This Album was conceived in early 2018 and most of the new original songs were written during late 2017 -mid 2018. This was personally a very difficult period for me as after undergoing surgery I also endured 7 months of Chemotherapy, in the middle of which I relocated from the USA to the UK.
It was a time to reflect on life and the things that were important and also look back on some periods in my early life.
It is intended to be played as an entity with an intro and an outro, which is not cool in this time of streaming, but ultimately that is personal choice.
In the main we recorded the tracks initially as a live “one take” acoustic recording adding additional parts over time in a variety of locations in the UK and in Florida .
I need to say a big thank you to a few people who were involved in this project:
Andy Boyd : I have worked with Andy for almost 40 years now from early recordings in a living room in Faringdon to this album. Andy provides a massive amount of support and technical expertise to the recording process . We spent a number of long days taking over the living room at the barn and converting it to a studio with its own clear acoustics. Andy also supported me on a personal level during my difficult period of treatment and I am forever grateful to him for that.
Ted Fordney : Ted worked on the tracks from Florida and spent many hours working with my quirky songs and then sending back often 2 or 3 different bass parts to choose from .He also adds some great backing vocals and a ghostly voice on Nightmare ! We haven’t had the chance to play together in person for almost a year now , but I look forward to that day immensely .
Tessa Mapp : Once again I roped in Tess to add some beautiful cello to a number of tracks . We were lucky to be able to capture these just before lockdown struck.
Pete Young : Along with Andy I’ve worked with Pete for nearly 40 years and he played the fabulous piano part on Wildflowers , bringing to life my idea for that track.
Rick Hardeman : Rick and I have played together on a number of occasions during my time in Florida including on this track Taken Away. He very generously agreed to give me the time to record his flute part on my visit to Florida last year.
Corey Blanchette : Corey helped me in the recording of Ricks flute part as well as providing an electric guitar solo on Sunrise which stretched me in another direction.
Josie Maskell : For the fabulous photography and artwork
Wildflowers is available to download from my Bandcamp site www.alanmaskell.bandcamp.com
It’s also on all the major on-line music sites to purchase , and can be streamed on Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify etc. I have produced a short run of CD’s which were planned for sale at gigs, but if you’d like a physical copy message me and I will try to arrange it.
I’m not looking to make any money from this album, but in the current climate would encourage you to give your support to the many talented songwriters and musicians who rely on this for their income and are currently suffering due to the effect of Covid .
Track lyrics and notes are available on this website if you click on the tab and download the file, you’ll be able to understand the background to each song , or just sing along if that’s your thing!!