Album Notes

AMERICAN SONGS is the Kevin's fifth CD. "Daisy and Old Dan Tucker are some new words to old songs. Little Sadie, House of New Orleans and Little Light are new arrangements of traditional songs. The rest are new songs from that dark place so many American folk songs come from, smelling of hot dogs and warm beer. Morphine Makes It Hard is true; it's a cowboy song, an American lament like Nice and Short is an American lament. And then there are the love songs. Hold On Henry, Girl with the Yellow Hair, Hootenanny Blues and the others. American songs all, and as true as God Bless America is or ever will be. The cover and back photos were taken by New London photographer Bill Hurshman, who was there at the Hootenanny when Carlotta sang out for the first time and Sarah showed up with her new husband. That's Southside Johnny's Chris Anderson on trumpet and the big man, Stephen Chapman, on back-up vocals. Kevin played the acoustic and electric guitars, the bass, Hammond B-3 organ, harmonica - and the upright piano on Morphine. Jim Nolet came in again from Seattle for four days with his fiddle and mandolin. Carlotta Rose and Emily Kane, Genie Raven and Julia Engel sang back-up in a garage studio up in the Adirondacks on a couple of tunes. J.P. sang "Oh no!" on Little Sadie. And there you have it, just what we all need - twelve more recordings of American Songs.