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The
Story Behind the Music
The recording began when Jeff was living
alone in a studio apartment, in Madison, WI in 2000. But he
had no idea that he would release a debut CD that was recorded 100%
analog, used guitars, flutes, organs, and 'cellos, and included 12
songs written in 8 different guitar tunings. The events that
really shaped the CD go farther back . . .
Memphis
While living in Memphis, TN from
1995-1998 Jeff had performed with many of the city's blues and
improvisational musicians, and he began exploring new ways to adapt
the guitar using what he learned from experimental jams and what he
was listening to at the time.
"It's very
apparent," explains Jeff, "I was deeply involved in some
pretty experimental music. Stuff that you would only find if
you dared go to the darkest alley bar in downtown Memphis, people
mixing hip-hop with jazz and funk. Some pretty crazy stuff, I
was very inspired." Throw in a newfound love of the UK
musician Nick Drake, and you got yourself the birth of Sunshine City
Tree.
Jeff spent many warm and
humid nights sitting beneath trees, literally meditating on the
creation of modal scales to match each of his 13 or so different
guitar tunings. Along with the virtually improvised guitar
tunings, Jeff purposely wrote in unfamiliar guitar tunings to try
and "unlearn" what he knew about music theory. The
idea was that the music would be written more like sonic intuition,
rather than math-based chord progressions and melodies.
Unlikely
Connections
While living in Madison, WI Jeff had an analog 4-track recorder lent
to him from an old friend in Rochester, MN. Quickly, Jeff
began laying tracks for the new CD, and it wasn't long until he
became obsessed with the arrangement and performance of the music,
which led him to begin performing the songs in local coffeeshops.
After overcoming a
little stage fright, and reworking the songs based on audience
response, Jeff started to lay the finishing tracks for the CD
in early 2001. The final steps all fell neatly into place . .
.
CD
Design and Mastering
Luck would have it that Jeff Ray's very own brother was an
experienced sound and recording engineer. Using his brother's
expertise and home studio, together they mastered the 4-track analog
recording digitally, and created the final CD mix.
The same friend who lent
him the 4-track recorder also lent his skills (and his girlfriend's
skills) as a graphic designer. Together, they developed a neat
little package that reflected the true nature of a unique,
experimental, and rootsy folk album.
Throw in a little
gigging and some hard work to raise the money to produce the CD, and
the result is "Sunshine City Tree."
The Instruments
Imagine what you get when you combine
misused college scholarships with lent guitars, a beautiful woman
and her 'cello, a young prodigy keyboardist who is also a Hammond
Organ mechanic, a Memphis pawnshop, and a $5 Tin Whilstle.
Sound interesting enough?
Aside from the seemingly bizarre
collection of instruments, the project began with just one guitar,
which wasn't even owned by the CD's musician Jeff Ray. A good
friend from Memphis loaned him the guitar (worth about $200 new!),
and when Jeff moved to Madison, he let him take it with him.
It was with this simple $200 guitar that most of the tracks of Sunshine
City Tree were recorded. But there's more . . .
Scholarships and
Grenadine
Sounds like college money wasted spent getting wasted? Not at
all. In 1999, while Jeff was enrolled at the University of
Wisconsin at Madison (don't ask why), he applied for a scholarship
from a certain research group (they will remain nameless to protect
Jeff from legal action). To Jeff's surprise, he was awarded a
$1000 scholarship! An even greater surprise was that they sent
the money in the form of a simple check made out to Jeff with no
requirements that the money be spent directly for school. This
was Jeff's chance to buy a good guitar (a rare thing for a
poor musician).
One fine day Jeff walked to the local
guitar shop in Madison and found himself a used Guild F-30. A
guitar with a small 3/4 size body and the tone like that of Jeff's
guitar hero Nick Drake (who happened to play a Guild M-20, almost
identical to the F-30). The guitar was absolutely a perfect
fit, and it is Jeff's #1 performing instrument. He named her
Grenadine, and the CD Sunshine City Tree became a brand new
project from then on.
A Youngster Organ
Mechanic/Prodigy?
Near the end of the recording process for Sunshine City Tree
Jeff ran into a newfound musical friend. A guy named Dan, with
the nickname Spiffy, who played keyboard in a funk project that Jeff
was part of. The funny thing was that this Spiffy was a 15ish
year-old kid at the time who was an absolute brilliant organ player,
who also knew how to fix up old Hammond Organs. It just so
happened that he lent Jeff a Hammond Organ along with a spinning
leslie speaker to polish off Sunshine City Tree. The
organ was in Jeff's hands for only a short time, and made it on to
one song from the CD, but a darn good one - Two Said Goodbye.
After finishing the CD and moving to
Saint Paul Jeff purchased the same organ used to record Two Said
Goodbye from Spiffy, and is currently using the organ to record and
perform live.
A Beautiful Girl
and Her 'Cello
That's right. Jeff' Ray's true love lent her skills to the
recording of Sunshine City Tree! A 'cellist for
over 10 years, she has played with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony and
got her first taste of unconventional uses of the 'cello with the
recording of 'Two Said Goodbye' on Sunshine City Tree.
The Memphis
Pawnshop Guitar and a $5 Tin Whistle!
The final peice to the puzzle came directly from a pawnshop in
Memphis, TN. As luck would have it, when Jeff moved to Memphis
in 1995, he found himself playing around with various musicians and
experimenting more and more with playing the electric slide-guitar.
The Fender Stratocaster that he was currently using wasn't quite the
righ fit, so Jeff sold his two Fender Stratocasters at a local
guitar store and found himself one nice Fender Telecaster that did
the job just fine.
The electric guitar that Jeff uses on
Sunshine City Tree is a red 1980's Fender Telecaster designed as
a Jerry Donohue signature series Telecaster. It includes a
5-way selector switch and a nice thick neck, perfect for sustain and
jazz tones. But, enough of that technical jargon! What
about that flute?
If you listen closely, a Tin Whistle
appears on one track from Sunshine City Tree, 'Mr. God'.
Not too much can be said about the Tin Whistle except that it was
Jeff's mom's, and it wasn't used often - so why not! Get a
little creative and make a good song sound even better.
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