"The Deep End" / March, 2009

As fall moved into winter, sessions for The Deep End, my first CD of new material since 2003 (and the first since the passing of my mate and producer Doc Cavalier) were completed in New York City with the Asbury Juke Horns and Mark Rivera joining the other friends--Ian Hunter, Dion DiMucci, Levon Helm, Marshall Crenshaw, GE Smith, Big Al Anderson, Catherine Russell, Paul Ossola, Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, Vic Steffens, Mitch Chakour, and Jeff Kazee--who were already on board with producer and chief contributor Andy York and the members of Rebel Montez: Cliff Goodwin, Michael Colbath, and Larry Donahue.  If the writing of the songs had been a joy, the recording process proved to be a thrill.  From AY's home studio to Vic Steffens' cool Horizon Music to Levon Helm's place in Woodstock to Sounds Great in Boca Raton to Station West in Nashville to Lily's Terrace and New Calcutta in NYC, we had tracks flying all over the place, the groove strong, hearts on fire together. I am deeply grateful, as we complete mixing, for the intensely soulful performances turned in by each and every one.  Watch for The Deep End's release in early summer.

On another note, I just returned from New Orleans for 2009 Mardi Gras with the Bywater Bone Boys Krew led by my friend Skip Henderson (founder of the Mount Zion Memorial Fund) and our pre-dawn ritual of racing through the Marigny, masked in black, banging on drums and cans, "waking the pre-dead." It's a rite that dates from the City's founding, and it was a deep and moving experience. I continue to urge everyone to think of  the good people of New Orleans and the help they still need, and to check out the websites for the New Orleans Musicians' Assistance Foundation/Musicians' Clinic at www.neworleansmusiciansclinic.org and Sweet Home New Orleans, the housing relocation organization that works in concert with the Clinic, at www.sweethomeneworleans.org . Laissez les bon temps roulez.....

Christine