Album Notes

A workingman’s musician with a thorough grasp of his craft, Ted Russell Kamp comes into his own as a solo artist and songwriter with Poor Man’s Paradise.

The album is a juicy gumbo of country, Southern-fried rock and soul in the style of lifelong inspirations J.J. Cale, Leon Russell, The Band, Little Feat and Kris Kristofferson. Reflecting Kamp’s desire to express “more detail, more emotion, more poetry and realism,” it’s packed with some of the toughest and most poignant songs he’s yet written: boogeying roadhouse anthems like “Just a Yesterday Away,” the Jerry Reed-style “Long Distance Man” and “Just Go South”; detail-studded story songs such as the waltzing “Player Piano” and the humorous “Ballad of That Guy”; and a heartbreak hit in the melodic weeper “Let Love Do the Rest” (co-written with Southern California honky-tonker David Serby).

A roots-savvy crew of pals helped Kamp record basic tracks in L.A., including guitarists Tony Gilkyson and Kenny Vaughan, drummer Don Heffington, mandolinist Marvin Etzioni, Waylon Jennings/Highwaymen pedal steel player Robbie Turner, Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash frontman Mark Stuart, singer Gia Ciambotti and Tina & the B-Sides frontwoman Tina Schlieske. Kamp’s own instrumental prowess is also heard on guitar, mandolin, bass, keyboards, lap steel, accordion, trombone and trumpet.