The Session Men

2017 – 2020

After more than a decade away from songwriting, it was with some trepidation that I ventured back in to the studio. Perhaps it is my son Selby’s fault! Helping him with two of his records, and having a large backlog of material on “voice memos” dating back too far, I realized how much I missed the act and craft of writing. So, in 2017, with not a little uncertainty, I sat down with Selby to see if we could shape some of those “memos” into songs. After a number of false starts, we got a bunch of them going nicely and from there the floodgates opened. With quite a few “Americana” ideas in need of a different feel, I then contacted an old session friend Ray Legere. We had never written together so, again, this was a bit of a leap. As it turned out, a leap into the wellspring. There was an instant writing alchemy with Ray and ten more solid songs coalesced quickly. With a strong song list in hand I wondered if there were any good finished songs from the back catalogue still unrecorded that might round things out. Jolene Richard’s “She Needs to Know” fit that slot perfectly.

By 2019, after whittling the song list and pre-production, we were ready to record. The project was undertaken at Ray’s studio in Sackville, New Brunswick with Ray at the engineering and production controls.

It has been, and remains, my extreme pleasure to work with each of the artists on this page. Some I have known for many years across many projects. Others, I met for the first time on this endeavor. One was just a “little boy” when I started making records and has grown up, too fast, to be a fine musician in his own right and, now, a principal co-writer.

Each of these musicians brought not only their tremendous talent and taste to these songs, but also a passion for excellence. Each was invested in the songs and willing to submit to as many takes as Ray and I felt were needed to deliver the full potential of each song – often into the wee hours, on weekends.

Though the process was long, and seems a blur now, a number of highlights spring to mind – Bruce coming up with the tremendous Bass line for “Past the Point”, Jesse bringing the coup de grâce to “Café in Paris” and Zydeco signature to “Heartbreak Highway”, Paul absolutely nailing the “Soggy Bottom” three part harmonies for “Box ‘er Up”, “Airstream” and “Heartbreak Highway”, Lina’s enduring and incredible sensitivity on all of her backing vocal and duet parts, Geoff playing every available surface on his percussion kit and a vinyl LP jacket cover, Selby nailing the John Prine walking guitar style and bringing in beautiful songs, both guitar and piano based, for us to work on, and last but by no means least, Ray. 

I cannot express my gratitude to Ray Legere sufficiently. From songwriting to performance and production, Ray went above and beyond the call to see this massive 14-song project through. As a songwriter, he was, and is, a joy to write with. His knowledge of grooves and song structure is encyclopedic. His ability to deliver those feels with Guitar, Mandolin and or Fiddle, in conjunction with Selby’s eclectic grooves, made the project spring beautifully to life. Ray’s expertise as a sound engineer and tireless, patient, software work made us all sound good – perhaps better than we actually are. His steady hand as a producer kept this daunting undertaking moving forward over two full years. Finally, his solo performances sprinkled absolute magic over everything he touched.  Thank you.