Hi,
The title track from my new album, Melody Trail, is released as a single today. I wrote it the day before my birthday last year, which is historically a fruitful day for me. Pretty much right away, it was one of my favorite things I’d ever written. In the studio, Ryan and I approached it different from anything else we tracked. It’s the only song we did live together: him on drums, me on nylon-string guitar and vocals. We overdubbed harmonies and bass and keys and slide guitar and even handclaps, although I’m pretty sure those didn’t make the final cut. It was a warm day in September, and during a break in recording, Ryan took his guitar upstairs and stood in the doorway and just kept soloing as the sun shone through. Really nice memory. I hope you like the song.
I started making music as The Bird Calls when I was like 13, and since then it’s almost always been just me alone, minus some studio collaborators and the one show I played last year with Winston on keys. This long solitary history ends a week from today! After years of dreaming about it, I’ve finally assembled the first ever full-band lineup of The Bird Calls, and it’s all heavy hitters. We’ve got Jason Burger on drums, Winston-Cook Wilson on keys, Andy Cush on bass, and Ryan Weiner on guitar. Our debut show is at 7pm on Monday, February 10 at Tradesman. (Mr. California—the improv band featuring Ryan and Jason and Derek Weaving—will open.) Rehearsals have been very exciting. If you only attend one Bird Calls show in your life, I recommend this one.
A review I wrote of Jerry Garcia’s first solo album, Garcia, went up on Pitchfork yesterday. I’ve loved this album a long time, and some of my favorite Grateful Dead songs were first documented here in artsy, solo, studio-auteur renditions. A couple people have hit me up with live versions of “Loser” they prefer to the one I singled out in this review as the definitive take. I’ve loved listening to all of them. They’re all definitive. God bless the Deadheads.
I was thinking about how when you are a kid learning to skip stones, it feels like actual magic watching someone else do it. Your stones keep plunking, one after the other, no matter how hard you try. In fact, the harder you try, the more they seem to plunk. Then the masters do it and it looks so graceful and elegant, smooth stones dancing beyond eyesight, all weightless and skittering. Eventually you throw one that works and realize how natural it feels. This to me seems like a good metaphor for writing, which so often starts with an easy intuitive gesture and goes far beyond what you imagine.
I’ve been reading Raymond Carver’s poetry, and, you know what, I think it’s really underrated.
In dreams,
Sammy
1. Great tune! 2. Have fun 3. My fave Jerry solo album, looking forward to reading your thoughts 4. (nods) 5. I always appreciate a poetry recommendation. I’ve made a good habit of reading poetry before bed and in the mornings on the weekend.