Bow Thayer with Patrick Ross and Kristina Stykos
CD Release Party for "Shooting Arrows At The Moon"
Langdon Street Café
Montpelier, Vermont
February 6, 2010 - Saturday
Source: Sennheiser 441 > Edirol UA-5 > Korg MR-1 DFF [1bit / 2.8 mhz]
Conversion to Wave in AudioGate to [24/96]
Mastering in WaveLab 6.0 with iZotope Ozone 4 dithered to [16/44.1]
Recorded by Bill Koucky
Bow Thayer – Guitars, Banjo, Lead Vocals
Patrick Ross – Fiddle
Kristina Stykos – Guitar, Vocals
Guest:
Doug Perkins - Guitar
Disc 1 79:20
1st Set:
1. Nor’ Easter Snow
2. Tuck and Roll
3. The Tango Rose
4. You Got My Attention
5. Shooting Arrows At The Moon
6. Lock It Down
7. – Enter Doug Perkins –
8. Little Sadie
9. Blackberry Blossom
10. Slow Train Blues
11. Meanwhile In The Here and Now
12. Way Of The Gun
2nd Set:
13. Catskill Stone
14. Epitome
15. Suicide Kings
16. Born To Be
Disc 2 75:56
2nd Set cont:
1. The Wingless Angels
2. The Harpoon Song
3. Carla Dupree
4. – Enter Doug Perkins –
5. Snake Bite
6. Can’t Wait To See You Again
7. Salt Creek
8. Dawning
9. Allston Brighton
10. Shady Grove
11. Waltzing On The Wayside
12. Stone Kid
13. Donna Lee
From the Web site Bow Thayer writes about the album:
I can honestly say this project just happened out of the Blue here in Vermont
at my friend Kristina Stykos' Pepperbox Studio.
What excites me about this record is the spontaneous informality of it all,
there was no real intention or pressure to produce an album so what we have
is some music that had been written then abandoned and songs that were
recorded in their infancy. The latter including three songs that will be on an
upcoming release by Perfect Trainwreck. I hope that that you will enjoy
hearing how these songs translate from a voice and guitar (or banjo) to a whole band production.
Also featured on this record is the wonderful fiddle playing of Patrick Ross
who is an award-winning violinist and founding member of the group Blue Merle,
as well as Kristina playing guitar and singing back up. It's crazy what talent
lurks in these ancient hills. Anyway, buy this record: it is good for your soul,
it's good for your ears, and it will make a great gift for any one who
likes songs about death, birth, parenthood, love, addiction, confusion,
hope, and the general state of the human condition.
Also, as ever, one record feeds the next and there is much work to do...
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Reviews:
Robert Resnik Seven Days December 2009
With Shooting Arrows at the Moon, Orange County musician Bow Thayer has
created an introspective gem of an album featuring sparse instrumentation and a pure sound.
Thayer was the front man for Boston newgrass heroes The Benders. More recently,
he was a favorite at the dearly departed Middle Earth Music Hall in Bradford,
where he rocked the house with his band the Perfect Train Wreck. Thayer still plays
with his big band, which has a benefit gig scheduled at Randolph's
Chandler Music Hall on January 30. But his new recording features a much more
compact "band," with Thayer on vocals, guitar, banjo and ukulele, brilliant
Montpelier fiddler Patrick Ross and the gloriously talented Kristina Stykos —
one of Vermont's great rhythm guitarists and also the engineer of this CD.
Thayer and Stykos seem to get along just fine in every way, which lends
the album a sense of musical comfort throughout. And when Stykos sings harmonies
alongside Thayer's lead lines, it's definitely more than the sum of just two voices.
Thayer's 14 originals reveal classy influences. He has recorded with
Levon Helm and, much like every member of The Band, Thayer has the ability to
write new material that sounds like an instant string-band classic. Most of the
tracks feature Thayer's unadorned vocals, matched with just the right amount
of acoustic accompaniment: strummed guitar, banjo figures and sinuous fiddle.
"The Tango Rose" has a rhythmic groove that sounds as if a young Steve Earle
had decided to have a tea party with Jerry Garcia. "Way of the Gun" contains
high lonesome sparkle centered on Ross' exquisite fiddle work, Thayer's
delicate banjo picking and another great vocal duet with Stykos.
"Allston Brighton," a requiem for drug casualties and other departed friends,
is just about perfectly sad. Bow Thayer is quite a songwriter.
The combination of Thayer's talents as a musician and composer and producer
Stykos' sensitive touch in the studio has resulted in a highly pleasurable album.
It leaves me hoping the pair might collaborate again sometime soon.
Shooting Arrows at the Moon is available at www(DOT)bowthayer(DOT)com
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Thayer CD Turn Songs Into Great Chemistry
By Spencer Lewis
Bow Thayer’s latest CD, “Shooting Arrows at the Moon,” is a major achievement for this Stockbridge singer-songwriter.
Thayer already has six or more CDs in the can, some with his bluegrass/rock group,The Benders, and three solo/full
rock and efforts on local entrepreneur Steve Farrington’s Crooked Root Records label.
Yet this one is different from all the others because of one reason: producer Kristina Stykos
from Pepperbox Studios and Thunder Ridge Records over in Chelsea.
A top-notch producer/engineer like Stykos will mold a project in the musical image of choice
in addition to pressing the record button. They decide who plays what, when, and where it resides
within the musical spectrum we call stereo.
In some cases, that producer might also contribute to the project, as Kristina herself is a
fine mandolin player, guitarist and singer. Finally, when that musician/producer/engineer
understands the music in the truest sense, the results can be smoking hot.
The lineup here is a simple one: Bow on guitar, banjo and vocals, Kristina on guitar and
Central Vermonter Patrick Ross on fiddle. The idea was to get the guts of Bow’s incredible
songs, putting his lyrics front and center while adding just the right touch of instruments
to frame them. Kristina’s formula succeeds brilliantly.
For instance, on the song “Harpoon” she sings word for word with Bow and her
haunting voice reinforces the directness of his confessional lyrics
Throughout “Arrows” stories abound, telling of loss, anger, gratitude or just gettin’ through
the absurdity of life with as much cantankerous grace as possible. The title track breathes
textures of acoustic sensuality and mirrors Bow’s serendipitous lyrics. I can only marvel at
how this CD can transfer that imagery in musical terms on this and literally every other song.
There is even an all- instrumental track, “Crooked Blaze” that celebrates the successful
chemistry between these three fine players and further highlights the shimmering soundscape
Stykos has created in the studio.
The fiddle pushes in the right spots, the banjo cuts like a knife, and fine guitars glisten
on the edges or drive the rhythm hard. Bow knows when to scream and he knows when to plead;
he can drive a song like an 18-wheeler going through a mud hole or coax it like a feather tickling a baby’s ear.
He’s a songwriter with something to say, and if God has not gone fishing this CD will have
legs to take him far beyond these hills and hollers where it can be heard by all.
Bow Thayer Live in Concert!
Central Vermont audiences will have two opportunities to hear Bow Thayer play live with Kristina Stykos and Patrick Ross.
• A benefit for Chandler Music Hall’s Centennial Project is set for Saturday, Jan. 30 at 7:30,
also including Tim Gearan and Jimmy Ryan. For online tickets go to www.chandler-arts.com.
• A CD release party will be held at the Langdon St. Café in Montpelier on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 8:00.