Singled Out: The County Well's Whiskey Before Noon

Just in time for St. Patty's Day we have a special singled out from Floating Records owner Don Zimmer tell us about the track "Whiskey Before Noon" from The County Well project album "Future Country." Here is the story:

Some songs can be a wrestling match and others not. This one falls in the latter category. I find the recording process to be a great source of creativity and inspiration, building things from nothing, adding colors to a blank canvas. The concept behind the album Future Country is having a variety of artists add their unique voices to compositions other than their own. It's a recording project, not a band. There will be no tours but perhaps some live re-creations of the album in its entirety. The County Well is what we call the band of musicians who joined to create. We call it Future Country because we are using drum loops and modern technology with classic acoustic instruments.

Turns out the recording situation for a lot of artists can be quite stressful. Seeing the little red recording light go on and knowing that the next musical choices made are going down in history can be daunting. Having a bottle of whiskey in the studio and this situation occurring, before noon, well, there you have it. With "Noon" in the title the topic of time was easily introduced, and who doesn't like to write lyrics about time. The chorus, "It's too late or it's too soon for whiskey before noon" was born as the artist took a sip and we looked at the clock. The rest rolled out in minutes. The music was a jaunty, rolling piece I had written on a nylon string guitar sitting on the couch watching football. It was waiting for lyrics. This was also the first piece of music written and recorded in my new studio, in my new hometown of Hailey, Idaho. I had been introduced to Alyssa Joy Claffey by a musical friend and found she played violin. I had never recorded a violin player and there she was, right on cue for the solo section of "whiskey" as it was being assembled. Weeks before I had needed something mastered and was put in touch with a local engineer. "Do you play bass," I asked. You bet. I emailed Gary Carlson the original track and he laid down a beautifully funky bass line and emailed it back in days. I had Graham Guest from Houston-based Moses Guest visiting from Marin County and had him add vocal and guitar. It was almost there. When Michael Blumenstein from Boise band Bread and Circus was in town for a gig, I had him come in to add acoustic guitar and a little whiskey rap that brought it all together. The musicians were never all in the same room at the same time.

In today's music world, bands are out there on their own, trying to promote themselves and build an audience that cares about them, with no outside help. The Country Well concept is attempting to join some of these talents together to help support these communities of artists outside their own band for the good of all.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and grab a free download of the song right here!

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