Luau Time
"Just buy this thing. You'll dig it if you like roots music even a little."
- Jeff Miers, The Buffalo News, June 27, 2003
Luau Time was recorded over a 20-day period in late July and early August 2002. I set up the recording equipment in the basement at home and made a list of songs, some of them mine, the others from older traditional sources. John Brady came over with his drums and we started several tracks one afternoon. That evening, Frank Quebral came over with his bass and Charlie Quill his banjo, and we recorded "Hell-Bound Train" and basic tracks for a few other songs. After a couple of weeks it was all down, the last overdub being some extra tom-tom pounding by John on "The Buzzard."
Different things were recorded at different times of the day - the vocal for "Shallow Grave" was done first thing in the morning when my vocal chords were still very loose and my voice lower than usual. Others were done in the afternoon, late at night, or whenever the mood seemed right. Having the studio in your house is a very convenient thing.
Jim Whitford added his steel guitar parts during a productive evening and Cathy Carfagna (my wife) recorded various keyboard parts as time and inspiration allowed. Tina Peel sang some vocals with Cathy one Sunday evening near the end of the recording.
The inside photos were taken during the recordings. The cover pictures were taken on the back porch the evening of July 28. It was my birthday and the radio on the table was my present from Cathy.
If a listener detetects a strong Neil Young influence I'd have to admit it's there. During the month before recording I was reading "Shakey," Jimmy McDonough's biography of Young, and listening to a heavy dose of Neil's albums - particularly On the Beach and Zuma.
A rough mix of Luau Time was attempted in late August but it wasn't until December that I got the tapes to Dwane Hall's Sessions Studio (in Buffalo's Black Rock neighborhood) to mix them on the ProTools computer program.