Album Notes

Track 1 – Walls of Time

Jessica Jarris sings lead on this track, which you can hear by clicking the Play button on the left side of this page. We spent some quality time working out four-part harmony for the chorus, that’s Ben Larsen up there on the high high harmony! Joe is frailing the banjo, Austin’s holding down the mandolin, and Ben did triple duty–he’s singing, playing the guitar, and he overdubbed the dobro. All 6 tracks on our EP feature our former bass player, Max Kutzman. He’s who you hear playing the funky-fresh intro!

This is the sole cover tune on our EP. “Walls of Time” was written by Peter Rowan & Bill Monroe. You can hear the highly distinguished Mr. Rowan playing the song on Youtube.



Track 2 – Nature’s Gospel

This is an original number by Joe Seamons. In approaching the harmony on the chorus, Joe & Jessica tried to treat it more like a duet than a lead & backing vocal, it’s more fun this way!

The second verse of the song is somewhat clarified by a little backstory: When the founding fathers were still hashing things out in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, Alexander Hamilton insisted that our fledgling government should honor its war debts. This idea was stridently opposed by Madison & Jefferson, because shameless speculators had bought up the lion’s share of war bonds from the revolutionary smallfolk who initally purchased them. Hamilton insisted that the U.S. needed to establish good credit so that the nation’s economy could began to earn trust globally. Madison and Jefferson were adamantly opposed, but Hamilton struck a deal by allowing them to move the nation’s capital from Philadelphia to their beloved Virginia. Hence the song’s pun, that Hamilton “made public debt immortal for our capitol.” So that one’s a joke from Joe for all you American history buffs out there!



Track 3 – Mission Creek

This instrumental number was written by Austin Moore. He worked out a snazzy mandolin harmony, played here by Ben. Ben’s also playing guitar on this track. We’re very glad to have captured this incarnation of the song, because shortly after we recorded the EP, we solidified our lineup so that (in performance) Austin plays guitar and Ben plays mandolin on most every song. This means that when you hear this song live, you’ll now hear a wholly different version with the roles reversed–Austin playing the melody on guitar, while Ben plays the harmony part on mandolin.



Track 4 – I’m For You

This is the EP’s sole ballad, written and sung by Joe, who’s also playing the guitar here. Ben’s dobro solo is a highlight on this song, and it’s also fun to hear Jessica show off her chops as a keen-eared backing vocalist.



Track 5 – Anna’s Breakdown

This is a Ben Larsen original number, another one of our fiddle-less fiddle tunes. Ben’s shredding mandolin here, Austin’s playing lead guitar while Joe strums rhythm guitar. Check out that wicked bassline courtesy of Max Kutzman! This song’s ending was designed to flow smoothly into the EP’s final track.



Track 6 – Terror Risin’ Blues

This original song by Joe demonstrates one of the key parts of Renegade Stringband’s musical approach–multiple levels of interplay between different instruments. One aspect of this is heard on the instrumental break, where each instrument passes around the melody’s penultimate phrase. Thanks to the artistry of the album’s engineer, Sam Densmore, the recording captures the fact that, in the song’s introduction, the bowed bass note blends with the vocal melody. Also, turn your ear to the deliciously nasty three-fingered banjo picking of Austin Moore. Mighty fun!