Present Reminiscing
As the season approaches, I am still pretty proud of this little ep we made back in 2001. A modest affair, cobbled together in our apartment on Armitage Avenue in Chicago with Jonathan Rundman. I think we had all just seen the O Brother, Where Art Thou? and were intrigued by bluegrass themes, classic hymns and Christmas carols so we included those with a few originals.
Jonathan was in our band then, and we toured together a lot. We were basically neighbors and sang lots of harmonies and he helped me finish some of the songs I had trouble finishing in those days, but Jonathan was the instigator on Present, writing both the originals on the ep. Randy produced, and Tony Stompanato came over to play a stand up bass in our tiny living room—the one with the floor painted blue, possibly over a coat of green. We were still finding paint chips in our shoes long after we moved out of that place!
One person told us at a party we had attended there before we moved in that the archway between the living room and kitchen was cursed, and couples who lived here were doomed to split up. Randy and I laughed about that ominous warning on our 27th anniversary last year.
Kris Spilker, our roommate there, one of my best friends in the world (still), and part of the singing/writing team with Blue Lit Souls, put up with all the noise in our tiny apartment, and her sister Kym popped in during the recording of Lo How A Rose, ringing the doorbell during a take. Thankfully, Kym has been great at lots of things her entire life, and it should surprise no one who knows her that it was on key and in perfect timing, so we didn’t have to redo a thing! You can hear it right after the lyric “True God and yet true man.”
I played accordion on Coventry Carol. The song is special to me because I sang my first solo in choir to Verse 3 of this song as a 10-year old. It was a punishment for talking and giggling too much during church choir practice with Stacey Hill, who also got a solo. Coventry Carol on Present is the first and last time I attempted an accordion part! I had inherited my grandfather’s accordion and didn’t want it rendered useless. Alas, I do not have a gift for it, and it lives happily now with the far more able Todd Howell (who I admired in 40th Day and sang with in Otto Bootzman years ago).
We made and hand-numbered 300 physical copies of these, and they are long sold out, but digital technology keeps it available, and if you are in the market for something a little quirky, you can download it on our Music Store page.
That’s what I remember about this little ep. We still pull it out each Christmas and see if it holds up. It’s a little lo-fi but special to us. We hope it’s special to you. Wishing you the merriest and brightest of seasons from our current home in Ballymoney!
Beki
