Kris Kehr and Stone Poets
Notes from the Crossroads Woobie Cat Records #015 Produced by Kris Kehr Tracks recorded at: |
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This album has gone down a few windy back roads to finally get here. About 25 or 30 songs, 3 or 4 title changes, 3 bands and 5 years. To get the perspective to eventually pull it all together I had to pull back and look at it like a painting, and thankfully still have the same amazing pool of talent in my orbit years later to pick up the thread with the same eye and heart (and perhaps a more deft ear) and finally complete it all correctly. I’d like to say the process of writing these songs put me through all these amazing changes in my life, etc, but the truth is, writing most of these songs kept me sane and helped me retain my identity as I was forced through a bunch of fairly unreasonable changes elsewhere in my life, helped me navigate new kinds of choices and still keep it together. Eventually it became clear that all of it represents a long arc in my life’s path that literally brought me back home. In darker moods, very maze-like. ‘Gone Are Those Days’ is one of the oldest songs here next to the last one, written before I left the Reading area in the early 90’s for central Pennsylvania. State College is an extremely large college town that afforded me some of the luxuries of both a small town and big city, good and bad both ways. My search for self while living there helped map out the songs written during this period and represent explorations of the choices I made to get to the point I was at. Towards the end there was more grumbling and lamenting and less affirmation. Soon everything changed fairly drastically by fortune, not choice although hindsight points to more choice than I remember. Late in 2002, soon after I began this project in earnest (after the release of my second album KRIS KEHR AND STONE POETS) I left Pennsylvania for North Carolina where I lived until moving back to Reading in late 2005. Two close friends passed and old insecurities dug in as I ran to the safety of someone else’s music but still gave it my all, and had a crazy good time/learned a whole lot more in the process. But alas, the frustration of casting ones’ fortunes into the hands of incompetence overtook me. I started writing things that were really just scream therapy in a muted room in the back. I have been very thankful for the Woobie Cat Mobile Kitchen but never more-so than at that time. It was how I was able to redefine and retain who I was. Climbing out of that hole was as hard as anything I have tried and I’m still doing it. But it was after moving back to the area where I was born and raised, the Berks County area of Pennsylvania, that I was able to reconnect with where my heart is. The cabin is an extension of that home for me, and last Christmas ‘Mighty Pine River’ came out to assure me of that fact. None of this may matter very much to many of you but I do thank those of you who took the time for one reason or another. I will never understand the process/magic that goes on between hearts and heads and people and music, but I am so glad I can sometimes be a part of it. |
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Think About Everything — everybody feels a little over-whelmed from time to time. It’s usually right after a series of sustained fits of anxiety that it all breaks down and becomes hilarious, in a crazy sort of way. Sometimes other people affect how long that takes. Other times you just have to sort of stand back and watch them peel away right down to the heart. That’s when they’re ready for the salad. Kris Kehr — vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar I think about all the times we’d go out walkin’ It’s certainly a mystery what this world has to offer You can’t even be honest with yourself I like sitting and dreaming and taking care of myself Your Dreams — This started with a live acoustic guitar/vocal take at the old Strouse house in State College and grew into this epic, with Rev and Bill and Todd adding great layers in two kitchens, and later Matt laying down drums and percussion and Julie with those haunting vocals at Amoeba with Jack & Bruce. Doc’s steel lead finished everything off. Kris Kehr — vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar Close your eyes my pretty little one, everything will be alright Chorus: Across the mountain and down the other side Chorus Sun is setting, the day is getting done Repeat chorus Dear Stephanie — Chris Q and I were in a diner somewhere in western Ohio on some post-Recipe morning eyeing the waitress’ name tag that said ‘Stephanie’. All agreed it was a rare yet mellifluous name and not sufficiently represented in the pantheon of songs with women’s names in the title. This is my contribution to our mutual dare later that breakfast. Kris Kehr — vocals, 6-string guitars Dear Stephanie, I love you and I don’t know what to do Just like the sky above you and that river running blue Last time that I saw you was that highway rolling south Dear Stephanie, I need you and I feel you rolling home Around This World — Another ‘you’ll get yours’ song, which sadly turned out to be true. Kris Kehr — vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar I toasted you tonight at sunset Chorus: A star on the horizon, dropping off Chorus Now everything is spinning in my head Repeat Chorus Saturday — This proved to be a prophetic song for several reasons, yet continues to be elusive as to exactly what ground it covers and where it might end. The basic tracks (bass & drums) were recorded at the end of a night of sessions as a throw-off while we were having fun fleshing out it’s direction, going at it loosely while the tape was rolling at Bob Klotz’. Kris Kehr — vocals, electric guitar, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars We all gathered on Saturday at the train tracks to see him off We can always leave town on a better day We all gathered around and took turns sayin’ his name We all gathered on Saturday and gave you our final farewell Well, I’ve always been a fan of yours We all knew what we meant We all gathered on Saturday, we all did what we could A Long Time Ago — I don’t recall writing this one…last night I tried real hard to get the details in my head, but the best I could do is remember playing it live in front of TV cameras for my friend Phil’s cable access show up in Allentown soon after I wrote it. That and the stuff that inspired it...That still haunts me. Kris Kehr — vocals, electric guitar & 12-string acoustic guitar I hear you talking ‘bout the good old days and the way things were I had to think about a different time and a different place I’m getting by, I’m moving on It’s been a while since I’ve been on my own way out here I’m getting by, I’m moving on I Want To Go Home — Basics were started off at the cabin with me and JK on upright...it’s my epic bad dream, weaving insecurity and fear back to college and all over the road. Kris Kehr — vocals, harmonica, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars There she goes, a light on Adeline Once you’re gone, there ain’t but one way getting back Someone got lost out on the highway I can hear the tires roll and the engine rumble There she goes the last one out the door You Can Run — It shouldn’t have to make ANYONE run…it was all for love, and it was pissed away… Kris Kehr — vocals, mandolin & 12-string acoustic guitar You can walk your country mile I can help you with your strife Chorus: Well I’ve been listening to you talk Chorus So I’m staring at my yard Repeat Chorus Something I Know — We’ve been trying to get this one for a while now, and in that time it has matured a notch or two, especially the rhythm. This is another one from the session JK and I did at the cabin in spring/07 which afforded us the luxury of taking our time fleshing out the feel and nuances. Matt fits the right folk pocket around the mandolin, and I’ve never heard Doc sound more lonesome. Kris Kehr — vocals, mandolin & 6-string acoustic guitar I can’t believe it I know the world keeps spinning around my head I don’t deserve this And then the world came tumbling down again Well early in the morning, before the sun comes up It’s like a puzzle I see the rain came pouring down again, washing everybody clean Our Dreams Back Then — I have been working on this version of the song from before Chris Q and I recorded it live before at Godfrey Daniels’ late in 2004. It was released later in 2005 on Woobie Cat as “LOWdOGS-In The Tall Grass’ and all the while I was tinkering with my little home studio version. It mutated over the years from a two-guitar Norman Blake-ish country thing to a ‘Blood On The Tracks’ sprawler , veering briefly into polka, then away, and finally at Jack’s deft hand, a little bit of a lot of things in the right measure, a ‘rich tapestry’I ,if you will, portraying the heart-breaking loss that inspired the simple guitar thing in the first place. Kris Kehr — vocals, harmonica, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars, electric bass Riding through the night, driving through the towns where we were born Out there on the range our hearts played against all the strings Chorus: I'll give you my promise, I'll give you my word Chorus Down every broken highway, following every broken dream Chorus Sick & Tired — I was so ready to be out of there and, in hindsight was really just in need of seeing things from a completely new perspective, because this song is about every town. They all get smaller the longer you stay. Then again, so can your mind. Kris Kehr — vocals, harmonica, 12-string acoustic guitar I’m getting so sick and tired I wonder what story’s going ‘round I’m so sick and tired of people wasting my time Look at that baggage by my side I’m getting so sick and tired I’m so sick and tired of people wasting my time Gone Are Those Days — This one has been around for a while now, and has been done a few different ways by a few different projects of mine. I especially liked Q’s playing on it when LOWdOGS had it in live rotation. STONE POETs sometimes do a kinda stratty version of it which evolved from the early acoustic-jam version Bill Stetz and I arranged (it was also the very first song we played together on our first gig) Kris Kehr — vocals, 6-string acoustic guitars Drifting and dreaming and traveling that road I had a lover by Westminster way We got lost in the desert and stranded up high Now I try to keep balance and walk that fine line The Mighty Pine River — Last Christmas-time I woke early at the cabin and saw this one come in from the trees out back. And with the warmth of the fire and my love beside me it all came round full circle. Kris Kehr — vocals, mandolin, 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars I can remember the mighty Pine River Many have tried to cross the Pine River And the snow it will fall and the spring it will come Far and away from the Pine River Valley but as I awake my world seems in tatters I can remember the mighty Pine River It’s All Good (You and Me) — The abundant zen nomenclature can end a great many social conflicts. Kris Kehr — vocals, 6-string acoustic guitars It’s all good, you and me It’s a long trail home when I’m missing you Yeah, it’s all good, no matter what they say Times get tough and people change Now I can stand all by myself It’s all good, up until the end As Far As I Can See — This was a poem written at the Jersey shore on my birthday as a reminder to myself. As I sat on the beach at the foot of the sea (and great big sky) feeling confined amongst the sea of people dotting about I remembered how a close friend of mine talked about the freedom he felt in his mind while he was in prison. The spirit of the music may have also been influenced a bit by the Bruce Cockburn that was captivating me at the time. Bill and Todd, the two former Stone Poets on this track give it the sand and wind it needs to take flight and stay right up there on the end of the line. Kris Kehr — vocals, 6-string acoustic guitar I climb up on the mountain and look out at the sea But freedom is within When I reach beyond that point I realize I am lost My fears come from within But over them I’ll fix my gaze My dreams come from within |
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Special thanks to: Julie Edlow, John Kennedy, Rev. James Harton, Bill Stetz, Dr. Dave Mudgett, Matt Cullen, Jack Wilkinson, Todd Bartolo, Kehr’s Taxidermy, The Silvers, Robert Edlow, Craig Burkey, Jeff Weidenheimer, Jeff Shirley, Otto Bost, The Balmats, Elmquists, Jellesmas, Kews, Lights, Mudbones, Plummers, Wehrmans and the Whelans. Plus the folks at Zeno’s, Otto’s, The Brass Lantern, The Town Pump and The Reading Public Museum. | |