New CD Concept/Kickstarter Campaign
I started my recording career at a very young age, 15. Even before Batdorf and Rodney, The Luv’d Ones, a group from Ohio I came to California with in 1967, were signed to Atlantic but broke up because of internal band conflicts. Go figure!!! I then formed a band, Cloud that signed a deal with Curb Records in 1969 and we recorded two songs that never got released. Finally in 1970 I met Mark Rodney in Las Vegas and we fit together musically like a glove. I was a bit of a folk-rocker and Mark had a beautiful jazz touch on the guitar and the blend was pure magic! We signed with Atlantic Records in 1970 and were produced by legendary record man, Ahmet Ertegun in Muscle Shoals. B&R went on to make a total of three albums and the last release was a single, Somewhere In The Night produced by Clive Davis.
In 1976, Mark and I split up and I formed a new band, Silver that recorded an album and had one big hit single that reached #16, Wham Bam, Shang-a-lang. We all hated it but it was a hit record. Flash forward 41 years, that hit became a part of the Guardians Of The Galaxy ll movie and soundtrack! The hate is fading away!!!!
I now live in Central Oregon in a planned community, Eagle Crest. The winters are a bit colder than Los Angeles, but the summers are out of this world. We are backed up against the Cascade Mountains and the area is great for fishing, hiking, boating and just about every other outdoor activity.
This summer however was interrupted by so many forest fires that for about six weeks, outdoor activities came to a standstill due to unhealthful air quality. Here it is summer and I am stuck in my house with nothing to do. Then an idea hit me which was inspired by the new found success of Wham Bam.
I have been recording most of my adult life and have written so many songs over this period. Many of which sound like the era they were recorded in so I thought, what if I picked around 15-20 songs that I have written and or had recorded and made a record that was reminiscent of a house concert which I do a lot of. Revisit the old songs and basically reimagine them the same way James Lee Stanley and I did to Jagger/Richards songs on our two All Wood And Stones CDs. So I started with Somewhere In The Night. It was a song that I didn’t write but always loved. The original production was very lush so I came up with a cool acoustic version on the baritone and from that point on, I really dug in!!
Along with the old stuff, I wanted to record a couple of new songs and produce them similarly but with a little more flare since they were new.
Basically the production is “Me And My Guitars” along with bass, cajon/percussion and a little piano. Harmonies will be very sparse. I want the CD to feel like you are in the room surrounded by the music!!
This will be my third Kickstarter campaign and I hope it’s a success like the last ones that funded.
Thanks to all of you who support Indie artists. We are not signed to major labels and you all are the lifeblood to keep the music, the dream, the recordings and the creativity alive.
John Batdorf
Songs For “Me And My Guitar”
Recorded so far:
Me And My Guitar
Wham Bam
Is It Love
Working Man, Blind Man
Last Time
Somewhere In The Night
You Are A Song
Summer Of Love
It’s Gonna Be Alright
It’s Not Love
Poor Man’s Dream
Never See His Face Again
Oh My Surprise
Life Is You
She Made Me Smile ( By popular demand)
2 New Songs:
Thanks To Me
Time To Say Good Night
Risks and challenges
Most of you know by now, that artists like myself most likely would have to potentially stop recording because of the financial burden of making, manufacturing and promoting new music. Even though many artists like myself have invested in their own studio and have had to learn how to produce, arrange and engineer while trying to be the best artist we can be, there are still so many other financial responsibilities in making a record. While the above mentioned learned skills help reduce costs, I still can’t seem to release a record properly without spending a minimum of 10K up front for mastering, manufacturing, artwork, radio promo and PR and that’s where you all can save the day. It’s great to have this sort of co-op record label and your support is not only appreciated, it’s vital. Thanks for the 46 years of support and the help in making what may be my farewell CD…………We’ll see
John Batdorf
