SWAMPY BREEZE
(Patrick von Wiegandt)
Swampy Breeze Sample Patrick VW: resonator slide guitar
Dennis O'Hanlon: acoustic guitars
Paul Karasik: harmonica
Delbi Smart: lap slap
Bill Svarda: drunken trombone
Pierre Grill: tuba
Mike Couchois: drums
Recorded By: Delbi Smart, Patrick VW
Additional recording by Pierre Grill
Mixed by Patrick VW
This is a slowed down and sloppy version of Balmy Breeze. I was playing a nylon guitar and stomping my foot and thought it sounded like a New Orleans kind of piece. I could hear a boozy trombone part in my head. I immediately thought of my friend Bill Svarda and asked him to play the trombone.
I asked my friend Dennis O'Hanlon to come over and record it with me, knowing that he would add his special touch. He brought his friend, Peter, who brought this beautiful resonator guitar. He let me use it and I tuned it down and used a slide on it. Paul Karasik, a new musical friend, also came by with his harmonicas and jumped right in.
My pal, Delbi Smart, is also a terrific engineer as well as a writer and singer, so she was recording us. I was reluctant to use a click track because it felt a little too stiff to me so Delbi kept time for us by slapping her legs. We laughed and called it the lap slap.
We got the song in a few takes with a few fixes and overdubs. Dennis and Paul played their solos and we were all thrilled with the results.
I then called in Bill to play the drunken trombone and we had a lot if fun with it. We kept a bucket near him so he could empty the spit out of the trombone (too much info yet?) He played until his lips hurt and we agreed it was truly a drunken trombone sound.
Mike Couchois then came in and put the drum parts on and the babbling at the end of the song. It was perfect.
When I went to mix it with Pierre Grill, I asked him to play a tuba part, so he pulled up a great tuba sound on his keyboard and played like a New Orleans pro.
This is another one of the songs that just kept getting better and better. Each player brought their special magic to it and it came out much better than I ever could have dreamed.