Album Notes

A little about the cd and our guest artist, Jay Tinsman!
We met Jay while playing at Siesta Key Oyster Bar in Sarasota Florida. He had done a few cd's and after listening, I realised his passion for songwriting. Along with the beachy ballads he had written, inspired by island living, he has mountain, hillbilly roots infused with many of his songs. Not a surprise, since at the age of 15, he was playing the stand up bass in his fathers bluegrass band, The Potomac Valley Boys.
Since then he has spent most of his life in the mountains of Tennessee honing his songwriting craft.

Present day found Jay watching Swamp Donkie at the Oyster Bar and inviting us into the studio to play on his new 6 song cd. This beautiful studio called Spirit Ranch, is an actual ranch in Myakka Florida. House engineer and co-owner Bud Snyder is known for his work with the Allman Bros. His grammy for a Greg Allman tune adorns the wall inside.

The original idea for the cd was to be a handful of Jays songs and a handful of mine. Somewhere in the middle of recording, we decided to do a seperate Swamp Donkie cd, as well as play on Jays cd, entitled Rescue Me. It's also available on CD Baby. I did some back up vocals on a few of his tunes but the real sound he was after from us was the fiddle talents of Swamp Donkie's, Mary Beth Ponder and cajon sound from percussionist Steve Apostole. A cajon is simply a wooden box that he sits on and beats with his hands. With the help of some other area artists, the Swamp Donkie cd and Jays, Rescue me cd were born.

Jay appears on the Swamp Donkie cd as well, singing lead on Rockabilly girl, other vocal parts can be heard on Sweet Virginia, Hillbilly Guy, Spin Me rock me. His Johnny Cash-esque voice was a welcomed treat. He also plays banjo on American Rebel. Was great to make a new friend with Jay and his family. He is called "Big Daddy" by them and others. Both cd's were alot of fun to make and we thank everyone for their efforts!
Additional musicians on this album include Debbie Lynn Stern (toured with Loretta Lynn), backing vocals on Spin Me Rock me, Scott Wade on elec. guitar, Mike Carden on Congas on Mid November Melody.

Thanks, John Whiteleather