The music of Thelonious Monk like you've never heard before, genre-bent and played on lap steel guitar. I'm super proud of the way this turned out. The musicianship by the band is stellar and was recorded live in stunning quality. Only the boss (me) got to fix his parts.
I've listened to this album a number of times, and it is incredible. To my ears, it is the best steel guitar (pedal or non-pedal) I have heard in years. The music of Thelonious Monk is challenging to play well on any instrument, especially, perhaps, the steel guitar - challenging to play, and even more so to make it come alive. Mike has done both and in doing so has made it a very accessible listen.
Just listened to all the CDBaby clips and I must say it is a refreshing pleasure to hear Monk's music recast in such interesting, non-traditional settings, including Hawaiian, Spaghetti Western, Surf, dreamy pop, whatever - anything goes. As Susan noted above, Monk's music is a challenge to begin with, and Mike is certainly to be commended for doing such a great job tackling it. I look forward to hearing the whole disc through.
Thank you, those words means so much coming from listeners like you, not to mention the caliber of players you are. Susan has been an influence since I first bought a pedal steel 15 years ago.
Someone asked me, "Why did you pick all Monk songs?" and my answer was "because I've never written any better." That thread of Monk running through it allowed me to say everything I needed to say without having to agonize over material. The way the songs sound is the way I heard them.
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links
My copy showed up Friday and its been in my player since...great record, great playing and one of the best steel records sonically I've heard in a while!
John Macy
Rockport, TX
Engineer/Producer/Steel Guitar
