A last-minute country music recording session

On Wednesday afternoon, I got this text from Tom Hood, ukulele player extraordinaire and leader of the band I sometimes play with:

I hadn’t seen Tom since November, I’m always happy to collaborate with hime, and it’s been a while since I’ve recorded in a studio that wasn’t my home office, so it was easy to say “Yes!”.

If you’re wondering how I could possibly sign on to record an accordion part for a song I’d never heard before on the following day:

1. The song, Whisper in My Ear, is pretty straightforward (but catchy!) country waltz. It’s just three chords and heartbreak.
2. Twenty-five years of lugging an accordion to all sorts of places, from bars to conference stages to airplanes stuck on the tarmac, will make you a great improviser.

So I made my way to South Tampa on Thursday evening and brought two accordions into the studio and rehearsal space, situated in a building behind a house of friendly guy who introduced himself to me as Wayne.

The place had a homey feel that reminded me of my friend Chris Walmsley’s basement, where Volume, the band I played with at Crazy Go Nuts University rehearsed.

After a couple of rehearsal runs, it was time to record! Dennis McCarthy, whom I’d met as the drummer with the band that played at Tom’s birthday party, was the sound engineer.

“Ready?” asked Dennis, whose voice I heard through the monitor headphones.

“Let’s do this,” I replied.

“D’you wanna record another one?” I heard Tom say over my monitor headphones.

I couldn’t resist and was soon presented with a chord chart and a listen to the song in its current state.

Once again, I did two takes, which included a little noodling to go into the solo, and we were done!

I was invited into the booth to hear some of the other songs that Tom had recorded.

After listening to a couple of songs, it was time to go home. I bade good night to Tom, Dennis, and Wayne, hoping that I might have another opportunity to record there.

I’ll post a link to the tune once it’s published!