Deer Lodge George Jones Tribute

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The album was born on a sunny summer day in July 2013 in Portland at the Deer Lodge.  Ezra and I were listening to vinyl records in the bar.  As we tend to do when it’s just me and him in there, in the off-hours, we were listening to George Jones.  The really random cuts, like his 80’s albums “Shine On” and “Yesterday’s Wine.”  We were sad because George had recently died.

It was in that spirit that thinking out loud I blurted out, “We…

Deer Lodge George Jones Tribute

The Wellspring is a Los Angeles duo that I don’t know how I learned about, but I do know which song of theirs hooked me on their sound.  On my Facebook feed I noticed that they did some music for a soundtrack, and on their page was a cover of “The Ballad of El Goodo” by Big Star.

When I saw they’d covered it, I thought to myself, “You can’t cover that song!  It’s too much of a lay-up!”  Simply because I love that song, it’s such a beautiful anthem, it seemed perfect and…

Deer Lodge George Jones Tribute

Another high school/college hero of mine is Shawn Smith.  I listened to his Pigeonhed “Full Sentence” album almost every day after it came out back in the late 90’s.  Last year I got into his solo work when I was directing a movie, and used one of his songs in the trailer.

It was a long shot, I thought, to ask him to contribute a song to this compilation because as far as I knew he had no country leanings in his music at all.  But my approach in this project was to be as…

Deer Lodge George Jones Tribute

Ezra and I knew this compilation would be incomplete without “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” but with a month to go, no one had stepped up to tackle it.

Enter young chanteuse and actor Stephanie Lynn, who boldly reworked this classic into an upbeat bluegrass number with the help of Hollywood music man Craig Eastman.

Stephanie has a crystal-clear voice and she put some nice tender inflections in just the right spots.  Craig’s multi-instrumental weavings are great too –…

Deer Lodge George Jones Tribute

I struggled to settle on a song to do, because there were so many deep cuts to choose from (“Bone Dry,” “The Brothers).  But as time went on I decided to not fight it and just do the song that I was most feeling at the moment. 

That was a random 90’s track of George’s that was a little hokey and corny but that I never forgot, during a time in my youth when I was really searching.  It just stuck with me.

Ezra and I had a day between sessions and I knew that this was the day…

Deer Lodge George Jones Tribute

My dad performs under the name Hank Sinatra.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be there for his session at the Deer Lodge, but he really killed it on “I Always Get Lucky With You.”

Whole band at once, nice clear heartfelt vocals.  A lot of people have said this song resonates with them, and that makes me happy.

My dad always tells me he got into this song when he borrowed my iPod during a business trip.  That’s cool.

Here he is doing the song with Ian Miller and company at…

Deer Lodge George Jones Tribute

I had never heard The Tumblers’ music, nor the song they chose to cover, “ Seasons of My Heart.”  That’s a great way to come into a session – primes you for an adventure.

This track has grown into one of my favorites on the album.  I love Tyler’s vocal delivery – and he has great microphone technique in the studio.  I also love the lazy electric piano on this song and the overall groove.

The boys in the band stayed late into the night after the session, and it was great…

Deer Lodge George Jones Tribute

Tyler Stenson’s track was actually the first one recorded for the whole project.  He came into the Deer Lodge in early September.  I was in Los Angeles.

Ezra sent me a rough mix that same night, as he kindly did throughout this whole process – he knows I can’t sleep if I haven’t heard what’s been done in the studio that day!

When I went out to my deck under the soft midnight starblanket to listen to Tyler’s track, I had such good vibes about the whole project.  I knew we…