NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Phrex Records) - I noticed the phrase "Trunk Songs" reading an Irving Berlin Biography and it stuck with me. In the heyday of Tin Pan Alley songwriting and Broadway musicals, working songwriters would toss their unused songs into a trunk. They would pull one of these songs out when a musical was in need of one more number.
Here are a handful of my own trunk songs, along with some new songs and a few favorite covers. This is the kind of set you might find me playing on my old Hummingbird around a festival campfire or in a late-night hotel room. These recordings were made during the Spring of 2008 with friends, in three impromptu sessions that capture that offhand spirit.
The majority of the CD is pulled from a session with old southeastern circuit mates Craig Honeycutt (Everything) and guitarist Gibb Droll (Keller Williams and WMDs, Brandi Carlile, Marc Broussard.) After a Saturday night cookout and jam session, Craig offered to record us at his house in Silver Lake, CA. We ended up with some great versions of these songs, thanks to Gibb's sympathetic-yet-virtuosic guitar accompaniment.
The solo tracks were cut one afternoon by my friend Jim Brantley (The Rosebuds, Bull City) at his studio in Durham NC. The band tracks were also recorded in Durham NC - this time on my back porch with Chapel-Hill NC's resident bluegrass cats Big Fat Gap. You can hear crickets chirping, a dog collar jingling, and maybe a few cheap beer cans hitting the floor.
In the last 20 years fronting bands, I've often daydreamed of making quiet acoustic records... its been on my list of things to do. Sometimes, these decisions are made for you. These songs are meant to be universal. I write to be understood. Most of my songs over the years have started out on acoustic guitar, but these have decided to stay there. Trunk Songs - hope you enjoy them.
- Greg Humphreys
TRUNK SONGS:
I Cover the Waterfront
An old jazz chestnut that I learned many moons ago while playing dobro with stride pianist Reese Gray (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Asylum Street Spankers, Firecracker Jazz Band.) I may have missed a couplet or two, but I think I did it justice. Featuring Gibb Droll on Guitar.
Buttons and Strings
A lament from a journeyman musician. A note to a successful peer who left his friends behind. Featuring Gibb Droll on Guitar.
Natural Child
A Hill Country Blues-style tune inspired by the Robert "The Wolfman" Belfour. I had the pleasure of playing with Mr. Belfour in Como MS a few years ago while backing up Ms. Jessie Mae Hemphill. The bridge is all Wolfman.
Faded Beauty
A newer ballad about one of my favorite songwriting subjects, first love / lost love...
Townie
I first recorded this one about ten years ago with Chis Stamey, on a sesh that was never released. Its a sad sack college town tale that rings true, at least to me. Featuring Gibb Droll on Guitar.
Vincent-ish
An instrumental i've been kicking around for a few years. Its melody reminded me of Don McLean's "Vincent," hence the title. Featuring Gibb Droll on Guitar.
Tears of Joy
Love's redemptive effect in the wake of heartbreak's devastation. Featuring Gibb Droll on Guitar.
Crazy as a Loon
This is one of the true trunk songs on the album, an attempt to write a country classic. Featuring Big Fat Gap, who helped me tap into my inner Ralph Stanley.
All You Know is Blue
A mantra on chronic depression becomes an improvisational journey in the capable hands of Banjo player Ryan Cavanaugh (Bill Evans Soulgrass) and Fiddle player John Garris (Rex McGee.) Also featuring members of Big Fat Gap.
Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)
Similar to the Solomon Burke version of this song, if Solomon were fronting a bluegrass band.
Old Shep
I learned this tear-jerker off one of my Dad's old Elvis records. In researching the song for credits, i found out that Elvis inadvertently changed one word of the lyric, completely changing the meaning of the story.
One Song Away
Let's consider the inevitability of our own death!
