jt Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 It's been a long haul and I’m honored to have played a role in producing the "Kalamazoo Gals" companion CD. 12 songs and 15 Banner Gibsons. Performances by the incomparable Lauren Sheehan, engineering and co-production by the multi-talented Eric Dawson Tate, mastering by Grammy-winning Charlie Pilzer, “would you like cream and sugar with that?” by me. Now available from Lauren’s site. Listen to clips on my site. Folks, this was a labor of love and my way to give voice to the Gals who built these guitars. State-of-the-arts, old and new, recording of 15 Banner Gibsons, representing nearly every wood combo of the war years, on 12 songs (a rhythm guitar on one song and 3 guitars for a 3 song medley). The result, by design and to my ears Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Thats great new JT, huge congratulations for finishing this wonderful project ! Now, the really important part, how do I order the book and CD package that Ive(we) have been waiting for so long ! Great stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Packaging/art direction looks great, jt. I'm looking forward to hearing it. Red 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Thats great new JT, huge congratulations for finishing this wonderful project ! Now, the really important part, how do I order the book and CD package that Ive(we) have been waiting for so long ! Great stuff. The first printing of the book, 1,000, sold out almost instantaneously. Another 2,000 have been printed and they and a Kindle version will be available by next week. Best way to get the book right now is to order from my publisher. Get the CD directly from Lauren Sheehan. Thanks so much for asking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Will do JT, really looking forward to it ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Packaging/art direction looks great, jt. I'm looking forward to hearing it. Red 333 Thanks, Red! If I my offer an immodest observation, the CD sounds spectacular. My goal was to have the finest sounding acoustic guitar record I'd ever heard and I honestly think that I've accomplished that by recruiting a stellar team. Lauren was just perfect for the task. The engineer and co-producer, Eric Dawson Tate, has recently been in-demand for engineering the acoustic tracks on film scores to movies like Looper. For mastering, I recruited Charlie Pilzer, who won a Grammy for his brilliant work in restoring and re-mastering the Anthology of American Folk Music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Just took a listen to all the samples. Lordy these are some beautiful sounding guitars, you must have been like a kid in toy store with all those. Absolutely loved the 42' LG-2 tone, on the second track, probably the jewel in the crown based on those samples. The 43' LG-2 sounded very close to my 43' LG-2, quite midrangey and punchy. Will order the CD this weekend and the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 Just took a listen to all the samples. Lordy these are some beautiful sounding guitars, you must have been like a kid in toy store with all those. Absolutely loved the 42' LG-2 tone, on the second track, probably the jewel in the crown based on those samples. The 43' LG-2 sounded very close to my 43' LG-2, quite midrangey and punchy. Will order the CD this weekend and the book. EA, Well, I loved 'em all. We had over 20 Banners to choose from. We did our best to match tone to song. Thanks for the kind words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Just ordered the CD. Lookin' forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 JT, That '43 SJ FON 2735 is one of the most unusual-sounding guitars I've ever heard. I love it. Can't wait to get the CD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted March 30, 2013 Author Share Posted March 30, 2013 JT, That '43 SJ FON 2735 is one of the most unusual-sounding guitars I've ever heard. I love it. Can't wait to get the CD. Nick, I'll ship out the CDs to Kickstarter supporters next week. That SJ is mine and the guitar that I had reinspected by the original inspector. In that cut, Lauren has it in drop D and capoed on the 7th fret. Here it is in drop D sans capo (the second SJ, with mahogany back and sides): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb-mGfC-vfI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Congratulations JT! Looking forward to: 1. Listening to the cd on my Tannoy speakers. 2. Watching you accept your Grammy Award later this year or next year for all your work on Kalamazoo Gals book and cd! BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 Congratulations JT! Looking forward to: 1. Listening to the cd on my Tannoy speakers. 2. Watching you accept your Grammy Award later this year or next year for all your work on Kalamazoo Gals book and cd! BluesKing777. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 I received the CD today. Plugged it into the player in my truck while I was running around. I got about half way through it and I love it. Can't wait to finish it off tomorrow. My wife makes me listen to my guitar stuff in my truck, alone. She doesn't share my love for guitars or taste in music. Apparently she's not alone. Someone broke into my truck a few months ago and just left my Ernest Tubb CD's untouched??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 I received the CD today. Plugged it into the player in my truck while I was running around. I got about half way through it and I love it. Can't wait to finish it off tomorrow. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 JT, I finished the CD and my only complaint is there weren't enough tracks. I loved every number. My favorite instrument was Lauren's voice. As far as guitars, there were a few sounds I enjoyed more than the others. I'll have to listen again and match up the guitars to see which ones I liked better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 JT, I finished the CD and my only complaint is there weren't enough tracks. I loved every number. My favorite instrument was Lauren's voice. As far as guitars, there were a few sounds I enjoyed more than the others. I'll have to listen again and match up the guitars to see which ones I liked better. dave, Thanks! Yes, Lauren was fantastic for the project. I'm still stunned that we pulled off the CD. Lining up Lauren, the engineer, the studio, and the guitars was a real challenge. I'll look forward to your report on which guitars you liked best. We worked hard at matching guitar to song. I'f you're interested, I wrote a series of reports for Fretboard journal about the recording process: Day One Day Two Day Three Day Four Day Five Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 John, I relistened to the tracks and based just on the sound of the guitar - Track 4 is hands down my favorite. A close 2nd are tracks 2, 5, 8, and 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted April 6, 2013 Author Share Posted April 6, 2013 John, I relistened to the tracks and based just on the sound of the guitar - Track 4 is hands down my favorite. A close 2nd are tracks 2, 5, 8, and 10 Dave, Thanks for the feedback! I'm thrilled that the differences in the guitars can be heard. We worked hard to make sure that we recorded the guitars beautifully, naturally, and with precisely the same mic placement, etc. As you know from the liner notes, 2 is a 1942 LG-2, FON 2122-38, mahogany back and sides and Adirondack spruce top. 4 is a 1944 J-45. FON 2944-18, laminated maple backhand sides and Sitka spruce top (the best maple J-45 I've ever played). 5 is a medley using that same maple J-45, a 1944 J-45, FON 1012, all mahogany construction, and a 1943 LG-2, FON 2521-18, mahogany back and sides and four piece Adirondack spruce top (by far the best sounding LG-2 I've ever encountered. 8 is my 1943 Southerner Jumbo, FON unreadable, mahogany back and sides and Adirondack spruce top that went to WWII. 10 is the J-45 owned by our own RAR, a 1943 J-45, FON 2221-23. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted April 6, 2013 Author Share Posted April 6, 2013 Today's Huffington Post features a great review of the CD. My favorite passage: The album is conceived as a companion piece to John Thomas's book Kalamazoo Gals, about the women who crafted instruments at the Gibson guitar factory while the men were at World War II or war-related manufacturing. It's twelve tracks with one or more different Gibson Banner guitars on each--fifteen guitars in all. But as a listener, all you'll notice is Sheehan's reverent ringing guitar on "America the Beautiful," her easy loping rhythm on "Home on the Range," her fingerwork and sensitive singing on "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," and her Piedmont picking on "Bearcat Blues." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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