JP Jones - Broken Open

Broken Open, recorded at Lloyd Salisbury's Flat Rock Studios was the second CD recorded for Vision Company Records, a family affair. Most tracks were recorded live without over-dubs, except for background vocals, trumpets, piano, and a little percussion. This was my first CD conceived and recorded as a whole. Lessons learned here went on to serve me well in future projects.

A brief admonishing story: Broken Open was my first CD to elicit requests from other artists to have me produce their recordings. My response to such requests is to describe my methods to ascertain whether they would work with respective clients. What I discovered is that other artists, while valuing certain qualities in my work and hoping for my "expertise" to produce similar results in theirs, don't really want me to "produce" for them. This is particularly true of artists who have limited experience in the business and/or in the studio. We bring a lot of naivete with us in such situations, and it's costly in every sense for everyone involved. I explain that I want the artist(s) to bring 15 songs, say, that they have performed with success in live situations, that we will record as many as we have time for in few days, do minimal over-dubs that seem obligatory, then mix 10-12 tracks for the final product. Then the artist comes in with the exact amount of songs in the order in which they are to appear, and intend to build up the recordings a couple of tracks at a time. This is not how I work, nor an efficient or satisfying experience for me. On top of all this, a "producer" these days usually brings a certain amount of business clout to the table, and my track record is not going to put someone over the top commercially. Produce your own recordings when you're first starting out-- the dues you will pay will be their own reward-- that's my advice.

photo: Lyn Tyler

Produced by JP Jones for Vision Company Records. JP Jones, acoustic guitar, piano, harmonica.
Kurt Meyer, fretless and acoustic bass.
Dave Lang, Al Valee, drums.
Lloyd Salisbury, Trumpets, nylon strong guitar.
Rick McKinney, fiddle, mandolin.
Adele Tarkowski, Dave Hopper, background vocals.
Rob "Wash-Wash Rudin, scrub-a-dub.
Paul Hubert, rain stick, bells, congas, tam-tam. Engineered by Lloyd Salisbury and JP Jones.
Cover art, Kerstin Zettmar.

1st Edition mastered by Harry Hirsch at Digital House.
2nd Edition mastered by David Correia at Celebration Sound.

For a description of these different editions: here.

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"Calls to mind a Nashville Skyline-era Dylan, Unplugged Clapton, and Springsteen at his best."-- Ken Stroebel, Norwich Bulletin