The Band & Christmas in Killarney
So let's see, what haven't we talked about yet...
Oh! Oh, boy. The musicians. Allow me to introduce you to a few more of the incredible people who helped me make this album.
Joel Key (all the beautiful guitars), Aubrey Haynie (fiddle and mandolin), David Smith (upright bass), Wayne Killius (percussion), Garth Justice (percussion), Chip Davis (background vocals), Billy Davis (background vocals), and John Nicholson (engineer)--it is always an honor to watch and listen to these guys work. The experience of handing them one of my song demos and watching them become composers right along with me to transform that song into everything you hear...
It never gets old. World-class craftsmen, every one of them.
They all know each other so well that most of the time I'm just trying to keep up with them and decode any shorthand and studio lingo before the music starts.
I've learned so much from working with these artists.
They've also given me so many stories...
Some of my all-time favorite moments in the studio were all the behind-the-scenes of "Christmas in Killarney".
Before recording a song, we always listen to the demo first. The demos are recordings of just me and my guitar, setting down the framework and a place to start. While listening, there's usually discussion about who might take which solos, about the turns, about little changes to chords and counts, about possible melodic themes and the dynamic, heart-of-the-song moments...
When we started listening to the demo for "Christmas in Killarney", suddenly everyone was talking about Irish pubs and what it's like playing in Ireland. (And I, for one, was wishing we could all be magically transported there. I'd love to play in Ireland... Someday.) This song was one where we didn't have to talk about it too much. It's a more familiar Christmas song, but we were also all on the same page from the start.
We wanted to sound like we were playing in a hole-in-the-wall place in Dublin.
The fiddle solo lines, the guitar strumming throughout, the dipping bass notes, the vocal harmonies, the washboard moment, the drums, the second ending...!
(The second ending was my mom's idea. She whispered to me halfway through the recording that everyone should come back in and the song shouldn't end yet. So if you love that second ending as much as I do, let her know. We've gotta give her a whole lotta credit! :) )
When someone asked about adding handclaps, Joel responded with, "Yeah, we could use a little more racket."
Racket.
Never before have I wanted "racket" in a recording, but watching Joel and Wayne add the layered tracks of clapping together--that was a racket. Since everyone purposely avoided sticking too strictly with the beat instrumentally, we didn't want the clapping to be too uniform either. So Wayne kept fake-clapping to throw Joel off the beat and off of wherever Wayne would actually clap. Though of course he knew what he was doing, it was a funny picture--the percussionist not knowing where or how to clap.
And all that "racket" makes the song.
I love these guys, and I am so grateful for and humbled by their beautiful work on Wintertide.
-BJ