FRIENDSHIP 7
And here it is, First Album. 7 Songs (of course), three new ones, four classics we just plain love. 3, 2, 1… Have a listen. Come back soon, new ones coming fast.
SUNNY
Just a classic old love song written by the great Bobby Hebb. Ken Landers laid down the rhythm tracks in his basement, and let his B3 organ fly on the solo. Tony C took it from there, wrote out all the string parts. The great Jon Hartmann crushed the multi-voice backgrounds. Howie put a picture of his daughters on the music stand, and did it in two takes, smiling the whole way.
I WILL WALK
Loosely inspired by the gospel story of the Prodigal Son, this is a Howie Klausner song about gratitude and starting over. Originally recorded on the 2004 Meet the Movies record, produced by Ron Eng in LA. We even preserved the original background singer tracks because we just loved their sound so much! Tony re-thought the groove and laid new rhythm tracks, Ron put new guitar parts on there, singing it again was like revisiting an old friend.
MISSIN’ YOU
First song we recorded. The John Waites tune, we always loved playing this one out in The Authorities and Doctor Fun cover bands. Just a straight-ahead country vibe, with Brent Rowan bringing his Nashville-Texas-Colorado sunshine on guitar. Benjy Gaither put the background vocals together.
WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS
Featuring Dann Huff
This is the Big One, all hands on deck. George Harrison wrote this song about betrayal, which in the aftermath of the 2020 and beyond insanity in this country, and I guess most of the world, is what Tony and I both felt… betrayal. By people and institutions we’d always trusted, not the least of which, the information media. The whole idea behind this record is Tony and me and our really talented and accomplished friends, and I’ve known Dann Huff since we played Little League and Larry Norman songs in 70s West Nashville together. One of the finest guitar players in the world, Dann’s the only one I ever wanted to play on this one— but I was afraid to ask him. Until I ran into him at Subway, and just went for it. His answer: What took you so long to ask? His guitar speaks for itself. Next level, jaw-drop, dripping with emotion inside of his mastery. Ken Landers says this performance will become mandatory curriculum in guitar schools. No argument here.
SO IT GOES
Howie wrote this one perfect spring afternoon, when his kids were 2 and 4, chasing their patient and ever-faithful Labrador, Roger, in a meadow on Orcas Island Washington. Ron Eng set it to music with a sweet nylon string guitar solo.
Tony brought some Al Jarreau vibe.
ONE VOICE
This is another Howie Klausner original, produced by Ron Eng on the Meet the Movies record, updated and re-tracked by Tony. It’s a song about the Holy Spirit.
I’LL TAKE YOU THERE
Tony and Howie grew up at exactly the same time— one in Nashville, the other in DC. And this Staples Singers song was a #1 in both places. And both these dudes loved it. Howie talked Tony into tracking it, sang it all afternoon in the studio, and… hated it. Just wasn’t his tune to sing, and he knew it. Dang it! But he also knew that the whole idea behind Friendship 7 is the live experience with all sorts of singers and players rotating in and out with songs we feel like playing. Tony brought the amazing Kitty Jones into his studio, and Howie LOL’ed after the first take: when she crushed it!
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