About the Albums
A personal account of the motivations, meanings and logistics by RjT
The Edge of Light
Date: December 2019
Recorded at: Tennessee Studios, Shelbyville, TN
Produced by: Jim Wood & Ricky j Taylor
Engineered by: Jim Wood & John Furbush
Mixed by: John Furbush & Ricky j Taylor
Mastered by: Sean Gasaway
Many of the songs on my 2nd album "The Edge of Light" share references to light of the spiritual or philosophical nature...or in other terms, illumination. Much of our existence is spent in search of understanding and clarity of purpose.
Not long after the completion of the album "A Journey To Here", I set about to develop a second album. In December 2014, I sat down with Jim Wood to begin pre-production discussions an a set of new songs. But we were quick to loose momentum as Jim's father became very ill and would impact Jim's life and availability over the next couple of years. In addition, Jim was upgrading his current studio equipment and more significantly, building another much larger one. There were many complications resulting in long delays in completion. But, I wanted to record at Tennessee studio with Jim producing, so i waited. The recording started in the summer of 2019 and was finished almost exactly 5 years from the 1st pre-production discussions.
All the instruments are real, played by human beings. Those who know me, know that I'm not a big fan of AutoTune inspite of my less than perfect voice. Unlike my first album where not a note was touched as such, I caved in and corrected about 5 seconds of vocals on Heavenly Light...having let a couple of sour notes get past us while tracking and being at a point where going back to that phase was very difficult.
Heavenly Light) Ricky j Taylor Lead Voc, rhythm & lead guitar. Jim Wood: Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass, Tenor Guitar. Inge Wood: Harmony Voc & Mandolin.
Saigon 68) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, guitar. Jim Wood: cello
The Portrait) Ricky j Taylor: Lead Voc, guitar. Jim Wood: Rhythm Guitar, Tenor Guitar, Violin 1&2, Viola, Cello, Bass. Inge Wood: Harmony Voc. Kyle Copeland: Drums
Now Comes Ever) Ricky j Taylor: Bass. Jim Wood: Fiddle, Guitar, Mandolin.
Wait for Me) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, guitar. Jim Wood: Mandolin, Violin 1&2, Viola, Cello, Bass. Inge Wood: Harmony Voc. Angela Wood: Cajon
Corinthian's Mine) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, Guitar. Jim Wood: Violin 2, Mandolin, Cello. Baily Johnstone: Bass. Inge Wood: Harmony Voc. Kyle Copeland: Drums. Emory Hutchens: Violin 1
I Move On) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, Bass. Jim Wood: Violin 1, Cello, Mandolin. Inge Wood: Harmony Voc. Sophie Buck: Violin 2. Angela Wood: Djembe
Sailin Man) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, Guitar, Bass. Jim Wood: Violin 1&2, Bouzouki, Cello.
Could it be Reel) Ricky j Taylor: Guitar. Jim Wood: Mandolin
The Girl You Wish To Be) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, Guitar, Bass. Jim Wood: Cello, Shaker.
Weights & Measures) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, Guitar 1 & 2. Jim Wood: Violin, Bouzouki, Slide Guitar, Bass. Inge Wood: Tenor Violin. Sophie Buck: Viola. Cajone: Angela Wood.
The Battle of the Somme) Ricky j Taylor: Lead Voc. Jim Wood: Violin 1&2, Viola, Bass, cello. Kyle Copeland: Drums.
Goodby My Love) Ricky j Taylor: Guitar
A Journey to Here
Date: June 2013
Recorded at: Tennessee Studios, Shelbyville, TN
Produced by: Jim Wood
Engineered by: Jim Wood & John Furbush
Mixed by: John Furbush & Jim Wood
Mastered by: John Furbush
A year or so prior to release of this album, I had decided to give up music all together. I had been playing in working bands almost all my adult life dating back to late high school. Many wonderful experiences with several cover bands where I formed life long friendships. But now with a family and a career that was becoming more demanding, I felt like I needed to make some fundamental changes.
During all the years of performing in cover bands, I was quietly writing songs. I did so with no plans or expectations of playing original music in front of other people. I wrote songs as a means of coping with life; to get things of my chest. With zero confidence in their quality, I would write them and throw them on a pile. With the advent of quitting, I wanted to make simple archival recordings of these songs before doing so.
I'd started on the process using a small multi-track recorder I'd bough used on e-bay. I wanted a fiddle track on on e of the songs so i contacted a fellow that i've played with locally in a bluegrass band. He wasn't available but recommended that I contact Jim Wood. Jim and I were friends from many years back when i was playing contests and festivals around the southeast with the bluegrass band Cross Country. Jim was on the same circuit, competing in fiddle contests where we became friends and even recorded on a Mike Snider album together. It had been over 20 years since I last saw Jim but I made contact. I explained my motivation but Jim recommended that I bring my songs to him for a listen. What i didn't know was that in the decades since we lost contact, he'd become a successful music producer in Nashville and had recently built a studio near Shelbyville, TN.
Jim gave a listen and concluded that the songs had merit and recommended recording a formal album and produce a CD. In spite of knowing that it didn't make financial sense, I agreed to move forward on the idea. At the very least, it would be a much better archive than what I'd planned. Having never played the songs with anything but a single guitar, Jim and I set about to arrange the songs. For the various tracks, we called in a variety of musicians...some friends of mine, others were hired-guns. Having toured with Claire Lynch a few yrs prior, i asked her to recored harmony vocals on the song "My Love", which she did beautifully. I also wanted to included a traditional instrumental involving another artist of note that id shared a band with many years ago, Mike Snider, Grand Od Opry member. Mike gladly agreed to do so and recorded "Over the Waterfall" on clawhammer banjo. Unfortunately, on the day we were set to track the song, I was very ill and couldn't make it and missed seeing Mike. I added my guitar track at a later date. I also called on some local musicians that's I'd performed with over the past many years Jim Cavender and Mike Dendy.
During the development and recording of this album, it seemed that I found or re-discovered aspects of my life through re-living these songs. It seemed that many things and old friends came together during this process. Having traveled such a long road since writing the songs and now having things seem to circle back around - I decided to name the album "A Journey To Here".
A personal account of the motivations, meanings and logistics by RjT
The Edge of Light
Date: December 2019
Recorded at: Tennessee Studios, Shelbyville, TN
Produced by: Jim Wood & Ricky j Taylor
Engineered by: Jim Wood & John Furbush
Mixed by: John Furbush & Ricky j Taylor
Mastered by: Sean Gasaway
Many of the songs on my 2nd album "The Edge of Light" share references to light of the spiritual or philosophical nature...or in other terms, illumination. Much of our existence is spent in search of understanding and clarity of purpose.
Not long after the completion of the album "A Journey To Here", I set about to develop a second album. In December 2014, I sat down with Jim Wood to begin pre-production discussions an a set of new songs. But we were quick to loose momentum as Jim's father became very ill and would impact Jim's life and availability over the next couple of years. In addition, Jim was upgrading his current studio equipment and more significantly, building another much larger one. There were many complications resulting in long delays in completion. But, I wanted to record at Tennessee studio with Jim producing, so i waited. The recording started in the summer of 2019 and was finished almost exactly 5 years from the 1st pre-production discussions.
All the instruments are real, played by human beings. Those who know me, know that I'm not a big fan of AutoTune inspite of my less than perfect voice. Unlike my first album where not a note was touched as such, I caved in and corrected about 5 seconds of vocals on Heavenly Light...having let a couple of sour notes get past us while tracking and being at a point where going back to that phase was very difficult.
Heavenly Light) Ricky j Taylor Lead Voc, rhythm & lead guitar. Jim Wood: Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass, Tenor Guitar. Inge Wood: Harmony Voc & Mandolin.
Saigon 68) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, guitar. Jim Wood: cello
The Portrait) Ricky j Taylor: Lead Voc, guitar. Jim Wood: Rhythm Guitar, Tenor Guitar, Violin 1&2, Viola, Cello, Bass. Inge Wood: Harmony Voc. Kyle Copeland: Drums
Now Comes Ever) Ricky j Taylor: Bass. Jim Wood: Fiddle, Guitar, Mandolin.
Wait for Me) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, guitar. Jim Wood: Mandolin, Violin 1&2, Viola, Cello, Bass. Inge Wood: Harmony Voc. Angela Wood: Cajon
Corinthian's Mine) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, Guitar. Jim Wood: Violin 2, Mandolin, Cello. Baily Johnstone: Bass. Inge Wood: Harmony Voc. Kyle Copeland: Drums. Emory Hutchens: Violin 1
I Move On) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, Bass. Jim Wood: Violin 1, Cello, Mandolin. Inge Wood: Harmony Voc. Sophie Buck: Violin 2. Angela Wood: Djembe
Sailin Man) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, Guitar, Bass. Jim Wood: Violin 1&2, Bouzouki, Cello.
Could it be Reel) Ricky j Taylor: Guitar. Jim Wood: Mandolin
The Girl You Wish To Be) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, Guitar, Bass. Jim Wood: Cello, Shaker.
Weights & Measures) Ricky j Taylor: Lead & Harmony Voc, Guitar 1 & 2. Jim Wood: Violin, Bouzouki, Slide Guitar, Bass. Inge Wood: Tenor Violin. Sophie Buck: Viola. Cajone: Angela Wood.
The Battle of the Somme) Ricky j Taylor: Lead Voc. Jim Wood: Violin 1&2, Viola, Bass, cello. Kyle Copeland: Drums.
Goodby My Love) Ricky j Taylor: Guitar
A Journey to Here
Date: June 2013
Recorded at: Tennessee Studios, Shelbyville, TN
Produced by: Jim Wood
Engineered by: Jim Wood & John Furbush
Mixed by: John Furbush & Jim Wood
Mastered by: John Furbush
A year or so prior to release of this album, I had decided to give up music all together. I had been playing in working bands almost all my adult life dating back to late high school. Many wonderful experiences with several cover bands where I formed life long friendships. But now with a family and a career that was becoming more demanding, I felt like I needed to make some fundamental changes.
During all the years of performing in cover bands, I was quietly writing songs. I did so with no plans or expectations of playing original music in front of other people. I wrote songs as a means of coping with life; to get things of my chest. With zero confidence in their quality, I would write them and throw them on a pile. With the advent of quitting, I wanted to make simple archival recordings of these songs before doing so.
I'd started on the process using a small multi-track recorder I'd bough used on e-bay. I wanted a fiddle track on on e of the songs so i contacted a fellow that i've played with locally in a bluegrass band. He wasn't available but recommended that I contact Jim Wood. Jim and I were friends from many years back when i was playing contests and festivals around the southeast with the bluegrass band Cross Country. Jim was on the same circuit, competing in fiddle contests where we became friends and even recorded on a Mike Snider album together. It had been over 20 years since I last saw Jim but I made contact. I explained my motivation but Jim recommended that I bring my songs to him for a listen. What i didn't know was that in the decades since we lost contact, he'd become a successful music producer in Nashville and had recently built a studio near Shelbyville, TN.
Jim gave a listen and concluded that the songs had merit and recommended recording a formal album and produce a CD. In spite of knowing that it didn't make financial sense, I agreed to move forward on the idea. At the very least, it would be a much better archive than what I'd planned. Having never played the songs with anything but a single guitar, Jim and I set about to arrange the songs. For the various tracks, we called in a variety of musicians...some friends of mine, others were hired-guns. Having toured with Claire Lynch a few yrs prior, i asked her to recored harmony vocals on the song "My Love", which she did beautifully. I also wanted to included a traditional instrumental involving another artist of note that id shared a band with many years ago, Mike Snider, Grand Od Opry member. Mike gladly agreed to do so and recorded "Over the Waterfall" on clawhammer banjo. Unfortunately, on the day we were set to track the song, I was very ill and couldn't make it and missed seeing Mike. I added my guitar track at a later date. I also called on some local musicians that's I'd performed with over the past many years Jim Cavender and Mike Dendy.
During the development and recording of this album, it seemed that I found or re-discovered aspects of my life through re-living these songs. It seemed that many things and old friends came together during this process. Having traveled such a long road since writing the songs and now having things seem to circle back around - I decided to name the album "A Journey To Here".