About Let's Eat and the "12 Course Dinner"--
Let's Eat is a band name my old friend, Greg "Fingers"
Taylor, came up with when he & I were in college @ Southern Mississippi. I felt it was time to bring the name out of mothballs to give to this project. When Thom Schuyler and I sat down (over a couple o' big slabs of meat and dark green bottles of dry red wine) to talk about making this record we both wanted to get back to the old ways of doing things while using new technology that would allow us to take our time and not spend a great deal of money. We got a few folks to come over and help out and managed to massage it into a mighty fine record in my
opinion. We started each track with just guitar vocals of each song and went from there, adding drums and such.
As for the songs, we wanted to hit a few new notes but just as importantly, we wanted to do versions of some older tunes that brought them up to date, strip them
down and then work from there. In that respect I think we succeeded.
"Three Verses" This was inspired by the deaths of two friends of mine. It took an awfully long time to write because it was one of those songs that wasn't going to
be written until I felt like I understood it. The chorus lyric came quickly...almost as long as it took to sing it. The Wilkins/Dill song, "Long Black Veil", led me to the quasi-'Band' feel for the music. I envisioned the story being less narrative in form, but I kept coming back to the way it is and it felt right to just let it go--one foot dropping right after the other.
Billy Livsey on accordion, Jonathan Yudkin on violin and Barry Walsh on keys round out the ensemble.
"This Guitar" This is a great song Thom had been playing for a while at our 'In The Rounds' at the Bluebird. It reminisces about a tough time in Thom's life when
a simple gift became the greatest gift. And yes we both were alive in the sixties...
"I Don't Move You" When we got together to work up which tunes we were going to do, Thom hit on this little intro groove and we just fell into the song that way
and it stuck...like glue. I dig this take a lot. Barry Walsh assists on Wurlitzer and key bass.
"Feels Like Mississippi" You leave home because you're sick of home and you can't wait to get out of there. Next thing you know you're broke and homesick...so
you write about it. Oddly enough, this song goes over better the further you get away from Mississippi...it kills them in Tacoma! And some great
"Mississippi saxophone" from Jelly
Roll.
"One Woman's Love" Originally written as an instrumental for the late great Chet Atkins. He liked it but....Anyway, Thom wrote a great lyric for the melody and
though over the years it was a song I usually have sung, I told him to take a pass at it and it is one of the best vocals I've ever heard him do. Very nice strings in there
by Jonathan Yudkin...all by himself.
"King Of Fools" this was originally a horrible country song in the finest tradition of horrible country songs. We changed the music to a Neville Brothers feel and
came up with a completely different lyric that, thanks to Barry Alfonso, is not horrible. One year later I was being ignored at a gig at the University of Alabama
Student Center in Tuscaloosa and came up with the guitar lick for the intro and the rest is what you hear here. A long time In The Round favorite of mine...
"The Blues Comes In All Colors" co-written with my day-trading buddy and wonderful blues guitarist Dave Duncan, this was inspired by his quip regarding the
'Willie Dixon Line'.
Jelly
Roll shines on this.
"This Is America" Thom wrote this as a 20th anniversary present to his wife Sara. Haunting little groove with a
bari-guitar solo. Nicely rendered by Thom on
vocals.
"Stompin' Ground" A "three verse, one bridge and a field holler stomp" for all the small places with big hearts that we all know and love...co-written with Barry
Alfonso.
"Years After You" Thom & I have been playing this song live for about 17 years and I still marvel at the lyric and pace of this extraordinary song. Thom sang the
bejesus out of it.
"Stand A Little Rain" When we began talking about the songs the subject arose of doing some covers of other people's work. I've always loved this Don Schlitz
and Donny Lowery co-write that was a big hit for The Dirt Band back in the 1980s. We just ran it down and it felt good, so I hit record. I hope those two boys like
it.
"Oscar" Another Don Schlitz song but this time we invited him in to sing it. Thom & I have spent more time on stage with this man than any other and even after all
these years of performing this song with him, I wasn't sure if anyone had ever recorded it or not. If that is indeed the case I cannot for the life of me figure out why.
Yudkin (on mandolin) and Jelly Roll help make this one of my favorite things I've ever been a part of recording. And Don sings his ass
off!!!...Don?..Don
Schlitz?....You rock!!!
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Fred has had a songs recorded by a slew of country and soul artists ranging
from John Anderson, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill and George Strait to
Delbert McClinton, Etta James and Ray Charles. But his Mississippi roots
really show in his solo shows.
He plays an agressive fingerstyle guitar and growls through hot blues and
croons nicely on swingier material. The pairing of Knobloch with harmonica
wizard Jelly Roll Johnson offers a contemporary Nashville updating of the
sound associated with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.
--Craig Havighurst, Nashville Tennessean, Sept. 10, 2001.
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CLICK
HERE to Order
Your copy of the CD
"Live at the Bluebird"
for only
$15.00
Note: You will need to have either Windows Media Player™, RealPlayer™,
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| click to listen |
song titles
songwriters |
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1. Mistaken Identity
Knobloch/Wayland Holyfield |
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2. Can I Come Back Home?
Knobloch/Darden
Smith |
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3. Feel Better in the Mornin'
Knobloch/Gene
Nelson |
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4. King of Fools
Knobloch/Barry Alfonsono |
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5. Stay Away From the Blues
Knobloch/W.T. Davidson |
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6. First Thing Every Mornin'
Knobloch/Steve Booker |
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7. Three Verses
Knobloch |
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8. Feels Like Mississippi
Knobloch |
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9. A Lover Is Forever
Knobloch/Steve Goodman |
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10. Which Side of the Glass
Knobloch/Dana Hunt |
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11. You Know How Women Are
Knobloch/Dave Duncan |
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12. Memphis
Mornin'
Knobloch/Darden Smith |
| | 13. Cold Feet
Knobloch/Dan Tyler |
About the LIVE! @ the Bluebird Cafe Album--
The funny thing is Jelly Roll Johnson & I hadn't planned on doing anything as a duo album-wise. We had
recorded a bunch of gigs over the previous two years or so just to have them for posterity. I had edited some of the old stuff together and burned some CDs to sell on
gigs and whatnot but with no real intention of putting them "out" for general public consumption.
That night, as per normal, I took a couple of blank DAT tapes over to the gig and told Phil Smith, the soundman, to record it. Well we had a pretty good night and I
took the tapes home and listened to them, which I normally don't do after a gig, and thought there was some real good performances there--better than usual.
A few days later Amy Kurland, owner/operator of the Bluebird Cafe, called me and asked me if I would like to do an album for a new "Live At The Bluebird" series
she was working on with Phil Kurnit of American Originals CDs. I responded by saying, "I think we just did!" We worked out the contract details so I then
edited and mastered some of the better stuff and that is what you will hear here.
I know it's just a couple of yuks out having a good time playing in front of some nice folks but I think it turned out pretty well. It captures what we do with no
'sweetening'--all of the blemishes are still there, just like we left them, with all of the good stuff as well. My particular favorites are "You Know How Women Are"
(co-written with Dave Duncan), "Cold Feet" (co-written with fellow Mississippian Dan Tyler) and "A Lover Is Forever" (co-written with
Steve Goodman).
With Phil Kurnit's help, we have managed to sell a couple of thousand of these; and though I haven't bought the new steer horns for the bass boat just yet, there may
come a time when all of that dream will finally come true. A couple of million more and we've got this thing licked.
So here's your chance to do your part. My kids
will appreciate it. And God knows it's time to think about the kids!!!
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