I’m tired and happy and ll I can say tonight is: when you hear the songs on my new album, be impressed with my producer, Mark Hallman. The demo I gave him was a crappy Casio keyboard with a drum machine, and he built the funkiest whole track today. Drums, bass, wacka-wacka guitar, plus recording my vocals. That’s what I’m talking about!

Oh, yeah, and this is why I can’t wait for Andy to come to the studio. I’m feeling snark-deprived.

Austin, baby!

 

Day One. Today we made sure my charts were acceptable and introduced ourselves to Keanu. Mark played a 19th century pump organ. Bad scratch vocals from me (but that’s why they call them scratch.) Made phone contact with Mr. Andrew Hardin, who will be in on Friday. MOTHERF%^&*R, this is fun!

 

Mark and Tommy on a quest for the perfect reverb…

Okay, this came out kind of blurry, but did you know you can get a massage at the Whole Foods? (Just in case you are too overwhelmed by the twenty seven kinds of olives.)

Crosstown from Whole Foods to the hotel, the Capitol looks lovely…

And now I’ve had my Cola-Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Grilled Asparagus with a an engaging little Zinfandel and am watching Leno in prime time – I think it’s pretty good! Everything’s pretty good! Early to bed because tomorrow we’ve got Chris Maresh coming in on bass and more drum tracks from Mark. Tomorrow we will become Compartmentalized and will take a fresh look at a lesser-known Bob Seger classic. Yay!

(Some of this post is code to get you excited about the upcoming album…)

What a day. This record is going to be cool…that’s all I can say. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it. Today the fates smiled and Eliza Gilkyson came by to sing a harmony. I’m pretty stoked about it. And I went to see Tom Russell tonight, who was GREAT as usual. He’s coming to the Ojai-Santa Paula area in December…stay tuned.

This is where I’m staying while I finish up some editing and get my voice warmed up for the vocals I’ll be recording next week. If you come to Austin, I highly recommend the Lost Parrot Cabins. It’s the greatest.

While flying in, I sat next to a guy who asked what I was doing in Austin. I cannot describe to you the amount of “I’m not worthy to make a record” that came out when I answered. Hopefully I got that all out of my system so that when I get to the actual studio I feel reasonably confident!