the speakers. Jon had been quiet at first but by the end of
the sessions he was a commander. A producer with a total vision beyond what
we were hearing. He moved players subtly into different approaches without
them ever feeling that he was telling them what to do or ruining the vibe.
Somewhere along the way he became Fred Astare to our Ginger Rodgers. It was
only at the end of the session that we realized how much Coop had been essential
to those tracks. Quietly he entered.
Jon and I returned to Barn Studio where we edited together the best moments
of each song from numerous takes into one take. I'd like to say, this was
not the case for "Huntington" - it was one take and "Come With
Me" and "Don't Wait" - each two takes. We fixed some vocals
and then Jon began to write the sting arrangements. We were really concerned
that what ever we put on the tracks would take away from what was already
there so it was with much caution that we both proceeded. It took a painfully
long time, constant and unending amounts of work, trial and error, rewrites
but finally the day came when the scores were ready to send to the string
players and book session time for the horn players.
The stings were played by a husband and wife team, friends of Jon's in Madison
WI. Jon sent the charts and they would record and double their tracks building
into what would normally be a 8 or 12 piece ensemble. Chris and Mary quickly
became not just players but intrigal to the record. They were getting under
the music's skin and both Jon and I loved them loving it.
So with all parts assembled and some parts left out, (many of which were played by the great Ivan Stiles and he's gonna kill me that I left all his amazing Hurdy Gurdy parts out), we proceeded to mix. It didn't give up without a fight. The simpler it is the harder it can be. I listened to first mix - "Huntington", a deeply personal song, a requiem to my father, and I knew I lived up as much as I could to the record. Everyone gave it their best and their all - I could want no more. The rest is up to you. As for me, I am profoundly honored to have been a part. I hope how special it was to the musicians comes across in the tracks and you feel them breathe a little bit.