The Nashville Sessions
Denis Chadbourn
July 3, 2008

Ever dreamed of spending a day in the studio with some of North America’s best musicians? Recently, I lived that dream, down in Music City, USA. Here’s how this amazing experience all went down.

I have been prolifically writing new songs since the release of our first album, (Gospel, Folk & Grassroots), and, in-fact, had enough new material for three albums,,,so, it was time again!

I approached Randall Prescott to produce my new cd, but because he was spending six weeks down in the Carribbean, (gee, sucks to be you Randall), he suggested I talk to a fellow down in Nashville, by the name of Eddie Bayers Jr.

Not being familiar with the name, I Google searched Eddie, to find out more about him. Turns out, Eddie Bayers Jr., has been awarded drummer of the year 13 times! Even his partial bio reads as a who’s who in the music biz. His credits list him as having played with the likes of Gerry Garcia, John Fogarty, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Vince Gill, George Strait, Bob Seger, Peter Frampton, and the list goes on and on. No way this guy would even give me the time of day, right? I sent him an e-mail anyway, and the very next day, I got a response from Eddie, saying he would be happy to help out on the new album. That just blew my canuckified mind!

Eddie set the wheels in motion to record at Beaird Studio, in Nashville, with proprietor, Larry Beaird, as the session leader. A quick online search showed Larry as a Guitarist of the Year, and having played on albums for well known artists such as Eddy Arnold, Blackhawk, Brooks & Dunn, George Fox, Art Garfunkle, Lonestar, Jo Dee Messina, Montgomery Gentry, Rascal Flatts, Colin Raye, Randy Travis, etc., etc.

So I exchanged all of my loonies and toonies at par, and off I went! Within 24 hours of arriving in Nashville, Larry had all of my original tunes charted-out, and had organized 3 back-to-back-to-back, recording sessions with an amazing team of session players, which included:

Jeff King (electric guitar, played with Clay Walker, The Oakridge Boys, Aaron Lines, The Statler Brothers, Lorrie Morgan, Pam Tillis, Reba McEntire, Paul Brandt, Juice Newton, et al), Gary Prim (keyboards, played with Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Freddy Fender, Alabama, Tracy Byrd, Terri Clark, Eddie Rabbit, Dan Hill, Billy Ray Cyrus, Shania Twain, Kenny Rogers, Eddie Arnold, Ray Price, Suzy Boggus) …okay, okay, you get the picture. Eli Beaird (bass), James Mitchell (electric guitar), and Brian Pruitt (percussion), rounded out the roster of overtly talented players in the studio on recording day.

No egos, no attitudes, and Larry was constantly concerned with my artistic satisfaction. The wave files were brought back home, to Flipside Studio in North Bay, for us to do overdubs, vocals, and instumental breaks. The culmination of the “Nashville sessions” will be on The C-Denny Band’s upcoming album, “Taking Flight,” which is scheduled to be released in fall 2008.

 

Jim DeBlanc, Engineer (left) And Larry Beaird