the mary janes

big news



toby's lounging...
summer 2003

its been over 18 months since the last update… following the release of flame and about a year and a half touring as a duo, janas decided to take a few months off, stay home, write, record and garden.

many musicians have graciously contributed to the tracks recorded to date and the new record is roughly half done. 10 to 12 songs have been tracked with as many as 8 or 10 more yet to be recorded. sessions in brooklyn last fall included multi-instrumentalist drew glackin of the silos, julia kent on cello (ex-rasputina) and megan weeder playing violin. the band also appeared live for about an hour on WFMU in new jersey during a break from recording. if you're interested in a cdr of this show, just let me know and i'll set you up - it's a cool show and includes a cover of bruce springsteen's state trooper.

additional recording has continued at home and at toby myers' studio in scenic nashville indiana. kenny aronoff was kind enough to come out to the studio with freda love and take part in one of these sessions. kenny added drums to 3 or 4 songs. one of which, shake, a rough mix is available in MP3 format.

last winter, janas contributed an a capella track, "the endless thread", to a CD released to benefit local radio station WFHB. "Acoustic Harvest" included tracks by several local musicians including tom roznowski, merrie sloan and tim grimm. if you're interested in a copy, let me know.

other release news includes a track, slate to be included on "for anyone that's listening: a tribute to Uncle Tupelo". this tribute cd will be released on flat earth records this fall and includes tracks from peter holsapple, dolly varden, middletown, porter hall tn, tom roznowski, the shiners, and a bunch more.

lastly, janas contributed vocals to a few songs on the new john mellencamp release, "Trouble No More" - most notably a duet vocal on the lucinda williams song, lafayette.

janas and the band will begin playing live again very soon. a couple shows are coming up. the band will include mark minnick back behind the drum kit, david england on guitar, megan on violin till she moves to NYC in a few weeks and mark kocher on bass.


kenny and freda taking a dance break...

fall 2001

at long last... new news. janas and the band just finished up a fall break spent at home painting and baking cookies. november will see them returning to see friends in north carolina, chicago, madison, st louis and pittsburgh. come on out and say hi. tell janas you want to hear a yoko ono song.

the next couple of months will see mary janes tracks pop up on a couple compilations, the first to appear will be on an alt.country compilation from dusty records in sweden. i dug out a favorite re-recording of mine to include, baby honey, that was originally recorded for record no. 1. and didnt make it to the record for one reason or another that no one really remembers... an elvis costello cover, alison, will appear on the groove disques stiff records tribute and the band also recorded bad moon rising for an upcoming john fogerty tribute from dren records.

photo: dylan thomas long
photo: dylan thomas long we've been listening to a coupla new records, including jim roll's new one, inhabiting the ball, to be released next spring. another favorite has been bill janovitz' most recent solo record, up here.

this winter, the band will take another extended break to regroup while janas begins recordings for the third record due out mid-2002.


photo: marc j. tschida winter 2001

the second record, flame, is a flat earth records recording set for release on 3/20/01. many friends lent their talents to this record. among them, and pictured to the left, was our very good friend, jim roll. jim graciously stayed in town an extra day and recorded banjo tracks on two songs for the record. for those of you who don't already have it, take yourselves over to miles of music and buy jim's record, lunette.

the band continues to tour the midwest and will make trips to the northeast and northwest later this spring.


summer 2000

at long last, the band has been freed from further obligations to delmore recordings and plans for the release of the second record, flame can now move forward. 18 songs have been recorded, and at this time, we are looking at a 3/01 release date... more to come on that.

janas and heather continue to tour the midwest, most often accompanied by jamey reid and dan dolan playing drums and bass.

photo: marc j. tschida

          


toby


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