Mellencamp Recording At Gunter Hotel: Room 414

Information released on Mellencamp’s recording sessions for “No Better Than This.” The press release mentions the set up at Sun Studio exactly as Elvis and Johnny Cash recorded (instruments in same places) as well as exact setup Robert Johnson recorded in San Antonio. Everything recorded in mono stereo, same microphone for vocals as instruments, recorded live, no overdubs.

I am looking forward to the end result.

http://www.mellencamp.com/?module=news&news_item_id=488

“At Sun, John and Andy were joined by Nashville bassist David Roe, who played with Johnny Cash, and top New York session guitarist Marc Ribot, who’s worked with the likes of Elvis Costello and Tom Waits. T Bone Burnett, on board again as the album’s producer, also played guitar.

“Everything was set up exactly as Cash and Elvis Presley recorded,” says John. “They had ‘X’ marks made with electrical tape on the floor where Elvis and his musicians stood and where the instruments were placed, because [legendary Sun studio and record label owner] Sam Philips walked around the room and decided where everything sounded best.”

As at Sun, the equipment was arranged according to how it was when Johnson recorded there.

“It was set up exactly the same, because I’d seen the layout of how they recorded him and in that hotel suite,” says John. “They had remodeled it since then, but otherwise the space was exactly the same–where they put the tape machines, the one microphone. I’d seen pictures and the floor plan, and I stood in the exact same corner with my face to the wall the same way Robert Johnson did.”

As John has explained previously, “No Better Than This” was conceived specifically with the sound of early country music, folk and rock in mind. So the recording process was geared toward achieving that level of classic audio quality. This goal, John says, has indeed been met.
Equally unusual and significant, the album is in “beautiful mono,” says John, with all songs recorded using one microphone for all the vocal and acoustic instrumental parts

lwj…you are a super sleuth, for sure!

YES, I am a BIG JM fan, have been since 1980, after seeing him open for The Kinks.

In 2003, John recorded a cover record of Blues, Americana, and folk songs and focused on the more obscure songs of the artist he covered. Lucinda’s “Lafayette” was one of those songs. Of course, I was intrigued with the artists he covered, his interests, etc. which lead me to Lu, more or less. I had never seen Lucinda perform (she did come thru Cincy in 2003 and played a festival but I couldn’t make it) until she opened for JM, so, yes, that is when I actually started exploring her music. I went to 5 shows on that tour, and I was always in my seat when Lu came out to play! I was mesmerized.

The last time JM played Canada was early Feb 2008 with Tom Cochrane and the Red Riders opening. Tour dates as follows:

February 2008
1 – Montreal, Quebec – Bell Centre
2 – Ottawa, Ontario – Scotiabank Place
5 – London, Ontario – John Labatt Centre
6 – Toronto, Ontario – Air Canada Centre
8 – Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Steelback Centre
11 – Winnipeg, Manitoba – MTS Centre
12 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Credit Union Centre
14 – Red Deer, Alberta – ENMAX Centrium Arena
15 – Calgary, Alberta – Pengrowth Saddledome
17 – Kelowna, British Columbia – Prospera Place
18 – Vancouver, British Columbia – PNE Grounds
19 – Victoria, British Columbia – Save On Foods Centre

As far as Farm Aid , I have attended every one since 2003 except the one where Lu played in Seattle! You will have to try to come this year, it will be a 25th anniversary show.

It’s very cool you are a JM fan!

And, yes, that is me writing for “The Mellenblog”

lwj, I’ve been a FA volunteer for the past 4 years, this past year very limited. In 2007, the show was held at Randall’s Island in NYC. It was there that I saw Neil and his entourage seated at a long cafeteria type table in catering, the night before the show, directly in front of me, with his cell phone held up in the air and the entire table singing “Happy Birthday.” It was very cool to see! As a volunteer, we are instructed not to approach the artists for photographs or autographs. I sat and watched. That was good enough for me!

I have seen John and Elaine (JM’s wife) at the same show, backstage. I was assigned radio duty for that show and had backstage access. John was being interviewed and Elaine was being photographed and she was working the camera as if she were doing a modeling shoot, which she is. That was pretty cool to see . She’s extremely nice. John, he runs hot and cold. 😆 John use to recognize me from the times I’ve made it to front of stage at his shows or got lucky to get good seats. Not sure he would recognize me now, he is extremely forgetful and it’s been a few years since I was holding onto the stage. This past summer he did see my “got mellencamp” shirt I had on for the Dylan tour and smiled but he was only looking at the shirt, never really looked my way.

I had a meet and greet with JM thru the fanclub, wrote a blog and posted it on my myspace page. Here’s the link:

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=32828819&blogId=348332474

First, no word on where FA will be hosted this year…I dont’ run in those circles to know. The concert site is usually announced in July time period with the concert typically held Sept time period. The past few years they have chosen cities where Farmer’s Markets have a high visiblitly, usually holding events before the show at these markets. Starting with NYC show in 2007, all food served at the concert is 100% organic.

To me, Ghost Towns is about the decay of the small towns,however, with John, he writes between the lines and songs mean more to him than what the listener is able to pick up, IMO.

Here is an interview he did where he talks about GTATH.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_4_37/ai_n19311225/

So the record was written to try to make people feel better about themselves, almost in a postcard form–not trying to be heady with lyrical content. The songs are written on two levels. You take a song like “Ghost Towns Along the Highway,” and the casual listener will think, Oh, this is about the decaying of America. But actually, when I was writing it, I was thinking about the ghost towns that each individual leaves in his or her wake if we’ve been mean or if we’ve been unhappy or if we’ve hurt people. Those skeletons are the ghost towns along the highway.

As far as “My Aeroplane,” no John is not a pilot. I picked up the song is about hope and helping your neighbor. I wanted to signify the hope message in the quilt block by using the airplane image pulling a “Hope” banner.

lwj

Those are some AMAZING shots (and, NO, I haven’t seen these, not even familiar with this website!). Thank you.

Andy York is pictured in a few pics, he plays lead guitar in JM’s band (and with Ian Hunter and Willie Nile when he is not playing or in the studio wiith JM), and nothing was said (yet) about him being there. To see Kenny in a few shots is cool as well. I’ll have to share with the JM boards if they haven’t been posted yet. You should come over, an unpaid membership allows access to limited threads but the ones that are viewable are the most popular. The boards really don’t have a lot of participation, I think everyone has gone to facebook, but you could take a look.

http://clubcherrybomb.net

Of course I clicked through all of the photos! I was surprised to see how many I have never seen before.

I will be painting and wallpapering for weeks. NO, husband doesn’t help. I’ve seen him paint before, he stinks. I’m too picky with the aesthetics. He usually helps with the mechanical stuff, like hanging new lighting or disconnecting the laundry tub to have new floor installed.