Recording then and now

Winter in Pittsburgh. I'm finishing off the mixing of the album in the home studio--amazing what is available to songwriters these days. It does take me back to other recording experiences, notably the first serious recording I did--for Bill Leader and Transatlantic Records in the U.K. Bill had a studio up in the Yorkshire Dales, with a wall of windows looking out over the valley. We got there the night before sessions were to start, and went out for a bite and a pint at a pub up on a hill. It was my brother Jeff, my touring partner Mick Linnard, and drummer Pick Withers (in a little known band called Dire Straits). The local brew was heavenly and the standard closing time of 11 PM meant only that they locked the doors and drew the curtains--if you were inside at the time you could stay. The end result was that we were all a bit sullen the next day starting out. We got over it, and the sessions were great fun. Bill's wife Helen fed us and it was a collective experience quite different from the digital domain, where these days Bill's tools (and more) are in my own hands. Bill was a pioneer, recording many British folk legends, including Bert Jansch, and it was a great privilege to work with him. We shared production responsibilities, and Jeff did some arranging for the strings we played ourselves. Pretty low-key, but the folk-club circuit was supporting a lot of musicians at the time (as long as you weren't fiscally ambitious). But more on that later...