Caravan Records, Jennie Simon -
Matthew Alexander Talks About Wishing I Had Wings (release date, 10/2011)
Matthew Alexander recently sat down with Caravan Records, Jennie Simon, for the following interview:
JH: Tell us a little bit about this record and how it was first made?
MA: The album was recorded in Studio A at Reflection Sound Studio in Charlotte, N.C. In 1987, when the record was made, Reflection was the studio in town and had an international reputation; REM, Aerosmith, James Brown, Robert Plant, Whitney Houston, Marti Jones and Don Dixon had all recorded there. I met with their lead engineer Steve Haigler and played him some demos I had made in Los Angeles. Haigler immediately put me in touch with Richard Putnam, a successful keyboardist and producer in his own right, with whom he had just formed a production company. Richard asked me to give him my best songs and I gave him about forty. He narrowed that choice down to the ten original songs on the disc but informed me that his acceptance to co-produce the record was conditional on my agreeing to record one of those songs, Wishing I Had Wings, which became the title track. Quite simply, he loved that particular song and refused to take on the project without its inclusion.
Studio A itself was a cavernous room with a big grand piano and huge mixing console. In 1987, recording studios were still like cathedrals to musicians. These were places that evoked awe (before Pro Tools democratized and de-mythologized the entire recording process) and the engineers and producers who worked within their walls were demi-gods.
JS: Can you tell me more about producers Steve Haigler and Richard Putnam?
MA: Steve Haigler has engineered for and produced countless well-known artists such as the Pixies, Bob Mould, the Connells, Billy Bragg and Natalie Merchant. He currently lives in upstate New York where he continues to produce major acts. Richard Putnam is an Emmy nominated composer, keyboardist and producer who has worked closely with hit Nashville songwriter Rick Bowles as well as legendary artists such as Lou Christie and James Brown.
JS: Who are the musicians playing with you on this disc?
MA: Well known Charlotte musician and producer, Jaimie Hoover (of the Spongetones), is playing bass and lead electric guitar. Richard Putnam plays piano and synthesizer and Houston Roper, who along with Richard was on the road for years with Nashville singer-songwriter Rick Bowles, plays drums. Charlotte- based chanteuse Debby Dobbins sings backup (you can hear her singing a duet with me on the song Counting the Hours) and multi-instrumentalist David Johnson is playing 6 string and high strung guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, mandolin and dobro.
David rarely leaves the North Carolina mountains where he lives so having him in session for two days in Charlotte was a real coup. He would hear any song once and then play the most amazing tracks immediately afterwards. To me, he was truly a “mountain Mozart”.
JS Why did you decide to re-release this record after all these years?
MA:Only available on vinyl and cassette, few people had ever heard the disc. I had an audition with Warner Brothers Records in Nashville who agreed to listen to the record but when they “passed” on signing it, I got discouraged and began work on a second album (April Heart). Plus, as much as I had always like the music on the record, I thought the original mix was off…too much echo and buried vocals. More than two decades later, however, I heard that Reflection Sound Studio might be going out of business (not the case, as it turned out). This news panicked me as I suddenly feared that the original tapes which had been stored there for more than two decades could be lost. I called the studio and asked them to retrieve the 2 inch masters. It took threemonths for the tapes to be found as they had been misplaced behind a console. The only reason they were ultimately located was because a water leak led them to look behind the console.
Given all the new technology that has emerged since the original recording, it only made sense to remix and remaster the record once the original 24 track tapes were found. Because the songs had been in storage so long, however, they had accumulated mold and had to literally be baked, yes baked, three times before a successful digital transfer could be made. When I first heard the remix, I was floored…I could hear so many sounds that I hadn’t ever heard on the original record. The songs breathed. It was like releasing something from stone.
JS: Besides the remix and remaster, are there any other differences between the original record and this CD?
MA: I never liked opening the record with the rock-oriented song Crying and so decided to re-sequence (i.e. re-order) these songs. Most consumers these days don’t listen to a CD in its entirety but as a child of the 60’s I think that listening to a record from beginning to end is an important part of the art form. I spent many hours figuring out how the songs on Wishing I Had Wings would best go together and think the new order is much more compelling than the original. Also, some of the songs have portions restored that had been edited out of the original record and I have added three bonus tracks recorded in the years since the original record was made. Finally, world renowned photographer Carlo Pieroni re-designed the entire CD so as to better reflect modern sensibilities.
JS: Tell us about some of the songs.
MA: I Remember You is one of my favorite songs from my childhood. It was written by Victor Schertzinger and Johnny Mercer in 1941; reportedly, Mercer wrote it for Judy Garland with whom he was infatuated. The song has been recorded dozens of times and was a hit by yodeling Frank Ifield when I was about 12 years old. I thought it was fitting to open the CD with this song. Interestingly enough, when Wishing I Had Wings was first released in 1987, country music disc jockey Dave Campbell opened his commercial radio show (WLTC) every morning with my version of the song.
The World Just Keeps on Spinning Round was written while riding on the D train on my way from Manhattan to my high school in the Bronx. It was published in 1967 and held for a while by the 60’s pop group the Turtles who, unfortunately, never recorded it.
Tulsa Tomorrow began as a title. I was planning to lead a songwriter seminar in Ann Arbor, Michigan and came up with that title to use as a songwriting exercise. Each student would be asked to use that title as a prompt from which to write a song. The class never materialized but I kept the title and wrote the song.MaryAnne, I Remember Well is a song that caught the attention of Los Angeles producer Emmett Rhodes who encouraged me to record it. Both songs speak to issues related to violence and retribution.
JS: This CD has a clear country influence. How did a New York native and folk music stylist such as you gravitate toward making such a disc?
MA: Believe it or not, the first records I bought in NYC were all country 45s. I heard these songs on some obscure AM radio station and then purchased them at the Colony Music Store on Broadway and 49th Street. The very first record I ever bought was El Paso by Marty Robbins. Another early purchase was Steel Rail Blues, a Gordon Lightfoot song recorded by George Hamilton IV.
Of course, folk music and country music are “country cousins”. As for popular music, I have always been partial to classic American pop groups such as the Eagles, Buffalo Springfield and the Byrds who incorporate country and folk sounds into their music as did the Beatles and Stones! I am also a fan of solo artists such as Allison Kraus and Lyle Lovett who merge folk, country and bluegrass.
JS: You previously referenced three bonus tracks on this CD. Tell me about those.
MA: Sentenced to Life, like Tulsa Tomorrow, began as a title. I was reading an article about the Civil War. It described the incredible horror that surviving soldiers experienced when they encountered the sheer volume of dead soldiers on the battlefield. The article made the observation that the soldiers who survived the War were, in fact, “sentenced to life” in that they had to carry these memories with them for the rest of the life. Their situation seemed similar to all survivors of violence.
Erie Mountain Dew was written immediately after hearing Bill Monroe perform in New York City in the early 70s. It was recorded direct to a Tascam MSR-16 track tape machine in 1992 with musical back up from my long time music partner, Click Horning, a brilliant singer and songwriter in his own right.
Finally, Somewhere Down the Road Not Taken, also recorded direct to tape, was written by long time friend Jeff Crossan, a hit songwriter based in Nashville; this is the first recording of this particular song.
JS: Is there a theme to this disc?
MA: It is up to each listener to decide the themes they believe are explored in this record. But since you asked, here is one perspective. We live in a violent world. The CD tells multiple stories having to do with violence and its aftermath...a murder of a young mother in a car jacking; an impulsive killing of a work supervisor; the long lasting impact of child abuse and an execution of a man innocent of the crime for which he is being punished. However, each of these songs is immediately followed by a song that holds out the hope of resilience, transformation and transcendence. The most powerful and enduring source of hope and transcendence in this world is ultimately found in the experience of love, whether that love comes from another person or from an eternal force beyond our understanding.
JS: The disc has 13 tracks. Aren’t you superstitious?
MA: No. I remember the title of an old Bert Jansch disc, Lucky Thirteen. That’s what I am hoping for.
JS: How does this record compare with your four other recordings (Early Recordings; April Heart: American Boy; Daredevil Angel)?
MA: It is more muscular. The bass and drum sound are fantastic and really ground the record. I also really like my vocal sound. I worked for a year with a singing coach, the late Harvey Woodruff, to prepare for recording this album.
JS: What’s next for you?
MA: We are planning a big CD release party later this year. I Remember You is going to be promoted as the first single from the CD and a performance schedule for the Matthew Alexander Band is being finalized. Also, I am currently writing instrumental songs for television and hope to do a vocal CD of brand new original songs sometime in the next year or so.
JS: Well, thanks for taking the time to sit down with me. Best of luck with the re-release (24 years in the making) of Wishing I Had Wings.
MA: Thanks so much.
