THE MAKING OF GONE WEST (CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO TRACKS AND FOR FREE DOWNLOADS)

In the winter of 93/94, after a lifetime of bass playing, light design and sound engineering (worthy occupations all but scarcely center stage), I was approached/tricked into fronting 3 songs for a charity bash at the local hotspot.

A band was recruited, art students later to become Derrero, and a celebrity guest, the very wonderful Davey Payne, sax player, of Blockheads fame. We rehearsed and played pool and despite my extreme, knee knocking fear did the gig to some acclaim.

The songs were "Me and My Uncle", "Six Days" and "Statesboro Blues" as I recall and it was fun and a band was born and became The Lost Cherries and eventually The Dead Sea Squirrels and an album followed which became Gone West.

How this was financed is a mystery, I must have been single at the time !

THE SONGS

Me and My Uncle
This song was written by John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas and is a cautionary tale of blood being thinner than greed. It was much covered by the Grateful Dead from whom I learned it in the early seventies. Massed guitars and 2 bass players (spot the edit).

Ooh Las Vegas
First of 3 songs written by Gram Parsons, this one with Rik Grech, exposes the perils of a gambling hell in the sun.

Willin'
A beautiful song from the late great Little Feat guitarist, Lowell George, this features the first recorded appearance of my daughter Rosalie James who was 15 at the time and is now a singer/songwriter herself in the duo Delaware. Feel the pride !

Cash on the Barrelhead
An old bluegrass song from Ira and Charlie Louvin, this became a live favorite for us. Features Andy Brodie on mandolin and Ashley Cooke on guitar.

I Can't Dance
From the pen of country legend Tom T Hall, a song lyrically close to my heart or feet. Louise Haines on vocals.

Brass Buttons
Another wonderful Gram Parsons song, this was recorded a little later than the rest of the album and features a pedal steel to satisfy my long felt desire so to do . Jess Carter plays drums on this cut and Tony Roach is the pedal steel player.

Boxcars
Butch Hancock wrote this reality tale for Texas country great Joe Ely and we jazz it up with the support of Rhythm Doctors bassist Dave 'Lo-cost' Lucas and 3 guitarists !

Hickory Wind
The third of the Gram Parsons tunes, this old Byrds favorite was co-written with Bob Buchanon and our version features some great guitar from Andy Brodie and gorgeous BVs from the choir !

Six Days
Another country classic, this from the Green/Montgomery team, was the most problematic to record for some reason. After a number of rejigs this version features Andy Fung on drums and me on everything else bar the backing vocals.

Promised Land
The inevitable Chuck Berry inclusion with screaming guitar from Ashley Cooke. To compensate for the previous track I don't play on this at all, remembering the words was enough.

THE MUSICIANS

Ashley Cooke, Andy Fung, Dave Hirst and Mary Wycherley became Derrero

Andy Brodie, Dave Lucas and Stanley Guffogg were all, at times, Rhythm Doctors as was I.

Rosalie James and her partner Ben Morgan are Delaware

Dave Bacon builds HurdyGurdies.

TECHNICAL

Recorded and engineered on 8-Track Brenell by

Dave Lucas at Third Ear Studios in the Spring of 1994

Digitally remastered by Matt Exelby in Feb 2006

Artwork by arteden48, Paul Cairns and Mary Wycherley

Produced by John Greene and Dave Lucas