Album Notes

Song Synopsys

JULIE: Inspired by my son’s crush on a class mate that was not reciprocated. Too bad for you, Julie.

COMING HOME: Fightin’ war is a dead man’s chore.

CRAZY: A guy ‘Crazy’ in love, how he sees the object of his affection and what it is doing to him.

ROLL, THUNDER, ROLL: The old “If I can’t have her, nobody can!” song. Shoot ‘em both and run like hell!

DYIN’ INSIDE: The heartbreak of two people who love each other, but can’t live together.

LOVE INSIDE A BOTTLE: My first attempt at a country song, the parody actually backfired and became a favorite.

MISSING YOU: Young lover’s belief that it will never end, it does – but the pain lives on. Set to an island feel.

MY BABY AND ME: One of those wacky songs that don’t fit anywhere, written while doing duty at an election polling station.

NOT JUST A WOMAN: The arrogance of a user of women, changed by love.

TELL IT LIKE IT REALLY IS: The efforts of the human race to be dishonest don’t pay off and you get caught anyway.

JAMAICA: A native’s love for their homeland.

GOODBYE: Like ships that pass in the night, a one night stand brings the morning after and the expectation that our paths may never cross again.


Bio

What a Trip!

Though born in Massachusetts, my formative years (8-18) were spent steeped in the melting pot of Jamaica W.I., where American and English hit parades shared the Radio Jamaica air waves with country and western music and reggae blasted in the dance halls at night…..Sunday morning concerts of gospel hymns sung by congregations in the back of stake bodied trucks on their way to many churches, driven by the beat of empty olive oil containers…religion fuelled by jungle drums.

Then in 1963 during military service in Gelnhausen, I discovered German “Oompah” music and felt the force of the first British Invasion, as it would be later called, spearheaded by the Beatles. There was no doubt about it, I had to play!

I took up drums, practicing on my bunk bed and ironing board in the Army barracks, using the wooden rods from coat hangers for drumsticks, and I began to learn guitar. Every chance I got I went and heard bands…I was like a sponge.

Following my discharge in 1966, I was in a bar when I heard a band in the back mutilating the Stones’ “Get Off of My Cloud”. I told them it sucked…they hired me and I never looked back.

The next year found me with the same band in Washington, DC playing as a house band 6 nights a week in the “007 Lounge” on Pennsylvania Ave. at 14th Street. Doing Motown. We cut a demo in a studio in Georgetown with an engineer named Nelson Funk…I caught the recording bug right there! (I still have that session on tape!)

The next year found me living in the woods with friends, working on harmonies, writing songs and playing acoustic guitar. Then it was down to Muscle Shoals, AL to cut some rock tunes, then up to New York City to play Philly sound in a 3 piece band.

The next year I went back to Europe and played Germany, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Switzerland; sometimes electric, sometimes acoustic. Had to give it up when the Army drafted our German drummer, Helmut “Rocky Raccoon” Eisenhut. Bummer.

I returned to the US in 1971 to take up residence in Dover, DE where I joined a hot, local band led by Gene Cook. We played everything; rock, country, standards, hard rock (anybody remember Grand Funk Railroad?), Motown, 50’s, blues….you name it.
I spent this time honing my recording and writing skills, built a home studio, got into the commercial jingle business, released a couple of local records.

Got the road bug again in 1979, put together a 4 piece country band named Rain and toured the country from Delaware out to Denver, Santa Fe and Rapid City with many stops in between. Tried to make a hit of it, went to Nashville, cut a few tunes. Didn’t quite work out, ahead of our time (again), to much edge in our country!

1984 brought me back to Dover and my bedroom studio, a Fostex R8 reel-to-reel quarter inch monster. Still here and still jammin’, and though I have since moved into the digital world with Cakewalk, I still like the sound of the Fostex.

No telling what the future will bring, but if it’s anything like the past, I have a lot of adventures to go and I’m hoping that with enough support by you, this CD project will open many new doors for me and we can share the ride together. I can’t wait to see what’s around the next corner, and I’ll keep you posted!


Bandology:

’66 - Dominaires
Bounty Hunters
Benny Royce & Company
’67 - Sound Regiment Band
’68 - The Other 4
90 Proof Soul
’69 - The Rain
’70 - Gene Cook and the Dynamics
Sour Grape
’73 - Yancey
’74 - Delaware Power and Rock
’76 - Delaware
’77 - One Way Express
Barnstormer
’78 - Rain
’85 - Country Drive
Cookin’
’96 - Night Shift

Thanks for your time,
Kim