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.
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Check out Terhune's other releases:
Southern Breeze
Corn
Fairmount
Kentucky Pearls
Drives You
Forward Motion
Fairmount Quakers
High Ground/Buckeye
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Interview with Al Terhune by Peter Willis of Nu Music Express, Seattle, WA.
Peter: Okay, he we are again. We're talking about a "new" CD that's actually a re-recording of Terhune's debut album from over a year ago. So what's up with this?
Al: "Jacob's Ladder" - or "The Outpost Café," as some know it, was redone for the people who bought our prior CDs.
P: You mean the six CDs you've released in nine months?
A: Yes.
P: You've had people buy all six CDs?
A: Many, many, many people - thank you!!!!!! We wanted to let people hear what got Terhune rolling. The very first thing we recorded.
P: The most noticable difference, is the bigger production you did this time. I don't know which I like better.
A: That's good. Normally, people like the first version they hear of something. Or if someone releases two records, they always like the first one they bought. My Mom won't listen to anything but "Southern Breeze!" I've stopped sending her our CDs.
P: This is a lap-steel album -
A: There you go again focusing in on the steel guitar.
P: But you like that, don't you?
A: Yeah.
P: So what do you think when you compare "Jacob's Ladder" with "Forward Motion," you're latest "new" release.
A: I really don't see that much difference, except in production style. Especially in comparing "Jacob's Ladder" with "Drives You," which is more ambitious.
P: Don't I remember you saying something about the writing process with "Jacob's Ladder?"
A: Yes - very unique, actually. Each song was written the day after the other, and they are in the order they were written. Eleven songs written in eleven days, and recorded in that order. Yet, I had no idea what was going to happen with them. I called up some buddies, and we got together, and boom - all of a sudden we had a CD.
P: What's your favorite song on this?
A: I think I like "Miner Boys." Any reference to Kentucky gets a song to the top of my favorite list. For some reason, whenever someone asks me to sing a song, and I rarely oblige because I hate to perform, I always sing "Miner Boys."
P: There are some strange, if not dark moments on this release, which really is no surprise. But one of the more disturbing is the image of a father going into his daughter's room, and we're left to think that...
A: ...something happens. Yeah, sorry for the image. But it's not my image. It's an image we've been given from what we know happens in this great, wonderful life of ours.
P: Why would you want to put that in a song?
A: Maybe it's just for the shock value. I don't know. It's like the "Thieves Sing" from "Drives You." You're walking down a road, roses on the left, daisies on the right, the sun's shining, you're happy, but just then there's an earthquake and a power line falls on you. It's just that stuff that happens. I used to argue with my Dad about his being negative, and how I was so positive. He would say, "I'm not negative. I'm a realist." And the old bugger was right. I guess he's coming through in my songs. I'm not all about Disney, I'm all about Raymond Carver.
P: The title cut really has the same sort of twist. You think you're hearing a sweet song about a guy who forgives his girl, but "I won't believe what the neighbors say." Something's happened.
A: You got it. Just turn a blind eye to her screwin' around. But you know, that's love. Sex is sex, and love is love. Don't complicate it by thinking the two are the same thing. That's when the problems start.
P: On "Lady Day," you go even further by bringing a man of the cloth into sin.
A: Peter, I'm really sorry, but I'm not bringing anybody into anything. He's already there. I'm just telling you what I know.
P: This guy's attracted to a slut.
A: Well, that's life, man.
P: But the preacher gets her, too. "Saw you in the church there singing songs. How could Jesus Christ be so wrong? Later on heard the preacher say, could you come by and see him later that day."
A: Bingo.
P: So what is lady day?
A: Oh, that's just a rip off from the Lou Reed song off of "Rock and Roll Heart" - one of his best albums, by the way.
P: "Lyttleton" is your first instrumental and only instrumental tune so far.
A: Actually there was an instrumental on the Cotton Bend CD.
P: That's right. "Trailer Hitch." But that's not a Terhune disc.
A: "Lyttleton" is the name of the community my Mom was born and raised in Clay County, Kentucky - in the town of Manchester.
P: "Sway" is written about one swanky guy.
A: It sure ain't me. I wrote that about a friend of mine. She was seeing a "beautiful" boy, and I just knew that he wasn't there to stay. I never met him, but somehow I was able to reach into his soul and pull this out.
P: That's such pathetic bullshit.
A: Ah, you caught me. Yeah, I didn't/don't know this guy from Adam.
P: I really like the final line: "What do you do when you heart becomes a noose? Well let me tell you: You sway."
A: Ouch. Yeah, that hurts. That hurts me every time I hear it.
P: "What Kept You" is...
A: Well, I'll thought about spilling the beans on this, but I'm not. This is up to everyone's imagination, just like all of the songs.
P: And "Boomtown Gold?"
A: Who the hell knows what it's about? I really like it, though, and it's a good closing tune for this CD. Are we bored yet?
P: I think that's it. Thanks, again. I'm not even going to ask you when the next CD is coming out. But, do you have any plans?
A: Peter, our next project is for our Moms. We're going to do a double disc of gospel songs and gospel Christmas hymns for the holidays. We'll probably make it available for our mailing list, too.
P: I thought you weren't really religious?
A: I was raised a Quaker, and although my wife is Buddhist, and I don't go to church now, I do, as one friend said, aspire to Christian values. That has nothing to do with this next project, though. It's just paying respect to music that has influenced me just as much as anything I grew up on has.
P: I look forward to it. And after that?
A: A double CD of instrumentals.
P: We'll see...
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