Aaron Pritchett and his manager/ guitarist Mitch Merrett asked that I be involved in the production of Aaron's new CD which I of course accepted. My history with Aaron is a long one. I met him in the early 90's when he was a finalist in a Canada wide talent contest (Paul Brandt was also a finalist - neither him nor Aaron won - and look at them both now!). Over the years - Aaron has been working on his career as a singer and I've been a part of it. His first CD was produced by Tony Rudner - it was a four song EP and I played on two cuts. Next - we did a review show together at Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition. I produced five songs off his next CD - "Consider This". I played on his next two CD's and have written several songs with him - three of which have been on two of his CD's including one pretty big hit - "Lucky For Me". For almost two years I've played in his live band. To come back to the producer's chair is a great opportunity.
We chose 16 songs to record - tunes Aaron had co written with outside writers as well as songs sent to him by publishers. As it turns out - 13 of the strongest songs came from Aaron and his co writers. The studio was set up on Sunday the 21st and we were off.
The roll call: drummer Jerry Adolphe, bassist John Dymond, guitarist Jay Buettner, guitarist/ steel player Russ Pahl, engineer/ producer Dean Maher, assistant engineer Scott Ternan and yours truly on keyboards. THIS is the team you want on a record. A great band - musically very mature. They're all great guys and a great hang as well.
We cut four tracks a day for four days. This included overdubs and as a result - the "bed tracks" are damn near complete musically - it already sounds like a complete record. We had fun arranging the tunes (most of which were demoed using just an acoustic guitar and vocal). All the performances came off very progressive sounding for Aaron which is a good thing - growth from album to album is important.
It was great to spend time with Russ. He's a top Nashville musician - playing on many major records and demos. Currently he tours with Vince Gill. I first met him when he came to play on Aaron's "Big Wheel" album. I took him to Stanley Park one morning and had a great time. He had a lot to offer and I took home a lot of lessons for my own personal musical "library".
On the final day we cut a duet with Carolyn Dawn Johnson which may or may not appear on the CD - there is only going to be room for about 11 songs. Aaron and her will debut it at the BBCMA show which happens in two days from the time I post this.
Next up we're going to get busy at my home studio recording a few overdubs and the vocals. Hopefully by January we'll be mixing! Stay tuned....
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