Four Horse Johnson Returns to Sparta Sound.

My wife and I used to have what was known as a “land line.”  That was a telephone wired directly into a worldwide network of cables.  We got rid of ours over 5 years ago, but it was through a communication over that system that I was asked to join up with a new local band as the lead guitarist.  My bass playing friend asked me to help out with a new project involving a drummer unknown to me and a mutual acquaintance who was a songwriter.  When I hung up the phone, my wife asked, “What was that all about?”

“Oh, you know…just another band looking for a hired gun,” I replied with a smirk. 

She rolled her eyes and said, “Right…” with no lack of sarcasm.

To this day I can still shrug my shoulders in the midst of a band conversation, say “Don’t ask me.  I’m just the hired man,” and effectively annoy the hell out of all them.

Anyway, that band eventually took the name Four Horse Johnson, and with the exception of a 2 year “hiatus,” we’ve been playing together in one form or another ever since.  It was in 2008 that we entered the recording studio at Sparta Sound (a deconsecrated church in Sparta Location between Eveleth and Gilbert Minnesota ) to record our first CD “Transmission,” and just last night we were back to begin work on our 2^nd CD.  Between the 4 bands with which I’ve performed since 2007, this will be my 6^th recording project.  Last night went surprisingly well, and I plan to post recording updates here from now until the completion of our CD tentatively named (according to me) “Carbon Monoxide Sea Shanties.”