Perhaps the greatest challenge facing an artist in the recording studio is re-creating the "fertile" environment of a live performance. Having spent the better part of three decades trying to solve that problem, acoustic music pioneer and renowned live performer John Cowan knows that challenge better than most.
But on his latest release, The Massenburg Sessions, Cowan may well have found that taking some steps backward actually does move you forward.
"In many ways, this is a throwback to the 40s and 50s style of recording," Cowan says. "Records today are made like movies, one track at a time and they're not filmed in sequence. We went into what is normally a 'sterile' environment and tried to create the same kind of 'fertile' environment of a live performance."
Cowan, who broke ground early in his career fronting the wildly influential New Grass Revival (along with Bela Fleck, Pat Flynn and Sam Bush), teamed with renowned producer and engineer George Massenburg (Randy Newman, Little Feat, Linda Ronstadt, Toto and more) to create an album, recorded live, front to back with no overdubs and no headphones.
"George is a mad scientist," Cowan says. "He wanted to take all these great musicians and make a truly live album using a state of the art recording studio."
At the famed Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Massenburg brought the musicians (including Jon Randall, Reese Wynans, Maura O'Connell, Jeff Autry, Del McCoury, among others) together in one room typically used for vocals only. With the musicians sitting in a circle, Massenburg began recording as Cowan led the group through the songs, knowing that any mistakes would result in everyone having to play the song over.
"It's a daunting task, particularly if you're trying to sing and play bass at the same time," Cowan says. "But it didn't take too long to figure out that this was going to be really good."
For the listener, the end result of The Massenburg Sessions is akin to listening to some of the world's finest musicians performing in their living room. For Cowan, it was the chance to work on a project with close friends.
"I've known these people with different degrees of intimacy for 30 years," Cowan says. "I think that friendship translates to the final product."
Cowan is a favorite vocalist of many of his peers, beginning with fellow members of New Grass Revival, the group he fronted until its breakup in 1989. Through the years, he also has shared the stage and/or recorded with the likes of The Grateful Dead, Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, Delbert McClinton, John Paul Jones, Darius Rucker, Hootie & the Blowfish, Alison Krauss, Lyle Lovett and many, many others. Cowan spent two years playing bass and singing with iconic pop band, The Doobie Brothers, before diving headlong into the solo career that allows him ultimate expressive freedom.
With The Massenburg Sessions, Cowan comes full circle, bringing the energy and excitement of his live shows and showing why he remains a favorite of critics and fans alike.
Latest CD
The Massenburg Sessions