Credits
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Co-writer on:
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Dreaming Out Loud
Feeling Red White And Blue
Blue Lightning
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Guitar on:
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Golden Day
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Jug on:
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It's The Little Things That Scare Me
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Backup Vocals on:
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Sticky Boiled Beans
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Voice-over on:
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Ukulele Ragtime Blues
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Private living room concert with Narragansett Bay
in the background, ca. 1980
Photo ©1980 Edward Rashed
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Ed: Gilby is one very
longtime friend of mine, and one of the best and most prolific songwriters
I know. My guess is that he has enough songs in his closet to fill a dozen
albums, but no one is sure, least of all Gilby. One of the fortunate side
effects of this is that once in a while he'll call or email me and ask
me to work on a song that he doesn't have time to finish. "Dreaming out
Loud," one of my personal favorites, first arrived in the form of a sketch
that Gilby sang into my answering machine across an atmosphere, an ocean
and a continent. The nearly finished lyrics for "Feeling Red, White, And
Blue" arrived via email one morning in the middle of September, 2001.
One never knows what to expect from a Gilby Hager song.
Always a new perspective, often a surprise chord change, usually a twist
of melody, philosophy, or language. If one wants to inspire Gilby, one
only has to tell him that something "can't be done.'" Once I made the foolish
mistake of suggesting to Gil that it's common practice to be judicious
in using big leaps in melodies. He responded by writing "To the New Life"
which has a melodic leap of an octave plus a fifth (for the uninitiated,
all you need to know is that this is a BIGGER than big leap, murder to
sing, and almost never dared by even the most adventuresome melody writers).
A song written to welcome his about-to-be-born son into this world, it
also happens to be some of the most exquisite songwriting anyone on this
planet has ever dreamed up.
Gilby is one of the true poetic rebels of this world. You'll
hear several of his brightest gems on Ragwagon's CD, as well as on Gilby's
long awaited second album. The first album, "Gilby Hager" on Fretless Records
vinyl, is out of print, but if one knows who to ask, perhaps... |
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Some of Ed's Favorite Gilby Hager songs
(not limited to and not necessarily in this order):
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The Tightrope Walker
South
To The New Life
Niko's Lullaby
Swingin' On A Hula Moon
Dreaming Out Loud
Blue Lightning
Love Has Made Me Stupid
Moving To A Parallel Universe
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The Real Dr Hager:
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Dr Hager spends most of his working hours practising Rehab
Medicine (the character he plays in the song "Ukulele Ragtime Blues" is
himself). When time allows, he writes
and records his compositions with musicians from Hawaii, the West Coast,
and the Northeast, including The Ragwagon Band. Gilby keeps asking if the
next rehearsal can be at his place, but we can't figure out how to get
the piano to Hawaii.
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Gilby's favorite Ed Rashed Songs
(not limited to and not neccessarily in this order):
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The Rules Have Changed
Syncopated City
She Walks in Three-four Time
What It Is
mmmBuh-Bye
Ukulele Ragtime Blues (of course)
It's The Little Things that Scare Me
Dealer's Choice
the next one that I haven't heard yet
the one after that
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Favorite Ed Rashed license plate: XSX
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Other Favorite Ed Stuff:
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The Tickle Trees
Balonious Duck
(Children's Books-in-progress)
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An anecote from Gilby:
We had the Earth Audio Techniques studio at the Barn in
North Ferrisberg, Vermont for Thankgiving weekend 1975 to record the first
Gilby Hager album. We had only three days to record twelve songs
start to finish. We were all rehearsed. We arrived on Wednesday night.
On Thursday morning Ed announced that we could not begin recording until
the piano was tuned. Apparently, there was a note that was just enough
out of tune to bother Ed's supernatural perfect sense of pitch.
I tried to get him to realize that the piano was not going to be the big
out of tune problem on a Gilby Hager album with Gilby Hager singing, but
he insisted. I thought "that's it, I'm gonna have ta kill him after
all." But after the piano was tuned to Ed's satisfaction, he played
beautifully and directed the other musicians splendidly. Overall,
we had a great deal of fun and completed the tracks as scheduled by working
around the clock as needed. Ed continues the tradition of quality
control for tuning for The Ragwagon Band, and we thank him for his patience
regularly.
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Gilby's Favorite Ed Rashed tracks on Gilby Hager
songs
(not limited to and not necessarily in this order):
Tightrope Walker (piano)
South (piano)
Becky Moore (ducimer)
More Than Three Rivers (dulcimer)
Niko's Lullaby (organ)
Swingin' On A Hula Moon (vocal arrangements and harmony vocal)
To The New Life (digital piccolo)
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