I’m so lucky to get to work with some great musicians and audio engineers. Brian Campbell and I go wayyyyback to the Blue Wave days. In between his work on all the great early Powder Blues albums, he engineered Ferron’s classic Testimony and some of my first demos at Blue Wave in 1980 including Another Girl, which we recorded with Powder Blues alumni Will MacCalder and Bill Runge.
Aside from a wall full of gold records, he has a closet full of of vintage Neumann microphones, which is a vocalist’s dream, and a few pieces of analog processing gear from the original studio… Here we are finishing up some mixes at his studio in the CBC bunker in downtown Vancouver.
Kim McCarthy photo
And that’s about it for the Time Machine, I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride.
UPDATE: 2019
Holy smokes, what a great year! In March I was invited to a three-week residency at the Banff Centre for Arts + Creativity that brought 30 new friends into my life and transformed the way I think about songwriting. With a seriously amazing house band and access to a world-class studio facility, we recorded three new tracks. Have a listen here.
Mentors:
Kevin Welch | Kim Richey | David Francey | Dustin Welch | Tamara Lindeman
Angel at the Crossroad
Gone
Take Your Time Breaking This Heart When You Go
Fats Kaplin : pedal steel + mandolin
Mike O’Brien : electric guitar
Matthew Manifould : bass
Carla Easton : keyboards
Kev Corbett : drums
Recorded March 13, 2019 * Banff Centre for the Arts + Creativity
Singer/Songwriter Residency
Vocal tracks recorded at hotel2tango Montreal October 2019
Producer : Howard Bilerman
Assistant engineer (Banff) : Joaquin Gomez
Assistant engineer (Montreal) : Shae Brossard
I was very blessed to catch up with Charlie in Montreal to record my new tune, Pay Dirt. Here’s to good times, and lots more to come. Bye for now!
Hogan + Hase @ hotel2tango : Montreal : October 2019
Shae Brossard photo
PAY DIRT
V1 I travelled these roads in a younger time
When summer was sweet and the world was mine
I tasted love on the lips of spring
I travelled that road, it was a beautiful thing
I travelled that road, it was a beautiful thing
V2 I’ve been swinging that hammer, been shovelling rocks
You never know how much time is left on God’s punch clock
Been working this same seam on a river of hurt
Don’t know if I’ll ever know when I’ve hit pay dirt
Don’t know if I’ll ever know when I’ve hit pay dirt
Chorus Now I’m no miner
I’m not a keeper of faith
I’m just a dreamer of dreams in this crazy race
And as long as I’m living
I’ll keep working these words
And I’ll torture these six strings till I hit pay dirt
Yeah I’ll torture these six strings till I hit pay dirt
V3 Now some of us make it and some of us don’t
It’s in the luck of the draw
It’s in the blood and the bone
Might do it for pleasure, but it’s a beautiful curse
To follow that siren song for better or worse
To follow that siren song for better or worse
Chorus Now I’m no miner
I’m not a keeper of faith
I’m just a dreamer of dreams in this crazy race
And as long as I’m living
I’ll keep working these words
And I’ll torture these six strings till I hit pay dirt
Yeah I’ll torture these six strings till I hit pay dirt
alisonhogan.com 