Please Note: Due to uploading problems with blogger I posted Haden Family: Nashville Pt. 4 on my MOG page, the link is in the column on the right, or cut and paste http://mog.com/Josh_Haden into your browser.
Today was the final day of recording, and what a day it was!
None other than country music superstar Vince Gill came by the studio to sing a version of "Ramblin' Boy", accompanied by my dad Charlie Haden and Dan Tyminski on backing vocals.
What an incredible sounding three-part harmony! I videotaped a short excerpt of their rehearsal in the control room. In the video are, from left to right, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Dan Tyminski, Charlie Haden, Vince Gill, and Steve Rodby. My dad's wife Ruth Cameron is working on the computer in the far right corner.
Vince Gill is such an incredible singer and he's also one of the nicest people I've ever met. It was an honor to meet him and listen to him in the studio.
Next we finally recorded the last two of the three songs I sing on. First was a faster, country-fied version of my song "Spiritual", with myself on vocals, Russ Barenberg on acoustic guitar, Jerry Douglas on dobro, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Dan Tyminski on mandolin, and my dad on bass.
Country legend Johnny Cash recorded "Spiritual" for his 1996 album "Unchained", but he stayed more-or-less true to the tempo and arrangement of the song as it was recorded by my band Spain on Spain's first album, 1995's "Blue Moods Of Spain".
Russ, Jerry, Stuart, and Dan sped up the tempo a bit and gave it a much more defined country styling, and I loved it! It has a real country soul gospel sound, and singing to it was a joy.
During the lunch break we took photos for the inside of the Haden Family cd jacket and I snapped a picture of my sisters looking all fancy.
After lunch we started recording the final song of our session, a vocal version of my dad's composition "American Dreams" from his 2002 album with Michael Brecker of the same name.
A few months ago my dad asked me to write lyrics to "American Dreams", which appears as an instrumental (with strings beautifully arranged by pianist Alan Broadbent) in its original version.
Anybody who knows me knows how much I love the national anthem as an art form, and that was the approach I took when writing the lyrics to "American Dreams"; writing the lyrics as if I were writing a pretend or perhaps alternative national anthem (not that I'm suggesting we need another U.S. National Anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" is one of the most beautiful and moving songs ever written, in my opinion).
In the lyrics I praised the core values and beliefs of my country's founding fathers, while expressing concern that these values may have changed over the years into something the founding fathers would never have approved of.
The words I wrote for "American Dreams" extol the virtues of true love (love in its purity, if such a thing is possible) over materialism and that these virtues are, in my opinion, the real meaning of the American Flag.
Anyways, to make a long story short, the version of the song we recorded in the studio was nothing short of amazing, and it was a perfect way to end a productive, nostalgic, joyful, emotional, melodical, fun, and amazing musical family recording experience.
A million thanks to all of the great musicians who helped us with their out-of-this-world chops, and the studio techs whose expertise and skill were indispensible.
A special shout-out to Mark Fain for helping make everything possible and for his friendship.
Most of all thank you Ricky Skaggs and everyone at Skaggs Place Studio for being such gracious hosts. It was a true honor and I will never forget your hospitality.
Here is myself and Studio Assistant Lee Groitsch.
Best Studio Intern awards go to Morgan Hobbs and Dean Berner.
Here is my dad and engineer Bil VornDick
Tomorrow night we'll be going to the Grand Ole Opry to see how its REALLY done!
I'll be back next week with a new blog detailing my interesting life. Until then...
We spent today working on several songs that have vocals. Petra sang an Irish folk song that was very complex and very moving, and then after a break for lunch I sang my first song of the session, an anti-war song again in the Irish folk tradition called "The Green Fields Of France". Its a very famous song that's been covered by lots of different artists and I gave it my best shot, I hope I did it justice. After a short break my dad's wife Ruth sang another Irish song, I'll let the title be a surprise. Ruth sang it so beautifully.
In the studio with us today was Pat Metheny playing the most soulful and entrancing guitarwork I've ever heard, and Bruce Hornsby, who played piano in a way that made me feel like I was floating it was so heavenly!
I've known Pat ever since I was a kid. He gave me my first guitar when I was 13 and he's always been so encouraging to me and enthusiastic about my music. He is a true inspiration to me, and to my sisters as well!
Here's a photo of Pat with my sister Petra.
When I got to the studio this morning I wasn't completely awake yet and I turned a corner in the hallway and almost ran smack dab into Bruce Hornsby! That was a surprise! I'd never met Bruce before but I'd always admired his music and musicianship (and also knew that my dad is a huge fan of his), but I found out also that he is an incredibly nice guy, with a great sense of humor and positive attitude about everything.
Later that evening Pat, Bruce, and my dad (along with Russ Barenburg on guitar, Jerry Douglas on dobro, and Stuart Duncan on fiddle, these are legends people!) recorded a song with my sister Tanya on vocals solo this time. The song was an old folk ballad called "He's Gone Away" and my dad told me he remembers his mom singing it to him when he was a kid. With the guys playing and my sister singing they had the entire control room in tears! Bruce Hornsby had a particularly beautiful piano solo during that song.
Here's a picture of my dad in the session room during the recording of "He's Gone Away".
Here's Russ Barenburg, left, and Jerry Douglas in the studio during the same song.
But it wasn't all hard work today. We had a lot of fun too!
Party in the lounge! From left Rachel, Petra, Petra's boyfriend Fred Armisen, Bruce Hornsby, Jerry Douglas, and Tanya.
Today a cute dog named Pepper visited us.
Rachel and her boyfriend Atom Ellis went into town and bought some hip cowboy boots.
Drummer-at-large Jens Hannemann showed up unannounced with a new hairdo.
In the afternoon the man himself Ricky Skaggs came by to hang out for a few hours. He shook my hand and greeted me so warmly he made me feel like I was an old friend. He complemented my songwriting and I was tounge-tied! He'll be in the studio to record with us in the morning and I am so looking forward to it!
The Haden Family were a country-gospel singing group that played in the 1930s-1950s all over the mid-west United States. They could be heard on gospel radio stations in Iowa, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, revival meetings and county fairs in Missouri. They were friends with many other country artists of their day including the Carter Family.
My father, Charlie Haden, was born on Aug. 6, 1937, and soon afterwards joined the act as Yodeling Cowboy Charlie, travelling and singing with his family until the age of 15, when a battle with polio damaged his vocal chords so badly he had to stop singing.
I don't have any photos of the original Haden Family with me but I did find a low resolution image from the 1950s online, go to the Springfield History Museum website at http://www.springfieldhistorymuseum.org/archives/index.php?Q=KGBX to check it out.
Later on my dad switched to the double bass, moved to Los Angeles, joined the Ornette Coleman Quartet, and became a jazz legend, but that's a story for another time.
For the past several years my dad has been trying to get a project off the ground which includes his kids, his wife Ruth, and various close friends and musical confidantes playing the old time gospel and country songs his family performed when he was a child and the world was a much more simpler and innocent place.
Well, this project is happening now and I'm so happy to announce it is proceeding as planned!
Today was a lot of fun, Béla Fleck played on a few tunes, and my sisters continued singing their vocal harmonies.
Here's a photo of (from left to right) Stuart Duncan, Buddy Greene, my sister Petra, Bryan Sutton, and my father rehearsing a song.
Here's Ruth and my dad with mandolin player Sam Bush.
Later on Pat Metheny came by and played an incredible version of...well, I'll just let that be a surprise.
Pat will be recording with us tomorrow as well and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.
My sisters sang a rendition of "Single Girl Married Girl" with the band and I snuck into the vocal booth to document some of it.
Tomorrow I'll hopefully be singing on a song so I'm looking forward to that. I'll let you know how it goes!
I play bass and sing in a band called Spain. I also play bass and sing in various other musical projects. Also, I'm an Aries, I like to cook, jog, and read.
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