Album Notes

About the CD:

This album began in a two-room shack in a part of Bloomington, Indiana, known as Boxcar Alley. As the locals tell it, the name had nothing to do with trains, but came from the use of old RCA factory crates to build the inexpensive dwellings in the area. While living in one such building, Will Scott began recording songs and blues studies on a high-mileage four-track tape deck.

Will had been part of the blues scene for a number of years as a guitarist, and later as a songwriter and singer for The Forecasters--working mostly in the West Side Chicago blues style. His songwriting soon led him to other blues forms and to other styles of music. The earliest of the songs on this album (Goin’ Down the River, Jumper On The Line) were recorded in that period as studies of older songs and styles.

The recording continued in a cabin in a former TB colony at the foothills of Sierra Madre, California. Surrounded by creaking bamboo and the cries of coyotes, Will recorded two spirituals here (Trimmed and Burnin’ and Wish I’s in Heaven) and a couple songs about leaving home (Long Time Since, and Slightly Used Shoes).

The final recordings (Peaches and Love & Pain) were made in a small apartment just above the corner of Sunset and Alvarado in Echo Park, Los Angeles, on a block made famous by its Burrito King. Folks in the music business were now asking for personal copies of his demo recordings. With their encouragement, ten songs were selected for this self-released album that launched Will Scott’s solo career.

Will is currently manufacturing these CDs himself. This CDR retains all the charm of the original home-cooked demo that created such a buzz. Nothing fancy here. No big studio sound. No glossy liner notes. Just great music, recorded in an intimate setting, with a picture on the cover. Worth every penny!