NOT LONG BEFORE I MADE THIS RECORDING I HAD A DREAM ABOUT GOING BACK SOUTH...VISIONS OF MY ALABAMA CHILDHOOD...IN THE DREAM I WAS LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO RECORD AND I CAME ACROSS AN OLD BARN...AND THE LIGHT WAS LATE AFTERNOON LIGHT...I WALKED THROUGH THE BARN AND OUT IN THE BACK OF THE BARN WAS A FADED OUT BASEBALL FIELD...A FEW WORN WOODEN BLEACHERS...A GUITAR PLAYER WAS SITTING THERE....I WALKED OVER TO HIM AND HE HAD A GUITAR LIKE I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE AND HE HANDED IT TO ME AND TOLD ME I SHOULD PLAY IT...WHEN I WOKE UP FROM THE DREAM I WAS INTENT ON MAKING THIS RECORDING IN THE SOUTH...A FEW DAYS LATER THE INVITATION TO RECORD IN A ONE ROOM STUDIO CALLED LAMPLIGHT OUT IN THE COUNTRY IN TENNESSEE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN NASHVILLE AND MEMPHIS ARRIVED...THE PHOTO I RECEIVED OF THE PLACE WAS SO LIKE THE BARN IN THE DREAM I WAS RATTLED...PERFECT...I FOLLOWED THE TRACKS...

 

MONTHS BEFORE, FAR FROM DREAMLAND, I MET SOME MASTER MUSICIANS OUT ON THE ROAD AND WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND THEM WILLING AND ABLE TO MEET ME AND BO DOWN IN TENNESSEE TO TRY TO CONJURE UP SOME VERSIONS OF THESE SONGS THAT WERE FEELING ETCHED IN ME ...MEANWHILE, IN THE BACKGROUND OF ALL OF THAT, I WAS HOLDING ON TO SWEET MESSAGES I WAS RECEIVING FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS, OLD AND NEW, ALL AROUND THE WORLD...

 

BO RAMSEY AND GLENN WORF AND CHAD CROMWELL AND RICHARD BENNETT AND I MADE THIS RECORDING LIVE IN THREE DAYS ALL IN ONE ROOM OUT IN THE COUNTRY AT LAMPLIGHT...WITH MARK POLACK AT THE RECORDING WHEEL...WE LET IT BLEED...AND MARK KNOPFLER AND DAVID MANSFIELD AND RICHARD DODD MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN IN THE ROOM...ALL OF THESE GUYS CAME WIDE OPEN AND GAVE 100% AND THEN SOME... 

 

BEFORE WE RECORDED, I TOLD THE PLAYERS ABOUT A STORY BO HAD TOLD ME ABOUT GOING TO HEAR HOWLIN' WOLF IN CHICAGO BEFORE I WAS EVEN IN THIS WORLD...BO SAID THERE WAS NO P.A. AND THE BAND WAS ROCKIN', BUT YOU COULD HEAR THE PEOPLE'S FEET DANCING IN THE SAWDUST ON THE FLOOR...

 

SO, HERE'S TO LOVE AND SAWDUST AND ALL THE LAMPLIGHTERS AROUND THE WORLD...

 

- PIETA, 2011

P.S. Check out the stunning photo photographer Jim Herrington took of a tree in Tennessee...all those names etched in the wood! If you click on the photograph it will take you Jim Herrington's site!