These albums are ones that I played on and the thoughts I have about them: 1)Town Square (2009) was a double-disc album from the duo Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart. It was intended to be what live audiences heard from us in concert. Yes, a previous double-disc album, Must Be Live, had been released in 2001. But, that album was before numerous studio albums had been released AND many newer songs had been written. Furthermore, it was “Stacey heavy” in that few of my songs are included. It was a bit less “duo”. Town Square was performed live in a studio, just without audience. The tracks had no overdubbing, no fixes, no layering of parts. We played our acoustic guitars, occasional harmonica, and sang our parts in a TAKE, song by song. The performances of these songs are how they were done on a stage, night to night, country to country. If you REALLY want to know what this duo sounds like you will need to get this album and hear the guitar interplay and harmonies. The lyrics are all ours. 2) Takes One To Know One (2005) is by the artist Teddy Larkin. It is one of my favorite albums ever, certainly one of my favorites to help record. When a friend musician was asked about a guitarist for these tracks some 8 players were brought to Teddy’s attention. He seemed to think they were all too “Nashville” in their ideas. So, the friend introduced him to my work and he was happy to have me do the entire record. I was “number 9”, you might say. I love all the songs, that attracted me from the beginning. Then, Teddy gave me a large flexibility in playing what I thought best. All of my electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and mandolin parts are some of my best work. I am biased because of that, yes, but the entirety of the album (players, engineering, lyrics, etc.) is fantastic. I need to hear it regularly. 3) Steve Forbert’s live album from 2004 has a long title. Wait for it: Steve Forbert Good Soul Food Live At The Ark Ann Arbor Michigan June 3,2004 Featuring Mark Stuart. With just our acoustic guitars the artist took his hired “gun” on tour, then, informed me of this album after releasing it! At first, I was concerned. I knew there were concerts that were not great, some that were. Until hearing this CD I had mixed emotions. It turned out to be one of our decent shows, not the best, but decent. He DID feature my name and likeness on the cover. I always wished he would allow me to play the way I wanted on his stuff, but there was lots of dictating my guitar parts. This is a good representation of Steve onstage with a guitarist accompanist. It could have been better if I was more free to choose the playing. His songs are great and his fans love this record, I believe. 4) Dedication. This is an album from 2012, the last Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart album, to date. I had written a batch of new songs and was excited about them. Plus, we had resurrected one of my gems from just before we met, doing it in our shows (the title cut). Inspired by this cluster of songs, all strong works in the opinion of both of us, Stacey set out to write some new songs. We co-wrote a bit, too. Most importantly, our production direction was one that took us into a more “Pop-ish” and “Beatle-y” turn than before. It had always been an influence, but, to demonstrate an outward sampling of The Beatles’ coloring (colouring) on our albums was a first. An acquired piano from 1928 had driven us to write and we used that very instrument on the album (recording gear was brought to our home for piano tracking). I played bass guitar, electric guitars, slide guitars, acoustic guitars. We placed some slick backing vocals onto some songs. I love it, the record. 5) Lifeshakes is a record I played on in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The artist is Antonio Andrade. He had a lot of fantastic songs and asked me to play on the album. Given a “rough” of all the songs, recordings of mostly acoustic guitar and bassist Freebo, I set out to establish my parts. When I arrived with my ideas (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, etc.) Antonio was quite pleased with it all. As a result, some of my best work is throughout this record. I was given a license and used it to express my musicality to its fullest. I love the album, still. 6) Steve Earle’s El Corazon is a product of mostly songs the artist wrote during a couple of years of touring with his band. I was in that band and we would work up the songs at sound checks, then, toss them in as an encore, in some cases. When it was time to record the numbers in 1997, during a window off the road, I was left not playing on a few of the ones I had been doing onstage. Furthermore, I was not allowed to play ANY electric guitar parts (my best instrument). In the case of Ft. Worth Blues a mandola was handed me to play, though I had never played one! I had been using the sister instrument, mandolin, on tour. I guess that qualified me! Upon noting my limited role, the artist promised I would be called in to do all the background vocals and harmonies, as I was a strong singer. When I was left out of all of that, too, it was a sign that it was time to move on from this “band”. I have, still, never owned a copy of this major release in which I am credited. For those familiar with this album, I DID play on Telephone Road, Taneytown, Somewhere Out There, and a couple of others. It is a very good record from Steve, but, bittersweet for me. I did not tour the record, as I stepped away just as it was unleashed to the public. 7) Just Like There’s Nothin’ To It-this Steve Forbert album from 2004 is a very good record, I think. I play on some of the tracks, acoustic and 12-string guitars. The artist would have me on tour with him after the release. We were always an acoustic twosome for all those concerts. I had to try and work out parts on my guitar that was replacement for a very pop-production kind of record. 8)Left Of Nashville is a Mark Stuart solo record from 2008. I had two plans in mind: play all instruments on a record (as my biggest musical heroes had done -Paul McCartney and John Fogerty), and, do an album in two days time. Although, I can play drums, I decided against having a drum kit on the record. I did use assorted percussions. I played acoustic 6 and 12-string guitars, electric guitars, piano, slide guitar, and represented all vocals. I wrote all the songs, of course. Some of the material was very new, some songs were older ones that had not made it onto albums. 12 & 49 Crossroads is a blues-style acoustic guitar instrumental. I do it in shows today. Sal’s Song was a piece I was assigned to write at a songwriting retreat, where I was an instructor. Left of Nashville had just been written and reflected the status of being an “outsider” in the music community I grew up around. It was the title track, with no reservation about it. Inside the song is a little nod to Roger McGuinn (12-string part) and George Harrison (electric slide part). The chord progression is McCartney-like, in my view. I was starting to tour heavier as a solo act and this album was to be my new “product” to coincide with that.