| Tweet |
A limited run of CDs is currently being manufactured and scheduled to arrive in my hands at the end of this month. Much, but not all, of this info is included with the CD. For those of you who will only hear it streaming, all the relevant info is here.
SB2 Track Notes
In which the Stephen with the British accent will be referred to UK-SB, and the other Stephen as US-SB.
~ All songs by Stephen M. Bennett & Stephen C. Bennett ~ All songs jointly published by Greased Pig Music and Keb Lane Music.
1. A Ryman Song (for Lula C. Naff)
Lula started booking acts at Nashville’s Ryman auditorium in 1904 and did so until 1920 when she was appointed its general manager. She remained in that position until she retired in 1955. In large part, she made the Ryman the legendary venue that it is.
UK-SB presented the lyrics to US-SB who then came up with the music using his Morris guitar (tuned Db,Ab,Db,Ab,Db,Eb – low to high) and a Bruno parlor guitar set up as a high-strung guitar. US-SB starts out singing the lead vocal and it goes back and forth from there.
2. Wonderin’
UK-SB presented the lyrics and part of the music to US-SB, who fleshed out the music, using his 1909 Dyer Brothers harp guitar (tuned half a step lower than standard on the guitar part of the instrument, and Eb,Ab,Bb,Cb,Db,Gb for the sub-basses – low to high). UK-SB sang the lead and US-SB the harmony.
Make sure you keep a lid on all those spontaneous emotional responses, kids!
3. The Screw-You Genie
UK-SB used these words in a conversation with US-SB, who then knew it needed to become a song. At breakfast one morning with his wife (Nancy),US-SB mentioned the idea of this song – that people seem to be getting ruder. She then described an incident from the day before. A few hours later, he turned that story into the lyrics for the first verse. He sent them to UK-SB, who refined them and then wrote the rest of the lyrics. US-SB then came up with the music, using his Tony Karol baritone guitar (tuned B,E,A,D,F#,B – low to high) and sang the lead. UK-SB added harmony.
4. Ghosted
We’ve all been there. Some people know when to give up. Others write lyrics. UK-SB came up with these lyrics and the music too, and sang it. US-SB played his Collings guitar (standard tuning), and Telecaster for the spooky slide parts.
5. Close To Your Heart
UK-SB wrote the lyrics and had the verse sections musically worked out already when he presented it to US-SB as an option for this album. UK-SB sang the lead. US-SB came up with the chorus sections and used a Tony Karol baritone guitar (tuned B,E,A,D,F#,B – low to high), a Telecaster, and sang harmony.
“How far that little candle throws its beam, so shines a good deed in a naughty world” – William Shakespeare
6. Kaleidoscope
UK-SB presented the lyrics to US-SB who then came up with the music, singing the lead and using his Maxmonte guitar (in standard), a Telecaster, and a Fender fretless Jazz bass. UK-SB sang harmony.
The picture will change – but only if you shake it up!
7. At the Cemetery of Pere Lachaise
Chopin, Proust, Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf are all buried in this quiet corner of Paris but it’s Jim Morrison’s grave that attracts most visitors. And there really is a post-box. Strange world.
UK-SB composed the lyrics and the music for the verses, and sang the lead. US-SB fleshed out the music, sang harmony, and played a Mossman guitar (in Drop D), and a Wingert harp guitar (E,A,B,C,D,G for the sub-basses – low to high, the rest in standard).
8. I Don’t Care (I’m In Love)
It’s nice, occasionally, to play around with rhymes that make you smile (or groan). This is a dizzy song about a dizzy subject. UK-SB composed the music and lyrics and sang them. US-SB played a Tony Karol baritone (tuned B,E,A,D,F#,B – low to high) and a Samick electric, and sang harmony.
9. Music Mountain
In 1930, violinist Jaques Gordon (concertmaster of the Chicago Philharmonic) bought a farm on the mountain and started a summertime concert series which still continues. The mountain is across the Housatonic River from where M lives. US-SB had previously written and released a harp guitar tune called When the Moon Comes Up Over Music Mountain. That inspired UK-SB to come up with these lyrics. Using the end section of the pre-existing tune as a chorus, this song came to life. The two pieces of music are obviously related, and yet different. US-SB played his Maxmonte guitar (in standard), a Bruno parlor guitar set up as a high-strung guitar, and sang the lead. UK-SB sang harmony.
10.BOGO
Once we realized that we were going to be able to come up with sufficient material to do this album, we had to start thinking about what to call it. Since we both have the same name, all sorts of comedic possibilities came to mind. For a while, we had settled on BOGO, which popularly means buy one, get one. UK-SB came up with some lyrics and had some ideas for music for the verse sections. US-SB added music and more lyrics. After much back and forth, the song came together. It’s silly, of course, but fun. And, it’s not uninteresting musically. Eventually, we both realized that it was probably too silly, at least in the company of the other songs we had recorded, to be the song we wanted to highlight as the title track and decided to drop it altogether. Then, just a few days before it would have been too late to include it in the lineup, we changed our minds. We think it’s fun and hope it brings a smile to your face too! US-SB played the Wingert harp guitar (sub-basses tuned E,A,B,C,D,G – low to high, the rest in standard), his Fender Telecaster and Samick electric guitars, and some percussion. Both Stephens sang throughout.
11.Ten Mile River Station On the train rides to US-SB’s house to work on this album, UK-SB would pass a stop called Tenmile River Station. On one these trips, he imagined the scenario that then became these lyrics. When they eventually became a song, he sang it. US-SB came up with the music and played his Wingert harp guitar (sub-basses tuned E,A,B,C,D,G – low to high, the rest in standard), and the slide part on his Fender Telecaster.
SB2 Credits
US-SB recorded the tracks for this album at his home along the Housatonic. However, two other individuals contributed mightily to the sound of this album – Kim Person and Greg Lukens: she mixed and he mastered it. Without these highly talented audio engineers, this album would not be what you hear here. To which we Stephens say Here, Here!
UK-SB came up with the idea of a cover montage. Most of the photos included relate to the songs in some way, the others to the places where we live. The photo of SB pointing was taken in Riga, Latvia, the lower picture of him was taken in Germany. But due to the loss of an email address file, the names of the individuals who took these photos have been lost and credit cannot be properly given. The very cool jack-o’lantern with the harp guitar was carved by Andy Wahlberg in US-SB’s home during the 20th Harp Guitar Gathering in October 2022. Nancy Bennett took the photo of the moon over Music Mountain.
Many thanks to our spouses – Nancy & Gabrielle – for their input, support – and patience!
And of course, thanks to Stephen Ferron in Pieterlen, Switzerland. If he hadn’t taken that creative writing class at Cambridge, we two Stephen Bennetts might never have met, in which case this album would not exist.
How this album came to be…
US-SB here: I was playing in Switzerland some years back and did some shows near the capital, Bern, that were organized by Stephen Ferron, an American married to a Swiss woman (Monika). Incidentally, SF had roomed together in the US decades earlier with another friend of mine, guitarist Pat Donohue. Anyway, SF told me he had recently taken a creative writing course at Cambridge University that was taught by UK-SB. The two of them got to talking and soon discovered a mutual love of music generally, and guitars specifically. I learned that UK-SB even had a harp guitar made by the same luthier in California who’d built one for me (Kathy Wingert) – a pretty remarkable coincidence! I knew there were plenty of other individuals in the world with our same name but it seemed highly unlikely that one of them would also play such a niche instrument. I was astounded!
I decided to try my hand at writing a poem about our shared name and searched the internet for others using only that precise spelling – Stephen Bennett. I ignored the Stevens and Bennets etc. I compiled a list of the SBs’ various occupations and set about turning it into a poem. I called it My Name Is Stephen Bennett.
I asked Stephen Ferron, back in Switzerland, for UK-SB’s email address so I could send the poem to him. After introducing myself, I wrote something like, “I know you’re the writer here, so even though this thing I’m sending you probably isn’t very good, I thought you might still get a chuckle out of it.” He wrote back, saying that actually it was a good poem!
It turned out that he’s married to an American and was in the process of moving to the US and, specifically, to Connecticut, where I live. We exchanged occasional emails for a couple of years until, eventually, he wound up in Mystic, CT, just an hour or so from Milford, where I was living at the time. In 2021, we worked up a set of songs to play together at the 19th Harp guitar Gathering (an annual event I founded back in 2003) and we’ve been good friends ever since. I suspect we’ll be friends for a long time.
Oh, and this album… it occurred to me at some point in early 2023 that it might be fun to do a musical project together so I asked Stephen if he’d be interested. He said ‘yes!’ and we were soon underway.
We had a lot of fun putting this together and hope that you’ll enjoy listening to the music as much as we enjoyed creating it!