Back when Waldo was better known as Andy (a.k.a. “me”), my job as a drummer typically led to gigs with bandleaders who feverishly defended songwriting royalties like nervous hens guarding eggs. I got the message, loud and clear: Honor the pecking order or else you might not get to peck at all. That didn’t stop me from writing songs, though.
Out of necessity, as well as a smidgeon of self-doubt, songwriting became an intermittent avocation I pursued only through the confluence of two conveniences: 1) when inspiration struck, and 2) when I had access to a piano. And those two commodities only occasionally found themselves in the same place at the same time. Looking back now, my output resembles more of a trickle than a torrent, measured by occasional bursts of productivity dotting long barren stretches. Nonetheless, as the years turned to decades, I accumulated a catalog of originals with no particular way to use them.
I was living in Nashville when the worldwide pandemic locked everybody in their homes. A year passed and, like everybody else, I was still quarantined and bored stiff by the suffocating monotony. Yet that very same crushing boredom led me to the realization that, for the first time in my life, I might finally have the time... more
​
Credits
released October 5, 2022
Andy Doerschuk: Vocals, keyboards, programming, Kat KTMP1
Ben Garrett: Guitars, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, vocals
Waldo: Drums on “Broke Down in Chi-Town”
Jeffrey “The Houseman” Clemens: Drums on “Long Distance Runner”
Joe Morin: Drums on “Hang Up the Broken Hearts”/“Reaction Time”/“Die Like a Hero”
Darrell Leonard: Trumpets, EWI, horn arrangement on “Fly in the Ointment, Pt. 1”
Paulie Cerra: Baritone sax solo on “Fly in the Ointment, Pt. 1”
Bob Doerschuk: Hammond solo on “Fly in the Ointment, Pt. 2”
Michael Ross: Guitar solo on “Fly in the Ointment, Pt. 2”
Peter Chase: Harp solo on “Fly in the Ointment, Pt. 2”
Jim Aikin: Cello on “Hang Up the Broken Hearts”
Peter Nicholas Hyrka: Violin on “Hang Up the Broken Hearts”
Gary Bergman: Wah-wah drone guitar on “Broke Down in Chi-Town”
Sandy Smolen & Linda Davis: Ba-ba-background vocals on “Full Speed Ahead”
Songs by Andy Doerschuk
Produced by Ben Garrett with Andy Doerschuk at Le Bon Recorders, Nashville
Thanks to Rick Campbell for engineering Pete’s harp overdub
Cover design by Paul Haggard
Photos: alphaspirit.it (front cover) Rick Malkin (back cover)