Steve Shelton
A Fool's Hearty Wisdom
Steve Shelton: Guitar, Vocals; Wayne
Peet: Piano, Organ
Roberto Miranda: Acoustic Bass; Tom Lackner: Drums
Josh Shelton: Trumpet
1. As You Like It 3:44
2. Somewhere 3:35
3. How Lucky Can a Guy Get? 6:15
4. He Walks With a Cane 4:42
5. Fortune Cookie 5:37
6. Not to Go 4:10
7. Going Nowhere 7:24
8. Ticonderoga 6:20
9. The Rub 5:28
10. Losing Ground 4:43
11. Too Far 3:40
12. Song For Tomorrow 4:34
13. Day’s Too Short 5:07
total time: 64:58
All songs written by Steve Shelton
©
2006, Jack Ball Music/Oakleigh Songs
Produced by Steve Shelton and Wayne Peet
Recorded at Newzone Studio, Los Angeles, CA
Wayne Peet, Engineer. Assistant Session Engineer, Aaron Druckman
Original tracks for How Lucky Can a Guy Get?
recorded at Tompound Studios, Tom Lackner, Engineer.
For lyrics, bookings, and more info go to: OakleighSongs.com Angry Vegan Records
P.O. Box 1653 • Ventura • CA • 93002
AngryVegan.com • AVRCD006
About the songs:
This music
seems to be moving me backward and forward at the same time,
like the songs themselves move around while I
catch them, or an old poem comes back
home to roost, to rest, to haunt…back to an old haunt like those old
days I’d drive down from the mountain to L.A. to read poems in between
musical improv, my old Jekyll-Hyde days between teaching by day and reaching
by night for something that made more sense than my day job. And now, a couple
decades later, my teaching and songs and poems look like my family, another
improvised composition that looks great from a distance, and even better from
the chaotic center like playing and singing about dreams and nightmares and
visions of good fortune, another chance to meet a song that makes me listen.
And sometimes an old friend comes along like Fortune Cookie, a poem I wrote
for Ruby Jeanne, one of a series of anniversary poems I offer on the 27th of
May each year. Song for Tomorrow was originally written for Ben as he moved
off to college, however, now with two out of college and Matt and Eli a year
away, the song feels more like a right of passage for all four sons. Recording
The Rub (written for Ben’s movie of the same name) with the unofficial
Jack Ball Trio (Wayne, Tom, and me) made so much sense. I learned my new tunes
while playing a number live shows with the Jack Ball Trio. As a result, I wanted
this project to record live into the studio. Thanks to the ears of Tom and
Wayne, the newest songs, As You Like It, Somewhere, He Walks with a Cane, Not
to Go, Losing Ground, and Days Too Short were second nature by the time we
hit Newzone. Ticonderoga and Going Nowhere came alive thanks to Roberto’s
sensitive reading. Finally, playing with Josh on the ballad Too Far is a natural,
and on How Lucky Can a Guy Get?, my tribute to Rath, a full circle was complete.
An
Extended Note of Gratitude
Deep thanks to so many…first to my family
beginning with my lovely fortune cookie, Ruby Jeanne,for the many great
fortunes we have opened together all
alone or in the midst of chaos; and to my four sons, Ben, Josh, Matt, and Eli,
who build mountains from dreams, dream stages with or without an audience,
play hard, laugh loud and understand tears, they sing, dance, perform on
the mountaintop
and even fly over its summit in a single bound…I like to think they dream
because I dream…perhaps I’m just dreaming still…and though
the songs may be for tomorrow, they can sing ‘em today. And to my brothers
Ron, Dave, and Jeff who can keep listening because I’ll keep singing;
thanks sisters Karin, Lolita, Rachel, Lois, Virginia, Alex and all the many
good women
behind the many men; Thanks also to Diana and the Tompound, and Noriko and
Ellington Peet for a continued Newzone welcome; to the The Rapsons, The Bensons,
Bill,
Larry, and David, the Peaces on earth, Kaiser, Connolly, Rego, the Uptons,
the Parkers (thanks for the Telecaster), the Garzas, Daryl ‘n Sam, to
my teaching comrades; Tom and Michelle; Brigetta, Nick, and Jeff; Bill and
Sylvia, Jim and
Anne, Joan and Don; my cousins, nieces, nephews, to Oakleigh; And of course,
to Peg who held us up, and Rath who taught us how lucky a guy can get.
--Steve Shelton
