Album Notes

From the notes:
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From it's birth in the early seventies until the mid eighties, Kicking Mule Records was known for eclectic, pretzel-fingered guitar virtuosity. In other words, it was noted for records like this excellent effort by Tom Ball.

Renaissance music played on steel strings, flawlessly executed Blind Blake rags, Fahey-esque variations on classical themes, the subtle syncopations of Joseph Spence, the crisp alternating bass of Merle Travis -- it's all here on this treat for guitar fans.

The pieces on this CD come originally from America, the Bahamas, El Salvador, England, France, Italy, Germany, Paraguay, Scotland and Spain; they were written as early as the 1530s and as recently as the 1980s, and were penned by composers as seemingly unrelated as Blind Blake, Andres Segovia, Merle Travis, Augustine Barrios, John Dowland and Earl Klugh. What could all this material possibly have in common? As Tom puts it: "It's all guitar music."

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(Not from the notes:)

A WORD FROM THE GUITARIST: This album has had something of a convoluted history. Recorded in '86/87 (with tube mics, 2-track analog tape, no overdubs), it was initially released on a Kicking Mule Records LP.

A few years later Kicking Mule licensed the CD release to Intersound, who changed the title and cover, then brought it out on their Reflections imprint. A couple weeks after the initial press run, Reflections was folded and most of the product sat idly in a Georgia warehouse for three years until the rights reverted back to Kicking Mule.

By then Kicking Mule had been sold to Fantasy Records, who did the first really good CD release of it in '96. They restored the original cover and notes, and sonically remastered it to perfection. These CDs are that version.

Now Fantasy has been sold to Concord. Taking on literally 1000s of Fantasy's titles (on dozens of subsidiary labels,) Concord has chosen to discontinue 100s of titles and let them go out of print -- including this one.

Not wanting to see the project disappear, I recently bought up most of the remaining stock. So unless we cross paths at a gig, these are the last copies. As Porky would say, "That's all, folks!"

At the risk of sounding swell-headed, I think this project still holds up quite well today -- the analog and tube sound is very warm and present. The guitar is in tune. I'm still proud of this one and I hope you'll enjoy it as well.

Thanks to you all for your support and please feel free to check out my more recent solo guitar CDs here at CDBaby. The second one, "18 Pieces for Solo Steel String Guitar" lives at: cdbaby.com/cd/tomball/from/havaball/ And the latest one, "Solo Guitar - Music From Films" is at: cdbaby.com/cd/tomball3/from/havaball/ Also two of the Tom & Kenny duo CDs are here too.

cheers to all and good pickin',
Tom Ball
Santa Babs CA
2007