Mystery Band CD - A Preview

I am pushing to get this project completed. The liner notes are written; I am working with my buddy Grant Kessler on CD design and photography. I found a place that will produce 1,000 CD's in jewel cases with a four-page booklet and shrink rap for under $1,000. If I can sell all 1,000 at a decent price, I will break even (plus a little) on the project.

Here is a snip from the liner notes.....

The Mystery Band was born in a bar. Bill Gilmore, proprietor of Bill’s Blues Bar in Evanston, Illinois, had no band booked for Thanksgiving night in 2003. Being a hanger-on at the bar and an occasional blues singer/harmonica player, I offered to assemble a band for that night. It gave me an excuse to go out and work off my Thanksgiving dinner. I didn’t know who would show up to play; I just started calling my favorite musicians – so we became “the Mystery Band.” Several folks attended the show that night, looking for a break from family togetherness. Thus began the Mystery Band experience.

We remain a proud bar band. But we are different than a standard bar band. The mission of the Mystery Band is to bring Chicago’s finest blues musicians together and have a ridiculously good time. Over the past 5 years, more than 45 terrific musicians have joined the Mystery Band (maybe for only one gig). We almost never rehearse – it comes together on the bandstand, sort of. But I started scribbling out a few blues songs to amuse myself, and then people started asking if they could buy our CD’s. Well, we didn’t have any product. So this CD is our effort to respond to our small group of dedicated fans. It is unusual for The Mystery Band to get organized like this – improvisation and accident are our core values. But it has been a gas to get in the studio and cut these tunes. We tried to stay true to our roots – there is very little overdubbing on this disc, and the all of the tracks were recorded in one or two takes. And we didn’t rehearse – we pulled it together at Jim Reeve’s studio in Evanston. I hope you enjoy the songs.

The supporting musicians on this disc are among the finest blues/R&B players in the world, and they are my “go-to” guys – I use them on as many gigs as possible. It is an honor to play with them.

The band loved working at Reeves Audio, run by the legendary Jim Reeves – one of the unsung heroes of the recorded music industry.

More to follow......