Sun Studio Session, 2011

Way back in 2011, a bassist college student of mine, Russell Millett, asked if Shannon and I could join he and his drummer friend Austin Goodrich to play a session at the historic and legendary Sun Studios in Memphis. Of course, this is the same space where Elvis got his start back in the 50’s.

Details were worked out and I wrote some idiomatically-appropriate instrumental tunes for the session. Having spent my formative years playing piano for country gigs in west-central Indiana (one had to play country to make money), the Floyd Cramer piano style comes naturally out of my fingers. You’ll hear it in the recordings below.

When we arrived, we had one evening to both rehearse and record the tunes. Russell’s brother Sam recorded some additional material on his own.

The engineer/producer was Matt Ross-Spang, who, I didn’t know at the time, was a big deal. Matt is a legend.

I looked at the crappy, desiccated spinet piano in the corner of the studio. It sounded raw. It had a cigarette burn on the top of its PLASTIC lid. I said I was going to go out to the car and bring in my Roland digital piano.

Matt kindly told me, “No, you’ll want to play THIS piano.” After a few back-and-forths, I relented and we recorded the first tune. I went into the control room for the playback, and yes, THAT was the piano! How did he make it sound so great? I realized at this point—duh—that this was the piano played by all the legends who recorded there. And he’s the best engineer I’ll probably ever get to work with.

Below are the four tunes I had written for us to record that night. “The Old Paris Road” (which is my favorite of the four) is the only one for which I chose the title. It is written for a road that goes between West Terre Haute IN and Paris IL. I’m told in Paris they call it “The Old Terre Haute Road.” Go figure! Anyway, this tune reflects some of the bucolic area from which I am from. Plus, I’ve always been a sucker for that train-beat shuffle with the brushes on the snare drum.

“8th Floor Blues” sounds to me like closing time at a very smoky VFW hall.

“Jill, it Ain’t a Crime” is, to me, Zeppelin-esque but with piano keyboard instead of guitar.

“Cream Soda” is more of a straight-8ths New Orleans-influenced feel.

“The Old Paris Road” by Pete Ford: https://youtu.be/1Gdzuz5ougE

“8th Floor Blues” by Pete Ford: https://youtu.be/je8thJuIFBw

“Jill, It Ain’t a Crime" by Pete Ford: https://youtu.be/YdQT-WuY9bs

“Cream Soda” by Pete Ford: https://youtu.be/QgaEpz-HNFU