Thoughts on Deep

Well, here I am once again, writing one of these summaries on my latest collection of music. The main reason I do this: it helps me sort of “finalize” the deal in my head, put a “period at the end of the sentence” or however one would wish to put it. This helps me to process the whole experience of conceiving, birthing and completing these projects from start to finish and this is the final step of that. So without further ado, a few thoughts on the “Deep Calls 2 Deep” CD.

When putting together the running order I thought: “Oh boy, this is gonna be a chore, how can I make all these tunes flow together?” Though not perfect, I think it really fell together nicely, and quickly, in perhaps 35 minutes; I knew it was just right for this project, as right as I could make it anyway. I could think of no other way the songs could run, order wise. (I tried!)

When thinking about this cd, it became clear that a main goal of mine, on every song, was to take the listener on a musical journey, if indeed they were willing to go on a musical journey; the song “Gardens of Green” seems to represent this journey mentality/approach really well and just begged to be the opening cut. It just seemed to have a nice energy to it and also seemed to very effectively introduce what is basically the theme of this cd: our final destination in the heavenly realms. Taking that on is, in a very real sense, trying to describe the indescribable, as it tells us in the Bible that ‘No eye hath see, No ear hath heard: what God has prepared for those who love Him.” It seems we get a glimpse now and then, and that is more than enough to stir up a longing and excitement in me! Written on piano in alternating 5/8 and 6/8 time, it always seemed to me to have just a bit of a Jethro Tull vibe to it, utilizing some crunchy power chords to energize things up a bit, and making a small tip o’ the hat to the I, IV,V blues type progression. (But ever so slightly, it’s a far cry from a blues number!) This was something Martin Barre would do with Tull on occasion. After a decrescendo middle section, the tune concludes with a section repeating earlier stated themes, employing key changes during this end bit/guitar solo. Drummer Wendell Henry does a great job of gluing all of this together; as he does on all the tunes he played on this cd... Also trusted friend and musical soul mate Dave Moulton really adds some tasty keyboard textures on top of the piano stuff I played during the meat of the song. He takes over the great piano work at the end, and adds a climbing string line that ushers in a sort of “flower opening” moment. Mike Bruske adds rock solid bass guitar support. It’s great to play with such seasoned players.

“Providence” is a simple, plaintive, almost child like, tiny piece. It came into being late in the production of “Deep calls 2 Deep;” mainly to assist in the transition from “Gardens” into “Horn of Plenty.”

“Horn of Plenty” is an acknowledgement of how God has provided for me in all my times of need. Whether my hunger or thirst was emotional, spiritual or literal, God has been faithful... Perhaps not with what I wanted, but what I needed. This is one of the 3 songs I played bass on this disc. Also I feel like I can sense an area of growth for me on this cd and perhaps this song is a good example: it seems as if I have many guitar influences that many have: Andy Latimar, (camel) Steve Hackett (former Genesis) George Harrison (Beatles, duh!) Mark Knofler, (Dire Staits) and Dave Gilmour. (Pink Floyd). But it finally seems that I have begun to develop a bit of my own vocabulary and my own more unique voice, as a lead guitarist. This may merely be the result of all the years spent playing, or placing different lead guitar stylings with chord structures in my own music that does not necessarily seem to naturally go together. More on this later. This whole step forward on lead guitar is odd. Considering that in the last 20 years I have focused more on writing, singing, keyboards, mixing, etc. and the time spent on guitar playing has been acoustic playing. (I started out as hot shot guitarist, at least my mind!) In summery I can’t play half as fast as I did when I was 22; but I also know I could not play as musically or emotionally as I can now, back when I was 22…

The next song ‘City on a Hill” is a personal fave, I think mainly because the musical journey approach is achieved in just 4:20, as opposed to the 6-7, 8-9 minutes many of the other tunes take to do the same. I had fun with the keyboard orchestrations, as the piano, mellatron and organ stuff lent a vintage vibe to the whole thing. I played bass on this song as well. While the bass playing on ‘Horn of Plenty” was by necessity (or lack of patience!) It was really imperative that I did the bass on his one. There was were so many things I needed the bass part to be on this tune: it needed to have parts where it did some walking, played some chords, played right with the kick. I attempted, to no avail, to explain what I needed on it to Mike Bruske, but I’m afraid I was not very effective communicating this to him... it became apparent I would need to do the bass on this one myself. A lot of fun it was! Also I would like to mention that Ruth Richmond (who has done a fair amount of singing with me thru the years) added some cool stuff... She is a great singer songwriter in her own right! Eben Gillispie also sang with me to help give this song some vocal texture that just cannot be achieved by one person, making this tune a vocal highlight of this disc as well.

Next up on the docket is the song “We Cry to Dream Again” It is taken from Frederick Beauchner’s beautiful description / definition of what faith actually is, from his book “Sacred Journey.” It was an easy song to write, really just flowed out. Good pal and “stealth” bassist Bruce Bailey (see link) provides the wonderful fretless bass work. When I told him I was planning on putting some slide guitar to go along with my piano part, he said “like a Pink Floyd type deal?” –so when I was doing that track I just could not resist the “Dark side of the Moon” slow slide gtr accession near the end of verse 2. You can thank (or blame) Bruce for that particular lick! BTW, I have tried to arrange to get a copy of this song to Mr. Beauchner; he is one of my favorite writers… (thru Wheaton college) I hope he gets it and I hope he is blessed in knowing he touched so many thru his writing. Another reason this song is special to me is that it has Heather Garborg (see link) singing on it. She has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard and any recording /performance she is a part of is all the better for it; excellent song writer as well. She is currently pursuing what God has for her in Nashville, TN… watch for her!

The song “Deep calls to Deep” is a pinnacle of sorts for me musically… it has 4-5 different sections, not something one usually does in standard songwriting procedures but since I am not writing for radio or anything, a certain freedom prevails. What a joy and what fun to have my wife Kim Wollan, once again playing y flute on several of the songs on this disc. She has a solo in this one as well, some nice fills and accompanying work. Heather Garborg on violin brings that beautiful texture as well. A highlight for me is having old friend/bandmate/highschool hang Mark Heine add bass parts so tasty and appropriate. He lives in Colorado Springs and we uploaded files back and forth to each other over the internet. We did this on 4 songs. It was really great to have my old musical partner take part again in my music, reminding me of how musical he really is. Part of the success of this was because we essentially grew up playing together, whether it was Wishbone Ash, Kansas, Yes, or whatever. Plus his flexibility and desire to give each song what needful was great. A favorite e section of mine is the breakdown, the marching snare bit just prior to chorus 3.

“My Own True Country” is, in my mind the lyrical crux of the whole project; Recognizing our alien status here on earth is helpful in times discouragement and despondency, to say the least. The lyric “to fix my eyes upon the face of Glory, Lovely and Fair” is about the best I could give myself or anyone. Keeping my eyes on Christ helps me to avoid self pity. (which actually attempts to, consciously or not, Dethrone God from His throne to put ourselves on it.) From a musical standpoint, the ‘toone has a slight Irish flava to it. Bruce, Ruth and I sang it and played percussion together on it, I did the drum set part. Fun part, but a little too time consuming (since I have only played drums a total of about 6 hours my entire life!) I will leave it to guys like Wendell and Erich Hoffmeister in the future! Real Drummers! Kim’s solo on flute stuff thu-out really turned out well, in the middle instrumental section especially; it has an almost fie and snare drum feel to it... This section is followed by a stripped down, mellow chorus featuring Ruth’s vocal along with Dave Moulton’s lush piano chords… a really nice touch. Bruce once again adds the stealth bass. Heather chips in on her violin again. I thank these friends for bringing their gifts to my music.

The next song, “Day of Reckoning “is a fairly ominous piece, but has some beautiful moments as well, mainly in the middle section. Kim’s flute plays a pretty prominent role in this... This middle section is also where, as I
alluded to earlier, I tried out some guitar styles over some harmonic (chordal) structures that one wouldn’t think it would “gel.” About 2/3 of the way thru the guitar solo, I stared playing some figures that sure sounded influenced by love of Eric Clapton in his “bluesbreaker” days, when he played with John Mayall. Anyway, a fairly blistering, bluesy approach, but playing over changes more classical in nature than blues-like. as well.

Next up is another instrumental, “Willow in April” - it started life as a solo acoustic piece. I thought I would add some clean electric guitar, playing melodic figures and Mark contributing his melodic sense of the bass stuff. My thanks to him for his patience recording this song, as this piece was recorded without the benefit of a clik track. This is Ruboto, (with a capital R) with lots of “ebb and flow” as far as tempo is concerned… by design of course; all I know is that the rigidness of a clik would have spoiled this one!

“Shut my Mouth” is a song written about 1996 or so, which I thought would be a good one to bring back for this cd. This turned well, all the players were exceptional. Ruth adds more vocal textures. My old friend Mike Leduc added the toms after Wendell did the drum kit stuff. Kind of a strange way to record, but it seemed to work pretty well. The tom tones are exceptional, as his what he played. Also Bruce played his new-------standup bass on this, (and all songs he appears on.) This thing sounds amazing; its tonal qualities seem to have all this nice warm low end stuff, without any of the gnarly stuff.

“The Master’s House” is a short little which reminded me of “cathedral music” – whatever that is, exactly; Kim on flute, Bruce on bass, I do the nylon string and organ.

The tune that follows is “More than Conqueror’s “- a celebration of that fact which we quite often forget, and that’s of our victory thru Christ. The world wishes to make us forget that and instead try to trick us into thinking if we aren’t making a big splash, our lives don’t validity. I’m finally starting to really learn that this is simply not true... Musically, this started out life in 9/8 time, but I just could not get it to feel natural, so back to good old 4/4 I went. The guitar solo in the middle is one of my faves on this disc.

This whole project was birthed around the time I recorded this song “Darkness Fades.” Once I had it recorded I realized I could do a whole release of this type of progressive rock. It was tough to mix this, mainly because I learned so much more about recording (and mixing) drums and bass after finishing it. But it was salvageable. A young buck named Guy Lemon played the drums. . The 3rd of the 3 I played bass on, it’s another one where it was probably was best that I played it; it has so many sections, turnarounds , etc. it would take the patience if Job to spend the time on it. The long middle section with the synth solos, harpsichord solo, then the guitar solo, wrapped by a bass flourish, is my fave part of the song..

I hope I can come up with some more music like this in my lifetime; it was a lot of work, but without a doubt the most gratifying collection of music I have put together thus far. How much more can one ask for than that? Thanks for your interest in it! - Greg Wollan 2007.