FRESH WIND SESSION No. 37
Earl Buck
Recording Date: 29 January 2025
KNCE 93.5 FM Premiere: 2 February 2025
Substack Premiere: 6 February 2025
Recording this session with Arron Shiver, a Taos-based actor/writer/director/producer who recently began writing and performing music under the name Earl Buck, was one of those magical experiences where all the stars align and beauty shines through. My process for making these Fresh Wind Sessions has gone through many iterations since I recorded the first one in 2021. I usually begin with recording the songs - allowing conversation between takes to spontaneously reveal good entry-points for the interview portion of the session. With Shiver’s session, an epic snow began to fall as we recorded the first take of “Is This All There Is?’ It suffused my Heartbreak Hotel studio with a kind-of warm, woozy energy. The snow (much needed here in Taos) continued to fall throughout the rest of our time recording together, and it gave the recording session a cocoon-like quality.
Shiver’s material for his Earl Buck project exists firmly in the Americana tradition. In the interview section, he reveals how one of his earliest introductions to this kind of music came via his father - who at an early age introduced him to the music of John Prine. That influence is clearly felt in Shiver’s songs, in the casual commingling of the relentlessly clever and the unexpectedly devastating. This session contains six original Earl Buck songs (“Is This All There Is?”, “A Little Time”, “Our Lady Of Los Feliz”, “The Last Song”, “William Brian’s Lament”, and “Pickin’ Blues”) - all currently unreleased outside of this session. The songs range widely in mood - “Our Lady of Los Feliz” is the lightest in tone, a story of new love in Los Angeles, and “William Brian’s Lament” is the most devastating, a factual account of the long decline and death of Shiver’s father. All of the songs are striking in some way, and have been stuck in my head since recording them last week.
Shiver recorded his debut EP as Earl Buck in 2021 with the help of singer-songwriter, and mentor, Joe Purdy - and since then has toured the country, developing his craft and stage persona further. This Fresh Wind session found Shiver on the precipice of recording his debut full-length record, which will feature a full-band recording live in Purdy’s new Taos studio. The six original songs featured here are a selection of the 15+ tracks in the running for inclusion on that record. I’ve recently gotten to know Shiver better via the revived Taos Song Circle, which has been meeting bi-weekly since November. Some of the excellent songs that he’s shared there he declined to record for this session - so, I’m here to tell you he’s got a lot more up his sleeve. The session closes with a gentle and subtle cover of the classic song “Wild Is The Wind,” bringing things to an emotional close.
On a general note, I’m happy to share that before recording this session I was finally able to pin-point the origin of the low-frequency thrum that has marred some of the more quiet moments of recent Fresh Wind sessions. A great gratitude to my many listeners for sticking with this project through that rough-patch. It was a joy to once again capture some quiet and delicate moments in the studio, and I’m looking forward to continuing on with this Fresh Wind project throughout 2025. I’m planning on getting back to sharing sessions on a weekly basis, working through the backlog of sessions I recorded before there was a podcast/email platform in place. Look for archival sessions from folks like Natalie Day, Lauren Helene Green (of Tan Cologne), Baby Skunk, Dandelioness and others in the coming months. I’m also happy to share that I’m near the completion of a new collection of original songs that I’m aiming to release in Q2 of 2025! Thanks for listening, my friends.
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