ABOUT THIN SPACES
Thin Spaces is a 15-song record of solo fingerstyle guitar music. There are 11 original compositions and four cover songs. Thin Spaces was produced by guitarist, El McMeen.
I’ve never been pushed so hard as I was during the making of Thin Spaces and the result is the best guitar record I’ve made.
The songs on Thin Spaces capture the range of what I love about fingerstyle guitar music - from the uptempo Travis-picking and flashy licks of “We Shall Rise”, the nuanced arrangements of evocative vocal ballads like “Faithfully” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, expressive original compositions like “Lament For Scott”, the exotic flavors and improvised sections of “Desert Prayer” and “Obsidian Sea” to delightful folk ditties like “A Little Gift” and “One Bright Morning”.
// PRE-PRODUCTION AND LIMITING MYSELF TO SOLO GUITAR
While a lot of thought, analysis, and pencil-on-staff paper arranging went into these compositions - it always came down to evoking emotion and feeling. If I was moved viscerally while working on a tune, I went that direction and chased down that feeling. This is markedly different than the more “lick-based” or solely guitaristic approach I have used in the past. The result is 15 songs that should, at turns, have your toes tapping, tears running, and soul transported.
I had originally intended to have additional instruments on some songs. When I suggested this to El, he replied with an emphatic, “No!”. (Maybe it was even, “NO, NO, NO!”) Frankly, I was dismayed; I had ideas for guest musicians on fiddle, mandolin, percussion, and more. But by limiting myself to solo guitar, I was forced to focus intently on the intimacy and nuance of arranging for solo fingerstyle guitar. I was reminded of the Segovia quote, “The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice.”
Throughout the writing for Thin Spaces, we continually focused on drawing out the melody, keeping the listener’s interest, good tone, and finding the right tempo, tuning, key and register.
Due to COVID, we weren’t able to meet in person, so El and I did most of the pre-production via email. I would send him demos of songs and he would give feedback. Sometimes he would confirm something I already knew in my gut and challenge me to keep working on the arrangement. Other times he would blow apart my arrangement and direct me down new paths I hadn’t even considered.
// THE SONGS
Some of the original songs, like “Song for the Bride”, “Stormcloud Blues”, and “One Bright Morning” grew out of the short videos I post almost daily for my 30,000 followers on Instagram. “Lament For Scott”, “Jeff’s Jig”, and a few others are melodies I heard in my head - usually while driving or dreaming (not at the same time) - and then arranged on the guitar. “Obsidian Sea” and “Desert Prayer” were written extemporaneously and include improvised modal sections that were fun to record but even more fun to play live. “Desert Prayer” grew out of some recent studies of Middle Eastern and Balkan scales and rhythms.
El encouraged me to arrange a few well-known vocal songs that were outside of my comfort zone. Journey has always been a “guilty pleasure” band for me - especially since they were immortalized on the series finale of The Sopranos - and I think Steve Perry’s voice is one for the ages. Arranging “Faithfully” required a special sensitivity and I hope I did it justice.
Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” has to be one of the most gut-wrenching songs ever written - I was really feeling this one when we were working on it and I hope that comes through. This arrangement really came to life when we decided to use the slide. “We Shall Rise” and “Where Could I Go” are two traditional gospel songs. I tried to channel the vibe of Emmylou Harris’s versions with Mike Auldridge, Jerry Douglas and Vince Gill.
// THE TITLE
The title, Thin Spaces, came out of conversations with my wife and daughter about the concept of “thin spaces” - physical locales or states of being where the distance between heaven and earth seems to lessen or we catch glimpses of the transcendent.
This concept described the way I feel about making this music and my hope is that the listener is likewise transported by the music on Thin Spaces.
Instruments played:
2016 Circle Strings OM 6-string
1979 Guild F212 12-string
1991 Dobro DM33H
Latch Lake Acoustaglide Steel slide