Album Notes

By Popular Demand: Barefoot Servants Release Expanded Version of 2005’s Smash Success, Barefoot Servants 2

March 15, 2006 (El Lay, CA)—The Barefoot Servants—Jon Butcher, Ben Schultz, Leland Sklar, and Neal Wilkinson—celebrated the New Year with a dilemma: What to do now that their latest CD had SOLD OUT in less than four months? The band released Barefoot Servants 2 in the fall of ’05—their first new music in nearly a decade. Sales and critical praise for Servants 2 were nothing short of great, but how do you make something so well received better? The answer was easy. As a way of saying 'thanks' to friends, fans and media, Jon, Ben, Lee and Neal have re-mastered and re-released Servants 2 in a new ‘Expanded Edition,’ with two additional songs, some new mixes and additional artwork and photos.
All Music Guide raved about 2: “Eleven years after the Barefoot Servants' debut on Epic Records in 1994 came the return of this four-piece super-group of session players with a supremely commercial outing that begs for airplay and recognition… it's clear that these journeyman know their trade and it's also very clear that their combined chops and intelligence have created a record which actually sounds as fun as it probably was to make. These days that is truly something special, putting Barefoot Servants 2 in a league all its own.”
Taylor Guitar featured the band in its Wood & Steel Magazine: “It takes a serious (and nervy) group of musicians to stake a claim as a revitalizing force in classic rock. Most bands couldn’t wait a decade to release a sophomore effort and produce something as cohesive and constantly changing as Barefoot Servants 2. And they made a time-tested genre rock anew while doing it.”
About the band: Barefoot Servants is a roots-inspired ‘nouveau-classic rock’ group based in the So-Cal area. Grammy®-nominated Jon Butcher fronted the Jon Butcher Axis, achieving critical and commercial success with 12 records, 9 MTV videos, film/TV scoring credits, and worldwide concert performances over a decade. Likewise, Ben Schultz has recorded and toured as a solo artist and with legends like Buddy Miles, Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks, to name a just a few. Bassist Lee Sklar has been touring this past fall/winter with both Phil Collins [as he has for years] and Lyle Lovett, and is arguably one
of the world’s most recorded bass players (James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, BB King, Bonnie Raitt, Antigone Rocks, Willie Nelson, ad infinitum). Drummer Neal Wilkinson’s credits include Ultavox, Gang of Four, and Paul McCartney. Collectively or individually, the members of Barefoot Servants have had a lasting and dramatic influence on modern pop music.