For our seventh recording, we’ve chosen material to showcase the signature Jaybirds blend of old-time and bluegrass, but this time with an added emphasis on the bluesier side of bluegrass and a surprise foray into the Beatles songbook for good measure.
For instrumentals, we have four originals, including two great new tunes from John. Daylighting the Creek gets its name from the practice of unearthing a portion of a creek that’s been underground for a while – a term John first heard when he was visiting our friends, Laurel Bliss and Jon Clark in Bellingham, WA, and which he knew, as soon as he heard it, was a tune-title awaiting a tune. Red Diamond came to John pretty quickly during a sound-check, and takes its name from Don MacRostie’s fine Red Diamond mandolins. Nick’s wistful, up-tempo Wellesley Station, is named for the little town in Latah County, ID, where his mother Suzanne Spencer Hornbuckle was born. And Thistletown, a mournful waltz by Greg’s wife Caridwen, written for her uncle on his passing, is named for the reformatory school where he was sent as a young lad (note: they didn’t even try to make it sound like a nice place). Rounding out the instrumental selections is a rollicking old-time tune, Katie Bar the Door, a favorite of Greg’s which he got from the fiddling of Rayna Gellert and a few other sources.
Our original vocal numbers include Jim’s Home’s Where I Long To Be – a song about feeling homesick for familiar surroundings – and Gonna Walk, which captures a broken-hearted take on a relationship that’s gone bad. Trisha’s gorgeous song, I Don’t Want To Say Goodbye, is dedicated to the memory of her father. It’s never easy, but there are times in our lives when we have to say goodbye.
A selection of gospels and covers rounds out the recording. For quartets, we have the Carter family’s up-tempo number about keeping good karma, You’ve Got To Righten That Wrong, and Don’t You Hear the Lambs a-Crying, a song we learned from the Seeger Family’s iconic recording, “American Folk Songs For Christmas.” Green Pastures, Larry Sparks’s blues-inflected spiritual, came to John’s attention on a cassette given to him by our friend Peter Thompson. It’s one of the first songs we ever worked up as a band, back in 2000. Likewise, Today Has Been Lonesome Day, has been in our repertoire since forever, but somehow never made it onto a Jaybirds recording. Finally, we have a song from the Beatles, a lesser-known gem from the “Let it Be” album which our friend Butch Baldassari always said would make a good bluegrass cover – Two Of Us. Sure enough! We hope you agree.
John Reischman & the Jaybirds
On That Other Green Shore
Corvus CR024 (?)
John Reischman: mandolin, vocals
Trisha Gagnon: bass, vocals
Nick Hornbuckle: banjo, vocals (quartets only)
Jim Nunally: guitar, vocals
Greg Spatz: fiddle
With Patrick Sauber: guitar on Daylighting the Creek, and baritone vocals on Today Has Been a Lonesome Day and I Don't Want To Say Goodbye.
Produced by John Reischman and Nick Hornbuckle
Recorded at Monarch Studios, Vancouver, BC
Engineered by Elisa Pangsaeng
Additional Engineering by Nick Hornbuckle
Additional Recording:
Music Hill, Crockett, CA
Engineered by Jim Nunally
37 Studios, Leavenworth, WA
Engineered by Chuck Egner
Mendocino College, Ukiah, CA
Engineered by Rodney Grisanti
John Reischman and the JaybirdsVancouver, British Columbia
John Reischman and the Jaybirds fashion a stylish take on bluegrass that blends original songs and instrumentals with
Appalachian old-time music for a truly unique band sound. Now in their 20th year, with seven acclaimed albums and two Juno nominations, the Jaybirds are innovative and unadorned, sophisticated and stripped-down, happily old-fashioned and 21st-century....more
such a great selection of tunes and some real earworms. I've really enjoyed getting my ears round this album! The instruments all sound great, and sounds live toe which I love. Laura-Beth Salter
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