SONGS & PERSONNEL

I Don’t Need Anyone

Guess I was feeling pretty cocky back in 1983; livin’ the moment. The music was great and the booze was better. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that having a good time was wrong. Problem is, later on, those demons have a tendency to sneak up and hit you over the head with a two-by-four. Nothing is free

Doug Cook – lead vocal, electric rhythm guitar, background vocal

Larry Campbell – violin

Ben Tirado – lead electric guitar

Ed Bierly – pedal steel guitar

Steve Rust – bass guitar

Harvey Sorgen - drums

The Kitchenettes – background vocals

Everybody’s Home Now

Sounds of power and anticipation: a helicopter revving on a landing pad. The panting of mighty train engines as they echo through the great stations of the world. An idling tour bus waiting behind a club to whisk you off to the next gig. And then the next. And then the next. How long until you hit home if one remains? Gazing out the window of a Silver Eagle into the windows of passing homes as it moves through the night, you dream. One of my newer songs.

Doug Cook – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, lead acoustic guitar, background vocal

John Sebastian – harmonica

Professor Louie – piano, organ

Steve Rust – bass guitar

Harvey Sorgen - drums

The Kitchenettes – background vocals

Borderline

A rugged, pine-infested terrain on the Canadian border, a single-room cabin on a hill. Times are brutal enough with little to offer her. And then, a stranger arrives seeking refuge only to deceive. You stand stranded on another type of borderline; the borderline between hope and despair. And, finally, comes the abandonment of hope. Thank you Stephen Stills…this is my 4+20. Composed in 2015.

Doug Cook – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, banjo, background vocal

John Sebastian – harmonica

Cindy Cashdollar – resonator guitar

Steve Rust – bass guitar

Harvey Sorgen - drums

Olive Joseph – background vocal

The Kitchenettes – background vocals

Made This Bar My Home

Perhaps the loneliest tune I’ve ever written, this song goes beyond despair into the realm of fatalistic acceptance. When all else fails, when the last tear is shed, the final word spoken, good-byes shared, there remains one last sanctuary for the damaged to perch – the barroom. But, there’s always space for one more. I channeled my late hero, Merle Haggard, for this one. Written in 1986

Doug Cook – lead vocal, electric rhythm guitar, acoustic rhythm guitar, mandolin

Larry Campbell – violin, background vocal

Ben Tirado – lead electric guitar

Ed Bierly – pedal steel guitar

Steve Rust – bass guitar

Harvey Sorgen – drums

Folksinger

Doesn’t take a great voice or virtuosity on guitar to play folk music. Just a tired, often broken, heart, a pair of worn-out boots that have walked many a mile, and a lust for the open road. It also helps to know the chords G, C and D7. Just ask Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Tom Rush…the list goes on and on.

Doug Cook – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, background vocal

John Sebastian – harmonica

Happy Traum – lead acoustic guitar

Professor Louie – piano, organ, accordion

Steve Rust – bass guitar

Fault of the Song (The Orphan) *

Winter 1970. 4:00am. A-1 Recording Studios, West 76th Street, New York City. Up all night after playing in Greenwich Village, sitting in front of two vintage Neumann U-67 tube microphones and recording to a Scully 280 1” 8-Track. I nicknamed this tune The Orphan because I wasn’t sure where it would fit on the album. Seems like it’s the fault of the song that always gets you in trouble.

Doug Cook – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, background vocal

Professor Louie – piano, organ, accordion

Steve Rust – bass guitar

Dave Cook - tambourine

Olive Joseph – background vocal

The Kitchenettes – background vocals

Fair Game

As a species, we seem to have learned nothing regarding the sanctity of life since the time of Cain and Abel. Global terrorism, through the use of bombs and bullets, indiscriminately robs young and old alike of dreams and fortunes. National boundaries cannot protect us. My answer to Neil Young’s anthem, Ohio. I was in a dark mood when this was written, my dad preparing to pass on.

Doug Cook – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, lead electric guitar, background vocal

Professor Louie – organ

Steve Rust – bass guitar

Harvey Sorgen - drums

Olive Joseph – background vocal, lead vocal (third verse)

Hey Bill

Written sometime in 1980, this song is dedicated to Bill, the bartender at Morgan’s Bar & Grill in Tribeca, New York City. Always there to lend an ear to those who simply needed to talk, Bill was an early supporter of our band, calling all his friends to come on down and hear us. But really, this is a tribute to all the “hundred-proof doctors" out there who can literally write volumes full of tales their customer/patients tell.

Doug Cook – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, mandolin, background vocal

Cindy Cashdollar – pedal steel guitar

Ben Tirado – lead electric guitar

Professor Louie – piano, organ

Steve Rust – bass guitar

Harvey Sorgen - drums

Olive Joseph – background vocal

The Kitchenettes – background vocals

Leavin’ the Highway Behind

The seeds of this tune sprouted one afternoon in 1971 when I was on the road with blues-legend Louisiana Red who sat amiably complaining about the toll the road takes on the touring musician. It wasn’t until 1979 that it was first performed, and then finished to my satisfaction in 2015. These things have a way of maturing.

Doug Cook – lead vocal, electric rhythm guitar, background vocal

John Platania – slide lead electric guitar

Professor Louie – piano, organ, electric piano, horns

Steve Rust – bass guitar

Harvey Sorgen - drums

Olive Joseph – background vocal

The Kitchenettes – background vocals

Mandala

“There is a place that touches sky. Rivers and gorges there that thrill the eye.” A nod to the Buddhist doctrine of reincarnation, and to Pemako, an enchanted region of Tibet, purportedly the location of the mythical Shangri-La. With the Yarlung TsangPo River running through the deepest valley on earth, legend has it that the topography of Pemako emulates the physical characteristics of Padmasambhava. The chant at the end, Om Mani Padme Hum, or Parise to the Jewel in the Lotus, is said to be one of the most auspicious and cultivates purity and enlightenment.

Doug Cook – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, chimes, temple block, background vocal

John Platania – slide lead electric guitar

Professor Louie – piano, organ

Steve Rust – bass guitar

Harvey Sorgen - drums

Olive Joseph – background vocal

The Mandala Choir – background vocals