Part 1 - Dallas, Texas

 

Recorded, mixed and mastered at Pleasantry Lane Studio in Dallas, Texas by Rip Rowan with Milo Deering on pedal steel guitar, mandolin, dobro and fiddle. Vanessa Peters and Paul Averitt sang with me and Rip Rowan played percussion, keyboards and piano.

1. Where the Secrets Grow

2. They Got That From Me

3. Come Friday

4. Never No More (revisited)

5. Øresund

6. Hope

7. In the Eyes of Those I Love

8. The Laws of Attraction & The Devil’s Right Hand

9. Letter In My Mailbox

 

I’ve spent most of the past 7 years traveling with my songs. They’ve been my way into many a musical conversation all over the world. Sometimes the conversation has been like a one-way street, sometimes it goes both ways and sometimes the conversation becomes the road and I just follow it and hope to get to the end of it in one piece.

Picking up a conversation with the help of some relatively new songs is how I met Milo Deering.

I was on the road in Texas in January of 2010 with my friends Vanessa Peters and Rip Rowan when Rip suggested that we spend the next day recording some of my new songs in his studio in Dallas. ”We should bring in this guy Milo”, Rip said, ”he’s a first take-kind of guy and one of the most tasteful musicians around. He can play as fast as anyone but he also knows when to shut up”. I liked the idea of a guy like that, because as you probably already know, shutting up sometimes adds more to a conversation than a thousand words. And so Milo came over with his fiddle, his dobro, a pedal steel guitar and a mandolin. We didn’t talk much. We just started playing and before we knew it we’d been at it for hours discussing where the secrets grow, whether or not winding sheets come with pockets and how taking a leak in the water makes you feel like a man. Vanessa Peters added some feminine elegance to the conversation, Rip's friend Paul Averitt sat in on a couple of songs while Rip banged the drum slowly and never missed a beat.

Dallas had been exposed to some of the lowest temperatures in years and it was freezing when I flew in, but after a few days the sun had regained control and we found ourselves sitting under the warm Texas sun drinking coffee sharing stories about our different encounters with life at the crossroads. I hope you’ll find that the songs on this album resonate that atmosphere and that you can picture the four of us having musical conversations on a sunny day in January in Dallas, Texas despite the cold.

 

 

Part 2 - Fredericia,  Denmark

 

Recorded at Det Bruunske Pakhus in Fredericia, Denmark by Kaspar Vorbech.
Jacob Chano played the drums and sang harmony. Morten Brauner played the bass and Uffe Steen brought his clarinet and his electric guitar. Søren Henner mixed the album at Flueknepperiet in Copenhagen.

1.         With Blood on my Hands

2.         Hope

3.         Where the Secrets grow

4.         They got that from me

5.         Øresund

6.         The Laws of Attraction & the Devil's Right Hand

7.         Letter in my Mailbox

8.         In the Eyes of Those I love

9.         2010

10.   Baby Blue

 

My band is a jazz band, but we do the best we can to keep it a secret.  Uffe who plays the guitar with me in my band studied the clarinet back in the days before uncool was cool, but he never brings it to gigs, that would blow our cover. The bass player Morten loves 70's jazz rock and whenever we play our countryfied version of Blind Faith's "Can't find my way Home" there's no stopping him. Jacob played his first professional gig when he was 13 and got paid an additional fee for the three drumsolos he did. He left the solos back in his teens though and never looked back. These days he focuses on tasteful harmonies and subtle percussion around the melody - just my kind of drummer!

We recorded these songs at one of our favorite clubs called Det Bruunske Pakhus. It's a great old building with wooden floors and the nicest people. We stood in a circle right where the audience usually sits and started playing. No headphones, no overdubs, just me singing a song and the boys playing along. Two days later we had 13 tracks, the best of them are on this album, I hope you like them!

 

Part 3 - The island of Møn, Denmark

 

Recorded at the Real Farm Studio by Rip Rowan with Nikolaj Busk on the piano, accordion and glockenspiel. Aske Jacoby plays electric and acoustic guitar. Nikolaj Wolf mixed the album and added some bass at Ulvetoner in Copenhagen.

1.         Hope

2.         They Got that from me

3.         Where the Secrets grow

4.         Fields with Army Haircuts

5.         Come Friday

6.         Baby Blue

7.         2010

 

The way I see it there are three sides to a song. The infant song that needs a lot of attention. You met that song on Part 1. The curious teenage-song that wants to experience the whole wide world and taste every part of what it has to offer. It is as curious now as it will ever be and slowly building a personality. You met that song on Part 2. There is also the the older wiser song that has learned that we don't know anything and the only way to stay sane is to ride the wave and see what happens, "getting wiser the more we forget" you might say. I needed help to forget the things I know and I decided to call Nikolaj Busk.

When Nikolaj plays the piano he makes me forget everything and focus on the one thing that we can be somewhat certain of: "Right here and right now".

I'll never forget the first time I heard Nikolaj playing. It was on a summer night in Malmö, Sweden. He was there with his band Trio Mio and they all played like a whirl wind. Towards the end of the set the other guys left the stage and the piano played the most beautiful piece of music you'll ever hear. I was deeply moved by the music and decided right there and then that I wanted a piece of that sweet sound.

We brought in guitar wizard Aske Jacoby who added everything I never knew I wanted. Aske sounds like nobody else and it was a pleasure listening to him and Nikolaj reinvent my songs. To me Part 3 sounds like a new beginning, like the first day of a new year.

 

© 2011 Sentimental Music, all rights reserved.

Unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited.

 

Produced by Sentimental Music.

Part 1 arranged by M.C. Hansen & Rip Rowan.

Part 2 arranged by M.C. Hansen, Uffe Steen, Morten Brauner & Jacob Chano

Part 3 arranged by Nikolaj Busk & Aske Jacoby and co-produced by Rip Rowan.

 

Mastered at the Red Room in Hamburg by Andy Horn.