LTC Studio Notes at RM

Mr Play · Post by **Mr Play** » July 13, 2004 11:38 am

Has anyone checked out the Studio Notes at Radio Margaritaville yet? It's formatted as a letter to the musicians and singers, before they came to record. Jimmy gives an excellent overview of the project and all of its human elements. He also lists the writers for each song and writes about why it was selected. Photos and liner notes are also there - lyrics are coming soon!

http://www.radiomargaritaville.com

Click on the LICENSE TO CHILL text to the right of the CD cover to enter the interactive section.

Special thanks to Coleman and the staff at RM!

23November03
Key West
To: “Conky Tonk” musicians and singers
From: Jimmy (Your Friendly Camp Director)
Subject: Welcome to Recording Camp

Hello Recording Campers,

A Little History

Well before we all sit down and stuff ourselves over the next week, I wanted to get this note and these songs out to all of you who will be joining us for the recording of the Conky Tonk album in Key West in December. I know that it is a long way to come and the place is full of palm trees, rum drinks and good restaurants, and your shorts and a t-shirt are mandatory dress code, but I hope you will all be able to adjust to the harsh surroundings of our studio. But first a little word about this project as a whole. If you haven’t already guessed by the title, this album will have a solid barefooted base in what we have always done, but with a toe or two leaning in the direction of today’s country market. Let’s face it. This is not a big stretch for me. I started my recording career in Nashville in 1970 with Buzz Cason and have had several attempted failures at a country career since then while I continued to gather the present flock of Parrotheads (Thank God for them) while touring around the world. I will do the honorable thing now and blame Mac McAnally for this since he was the one who made me aware several years ago of the interest in my lifestyle by several up and coming country acts. I considered it an honor then as now, but I also started seriously listening to country stations and thought that once again, I might fire a shot across the bow of country radio. Well, thanks to Alan Jackson, we seemed to have missed the bow and dropped a 500lb gorilla on the play lists with Five O’clock Somewhere.

The Studio

Key West was always the natural choice for doing this project. I have spent enough time in studios in bad climates trying to make magic. Shrimpboat Sound was an attempt to put a unique but very functional studio into a place with atmosphere. You can’t get much more atmosphere than sitting on the porch at Shrimpboat and watching the world go by. Shrimpboat is housed in an old shrimp storage cooler where the boats would unload and deposit their catch (thus the name). It was put together by Ross Ritto who was my soundman on the road for over twenty years and now owns Sound Image, one of the top sound companies in the country. Over the years, we have recorded nearly a dozen albums at Shrimpboat and more recently the studio has been used by an eclectic group of artists from Billy Corgan to Toby Keith who like the sound that we have come up with.

The Band

The musicians on this project are a collection of my longtime friends and touring band, The Coral Reefer Band, and friends who I have worked with over the years. Circumstances presented a unique opportunity for this combination of folks when Pete Mayer, my great lead guitarist, booked a Christmas Tour without knowing I was going into the studio. So while Pete is out there with brother Jim filling Parrotheads with Christmas cheer, the timeline to get this album done and out won’t budge. So I simply invited some friends I had played with before to join us. Here is the band for Conky Tonk.

Mike Utley - Musical director, longtime friend and producer. He has been on every Record I have ever made.

Mac McAnally - his Nashville heroics speak for themselves. He will be co-producing along with Mr. Utley. He is usually a very nice guy, doesn’t drink, rarely curses but will steal a chocolate cake out of the backseat of your car in a minute. He also really doesn’t like costumes or band uniforms so I don’t think you will see him out at some of the more interesting late night establishments that thrive in the quiet fishing village of Key West.

Roger Guth - drums. Roger came aboard through the suggestion of Elliot Sheiner nearly fifteen years ago and is a great drummer-when he is not fishing. That might present a problem in Key West, but as long as we feed him, he will usually stick around.

Ralph MacDonald - Percussion. Ralph and I have been hanging out for twenty years. Besides being the legendary sound of percussion and a Grammy-winning writer and producer, he is a founding member of Club Trini along with Robert Greenidge, our virtuoso steel drum player, and is the voice of “wisdom from the back seat”.

Doyle Grisham - steel guitar. Doyle puts the “tonk” in Conky Tonk. I first played with Doyle back in 1972 when we recorded “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean” at Glaser Studios in Nashville. In the Parrothead world, Doyle is best known for his solos on Come Monday and Get Drunk. Doyle has been known to hang out at Club Trini as well.
Glenn Worf - bass. Glenn is one of our invited guests. He didn’t sound bad on “I Love This Bar”. We are happy to have him with us. I have been a big fan of his work and the fact that he is from Alabama too, and I look forward to playing with him.

Sonny Landreth - guitar. Sonny is one of my (and a hell of a lot of other people’s) favorite slide guitar players. I go to every Sonny Landreth show I am near. I am not much of an audience person, but I go see Sonny just to marvel at what he does with a guitar. I thought he would be perfect for Conky Tonk as we will be leaning a little to the swamp on this one.

Will Kimbrough – guitar. I met Will when he was a young innocent guitar player for Todd Snyder, when Todd was on our label and toured with us. I don’t know about the young and innocent thing anymore, but I know that he wrote an album full of songs that had me humming along and listening to this fellow Mobilian rock.

Bill Payne – keyboard - Little Feat - Duh!!!! Little Feat is my favorite rock n roll band hands down and I have enjoyed listening to and playing with all the boys in the band. Bill and I have been talking about getting together in the studio for twenty years. Well now we are doing it and I couldn’t be happier.

Tony Brown - Makes his quiet return to the keyboard and attempts to get me to buy him an expensive bottle of wine in a fancy Key West restaurant as a payback for my past bad behavior. It is great to have you aboard Tony.

The Singers

Well you all know who you are and I am just delighted and honored that you have decided to come down to play with us. I don’t know about y’all but before I ever came close to getting a record contract, I just wanted to be one of those cool background singers. It really didn’t look like a lot of work and you didn’t have to play an instrument or front a band. To me the background singer was it. So, the idea here is to first of all have fun. The tracks will be done by the time you get to town and the CD that is accompanying your camp letter should give you an idea of what the music is going to be. Keys are important and who is singing on what probably would be something to cover. As always, I love the magic and spontaneity of the recording process and know from my experience that we will probably come out of this with things we never anticipated going in. That is the fun of recording live and with friends. Your job for your time here is to have fun, work maybe an hour or two a day for three days. That should give you enough extra time to enjoy paradise however you see fit. Here is the basic song list with a general idea of who will sing on what.

The Songs

Hey Good Lookin’- (Hank Williams) We are going to do this with a Cajun/Zydeco feel. It is a lay down for a group sing chorus and then the idea would be for everybody to do a line in the verses and we will edit it together later. If D is not a good key for you, let Mac or Mike know and we will find one that works for everybody.

Piece of Work - (Will Kimbrough) Toby cannot be in Key West but will do this in Nashville.

Trip Around the Sun-(Al Anderson) Martina and Nanci
I have held onto this song for about two years and love what it says. Al and I go way back to the NRBQ days and he will add a guitar to this in Nashville later.

Boats to Build-(Guy Clark) Alan and Nanci- A boat song. You bet. We are going to put a little more Caribbean on this track than the original or do what we call “Buffettize” it.

Sea of Heartache- JB and George Strait - I have always loved this song. Don Gibson just passed away as I was doing the demo and I can think of no better tribute to his memory and impact on my songwriting than to do this. Again the arrangement is tropical.

Someone I Used to Love - (Bruce Cockburn). This has Nanci all over it. Bruce Cockburn rules in my book.

Coastal Confessions-(Jimmy Buffett) - JB and Coral Reefer Band/or male female guest BGS

Fools Paradise - (Mose Allison) JB and Nadirah

Conky Tonkin’ - (Jimmy Buffett and Bingo Gubelman) If we can’t have fun just singing on this one, we better get real jobs. Group sing with boys and girls. Each boy has a chorus, each girl has a verse.

Anything, Anytime, Anywhere - (Bruce Cockburn) This is Lafayette slow dance stuff. I kind of hear the boys doing the Jordanaires on this one.
Scarlet Begonias - (Jerry Garcia) This is a tagalong tune from the road and if we have time and feel like it, let’s give this a shot

Take the Weather With You - (Tim and Neil Finn) If
we have time. JB and Coral Reefer Band

How Can I Miss You If You Won’t Go Away - (Dan Hicks) Dan Hicks never went away in my world. We will do this one justice. Backgrounds will be done in Nashville by the Reeferettes.

Coast of Carolina (Mac McAnally) - A new Mac song. I was thinking of Martina on this one as well.

Like Cats and Dogs (Hugh Prestwood) - JB and Clint. This is another one I have hummed and sang since Russ Titelman gave me my first Hugh Prestwood demo. Hell I wanted to sign Hugh. This sounds like girls on the chorus to me.

Back to the Island (Leon Russell) - This has been one of my favorite songs forever and I have this oddball notion that George and I could do Leon justice on this. We will give it a try.

Window on the World (John Hiatt) - You don’t see too many JB albums without John Hiatt on them. John was the guitar player on my demos in the Buzz Cason days. I like to brag about that. I was thinking of this with Kenny and Nanci.

Well, don’t freak out. I know that’s a lot of songs, but hell it’s just a starting point. I wanted to get this note and these tunes to you all so that you can listen to them and digest them along with your Thanksgiving dinner. Pre-production has always been the key to making good and economical records. I think it is a shame and totally unnecessary to waste time and money by trying to “come up” with stuff in the studio from scratch. So, campers, give this stuff a listen and come prepared. All that does is gives us more time to play once work is done. Thanks again to all of you for participating in this project and I look forward to seeing you all in Key West next week.

Take Care,

Jimmy

jkortum · Post by **jkortum** » July 13, 2004 11:50 am

Call me an idiot.... I can't find it... Do you have the link....

Mr Play · Post by **Mr Play** » July 13, 2004 11:55 am

Try this;

http://www.radiomargaritaville.com

Click on the LICENSE TO CHILL text beside the CD cover to enter the interactive section of the website.

12vmanRick · Post by **12vmanRick** » July 13, 2004 11:55 am

jkortum wrote:Call me an idiot.... I can't find it... Do you have the link....

ditto, can't find it

PA PAR8 HED · Post by **PA PAR8 HED** » July 13, 2004 12:50 pm

That is awesome. What cool insight to the session, and very cool of M'ville to post it. Makes me like the CD even more.

What wouldn't I give to get a copy of the demo he sent out with it!

WOW!

Coleman · Post by **Coleman** » July 13, 2004 1:52 pm

PA PAR8 HED wrote:That is awesome. What cool insight to the session, and very cool of M'ville to post it. Makes me like the CD even more.

What wouldn't I give to get a copy of the demo he sent out with it!

WOW!

Glad y'all like it. We'll continue to work on it and add as much stuff as we can.
Coleman at RM

Tiki Bar · Post by **Tiki Bar** » July 13, 2004 1:54 pm

Thanks for sharing Four Play!!!!!!

Tiki Bar · Post by **Tiki Bar** » July 13, 2004 1:58 pm

Four Play wrote:I started my recording career in Nashville in 1970 with Buzz Cason and have had several attempted failures at a country career since then while I continued to gather the present flock of Parrotheads (Thank God for them) while touring around the world.

This brings tears to my eyes! Thank God for Jimmy too!!!!!

Havaña Dreamer · Post by **Havaña Dreamer** » July 13, 2004 2:09 pm

Coleman wrote:
PA PAR8 HED wrote:That is awesome. What cool insight to the session, and very cool of M'ville to post it. Makes me like the CD even more.

What wouldn't I give to get a copy of the demo he sent out with it!

WOW!
Glad y'all like it. We'll continue to work on it and add as much stuff as we can.
Coleman at RM

Thanks for sharing Coleman!!

PA PAR8 HED · Post by **PA PAR8 HED** » July 13, 2004 3:00 pm

Coleman wrote:
PA PAR8 HED wrote:That is awesome. What cool insight to the session, and very cool of M'ville to post it. Makes me like the CD even more.

What wouldn't I give to get a copy of the demo he sent out with it!

WOW!
Glad y'all like it. We'll continue to work on it and add as much stuff as we can.
Coleman at RM

Thanks Coleman - the behind the scenes stuff adds a new perspective to the whole process. From everything I've heard and read lately, Jimmy really seems to have enjoyed making this CD, and these notes back that up. Keep 'em coming!

1yountfan · Post by **1yountfan** » July 13, 2004 3:06 pm

Thanks, that was really cool!

SharkFeathers · Post by **SharkFeathers** » July 13, 2004 3:10 pm

Wonder what happened to the four or so songs mentioned above that didn't make the cut?

Another interesting note: no mention of the song License to Chill.

PA PAR8 HED · Post by **PA PAR8 HED** » July 13, 2004 3:39 pm

SharkFeathers wrote:Wonder what happened to the four or so songs mentioned above that didn't make the cut?

Another interesting note: no mention of the song License to Chill.

It seems License to Chill, Simply Complicated and Playin' The Loser Again all were developed after that letter.

Desdamona · Post by **Desdamona** » July 13, 2004 3:54 pm

http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/popu ... _jimmy.htm

http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/popu ... _notes.htm

http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/popu ... photos.htm

You gotta love this one:

Mr Play · Post by **Mr Play** » July 13, 2004 3:57 pm

Desdamona wrote:http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/popu ... _jimmy.htm

http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/popu ... _notes.htm

http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/popu ... photos.htm

Thanks Des! I should've known you'd be the one to figure it out

Coleman · Post by **Coleman** » July 13, 2004 4:55 pm

Desdamona wrote:http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/popu ... _jimmy.htm

http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/popu ... _notes.htm

http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/popu ... photos.htm

You gotta love this one:

The easiest way to get to it is to click on License To Chill on the RM home page. Y'all should also check out the links below it that point to the video and stuff on www.cmt.com.
Coleman

Mango Picker · Post by **Mango Picker** » July 13, 2004 6:23 pm

Coool!

Neat stuff!!!

Who sez the internet is not such a great asset?

Ilph · Post by **Ilph** » July 13, 2004 6:30 pm

Thanks Four Play! This is some great stuff!

Mr Play · Post by **Mr Play** » July 13, 2004 6:38 pm

Coleman wrote:The easiest way to get to it is to click on License To Chill on the RM home page. Y'all should also check out the links below it that point to the video and stuff on www.cmt.com.
Coleman

Thanks for your comments today Coleman. I've edited my original post to direct everyone as you've suggested.

dchspoptart · Post by **dchspoptart** » July 13, 2004 6:48 pm

possibly a better link:
http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/popu ... l_main.htm
Hope this helps!

BuffettNews.com

LTC Studio Notes at RM

LTC Studio Notes at RM

Re: LTC Studio Notes at RM

Coleman rocks!