Finally Home by Bob Gatewood

Basically, I wrote the songs, sang lead, played acoustic and electric guitars. My lifelong friend, Pat Surnegie and I shared writing on two of them, and Tom kicked in one of his own songs just like he did on the first cd.

Tom Bukovac was in the Calabash band some years ago. He has since made quite a name for himself down in Nashville touring with and recording with some of the biggest names in the business. He offered to produce my latest batch of songs and invited me down there to start to work on it. Tom is the best guitar player I have ever heard, and he's oh so cute on the Letterman Show and Leno. He can do it all in the studio on any instrument with a flair for creative genius and technichal ability to back it up. He has always been good to me, but this time he surpassed all of my expectations and hopes. The band he assembled to record the album was no less than stellar. If you counted the million selling albums these guys have played on, you would be around a hundred!

On drums we had the legendary Joe Vitale. Joe became a rock icon playing drums on all the Joe Walsh records as well as several with Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and The Eagles just to name a few. All the guys in the band were super nice, but Joe's generosity towards my music was amazing. He brought the experience and creative force of 52 gold records. Furthermore, he helped us in the mastering process, and really believes in the project. Aside from his experience, he brought Joe Vitale Jr., his multi-talented son who not only played percussion, but also helped with graphics ideas. Joe Jr. is building himself a name recording and producing sound libraries for the computer age. The two of them laid down some grooves that could only come from a father-son team of this caliber.

On piano and keyboards we had another legend, Mark Jordan. Mark has led a distinguished career on the road and in the studio with Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, Jackson Browne, Dave Mason again just to name a few. He has writing credits with everyone from Taj Mahal to The Carpenters. He's played on dozens of hit records, written, produced, and arranged page after page of recordings in your music collection. He's at the top of the game, enough said.

On Bass- David Santos. When he's not recording international jingles for Coca-Cola, HBO and Sports Illustrated in his spare time, he makes music with people like James Taylor, Jimmy Buffet and Elton John. He's a member of the Billy Joel Band which is one of the best sounding bands in the world. He's also a writer. I read articles in music trade magazines every month about him or by him.

One of the greatest thrills was to work with Will Owsley. I'll try and make it brief. I got a cd a while back that knocked me out. It was Owsley's debut. It was as good a record as I've ever heard. It shot up my personal favorites chart to somewhere around Abbey Road or Dark Side of the Moon. It was nominated for a Grammy. It was how I wanted to sound- who wouldn't? When Tom told me that Will was interested in being in on the session I could hardly believe it. Some of the coolest riffs on the record came right off his hands. Prediction by Bob: The next Owsley record will go platinum! Congratulations on the new baby!

Troy Johnson was the guy singing the harmonies and there are some great performances. He's a real hot session cat in the Music City and I was very glad he could join us. To my ear he sounds a lot like Phil Talbot, and that's fine with me. The middle section of Blades on the Water was beautiful and it was all him!

A better band could not have been had. But how about the guys turning the knobs...

The recording engineer was Rick DeLima, an acclaimed artist, a killer guitar player, a big recorder of Gospel music, the nicest guy and a great tracking engineer. It was in his lair that this thing happened. Mills Logan did some excellent touch up work and quick like a swat team. Tom Bethel did the mastering and as a great mastering engineer does- only what was needed. It didn't need a lot, so rather than stepping on it heavily, he just cleared the footprints so you could find the path. Paul Hager mixed this record and the man is from another planet. If all records were mixed by him the world would be a better place to listen. This mix is as good as it gets. He took a great recording and made it way, way, way better. I never knew so much creativity could be utilized or that it would turn out this good. Well, enough of this give it a spin, I hope you like it.

Bob Gatewood

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