James Houlahan – Seven Years Now
It’s Finished!
The fruit of a year’s labor, James Houlahan’s solo debut album Seven Years Now is an honest, organic and creative collection of 14 original songs that will take you by surprise.
From a producer’s standpoint, I always try to keep things simple. There’s a pretty basic formula to making a great album:
- Great Tunes/Writing
- Great Players/Performances
- Great Production
James definitely delivers on the “Great Tunes” front. He originally brought me a CD with 25 or so demo cuts that he had made sitting in front of his computer. We had to gradually narrow them down, reluctantly removing songs from the list until we had 14 songs that we couldn’t do without. Commonly described as a cross between Bob Dylan, Neil Young with a dash of Tom Waits, his abstract and expressive lyrics always seem to pierce right through to the listener’s core, and they’re always delivered on a platter of musical simplicity.
Tom is one of the best engineers in the country. If his lengthy discography is a testament to anything, it’s that he knows what he’s doing both in engineering AND production. Working with Tom is quite the learning experience and I am always grateful for the opportunity.
Between the three of us, we managed to pull in some pretty amazing musicians. See the official album player’s list below:
- Tom Eaton: Producer, Accordion, Melodica
- Mike Null: Producer, Electric Guitar, Percussion and Backing Vocals
- Tom Bianchi: Upright and Electric Bass
- Paul Schultheis: Pump Organ, Hammond, Wurlitzer, Rhodes and Piano
- Andy Plaisted: Drums
- Jake Armerding: Fiddle
- Kevin Barry: Lap Steel
- Kristen Cifelli: Backing vocals
- John Curtis: Banjo, National Guitar, Mandolin
- Kristen Miller: Cello
- Sara Colb: Backing Vocals
- Daniella Colb: Backing Vocals
- Dan Blakeslee: Backing Vocals
- Scott Aruda: Trumpet
- John Aruda: Saxophone
- Jeff Galindo: Trombone
- Paul Ahlstrand: Saxophone
Most of these guys play out regularly. If you have nothing to do tonight, randomly click on of the links above and find their show calendar. I’ll guarantee it will be a show you won’t regret seeing.
If you are you close to the Boston/Cambridge area, you are hereby officially invited to the official CD Release show! James will play with a slew of some of the great performers listed above. It is going to be a lot of fun. Come check it out!
Seven Years Now CD RELEASE!!!!
Sunday, January 25, 2009, 8:00PM
The Burren
247 Elm St.,
Somerville, MA 02144
Illustration by Dan Blakeslee
If you’re dying to hear some of the tracks but won’t be able to make the CD Release show, you will be able to order the CD online in a few weeks. In the meantime, you can hear some of the tunes on James’ Myspace page.
