Lots of activity these past few months: Concord NH’s Lynda Nelson, whose first CD Forever in a Song we produced in Nashville, has completed the recording of a second Nashville-style CD right here at MPM Studio New England! We enlisted two excellent Boston-based musicians, Jesse Williams on bass and Grant Smith on drums to join me on acoustic guitar for …
What a Year!!
It’s been almost a year since my last Studio Notes update, but there’s been a lot happening at MPM Studio. I’ll skip the expected commentary on the effects of the virus on the music scene, suffice it to say that I think we’re seeing a way forward. A bunch of musicians, songwriters and podcasters have taken advantage of the live …
Late Fall Update: London Bluegrass, Celtic Women, Nashville singer/songwriters.
A very busy Fall season at MPM Studio: an intense session this past weekend with absolutely lovely Irish traditional tunes and songs from Celtic Woman stars Máiréad Nesbitt (fiddle), Lynn Hilary (vocals) and Eimar McGoewn (Flute, Tin Whistle), with composer/producer Tim Janis. This week, popular British bluegrass trio Lunch Special, fresh from a summer full of European festival performances (including the legendary …
Josephine County- Celtic/American fusion
Those who know me and my eclectic and far-ranging musical tastes know that there’s usually one bridge I rarely cross: the fusion of idioms and styles. All of that conservatism is shattered with this new project from 4 of my absolute favorite musicians/singers: Hanz Araki, Colleen Raney, Matt Shipman and Erica Brown. I must say that I’ve always found that …
Liz and Dan Faiella
These are two of the finest young New England Celtic musicians I know, and it’s been an absolute delight to work with them on what was essentially a ‘live in the studio’ project. Liz’s fiddle tone posed absolutely no challenges to the microphone, Dan’s guitar is so good it almost makes this aging guitar player a little mad! …
Cathy Wilson: Celtic-flavored folk/country from Tennessee
My latest trip to Nashville yielded some more beautiful tracks from Cookeville Tennessee singer-songwriter Cathy Wilson, with further overdubs and mixing back here in (cooler?-not so much, lately) Portsmouth. Bill Verdier on fiddle, John Mock on mando/banjo/whistle/drum, Jeff Taylor this time back on his first instrument, piano.
Latest Nashville sessions
March 16-19 found me in Nashville, producing and playing acoustic guitar on three days of recording. Song demos with various songwriters using my trusty team of Nashville A-list musicians, including Chris Leuzinger (Garth Brooks and just about everyone else), Gary Prim (Zac Brown Band, Alan Jackson, John Fogerty, etc.), Wayne Killius (Blake Shelton, Kenny Rogers, Luke Bryan, etc.). And, continued …
Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki Trio w. Dave Surette & Joe Deleault
Jordan and his gang spent a memorable Sunday in December cooking up the new theme song for a major New Hampshire TV show (not sure if I can reveal more details), composed and arranged by JTW. Great work, lads, with modern sounding high-energy tracks including everything I love about traditional New England tune-playing. Looking forward to the video, release time …
Catching up, May 2017
Here’s a problem with a blog-type website: I get so busy making music with all the wonderful people who come through my studio doors that I have no time to chronicle it all. I promise I’ll catch up soon with more formal postings with pics and clips, but here’s a brief look at what’s been happening: Carrigan and Blair are …
Lindsay Straw: Traditional Folk with fresh expertise!
Superb instrumental skills on guitar and bouzouki, a keen ear for repertoire selection, new takes on centuries-old stories and a clear, sparkling voice make this project everything a folk audience can hope for. Music from the past has a bright future! Lindsay‘s thoughtful preparation prior to the recording dates ensured an efficient use of time, keeping costs low and energy levels …
Chris Vaughan: Portsmouth’s ‘Great Scot’!
One of the first projects that came to me at Mill Pond Music about five years ago involved my adding a few guitar parts to and mixing the Dave Hallowell-produced CD by Portsmouth’s Scot-about-town, bon vivant Chris Vaughan. There’s now a new collection of his songs, ‘Americana 1974’. The production is in a folk-country vein, yours truly playing all the instruments, with bluesy …
Mill Pond Music : the Voice of Matlab
Everyone in the world of science, technology, engineering and mathematics knows Mathworks and its offshoot Matlab. Their tutorial videos are concise, engaging and entertaining, and MPM Studio right here in Portsmouth is happy to contribute its pristine voice-over signal chain to their outstanding quality. The vintage restored Neumann U 87, arguably the most well-know and respected broadcast microphones ever made, along …
Carrigan & Blair
Full disclosure: I know Mike Blair and Steve Carrigan well, having played many a gig and concert with them as a part of Portsmouth’s Maritime/Celtic Folk ensemble Great Bay Sailor. Great fun it was to blast through some of the songs we love on this new collection entitled O Chroi. Thanks, Mike for giving me free rein to do all the instrumental …
Cathy Wilson: Celtic Folk in Cookeville TN
Out of the blue, while waiting for a plane at the Nashville airport, I got a call from Cathy. She had found the Mill Pond Music Studio website on line, had seen all the Celtic Tribute Series CDs I’d produced and had read about all the wonderful Celtic acts that have found their way to my workspace, but had just realized I …
Fodhla- Fine Irish music trio
I’ve known Nicole Rabata for 5 years and had many a lovely Irish tune session in her company. She’s a fine flute payer and true pro, and I‘m very grateful that she chose to bring in her companions in this lovely 6-tune project, Ellery Klein on fiddle and Bethany Waickman on DADGAD guitar to record here at MPM Studio. Here’s a …
Fall update
Lots happening this past summer into fall: new CDs by John Carew, Skip Gorman, Annie Eastman Young, Gus LaCasse, song demos by Abbi White, Greg Lull, Brandon Harris, Brin Banta, Portland Irish flutist Nicole Rabata‘s trio, a recent production trip to Nashville, and more- I’ll try to post some music and photos soon. Nashville’s Studio 19, one of my favorite places …
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