Podcast Episode 34. Paul Kitchen | Live from the InSync Asylum

New Music Update. Episode 34 of Live from the InSync Asylum!

Welcome to Episode 34 of my podcast.  Let me take you on a tour of over 40 years of words and music, Live from the InSync Asylum. It seemed like a good time to do a podcast, since it’s been a couple of months since the last one. This episode features tracks from Trip Note: 1978-2018 Vol. 4, Potshots From Over the Hill, and recent single releases of Two Grey Rooms and Ghosts Upon the Road. Check out my Joni Mitchell and Eric Andersen stories, and play it on some good equipment!

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Paul Kitchen | Ghosts Upon the Road

I was reading the Steven Wilson bio ‘Limited Edition of One’ recently and realized I too could tell much of my story by what music I was listening to at the time, as well as where I got the music.  For example, I’m pretty sure it was 1980 when I got a vinyl copy of ‘Blue River’ by Eric Andersen.  It was browsing in Record and Tape Exchange in College Park MD, and I was taken with the song ‘Sheila’. A little bluesy, some minor chords, and that voice.  

Years later while driving at night, I heard the song ‘Girls of Denmark’ from the album ‘Tight in the Night’ on late night radio.  Once again – it got under my skin.  I later found an import of that album on vinyl. This had to be around 1985. 

Four years later in ‘89, I had a package delivery route and had gotten into the habit of buying cassette tapes I could play in my truck while I worked.  On a rainy day in Laurel MD I stumbled upon the new Eric Andersen album ‘Ghosts Upon the Road’.  Cool cover – looked interesting.  As it turned out, that album became one of my all-time favorites.   The title track in particular got my attention. Kind of a long form beat movie – cinematic in spots.   

As it turns out I ended up covering ‘Ghosts Upon the Road’ for the first time in March of 1992, and later in 1997 I recorded ‘Girls of Denmark’.  I included the Ghosts cover on the early copies of my ‘And We Dream’ album in ‘93 that I gave to friends.   That album’s original running order had a few other covers on it as well, all of which I removed years later when I released the album digitally.  

I’ve followed Eric Andersen closely since ‘Ghosts’ and with the recent release of a tribute album to him, I decided I wanted to throw a cover into the pile as well.  It had to be Ghosts.  

I started by pulling up the original half inch 8 track tape of my “Ghosts Upon the Road’ recording from 1992 and brought it into my current Cubase setup.  On recordings from that time, I had started to use SMPTE time code to extend my 8 tracks with midi keyboards and drum machines.  All these years later I can no longer read that time code, so the original midi, even if I could find it, wouldn’t work for me now.  As it turns out, I redid the whole thing. I wanted a different mood. 

To get there, I ended up slowing the original recording down a bit (Hey, I’m getting ready to turn 65, and I am also well known for coining the phrase ‘it’s too fast’). I also had to tap out the tempo, thinking I might reuse some tracks from back then, though I ended up not doing that. Between June and October of this year, I recorded new vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, lap steel, keyboards and drums.  So, here you have a new 2022 recording of ‘Ghosts Upon the Road’. I hope you like it.  And thank you to Eric Andersen for all the great words and music thru the years. You’ve earned all the tributes coming your way… 

Click here for Download/Stream links

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