Album Notes

Traditional, Hank Williams-type instrumentation of lap steel, pedal steel,dobro, acoustic guitar, snare and bass, along with some banjo, mandolin and accordion, provide the backdrop for Seattle's Terhune. The lyrics are purely American stories. If you like: John Prine, Steve Forbert, Elliott Murphy, Ryan Adams, Whiskeytown, Son Volt, Wilco, Jayhawks, America, The Eagles, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, or anyone sounding like anyone just listed, you'll love Terhune. Note: This is a DIY CD made by the band. Each CD is digitally copied directly from the hard drive from which it is recorded onto using Pro Tools. _____ Check out Terhune's other releases: Southern Breeze Fairmount Kentucky Pearls Drives You Forward Motion Jacob's Ladder Fairmount Quakers High Ground/Buckeye _____ Interview with Al Terhune by Peter Willis, Senior Music Editor, Nu Music Express, Seattle, WA. Peter: Well, it didn't take you long to release the follow-up to your debut, "Southern Breeze." Al: We actually were recording some of "Corn" as we were finishing up "Southern Breeze." P: What's the process of how to decide what song to put on what CD? A: We already knew what was going on Breeze. We just were ready to start the next one. We're sitting on a whole shit load of songs. At least another three albums' worth right now. P: Really. A: So it's not so much a matter of "which song goes on Breeze and which one goes on Corn." Well, maybe it is. We just pick ten songs- P: Why ten songs? You put eleven on "Southern Breeze. A: You might remember I told you we put eleven on Breeze because we did the Irish cover tune. Anyway, we just pick "this many" songs - we think ten songs are plenty to listen to one right after another - P: But they're pretty short. A: So? How long were Hank tunes? P: Short. A: Listen, all I can tell you is what we like to do. Personally, I don't even like to hear more than thirty-five minutes of someone live, even if it's someone I love. P: Like who? A: Hmmm...Uh...Hey! I'd love to see Jonathon Edwards...but I don't know about now. I wish I had seen him perform during his first or second album tour. What were we talking about? P: Let's talk about the songs on "Corn." A: Let's. P: So tell me about them. A: We started it off with "Well Water," which, I don't know, it's one of my favorite songs. I just really like the feel and the image of the lyrics. P: One thing I noticed is the lack of steel guitar on this second CD of yours. "Southern Breeze" was laced with it. A: I thought we were going to talk about the songs? You're talking about the instrumentation. P: Isn't that one in the same? A: (Pauses to think) Yeah, it is actually. And you know, it's really just as important if not more important, to me, anyway, than the lyrics. P: You're not a lyric person? A: I'm a music person. I can hear a song twenty times and not know what they're saying. To answer your question, though, it's true. We used the resonator guitar a lot instead of steel, which technically is still a steel guitar. But you're right - and we didn't plan it that way. We didn't sit down and say "we're not going to use the steel guitar as much on this CD." P: What's "No I Don't" about? A: It's pretty self-explanatory. Just one of those times when you question what the meaning is to everything. "Company" is a song for - if every married man is honest - all the men out there. Marilyn Monroe has this great line in "The Misfits," which was written by her then-husband at the time. It's at the beginning of the movie, and she's explaining why she's getting divorced. She says of her husband: "I can touch him, but he's not there." That's what "Company" is about. We use a four-string tenor Harmony on that, which gives it this cheap-guitar strum that I'm really fond of. I hope I don't forget to use it more. P: "Underground?" A: I wrote that after seeing a modern movie with pretty much the same theme. Gee, I didn't realize that. They're pretty much about the same thing except two totally different production jobs. Hey, that's what I love about music. It's like movies or books. You can take the same frickin' subject and just present it differently. There aren't that many things to write about, you know. Look at "69 Love Songs" by the Magnetic Fields. Now if that's not inspiring, I don't know what is. P: "Your Sugar." A: Oh, just a stupid little song. It's got some nice vocal arrangements, though. P: Are songs a tool for your expression of thoughts or production? A: I love that question, and although I sorta answered it a little earlier, for me, songs for the most part are a vehicle for the music/production that's in me. I have to say, though, that although most songs are totally fictional, they have a little bit of truth in them, at least from what I've seen with my own eyes or experienced during my days. P: "Mystery." A: That's a song written by an old band mate of mine from the New York City days, and about two weeks into recording this CD, I woke up from a dream around four-thirty in the morning, and I dreamed that I recorded this song. So I got right up, walked into the studio, and started recording it. And the only reason I recorded "Kentucky Girl" was because it's a song I wrote about the same time Vince and I were doing those songs in our band. P: What was the name of the band in New York? A: "East of Fairmount." P: You both are from Fairmount? A: Yes. P: What's Vince up to nowadays? A: Well, he's back in Indiana, and he still plays his guitar and writes. I see him every so often. P: So, about "Kentucky Girl." When I last talked to you, you were thinking of calling the CD "Kentucky Girl," then even talked about calling it "Well Water," the opening tune. A: We weren't even going to keep "Kentucky Girl" on there, but when we threw the resonator guitar on there, all of a sudden it just sounded like it finally got what it needed to get that shine. It's really just a simple, no-lyric tune. I'm just attracted to the melody and the fact it's close to the same time "Mystery" was written - which is why we put them side by side on the CD. P: "Black Cats." A: One of my favorites. P: You're probably going to say that about every other song. A: Maybe. P: Why is this one of your favorites? A: Well, this is one of the few songs that is not fictional. It's really a page from my family's history. My brother thinks the only thing I've got wrong is the "red Ford Falcon wagon." He remembers us having the green Ford Torino wagons. I think he was too young to remember the Ford Falcon wagons my Dad rented from the dealership. Actually, I don't think the Torino was introduced until the early 70's. P: So what's the "black cats from Ohio in my hands?" A: Firecrackers. Black Cat firecrackers. Those things were illegal in Indiana, but right about that time my family drove to Ohio for a little weekend getaway, and my Dad bought me and my brother a brick of Black Cats. Oh, yeah. And my Mom was totally into the hippie thing. She bought us love beads, brought home Beatle albums and all kinds of good music. She had our bathroom wall-papered with hippie-like wallpaper from K-Mart. It had "peace" and "love" with peace signs all over it. Doves. My Dad was actually pretty tolerable, because he was not that kind of a person - a lot more conservative. But he would just let it be. P: "Corn" is a very picturesque song. It's really bleak and grim. Is it really that bad in Indiana - or for farmers in general? A: Oh, not really. I mean, if you were to ask Willie and John Mellencamp, they'd say the farmer was in deep shit, but it's not that bad in Indiana. A lot of farmers are doing good, but, yeah, some farmers have gone bankrupt and lost everything they had. I think the farmers that have survived are the ones that diversified and didn't put all of their eggs in one basket. You know, just have cornfields. Because if you get a couple of bad years of wrong rain, then you go broke. There's a big spot in my heart for farmers, though, and everything that life in the country is about. P: So, I'm really curious about the origin and meaning of "Indiana Nights," the closer for "Corn." A: I read about a couple in their late 80's who were in failing health. They celebrated New Year's eve with their family, then the next day they were found...gone...dead. They had committed suicide. The family said they weren't surprised. They said they loved living life together, and wanted to die together. P: That's pretty heavy. A: Yeah, it is. I'd like to believe there's a lot of dignity in that. P: So what's next? A tour? Another CD? A: No tours! No playing live, even. At least not yet. Recording is so fun. Playing life, sound checks, carrying heavy shit around - that is not fun. No fun. We've already started recording our next CD, "Fairmount." P: You've mentioned Fairmount a couple of times. A: My hometown in Indiana. P: Is there a song called "Fairmount?" A: Of course. It's actually a song from the Cotton Bend days. P: Before we go, let's talk just a bit about Cotton Bend. A lot of people don't know you were in a band called Cotton Bend here in Seattle a few years ago. A: I was in a band called Cotton Bend here in Seattle a few years ago. P: You're great. Just the best fucking interview I've ever done. A: We were your typical strummers and pickers. We did play live a few times. It was fun, but it lasted as long as it should have. P: Why did you stop it? A: After I finished a second tour with Gerald Collier and the Supersuckers, playing pedal steel for both of their sets - which was fun, I just got the message that being on the road, going to rehearsals, spending all that time away from my wife, wasn't for me. So I quit Gerald's band, and really wanted to stop Cotton Bend right away, but everybody else in the band was having a good time...I think. We went another few months, and I finally threw in the towel. P: So "Fairmount" is a tune from the Cotton Bend days? A: Yeah, there's a ton of stuff that we didn't put on the Cotton Bend CD. We had so many songs. We had three really good songwriters. M.J. Bishop was/is a terrific songwriter and singer. She's actually still got a band going. She's a really talented person, and it's beyond me why she isn't making a ton of money. Mike Greene, our drummer. Just a stand-up type of guy and great songwriter, too. P: Will we be seeing these Cotton Bend tunes on future Terhune CDs? A: Oh, yeah. P: Until the release of "Fairmount." A: Until then.