Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin

The Fourth Night and The Giant Rat of Sumatra

I really like “The Fourth Night”  and how the band played it and how it is mixed.  It has attracted no notice at all as far as I know. “The Giant…

A Waltz Like Midnight

I love the sound of a viola. I have been disappointed in the sound of many mandolas.  I thought a longer scale (the length of the vibrating portion of a string) might help. I found some…

The Overlook

This is an oddly convoluted tune. Somehow Tashina was able to catch the whole melody without much rehearsal, or any. 

Ragtop Ford

I’m playing Kate’s Koa Santa Cruz 000 model guitar. I’m surprised no else has recorded this…

I recorded the double album “Dreams From The Overlook” at a time when my close friends were dying one after the other. It was only natural that I was contemplating my own mortality. That led to identifying unfinished business and…

The Highway

I was in decent shape vocally on this one but Kate was having trouble getting a clear strong sound on her highest pitch, which happened to be “A”.  The chorus of “The Highway” was another vocal trio with…

The Waters of Caney

This was recorded as a solo by necessity. The musical structure of this song is not obvious or intuitively grasped. I have tried to play it with others but no one manages to stay in the…

Wonders and Signs

The next solo album I made reflected a new development in my musical life. Thirteen years had passed. I had participated in many recording sessions, as producer, as support musician, as band member, as duet partner. I…

I did not record another solo album until 1999. In the interim I recorded and produced duet albums and band albums. The Jody and Kate duet albums have been addressed in blog entries here. I will discuss the duets with…

Turtle Dove

I learned the song from the singing of Bessie Jones. See the liner notes of the LP for one of her explanations of “sasala do on sala saree” – a long one —and the liner notes of…

My second album was “Going Up On The Mountain”.  It differed from the previous one “Snake Baked A Hoecake” in several ways. It centered around singing; there was only one instrumental. Stylistically it was more of a bluegrass album than…