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| Copyright © 2007 Apple Inc. All rights reserved |
Released September 19, 1996
CREEPERWEED
was probably my overall favorite recording experience. I knew two things going
in: One, I wanted to make a record that was more spontaneous and less "polished"
than Good Luck Charm; as valuable an experience as working with Johnny Sandlin
had been, Good Luck Charm is very much Johnny's vision of Bloodkin,
and now I wanted to create something a little closer to the band's original
heart. Two, I wanted the record to be made entirely with "acoustic"
instruments. I use the quotes because the acoustic instruments were variously
equipped with electronic pick-ups and plugged into amplifiers, or otherwise
affected during the recording process. But I wanted the flavor of those basic
instruments: acoustic guitars, dobro, acoustic bass (not upright, but just Chris
Barrineau's hollow-body, acoustic-style bass guitar), drums, harmonica, fiddle.
The only "electric" instrument used was John Keane's pedal steel.
I heard this record in my head before we ever made it; of all our records this
one was definitely my baby. It's no easy task to convince Eric Carter not to
play any electric guitar on an entire record.
But when we went in and put down the first basic tracks, they were supposed to be for demo purposes only. We went into Doug Stanley's house on Pulaski Street in Athens, and started recording some stuff on his 8-track machine. Todd Nance had his stripped-down drum kit (just kick, snare, and high hat) set up in Doug's kitchen, right next to the stove. It was a big old house that Doug was right in the middle of fixing up and remodeling, so the walls were all splashed with half-finished paint jobs, and bats flew in and out the glassless rear windows, and somehow it was just a great place to be. We were all having a good time. After we got the first few rhythm tracks down, Todd told me, "Man, this is my favorite drum sound I've ever gotten!" That was when I pretty much decided, well, fuck the demos, this is the real record we're making here!
Later we took the tapes into John Keane's studio, and he put a little of his high-tech gloss on the recordings; made 'em socially acceptable. We also recorded a few songs ("Rotgut" and "Drive Home September") entirely in his studio. Plus, basic tracks for "All Dolled Up" were recorded in the old Panic practice space next to the Nowhere Bar in downtown Athens; then final vocals and harmonica for that song were added at our old apartment C6 (which Eric and I shared with James Calemine), in the Daville complex over on Grady Street.
There's just some spirit, or whatever you'd call it, that rattles around on this record. It was a high water mark of some sort, and definitely the pinnacle of Chris Barrineau's collaboration with Bloodkin. And I'll always remember our late friend John Boy dropping by Doug's house on Pulaski, asking us if we needed anything, then running out to pick up whatever we'd requested and never coming back...and then Todd and I would have to drive around town til we found him.
-DH
