AIRPLAY DIRECT - Key Persons
Alice McEuen is married to Bill McEuen, my manager/producer during my early film and stand-up years. I wrote this song in the late sixties, and dedicated it to her. I was trying to capture the cheerfulness of the banjo, and write a song that sounds like it was written years ago, and now guess what? It actually was written years ago. The middle break was an effort to counter the simple melody of the tune. Also I loved the name Alice.
This is a result of idle playing. I had tuned the banjo to an alternate D tuning, and, Too lazy to tune the fifth string back down a note, I left the banjo in that key for about three weeks. I came up with the first half of the melody but couldn't realize another section. I was sitting in my living room with Tony Trischka, who has so generously contributed to this album not only as a player, but as a welcome spirit, and I was playing the tune, complaining that I couldn't find a second part. Tony was like a parent urging a child onward. He nodded his head, indicating for me to go down the neck, indicating yes and no while I fingered around, the visual equivalent of "hot, cold, and warmer" until I finally found a second half.
This song began it's life as an instrumental called, "Calico Mine Ride." The Calico Mine Ride was an attraction at Disneyland when I worked there as a teenager, and I gave this song the title in tribute to the memories of those days. We recorded the instrumental and were about to be done with it, but I began to think the melody could take lyrics. John suggested the Irish flavor and I set to work. I wanted to write a song with the same theme as "I'm sitting on top of the world" (the Bill Monroe version), about someone who doesn't let a breakup break them down: "now you're gone, I don't worry, ‘cause I'm sittin' on top of the world!" John contracted the great Irish singer, Mary Black, Whom I had been listening to for many years, even using her music to "get in the mood" for specific acting challenges. She said yes, and we all flew to Dublin for one day to record her. She and her husband Joe were a delight and we ended the evening at a pub playing and singing with some great Irish musicians, who, mysteriously, never seemed to have to tune their instruments, and never made a mistake, even after tankards of Guinness.
Claire is the leader of the CLB and she is the reason we are all here. While she is the producer of her last few recordings, she allows our musicianship an opportunity to shine through. She has faith that we'll approach her art with a sincere respect for the lyrics, melodies, and her vocal maneuvering while adding our own musical ideas and energy to help complete each song.
John McEuen, my high school friend, accomplished musician and valuable contributor to my education on the banjo, produced this record, played on many tracks and generally was responsible for seeing that this was the most expensive banjo album in the history of the universe, and that includes possible alternate universes, too. I didn't know that spa visits and facials were and ordinary expense in making records but John convinced me that they are. He also mixed the record (along with the expert ears of Nick Sevilla) did a majority of the arrangements, and supervised the post-production with excellence. The original session was supervised by John, Pete Wernick, Tony Trischka and myself, and all these strong banjo minds had to get along. I always believe that projects can be worked on without yelling and hurt feelings, and yes, we did it. Tony was the early organizer of the sessions. He wrote out charts and wrote tablature for some of the more oblique tunes. John was the main guy on the knobs, along with Tony and Pete. Pete Wernick was always the truth-teller (not that others weren't) and I always checked in with Pete's face before moving on to another tune. After the initial session, John McEuen took over and mixed all the songs, adding vocals and tracks not only in New Jersey, but in Nashville, Los Angeles (including the historic Capitol Records building in Hollywood), and Dublin. That's right, Dublin. And, finally, thanks to all the musicians who contributed their talent and their goodwill, as well as their artistic interpretations and lyrical musical breaks. They took my songs further than I ever thought they could go.
John would like to say special thanks to Marilyn McEuen for her continuing inspirations and ‘go for it' attitude, Teresa Hughes, Karen Pairbank, Mary Sue Twohy and Robert Aubrey Davis (my understanding Acoustic Traveler XM radio mentors), Janet Deering, Joe O'Reilly, Bill & Alice McEuen, Larry Fitzgerald, Gary Scruggs, Kel Kroydon, Desiree Deascentis, Wally, Tom Sherlock, Monica Sevilla, Jim Ratts, Kristen Houck, Ilene Waterstone.
Job Titles:
- Chairman Banjo on Tracks 6 and 7
Clara Phillips ("Granny", as we called her) had lived the city life, but preferred her beloved home in the backwoods of central Alabama. There she lived and died with no qualms whatsoever.
I was playing around on the set of Cheaper By the Dozen II when this song started to come to me. Eugene Levy, one of my favorite people second only to myself, plays hours on the movie set doing impromptu shows outside our trailers for any one who would listen. My wife Anne is from the south, and it was she who gave this one its name. Tin roof, of course, is slang for methamphetamine. Just kidding.