t i m l e e : d o g n o t e s

We started recording this record in January of 2005 and worked at it, off and on, throughout the year at three different studios — Independent Recorders (Knoxville, Tenn.), Money Shot Studio (Water Valley, Miss.) and Wave Lab (Tucson, Ariz.).

By the end of the year, we’d tracked 16 or 17 songs, not all of which we finished. Some songs we recorded more than once, either with different people or in different studios.

In most cases, my main guitar part is on the left side, sonically, and Greg’s is on the right.

Other than one song, Don mixed the whole shebang during the first week of 2006. I was on hand to provide immoral support.

Here are the details:

1. Concrete Dog (T. Lee/S. Lee/D. Coffey Jr./G. Horne)

This song started out as a riff and a coupla lyric ideas (based largely on a short story idea I had, but I’m no short story writer, so it became a rock song instead), which we played around with in rehearsal and at soundchecks until we hammered it out. This version was recorded during our second trip to Money Shot in May. We finished the overdubs at Indy Recorders in June. Susan plays the fuzz bass on the third verse. Greg plays the riffs and solos, except the last solo, which is yours truly.

2. Half-Life (T. Lee/S. Lee/D. Coffey Jr.)

Susan and I wrote the lyrics to this one on a trip to Mississippi in June. She had some ideas and I had some. We wrote them down separately, and when we got home the two parts went together pretty naturally. Susan came up with the pre-chorus and the chorus, as well as the second verse. The other two verses were mine. Don, Susan and I worked this one (and “Ever Before”) out one night, then recorded it at Indy the next day in July, I think. Greg came by and added some parts the following day. Susan and I did the backing vocals that night.

3. Alone Together (T. Lee/S. Lee/D. Coffey Jr.)

Recorded in the same session with “Get Up, Get Up” at Indy in August. I wrote it very quickly, then we added the bridge when we worked it up. Greg played the lead guitar parts. Susan, Greg and I did the backing vocals.

4. Ever Before (T. Lee/S. Lee/D. Coffey Jr.)

Recorded at the same time as “Half-Life.” Greg wasn’t around, so I played all the guitars. I was working on this song at home one day, and had all the words but the last verse. Susan walked in the room and asked if the song I was working on was first person or third person voice. When I told her first person, she gave me the third verse and asked if would work. It was perfect, and she didn’t even know what the rest of the song was about. We have a weird synchronicity like that sometimes. Wil Wright from the Knoxville band Senryu did the backing vocals.

5. Get Up, Get Up (T. Lee/S. Lee)

This song came from Susan’s original idea. We were having sushi at our fave bait joint one night, and she showed me the ideas for both this and “Dead Guy Story.” We decided then, before we ever played a note, that it should have that chunka-chunka guitar thing. We went back and forth and finished it over the next few weeks, then recorded it in the same session as “Alone Together.” Don, Susan and I knocked out the arrangement. Greg added his guitar and the backing vocals. I played the solo.

6. Here One Minute (T. Lee)

In February of 2005, we did a day-long marathon session at Money Shot. I was suffering from a herniated disc in my neck, but we somehow recorded basic tracks for eight songs that day. Don was busy tending to his studio at the time, so Rodney Cash was our drummer on this session. We also put down tracks for “Live Through Me” and “Threw it All Away,” as well as alternate versions of “Concrete Dog,” “Real Bad Habit” and “Greyhound.” A couple of songs from that session, “Just Where We Were” and “Two Steps from the Promised Land” never got finished. Greg plays the intro solo and the first half of the other solo; I finished it off.

7. Real Bad Habit (T. Lee/S. Lee)

This is the first song Susan and I wrote together. She put a piece of paper on my desk that had the first verse on it. When I got around to looking at it, the rest of the song fell into place pretty quickly. We originally recorded this one at Money Shot in February. Sometime during the summer, Don, Susan and I were working late one Friday night at Indy and we had the bright idea to try it again. We didn’t get around to finishing this version for a few weeks. I played all the guitars and Susan did the backing vocals.

8. So Little to Tell (T. Lee)

I wrote this early one morning before a session in June. I was supposed to meet Don at the studio to help set up for drum tracks, but this song came to me and I was late. When I got there, I told him I wrote a new song, so he groaned and said, “I guess we’re recording that one today, huh?” I said I guessed so, and two hours later we had a drum track for a three-hour-old song. Susan showed up, I wrote the chords out for her and she went in another room and came up with the bass line. Greg showed up and played the piano part. Discussing the guitar solo, Greg and I decided to call our pal Po Hannah, who showed up later that evening and laid it down in no time at all. Greg sang the backing vocals.

9. Live Through Me (T. Lee)

I wrote the words from this on an envelope while driving through Indiana one day. We tracked it during the February Money Shot session with Rodney and finished it at Indy in June. I played the riffs and Greg played the excellent solo.

10. Black & White to Me (T. Lee)

Recorded during the May Money Shot session with Don on drums, we finished this song in June at Indy (we did a third song, “Going Nowhere,” but I deemed it was living up to its title and we ditched it). This is my tribute to the new wave days of my youth, although I have no idea where the half-time southern rock intro came from. Greg played the lead stuff, and Susan made her vocal debut.

11. Greyhound from Jackson (T. Lee)

Susan and I recorded this one in Arizona in January of 2005 with Craig Schumacher, who we’d met through TapeOp. Jim Kaber from the Nick Luca Trio played drums. Craig played keys and sang the backing vocals. I played all the guitars. It was a lot of fun, although it was tough to drag Craig away from his beloved Philadelphia Eagles, who were playing on television that day.

12. Threw it All Away (T. Lee/G. Horne)

Rodney Cash played drums, and we recorded this one during the February Money Shot session. I basically wrote this one, but Greg helped put it together. He played the lead stuff, except the last solo (moi). I think all the solos were recorded live along with the rhythm track. I sang it at Indy in June.

13. Dead Guy Story (T. Lee/S. Lee)

Based on Susan’s idea; first discussed at the aforementioned sushi dinner. Right after Hurricane Katrina, she heard some talking head on a news channel say something to the effect that, on the Gulf Coast at the time, “everybody has a dead guy story.” She wrote the first verse, and I knocked out the rest of it quickly. Susan, Don and I recorded this one in late summer, I think, maybe early fall. Her vocal is one of my favorite things on the record. Don just looped his drums and we piled the guitars on. I played the organ and the piano (it could be argued that the piano won).